No Wells Coming Off Confidential List; WTI Drops Back A Bit -- February 26, 2021

Enviable position: are there only two western countries that have both vast crude oil reserves as well as a robust domestic refining sector capable of satisfying national needs for gasoline, diesel, and other petroleum products? See below.

WTI: all that talk about $100 oil? Not so fast.

China: crude oil reserves in storage near limit; reserves have reached a level equal to 100 days of imports. That number includes both SPR and commercial inventories.. To compare, US data (numbers rounded):

• the US produces around 10 million bopd
• in non-SPR  storage: around 600 million bbls
• in SPR storage: around 600 million bbls; capacity -- 800 million bbls
• maximum total withdrawal capacity: 4 million bopd
  

XOM: writes off one-third of its reserves. .

Dividends: E&Ps may have found a new way to keep investors happy. Link:

• maintain quarterly / annual dividends at just the minimum that keeps long-term investors from selling; then,
• pay generous special dividends when free cash flow surges
  

Apple: iPhone 12 series still strong despite weaker demand.

• 2021 iPhone shipment estimates dropped from 236 million to 230 million
• 230 million: a 13% increase, y/y (2021/2020)
• Apple likely to discontinue iPhone 12 mini production 2Q21
• makes up just 6% of iPhone 12 sales in the US in October/November, 2020
• maybe only 5% of all iPhone 12 sales in January, 2021

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Back to the Bakken

Active rigs:

$62.75	2/26/2021	02/26/2020	02/26/2019	02/26/2018	02/26/2017
Active Rigs	15	51	66	57	40

No wells coming off the confidential list today. 

RBN Energy: eastern Canadian refineries shift to more domestic slates, part 3. 

Canada, like the U.S., is in the enviable position of having vast crude oil reserves as well as a robust domestic refining sector capable of satisfying national needs for gasoline, diesel, and other petroleum products. Refiners in both countries have also benefited in recent years from increasing oil production within their borders. Growth in the Alberta oil sands in particular has given refineries in both Western and Eastern Canada increased access to domestically sourced bitumen and upgraded synthetic crude oil. Today, we continue our series on Canada’s refining sector with a look at the refineries in the eastern half of the nation, and their increasing use of Canadian oil.