Number Of Active Rigs In North Dakota Remain At Four-Year High -- December 14, 2018

LNG demand forecast to surge. From Wood Mackenzie --

• the world's top seven LNG buyers (think Asia: China, South Korea, Japan); account for more than one-half of the global LNG demand
• CNOOC
• CPC
• JERA
• KOGAS
• PetroChina
• Sinopec
• Tokyo Gas
• are becoming increasing active in contracting
• the seven have announced more than 16 mtpa of contracts in 2018
• growth in contracting is happening at same time as supply growth is poised to surge
• 2019 could be a record year for "LNG project sanctions"
• 220 mtpa of gas targeting final investment decision (FID) 
• projects include
• $27 billion Arctic LNG-2 project in Russia
• one or more projects in Mozambique
• three US projects
• expansion and backfill projects in Australia and Papua New Guinea

OPEC: unplanned supply losses could double its cut -- Bloomberg

• "unplanned cuts": Venezuela  

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Back to the Bakken

Only one well coming off the confidential list today, and it will likely be a DUC -- Friday, December 14, 2018:

• 34201, SI/NC, Hess, BB-Chapin-151-95-0506H-5, Blue Buttes, no production data, 

Active rigs:

$52.28	12/14/2018	12/14/2017	12/14/2016	12/14/2015	12/14/2014
Active Rigs	67	52	40	64	181

RBN Energy: oil price plunge clouds some E&Ps' 4Q18 outlook.

The third quarter of 2018 was a moment in the sun for U.S. exploration and production companies. The 44 major companies we track reported a 35% increase in pre-tax operating income over the previous quarter and seven-fold increase from the year-ago period on rising commodity prices and narrowing differentials in some key regions.

Oil-Weighted producers outside the infrastructure-constricted Permian posted generally higher realizations, and a number of Permian-focused E&Ps minimized the impact of takeaway constraints by employing basis hedges, utilizing firm transportation contracts and reducing their operating costs.

Diversified producers saw higher quarterly per-unit profits thanks to the tilt of their portfolios toward oil. And as lower Appalachian differentials lifted the realizations of Gas-Weighted producers, portfolio readjustments and the liquids content of production also positively impacted their profitability and cash flow. Today, we analyze third-quarter results by peer group, and discuss the potential impacts of the sudden plunge in oil prices this fall.