WTI Moving Up -- April 17, 2025

Locator: 48490B.

The US equity markets, all you need to know:

• the markets have diverged: one market for new investors; one market for retirees
• the AI story is an energy story
• America will lead the sixth industrial revolution

Sixth industrial revolution (US):

• one year ago, it was pretty much all about tech
• one year later, for the US it's:
• tech
• autos
• energy

"Economic" news today: really, really reassuring. Will get to it later.

• US jobless claims
• EU "Fed's" remarks
• Russian foreign exchange reserves
• TSMC
• ASML

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Back to the Bakken

Hess GO-Seaton wells. Based on Kraken data, it appears that Hess has drilled their GO-Seaton wells to depth and have possibly fracked them.

WTI: $64.30. Up almost 3%; up $1.83.

New wells:

• Friday, April 18, 2025: 73 for the month, 73 for the quarter, 280 for the year,
• 41173, conf, CLR, Kenneth 3-17H,
• 40975, conf, CLR, Rutledge 6-11HSL,
• 40755, conf, Rockport Energy Solutions, Chandler 14-23 1H,
• 40742, conf, Kraken Operating, Triangle South 12-1 9H,
• 40678, conf, Grayson Mill, Scott 13-24F XE 1HR,
• Thursday, April 17, 2025: 68 for the month, 68 for the quarter, 275 for the year,
• 41172, conf, CLR, Helen 3-8H1,
• 41171, conf, CLR, Kenneth 2-17H1,
• 40959, conf, CLR, Rutledge 5-11H,
• 40741, conf, Kraken Operating, Triangle South 12-1 10H,
• 39037, conf, Grayson Mill, Orville 4-9 5H,

RBN Energy: upstream consolidation in western Canada quickens with Whitcap/Veren deal.

In an industry such as oil and gas that is beset with more uncertainty than usual of late due to geopolitical upsets, bubbling trade wars and a recent plunge in crude oil prices, being a larger company with the resources to survive the turbulent times — and thrive when the sailing is smoother — is more important than ever. For Western Canada’s energy sector, this has meant companies getting bigger through mergers. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the planned combination of Whitecap Resources and Veren, one of the largest deals to emerge in the region in recent memory, as well as several other recent transactions that have been part of the consolidation wave. 

Western Canada’s oil and gas producers continue to be spellbound by the unconventional, gas-prone Montney formation that straddles the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia (BC) and the liquids-rich Duvernay shale formation that lies within Alberta. The Montney has proven itself to be one of the premier gas-producing formations in the world with huge proven reserves, low finding costs and significant production rates that have attracted interest from near and far and helped drive the development of multiple LNG export projects along Canada’s West Coast. As for the Duvernay, its liquids-rich nature is yielding rising volumes of both light crude oil and condensate/pentanes plus (referred to in the U.S. as field condensate and natural gasoline), with the latter highly prized for immediate demand in Alberta’s oil sands, where it is used as diluent that allows the heavy, viscous bitumen to be shipped in pipelines. It also doesn’t hurt that condensate prices in the Alberta market often trade at parity or a premium to WTI.