Active Rigs In North Dakota Drop To 58 -- Waiting For Infrastructure To Catch Up -- Too Much Flaring -- July 8, 2019

Wells coming off the confidential list over the weekend, today --  
Monday, July 8, 2019: 6 for the month; 6 for the quarter;

• None. 

Sunday, July 7, 2019: 6 for the month; 6 for the quarter;

• 35543, SI/NC, WPX, Delores Sand 29-32HIL, Antelope, no production data,
• 34094, 2,479, CLR, Colter 7-14H, 37 stages, 10.2 million lbs, Bear Creek, t3/19; cum 125K in three months, the Colter wells are tracked here:
  

  Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
  BAKKEN	5-2019	30	39507	39583	26042	46377	45448	558
  BAKKEN	4-2019	26	30290	30623	26879	33525	27880	5340
  BAKKEN	3-2019	31	53651	52963	75523	63337	59453	3481
  BAKKEN	2-2019	2	925	925	860	1410	1386	24
  BAKKEN	1-2019	4	907	907	2443	1558	0	1558

Saturday, July 6, 2019: 4 for the month; 4 for the quarter;

• None.

Active rigs:

$57.76	7/8/2019	07/08/2018	07/08/2017	07/08/2016	07/08/2014
Active Rigs	58	64	56	30	191

RBN Energy: why build an ethane steam cracker in a time of low ethylene margins?

The margin for producing ethylene by steam-cracking ethane has been less than a dime per pound since mid-March 2018, and less than a nickel for nearly nine of the past 15-and-a-half months. In fact, for two weeks last September, the ethylene-from-ethane margin fell below zero. And yet, a joint venture of two of the world’s savviest companies — energy giant ExxonMobil and petchem behemoth Saudi Basic Industries Corp., or SABIC — recently committed to building what will be the world’s largest ethane steam cracker: a 4-billion-pounds/year facility to be constructed near Corpus Christi by 2022. Is this a case of blind optimism? No, not when you factor in the cracker’s location, the JV’s concurrent plan to construct two polyethylene plants and a monoethylene glycol plant right next door, and the co-developers’ global market reach. Today, we discuss the thinking behind ExxonMobil and SABIC’s big investment in Texas’s San Patricio County.

The Shale Revolution and the resulting rise in U.S. production of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs) have been the catalyst for many things. Refinery retrofits to allow more light-sweet shale crude to be processed. Liquefaction plants and LNG export terminals — new crude and LPG export infrastructure too. A slew of new natural gas-fired power plants, accelerating the retirement of coal generators. And, as we’ve discussed at least a few times in the RBN blogosphere, a long list of new, mostly ethane-only steam crackers — almost all of them along the Gulf Coast — to take advantage of the humongous volumes of ethane and other NGLs emerging from wells in the Permian, Eagle Ford, SCOOP/STACK, Marcellus/Utica and other shale plays.