Decades ago, a distiller in Scotland discovered the marketing power of “single malt” whisky, untouched by blending - a technique now being embraced by sellers of Texas crude oil.
The United States is selling more oil overseas than ever, and refiners in Europe and Asia are scrutinizing the quality of that oil after some shipments of U.S. crude contained impurities or contaminants that made it difficult for overseas refiners to process. Two U.S. shipments were even refused by South Korea last year.
Overseas buyers are demanding barrels that travel directly from wells to export terminals with little blending, to minimize problems introduced when crude passes multiple transport systems.
Like that single malt Scotch, the biggest sellers of U.S. crude are touting so-called “neat” barrels, delivered direct from the shale patch to the Gulf, as a way of boosting the allure of the country’s flagship Midland, Texas crude.
Fracking making West Virginia great, from Rigzone:
As it turns out, Pennsylvania is not the only Marcellus shale state with amazing production results.
Long a mainstay of U.S. coal production, neighbor West Virginia has quickly become the 7th largest U.S. natural gas producer.
Since the shale revolution took flight in 2008, gas output in the state has boomed more than sevenfold to 1.8 Tcf in 2018. West Virginia’s gas production has reached a record for 10 straight years and now accounts for 5-6 percent of total U.S. output. Ranked fourth nationally, West Virginia today holds around 35 Tcf of proven gas reserves.
Overlying the Utica play as well, shale now accounts for 95 percent of West Virginia’s gas output. In particular, two of the state’s largest producers, Southwestern Energy and EQT, have impressively responded to a lower priced environment in the shale-era by deploying constantly evolving technologies and operational efficiencies.
New pipelines have come online to ship West Virginia’s gas to markets in the Northeast, Midwest, southern Canada, and the Gulf Coast. The state now has over 4,000 miles of interstate and intrastate gas pipelines. Per EIA, West Virginia has 31 underground natural gas storage fields that have a storage capacity of 535 Bcf that accounts for almost 6 percent of the nation’s total. The proximity of this gas to high demand markets makes West Virginia a key supplier to surrounding areas during the winter months when usage peaks 40-60 percent.
Indeed, West Virginia still gets 90-95 percent of its electricity generation from coal, with only 2 percent coming from gas. This is in contrast to fellow Appalachian shale giants Ohio and Pennsylvania, two longtime coal states that seek to displace with more gas. This lower domestic reliance on gas will allow West Virginia to remain critical in supplying gas to other states and even LNG export facilities to nations abroad.Hess - peak oil? What peak oil? CEO announces another oil discovery offshore Guyana at Tripletail. Press release.
“Tripletail is the 14th discovery on the Stabroek Block and further underpins the Turbot area as a major development hub,” said CEO John Hess. “The discovery adds to the previously announced gross discovered recoverable resource estimate of more than 6 billion barrels of oil equivalent on the Stabroek Block, with multibillion barrels of future exploration potential remaining.”Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, travel, career, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or what you think you may have actually rad here.
Oil companies recommended by US News, similar to Kiplinger the other day. Link here: Cabot Oil & Gas Corp; COP; EOG; KMI; MPC; OXY; Pioneer Natural Resources; Valero Energy Corp.
It appears the writer of this article may not be as smart as one might think. It appears the writer posted the share price for MRO rather than MPC. He has the target price of MPC at $16/share. MPC is currently trading for $56/share. MRO is trading for $13/share.
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