No Wells Coming Off Confidential List; WTI Continues To Climb -- August 24, 2021

Bozo: there's a Chinese word for American wokeness: "baizuo." The Chinese are using it to undermine America's moral standing on the global stage. Link here. Pronounced "bozo." I can't make this stuff up.

WTI: another jump, up over 2%; up almost $1.50/bbl; now trading at $67.11. And again, we're hearing two reasons why (despite dollar getting stronger). Link here for some background.

• Chinese economy coming back; delta surge receding;
• short covering

Dollar strength and oil: link here.  As noted earlier, CNBC erred yesterday saying the dollar was getting weaker.

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Back to the Bakken

Active rigs:

$67.11	8/24/2021	08/24/2020	08/24/2019	08/24/2018	08/24/2017
Active Rigs	24	11	64	62	54

No wells coming off confidential list. 

RBN Energy: high propane prices fail to put the brakes on exports. 

The high-demand season for propane is just around the corner: crop drying, then winter heating demand.  This is when propane marketers make most of their money; so under normal circumstances it’s a happy time, when all participants across the supply chain are making last-minute preparations for the season of peak propane demand. But this year is different.

There is palpable concern in the market about the level of inventories available to meet demand, and the possibility that propane could be in short supply. How could this be?  As we have covered many times in the RBN blogosphere, U.S. propane production is more than double domestic demand. So how could a shortage possibly happen?

The answer is pretty simple: exports. The U.S. exports more of its propane production that it uses here at home. This year the domestic market needs more barrels, so all that needs to happen is for U.S. prices to increase enough to shut off exports, right? Wrong. Propane prices have been spiraling up all year, and August prices are higher than they’ve been since 2013. But exports are still running strong, and so far, inventories are not building fast enough. In today’s blog, we’ll look at the drivers behind this seeming market aberration and consider why the upcoming winter season looks like uncharted territory for propane marketers.