Two companies that own Jones Act tankers went through bankruptcy in recent years as the charter business declined following the Great Recession. They are Overseas Shipping Group (OSG) that own two US flag tankers and manage another ten and the smaller US Shipping Corp that owns three Jones Act tankers. These days the surge in US crude production has created strong demand for Jones Act tankers and record charter rates for owners. Now tankers once dedicated to the Alaska trade between Valdez and the West Coast are being considered for crude shuttle duty around the Lower 48. Today we continue our review of US Flag fleet owners.
Daily Energy Blog
Monday, 1/27/2014
Four midstream companies are building or planning condensate splitter capacity to process at least 400 Mb/d of Eagle Ford production by 2016. These facilities will join BASF/Total, who have been operating a 75 Mb/d splitter at Port Arthur since 2000. Gulf Coast refiners are also increasing their capacity to process lighter crudes. These infrastructure developments are being made in response to a flood of condensate range material coming out of the Eagle Ford into Houston and Corpus Christi. Today we detail these plans.
Wednesday, 1/22/2014
There has been a great deal of publicity around royalties involved with the shale gas—stories of instant millionaires (or “shaleionaires,” as 60 Minutes called them in 2010), stories of producers reducing or even eliminating some royalty payments as the vast oversupply of natural gas took hold in the last couple of years, stories of long, excruciating negotiations to reach a royalty/lease agreement, only to find out that the seller’s side of the table didn’t actually contain the owner of the rights, and stories of neighbors turning on each other when they got radically different deals based on timing or whom they were dealing with, and so on. Unless you have been directly involved in leasing and royalty work, a lot of it can be confusing. So today we begin a blog series to illuminate the world of mineral rights, oil & gas leases and royalties.
Tuesday, 1/21/2014
At the end of last year (2013) Kinder Morgan invested nearly $1 Billion to buy five existing Jones Act tankers and four new builds on the way. Two other companies, Crowley Maritime and Seabulk tankers (part of Seacor Holdings) placed orders in 2013 to build six more tankers in the next two years. In all there are twelve new build orders on the books and options for even more threaten to rock the boat for current record high charter rates (over $100,000/day) being enjoyed by the 42 vessel Jones Act fleet. Today we detail the tankers owned by Kinder Morgan, Crowley and Seabulk.
Tuesday, 1/14/2014
The recent tragic spate of four rail accidents involving crude-by-rail, three of them carrying crude from North Dakota, have increased pressure for regulation of rail tank car standards. The railroad industry- through the Association of American Railroads (AAR) - proposed improved safety standards in 2011 for tank cars carrying hazardous materials including crude oil. These standards have been adopted by US tank car builders and were mandated this week by the Canadian Government for new tank car construction. If the new standards applied to all existing tank cars then at least 75,000 cars manufactured before 2011 would require retrofitting. Today we examine the impact hastily implemented new regulatory requirements might have on Bakken crude oil takeaway.
Monday, 1/13/2014
Spectra Energy purchased the 280 Mb/d Express pipeline from Kinder Morgan in December 2012. The Express originates in Hardisty and ships crude to Caspar WY where it connects with the Platte pipeline into the Midwest. The Express is small compared to the huge 2.5 MMb/d Enbridge mainline and the planned 1.1 MMb/d TransCanada Energy East pipelines but it is not the smallest export pipe from Hardisty. That honor belongs to the Inter Pipeline Bow River that ships less than 100 Mb/d of crude across the border into Montana. Today we continue our Canadian crude storage series describing Edmonton and Hardisty crude oil infrastructure. And further down in this blog we announce that everyone attending our School of Energy - Session A in March will be joining us for the Brad Paisley concert at the Houston Rodeo!
Sunday, 1/12/2014
In December 2013 US Midstream giant Kinder Morgan agreed to spend nearly $1 Billion to get into the oil tanker business by buying two companies that own 5 US registered “Jones Act” vessels and are in the process of building 4 more. These tankers are part of an exclusive fleet of just 42 self propelled ocean going vessels that deliver oil or refined products between US ports. Booming US crude production along with constrained onshore delivery infrastructure have increased demand for tankers that can ship oil along coastal waters. Long-term charter rates for these tankers jumped to over $100,000/day in 2013 compared to an average of $56,000/day in 2012. Today we begin a blog series looking at the US flagged tanker fleet and plans to expand it by 35 percent in the next 2 years.
