RBN’s Daily Energy Blog and Insights sharpen your energy IQ through fundamentals-based analysis that makes sense of North America’s energy market dynamics.
When we described the quirky workings of the US renewable fuels mandates back in July and August of 2012 the topic was merely brain food for commodity market theorists and sleep deprived gasoline analysts.
Western Canadian heavy crude oil producers have a lot of rail tank cars on order but so far none of the loading terminals in the production region can handle unit trains. The pace of terminal development in Alberta is far slower than North Dakota in 2012.
Western Canadian heavy crude production is set to increase by more than 1 MMb/d over the next 5 years. Pipelines out of the region are full and new capacity is not expected online until 2014. Just like the Bakken in 2012, producers are looking more seriously at rail.
Henry Hub natural gas futures prices are up 90 percent since their 10 year low of $1.907/MMBtu on April 19, 2012 – closing at $3.872/MMBtu on Friday.
Canadian demand for diluent is currently forecast to increase by 300 Mb/d between 2013 and 2020.
The isobutane market has a traditional self-correcting mechanism whenever the market gets oversupplied - the iso vs.
The dramatic growth in North Dakota crude by rail during 2012 included large unit train terminals built to load 80 Mb/d or more. At the same time smaller companies successfully operated alongside the big guys – loading manifest trains at out-of-the-way terminals.
The physical market for Brent, Forties, Oseberg and Ekofisk (BFOE) represents the delivery mechanism for ICE Brent Futures and is linked to crude oil contracts worldwide. This year the trading in the BFOE forward market has been limited to just 20 cargoes a month from the Forties stream.
Crude Oil TradeView provides up-to-date data and insights into the behavior of differentials for 33 crude assessments across North America. Each week, it also walks you through the reasoning of why differentials widen, narrow, flip (premium vs. discount), or blow out.
Of the five natural gas liquids (NGLs), isobutane stands apart in its sources and markets. Isobutane comes from gas processing plants and refineries, but it is also the only NGL intentionally made from another NGL – it’s cousin, normal butane. It has a variety of exotic uses, such as
Does lightning strike twice? How about three times? Sure seems like the coal industry has been hit by three lightning bolts in the past several years: a recession that reduced demand for electrical power, low prices for competing fuels (i.e., natural gas), and new federal regulations
