U.S. and global ethane demand continues to grow, making it an increasingly important component of U.S. petroleum balances (9/26/2018)

U.S. and global ethane demand is increasing because of expanding capacity in the petrochemical sector both domestically and abroad. Ethane is a hydrocarbon produced primarily by processing natural gas and is a petrochemical feedstock. This increase in demand has contributed to increased U.S. ethane prices, which have been 95% higher in September 2018 than in January 2018. ... More »

U.S. and global ethane demand continues to grow, making it an increasingly important component of U.S. petroleum balances (9/26/2018)

U.S. and global ethane demand is increasing because of expanding capacity in the petrochemical sector both domestically and abroad. Ethane is a hydrocarbon produced primarily by processing natural gas and is a petrochemical feedstock. This increase in demand has contributed to increased U.S. ethane prices, which have been 95% higher in September 2018 than in January 2018. ... More »

U.S. oil companies increase capital expenditure budgets and discuss Permian constraints in second-quarter 2018 financial statements (9/19/2018)

Second-quarter 2018 financial results for 45 U.S. oil exploration and production companies that the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) regularly tracks reveal most companies increased their capital expenditure budgets for 2018 compared with initial budgets made at the beginning of the year. Although some operators plan to increase drilling activity as a result of higher oil prices in 2018, some companies are also raising capital expenditure budgets because of several large corporate acquisitions. These companies’ second-quarter 2018 financial statements also discussed Permian Basin takeaway capacity constraints. Because of the constraints, some operators with a geographically diverse portfolio of upstream assets plan to redirect capital expenditures to other onshore U.S. regions, while others may reduce well completions or look for alternative higher-cost transportation options. ... More »

Tighter crude oil markets contribute to higher forecast prices (9/12/2018)

In the September 2018 update of its Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) increased the forecast price for the Brent spot price to $73 per barrel (b) in 2018 and $74/b in 2019. EIA expects West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices will average about $6/b lower than Brent prices in 2018 and in 2019. ... More »

Crude oil was the largest U.S. petroleum export in the first half of 2018 (9/6/2018)

The United States exported 7.3 million barrels per day (b/d) of crude oil and petroleum products in the first half of 2018, when exports of crude oil and hydrocarbon gas liquids (HGL) set record monthly highs. Crude oil surpassed HGLs to become the largest U.S. petroleum export, with 1.8 million b/d of exports in the first half of 2018. U.S. exports of crude oil, HGLs, and motor gasoline grew in the first half of 2018 compared with the same period in 2017, while distillate exports decreased 84,000 b/d (Figure 1). ... More »