Is Anyone Paying Attention -- At 3.9 -- Very, Very Close To A Four-Handle -- August 2, 2023

Locator: 45293ECON.

Recession obsession: just to be clear -- we all agree -- there will be a recession.

Quick: name a country with a higher GDP forecast than the US for 3Q23 (period, July - Sept, 2023). And in which you would want to live.

GDPNow, link here.

 *************************
Back to the Bakken

WTI: $79.53.

Thursday, August 3, 2023: 4 for the month; 206 for the quarter, 461 for the year

39540, conf, WPX, Two Shields Butte 16-8-7-13H3U, 

Wednesday, August 2, 2023: 3 for the month; 205 for the quarter, 460 for the year
39473, conf, Ovintiv USA, Newman 150-97-21-16-14H,
39436, conf, Eagle Operating, V-M 5-7,
39157, conf, CLR, Kiefel 4-36H,

RBN Energy: "NYMEX WTI" is not WTI -- the battle over crude oil quality. Archived.

CME’s NYMEX light sweet crude oil contract in Cushing, OK, is not West Texas Intermediate — WTI. Instead, it is Domestic Sweet — commonly referred to as DSW — with quality specifications that are broader and generally inferior to Midland-sourced WTI. In fact, pristine Midland WTI delivered to Cushing sells at a reasonably healthy premium to DSW. That difference in specs, and the fact that the quality of DSW is considerably more variable than straight-as-an-arrow Midland WTI, makes most purchasers of exported U.S. crude (and many domestic refiners too) strongly prefer the more quality-consistent Midland WTI grade. For that reason, when Platts set out to allow U.S. light crude to be delivered as Brent, it said that only Midland WTI will qualify. Consequently, a marketer cannot take delivery of a NYMEX-quality barrel at Cushing, pipe it down to the Gulf Coast, and deliver it to a dock for export if the ultimate destination of that barrel is to be reflected in the Brent price assessment. The implication? There are now effectively two U.S. crude oil benchmark grades, each of which is valued differently, priced differently and used by different markets. Is this a big deal for the valuation mechanisms for U.S. crude oils, or just a minor quirk in oil-market nomenclature? We’ll explore that question in today’s RBN blog.