No Wells Coming Off The Confidential List Until Monday; WTI Jumps Through $57! To The Moon! -- February 5, 2021

Updates

Later, 6:37 p.m. CT: this speaks volumes for me. 20°F-weather shuts down Appalachia. Roughnecks in North Dakota are heading out to work at "oh-dark-thirty" when temperatures are -40°F and the wind chills even worse.

Original Post

Most impressive chart so far this year: link here.

Cold-snap could be double whammy for natural gas. Potential wellhead freeze-offs could further reduce Appalachia natural gas production -- Reuters. 

• Temperatures in Northeast PA, Ohio dip into 20s F
• Appalachian production falls 600 MMcf/d in February
• Forecasts predict colder temperatures over the next 14 days

Month to date, combined output from the Marcellus and Utica shales has averaged just under 32.8 Bcf/d and is down nearly 2%, or about 600 MMcf/d, compared with levels recorded in second-half January, data compiled by S&P Global Platts Analytics shows.

The recent drop in production has accompanied an influx of sustained colder weather this month, likely causing wellhead freeze-offs that are to blame, at least in part, for the recent production decline.

In parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Temperatures have dipped into the mid-20s Fahrenheit this month and are likely to remain there over the next week.

Get up!

• 10-Year Treasury: link here. Down.
• DXY: link here. Up.
  
• Silver: link  here. Flat at $26.65.
  
• CBOE volatility index: link here. Down.
  

Short notes:

• Luckin Coffee files for bankruptcy in US; will keep stores open;
• Ford getting all the love right now; look at EPS
• one  year ago: 12 cents
• forecast this quarter, a loss of 7 cents
• actual! gained 34 cents; almost tripled last year; huge gap from expected loss; how could the analysts get it so wrong;
• EV spending:
• Ford:
• original plan: invest $11.5 billion, now upped to $29 billion;
• $22 billion on EVs; $7 billion on autonomy;
• GM:
• $20 billion (an increase from original plans); now $27 billion
• Ford:
• F-series: production delayed due to chip shortage
• Mustang Mach-E and Bronco: incurred higher costs;
• Chevron offer to buy full control of Noble Pipeline unit;
• deal: $422 million
• Chevron is already the majority owner with a 62% stake
• mantra: cheaper to buy then build
• For the archives:
• January, 2021: really, really warm;
• February, 2021: really, really cold;
  

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Back to the Bakken

Active rigs:

$57.21	2/5/2021	02/05/2020	02/05/2019	02/05/2018	02/05/2017
Active Rigs	15	54	63	58	40

Continental Resources and MRO, both with 3 active rigs.

No wells coming off confidential list until Monday.

RBN Energy: Permian gas infrastructure projects near completion, and there's more to come. Archived.

The biggest news on the Permian natural gas infrastructure front in the past couple of months was surely the start-up of the 2-Bcf/d Permian Highway Pipeline, which began flowing gas in the fourth quarter of 2020 and officially entered full commercial service on New Year’s Day. 

Next among the headlines would be the late-January completion of a 1.8-Bcf/d expansion of the Agua Blanca pipeline system, which increased the capacity of the Delaware Basin-to-Waha network to a staggering 3 Bcf/d. Just as important though is that midstream companies active in the Permian have been completing a number of new gas processing plants in key production areas within both the Midland and Delaware basins, thereby supporting the continuing development of the U.S.’s premier crude oil production region. 

Today, we begin a short series on all the new gas-handling capacity coming online in the Permian.