The US oil rig count dropped 5 to 763 last week, the biggest drop in 7 months. However, crude production from the Lower 48 has surged (rising the most since June last week) to the highest since July 2015. Even with today’s sheer farce panic-buying squeze higher in WTI crude, oil looks set for its 3rd weekly close lower as BNP notes the “whole supply surplus story is not likely to go away anytime soon.”
- *U.S. OIL RIG COUNT DOWN 5 TO 763 , BAKER HUGHES SAYS :BHGE US
- *U.S. GAS RIG COUNT UP 1 TO 182 , BAKER HUGHES SAYS :BHGE US
As we have noted previously, this inflection point in the rig count fits with the rolover in crude prices…
While the rig count growth has stabilized, crude production continues to rise in the Lower 48 (though had dropped in Alaska for 3 straight weeks) but both saw a rise this week (total production up 79k) as Lower 48 production hit its highest since July 2015…
Bloomberg notes that U.S. oil production from major shale plays is set to hit another record at 6.15 million barrels a day next month, according to the EIA. It’s not just the Permian that’s growing, as the agency sees higher output across the board.
WTI Crude remains lower on the week despite the panic-buying… with no catalyst at all except bannon momentum ignition in USDJPY.
Soime chatter on the crude curve – “Flat price is finally catching up with some of the signs we’ve seen that the physical market is tightening,” Clayton Rogers, an energy derivative broker at SCS Commodities, says.