Wednesday, 1/08/2014
The wide scale adoption of crude-by-rail transportation since 2012 means that in the U.S. alone by the end of 2013 more than 740 Mb/d was being shipped to market by railroads or about 11 percent of domestic production (source: American Railroads Association). That percentage will continue to increase. RBN Energy research indicates that around 171 rail loading and offloading terminals have been built or are under development throughout North America since 2011. Pipeline infrastructure build out and increased regulatory scrutiny of rail tank car safety have not slowed the use of rail in production regions such as the North Dakota Bakken. Today we review the new RBN Energy Drill-Down report on crude by rail.
Monday, 1/06/2014
TransCanada currently owns just over 1 MMBbl of crude storage at Hardisty that is used to stage operations on the existing 580 Mb/d Keystone pipeline to the US. With two huge new pipelines planned to originate at Hardisty – the 830 Mb/d Keystone XL (still awaiting Presidential approval) and the 1.1 MMb/d Energy East potentially coming online in the next four years, the company is rapidly expanding Hardisty capacity. At the same time Gibson Energy and US Development Group are building a 120 Mb/d rail terminal close by to Hardisty that will give Canadian producers the option to bypass pipeline congestion. Today we describe these companies’ infrastructure plans.
Sunday, 12/29/2013
This year has seen the WTI discount to Brent trading in a range from $23/Bbl in February to less than $1/Bbl in July then back out to $19/Bbl in November. On Friday (December 27, 2013) the WTI discount to Brent was $11.85/Bbl. During the year the spread behaved differently in three distinct periods - reflecting changes in the fundamentals as well as market sentiment. Today we review how the granddaddy of crude spreads fared this year.
Monday, 12/23/2013
Hardisty is the largest oil storage hub in Canada with over 21 MMBbl of tank capacity owned by seven companies. The largest player Enbridge has more than 12 MMBbl of storage with the majority being leased to third parties including a sizeable chunk to investment bankers JP Morgan. Western Canadian Select (WCS) the benchmark Canadian heavy crude is blended at Husky’s Hardisty terminal. Today we detail these two companies’ operations at Hardisty.
Sunday, 12/22/2013
If the flood of new crude arriving at the Gulf Coast during the first six months of 2014 overwhelms refiners in the region, then the pricing consequences may very well be quite radical. Could prices at the Gulf Coast flip to trade at a discount to West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude delivered at the Cushing hub that is home to the CME NYMEX contract? Even if Gulf Coast crude retains its premium over WTI, deep discounts may be required to encourage refiners to process increasing quantities of light sweet crude. A downward spiral of crude prices could ensue. Today we lay out possible price scenarios.
Tuesday, 12/17/2013
Next year (2014) RBN Energy expects Utica natural gas processing plants to produce 43 Mb/d of natural gasoline – more than 3 times 2013 production. Local demand will only soak up 17 Mb/d – leaving 26Mb/d needing transport to markets outside the region. Midstream companies are building infrastructure to accomplish this – by pipeline, rail, truck or barge. Today we conclude our survey of Utica Condensate and natural gasoline takeaway.
Monday, 12/16/2013
Midstream companies are expanding their infrastructure in Edmonton, Alberta. Kinder Morgan is adding over 5 MMBbl of storage at the origin terminal for its Trans Mountain pipeline to the West Coast. However new investment is also being piled into rail infrastructure – including Kinder’s JV unit train loading terminal with Keyera. Canadian producers are shopping for routes to market that offer them optionality that can help mitigate congestion and discounting. Today we describe five company’s infrastructure plans in the Edmonton region.
Sunday, 12/15/2013
The bases are loaded for another 2 MMb/d of pipeline capacity to bring additional crude supplies to the Texas Gulf Coast by the end of 2014. The majority of that payload will likely be light sweet crude from tight oil formations, a.k.a., shale. As the flood of crude headed to Texas passed through the Midwest over the past two years, prices at Cushing and points north were heavily discounted versus coastal markets. Now the discount action has moved to the Gulf Coast where light sweet crude imports have been pushed out. Today we look at the impact of the changing supply position on crude price differentials.
