Wednesday oil report. At the Pump: AAA estimated the nationwide average price of regular at $3.373 this morning; diesel at $3.775; E85 at $2.804. E85 would have to retail at $2.53 to equal regular on a Btu basis. OPIS reports that Buckeye Partners LP has completed its $860 million purchase of an 80% interest in Buckeye Texas Partners LLC. Buckeye Texas Partners LLC and its subsidiaries, all owned jointly with Trafigura AG, will own and operate an integrated system of midstream assets, which include a deep-water, high-volume marine terminal located on the Corpus Christi Ship Channel, a condensate splitter, an LPG storage complex in Corpus Christi, and three crude oil and condensate gathering facilities in the Eagle Ford shale. OPIS also notes that Clean Energy Fuels Corp. and Mansfield Energy Corp. have formed Mansfield Clean Energy Partners (MCEP), a joint venture which will provide natural gas fueling solutions to bulk fuel haulers in the United States. MCEPs first customer will be Mansfield Oil Company, which has recently deployed the first of its 12 heavy-duty compressed natural gas (CNG) trucks to haul diesel and gasoline for its customers. Bloomberg reports that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the group supplying about 40 percent of the world’s oil, may cut production next year. According to OPEC’s Secretary-General Abdalla El-Badri, the group’s daily output target could fall by 500,000 barrels to 29.5 million barrels in 2015. The group’s monthly report on Sept. 10 showed demand for its oil will drop to 29.2 million barrels a day in 2015 from 29.5 million this year. Oil Daily reports on a filing by TransCanada stating that the cost of the South Dakota portion of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline has more than doubled, to almost $2 billion, due to the protracted regulatory process, inflation, currency changes, labor cost increases and materials storage. The project has been awaiting clearance from the Obama administration for six years after running into environmentalist opposition OPIS carries analysis of the continuing price drop for European benchmark Brent crude oil, which fell below $100 per barrel last week for the first time in 17 months. Investment bank BNP Paribas contends that the decline does not signal a fundamental oil-market shift, since U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate isn’t exhibiting a similar price pattern, and says it’s more likely Brent will rise back to $110 than to sink to $90. Bloomberg covers rigs targeting oil in the U.S. surged to a record last week as producers accelerated drilling in some of the nation’s biggest crude plays. The total energy rig count has almost doubled from five years ago as producers use horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing to draw record volumes of oil and gas out of shale formations across the middle of the country. The boom has raised domestic crude production to the highest level in 28 years, shrinking oil imports to the U.S. Convenience Store News reports the convenience store industry appears to be on track for a slightly improved performance over last year in both total sales and in-store sales. Based on mid-year numbers, total c-store sales were up about half a percent for the first six months of this year compared to 2013. In-store sales (including food service) were up 2.3 percent the first six months of this year versus the first six months of last year. Oil Daily reports the U.S. government has barred five of the largest Russian energy companies from receiving goods and services from U.S. firms that would assist them in developing deepwater, Arctic offshore and shale gas/tight oil projects. Observers are calling the ban a direct hit on U.S.-Russian cooperation in that countrys energy sector. The American Petroleum Institute yesterday announced a publicity campaign to pressure the White House to reduce mandated ethanol blending volumes to avoid the potentially severe economic damage resulting from the “blendwall” – the amount of ethanol the U.S. automobile fleet can safely use in the fuel supply. “EPA has shown more concern for mandating fuels for which there is no demand than it has for protecting fuels for which actual consumers have shown a substantial demand,” said the API’s downstream group director. Oil Daily looks at the effects of the U.S. boom in light sweet crude oil production on the global oil and products market. Traditional suppliers of light sweet crude to the U.S. are now seeking other export destinations, primarily Asia; this flow-change could pose a long-term competitive threat to Middle East suppliers. Refined product markets are also pressured by the shale boom. As U.S. refiners increasingly set the price for gasoline and diesel in the Atlantic Basin, refinery investments in Latin America have stalled, and Europe’s refiners – already in structural decline – must contend with readily available U.S. imports. Oil Daily provides background on the continuing drop in benchmark Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices. OPEC’s latest market report says global demand for its members’ crude oil will fall by 200,000 bpd this year and in 2015 as a result of uneven global economic growth, with U.S. economic strength offset by weakness in Europe and Asia’s developed countries. At the same time, the Energy Information Administration’s weekly inventory data showed increased stocks of gasoline and diesel, underscoring the weak demand outlook. Oil Daily covers the American Petroleum Institute’s (API’s) efforts to inform candidates for federal office about the positive contributions the hydrocarbon industry makes to their constituents. API provided lists of thousands of vendors that provide goods and services to the industry, organized by state and voting district. API also highlighted the huge dollar amounts added to states’ economies by oil and gas activities, and the above-average wages paid by the industry.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 16:35:43 +0000
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