AMLO, Pemex, And All That Jazz -- October 3, 2019

AMLO and Pemex. Perhaps best article on Mexico, AMLO, Pemex, future of oil in Mexico over at the Financial Times. Most likely behind a paywall (don't know) but I've archived it for future reference. For the archives: this is Pemex' forecast; no one "believes" it:

The team running Pemex, including AMLO:

The president has put his faith in two people he calls “first-rate public servants”. Rocio Nahle, the energy minister, is a leftwing nationalist and former Pemex engineer, while Octavio Romero, an agronomist from the president’s home state with no oil industry experience, is the Pemex chief executive. 

Completing the team is Alberto Velázquez, a university economics professor, as Pemex finance chief.

Question of the day:  If Bernie drops out, who gets his voters? his million$$? his donor list? Steyer? My hunch: 16% of the Democrat electorate simply sit(s) this one out.

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Closer To Home

In the September 23, 2019, issue of The New Yorker.

If I were asked by a tourist if one had time to visit only one or the other which would I recommend, Chief Crazy Horse or Mount Rushmore. No brainer. The former, Chief Crazy Horse. The latter has become a postcard, photo-op and that's it. However, for the entire family, one can spend hours at Chief Crazy Horse. Yes, more expensive, but well worth it. (I messed up on the "red border" but can't change it now.)

 

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Back to the Bakken

Three wells coming off the confidential list today --  Thursday, October 3, 2019: 10 for the month; 10 for the quarter:
35648, conf, WPX, Hackberry 34-27HG, 
34762, conf, Whiting, Berger 21-15 -1TFH, 
34596, conf, Hess, EN-Weyrauch B-154-93-3031H-4,

Active rigs:

$52.71	10/3/2019	10/03/2018	10/03/2017	10/03/2016	10/03/2015
Active Rigs	59	66	57	33	68

RBN Energy: long-term SPAs keep U.S. LNG exports stable amid global price volatility. Archived.

U.S. LNG exports have climbed from zero to about 6 Bcf/d (~ 1 million boepd) in less than four years. This year to date alone, three new liquefaction trains have come online at three different terminals with an additional train at Freeport LNG and Elba Liquefaction’s first four mini-trains in the commissioning process.

The completion of these and other projects around the globe, particularly in Australia, have led to an oversupplied global market, made worse this year by a mild winter and high natural gas storage levels in Europe, and nuclear restarts and slowing demand growth in Asia. These dynamics sent international prices spiraling downward in recent months. Then, in September, prices briefly spiked up as regulatory news out of Europe suggested higher global gas demand. In the midst of all this market turmoil, U.S. export cargoes have remained unfazed. But the shifting fundamentals have played a role in where U.S. cargoes ultimately end up. Today, we begin a series looking into how liquefaction capacity contracts and international prices affect cargo destinations from U.S. LNG terminals.

To put U.S. LNG exports into perspective, initial cargoes out of the first wave of projects began in early 2016 from Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass Liquefaction (SPL) in southwestern Louisiana. Since then, SPL has completed four more trains, and four additional export terminals have come online, including Dominion’s single-train Cove Point facility in Maryland, two trains at Cheniere’s Corpus Christi terminal and the first train at Sempra’s Cameron LNG, also in southeastern Louisiana. Plus, Freeport LNG’s first train is in the commissioning process and began exporting cargoes in early September, and Elba Liquefaction’s first mini-train was approved for full service earlier this week and three more units are in the commissioning process there (though the facility has yet to load its first commissioning cargo). The U.S. now has 6.1 Bcf/d of liquefaction capacity that is already commercialized or in the process of being commissioned. Total U.S. exports over the past month have averaged about 4.9 Bcf/d, as Cove Point is currently offline for maintenance and Sabine Pass Trains 3 and 4 were offline in early September as well. With planned maintenance on existing terminals ending and Freeport and Elba’s commissioning process progressing, exports are expected to reach close to 7 Bcf/d by the end of this year. With these projects coming online, the U.S. has been among the fastest-growing exporters, second only to Australia. In 2018, the U.S. accounted for nearly 7% of global LNG demand, and with the recent and upcoming capacity additions, U.S. market share is well on its way to exceeding 10%.