By JOHN P. TRETBAR
Eagle Media
The second most prolific crude-oil producing state in the U.S. has canceled dozens of planned wastewater injection wells.
New Mexico has been rattled by a string of felt earthquakes in recent months, and a new study has uncovered thousands of quakes that have gone unfelt and undetected. The state pulled the plug on 75 new disposal wells along its southern border with Texas. Operators planned to inject 2.3 million barrels of brine into the earth each day at the facilities.
According to the report, an average of about four barrels of wastewater are produced with each barrel of oil extracted in New Mexico.
Russia is shipping black gold on blacklisted ships, in defiance of Western sanctions.
Since April, Russian ports have loaded petroleum cargoes onto at least 17 ships that have been restricted by the West, according to Bloomberg ship tracking data.
Over the last several months Moscow appears to have ramped up its use of sanctioned vessels. A dozen of them took on cargoes of Russian crude and products in August and September, up from just one sanctioned ship noted in April.
The Energy Department reported another million barrels barrels in refills to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in the last two weeks. SPR inventories total 381 million barrels as of September 13. That's up more than 29 million barrels from a year ago.
Reuters reports the administration will announce another six million barrels in refill purchases for delivery early next year. So far more than 50 million barrels have been added back into the SPR since the sale two years ago of more than 180 million barrels.
Commercial crude inventories dropped by 1.6 million barrels last week.
Stockpiles are about four percent below the five year average for this time of year. U.S. crude production drops slightly to 13,211,000 barrels per day. Since last October, weekly U.S. crude oil production has dropped below 13 million barrels per day only once, during a widespread winter weather event in January.
Crude oil imports outpaced exports by 1.7 million barrels per day last week. Petroleum product imports lagged behind exports by more than five million barrels.
U.S. crude imports averaged 6.3 million barrels a day, down more than half a million barrels from last week. The four-week average is down more than seven percent from the same four weeks last year.
Crude imports are down nearly half a million barrels a day from a year ago, and nearly 200-thousand daily barrels from two years ago.
The government reports crude exports of more than 4.5 million barrels a day, up nearly 1.3 million from a week ago but down half a million daily barrels from a year ago.
The Rotary Rig Count from Baker Hughes is down one gas rig for a total of 588 nationwide. The tally in Texas was up two rigs from a week ago, while New Mexico, Louisiana, Utah and Colorado were each down one rig.
The Kansas Rig Count From Independent Oil And Gas Service shows nine active rigs in eastern Kansas, down two, and 13 west of Wichita, which is unchanged. The tally is down 8% on the week, down 31% from a month ago, and down 39% from a year ago.
Kansas regulators okayed 19 new drilling locations last week, with eight in western Kansas, including two new drilling locations in Stafford County. That’s 752 permits so far this year.
Independent Oil and Gas Service reports 23 new well completions, with 13 in western Kansas, with one in Ellis County. That’s 964 completions so far this year.