RBN Energy
Early Access
Friday, 9/26/2025
Thursday, 9/25/2025
The popularity of weather derivatives has ebbed and flowed since their introduction in the late 1990s but trading activity has rebounded in recent years as the trading community has increasingly begun to reassess the need to hedge weather-related risks — everything from high temperatures and rainfall levels to power prices and cooling demand. In today’s RBN blog, we examine the role of weather derivatives, how they are used to hedge risk, and why they may be becoming increasingly important to the energy industry.
Analyst Insights
Analyst Insights are unique perspectives provided by RBN analysts about energy markets developments. The Insights may cover a wide range of information, such as industry trends, fundamentals, competitive landscape, or other market rumblings. These Insights are designed to be bite-size but punchy analysis so that readers can stay abreast of the most important market changes.
By Jeremy Meier - Friday, 9/26/2025 (3:00 pm)
US oil and gas rig count climbed to 549 rigs for the week ending September 26, an increase of seven rigs vs. a week ago and the largest gain since July according to Baker Hughes data.
By Jason Lindquist - Friday, 9/26/2025 (10:00 am)
Report Highlight: Hydrogen Billboard
Low-carbon steel that utilizes green hydrogen in the production process will be used in Microsoft data centers under an agreement announced this week with Swedish steelmaker Stegra.
Daily Energy Blog
Tuesday, 4/08/2014
Category:
Natural Gas Liquids
Today the US is producing more natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs) and some grades of crude oil hydrocarbons than we can use. Consequently we’ve shifted from an overall position of hydrocarbon shortage to one of surplus. But only some of those surplus products can be exported. That’s because of rules put on the books during the decades of shortage that restrict or ban the export of hydrocarbons. At least six such “Molecule Laws” are now variously impacting international market transactions involving US produced hydrocarbons. Today we describe the export rules affecting NGLs.
Monday, 4/07/2014
Category:
Crude Oil
Growing Canadian production of oil sands bitumen requires diluent to blend it to pipeline flow specifications. The resulting demand for diluent exceeds local Canadian supply from plant condensate production (aka, natural gasoline) – leading to imports from the US of more than 150 Mb/d in 2013 – a figure expected to grow to 460 Mb/d by 2018. That expectation for future import growth is based on the assumption that Canadian condensate supplies would remain relatively flat at about 140 Mb/d. But could the developing Duvernay gas shale play in Western Alberta turn those estimates on their head? Today we investigate the consequences for US condensate demand.
Sunday, 4/06/2014
Category:
Natural Gas Liquids
It is a familiar refrain in the shale era. The U.S. produces more of a hydrocarbon commodity than it can use. This time we are talking ethane, a natural gas liquid that is experiencing production constraints mostly due to the inability of U.S. petrochemical plants to use more of the feedstock. So why not just export the surplus? Unlike crude oil there are no legal constraints on exports. Unlike natural gas, you don’t need a $10 billion plant to convert it to a liquid (LNG) – ethane is already a liquid. Unfortunately for many ethane wannabe exporters, ethane has its own infrastructure and market issues that must be resolved before it can be shipped overseas in significant quantities. Today we continue our blog series on the feasibility of overseas ethane exports.
Thursday, 4/03/2014
Category:
Refined Fuels
Increased refined product exports from US Gulf refineries are being driven by diesel refining margins but a lot of by-product gasoline is being produced as a result. Domestic demand for diesel and gasoline has declined over the past 5 years. Fortunately for refiners there is strong demand for diesel and gasoline in Latin America as well as for diesel in Europe. Important cost advantages stemming from the shale revolution are helping Gulf Coast refiners secure these markets against international competitors. Today we conclude our analysis of booming Gulf Coast exports.
Wednesday, 4/02/2014
Category:
Natural Gas
With Marcellus natural gas production expected to continue increasing, several companies are proposing projects to pipe a portion of the output through New England to Canada’s Maritime Provinces, where the gas would be liquefied and exported to Europe, Latin America and maybe even Asia. Some offshore Atlantic Basin gas production from Sable Island and Deep Panuke would be mixed in too. Such plans for as many as four new LNG export facilities in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick hinge on the development of new pipeline capacity through New England to the existing Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline (MNP), which would be reversed to flow north. Is this a golden opportunity or an overreach? Today we examine prospects for exporting Marcellus gas through new Eastern Canadian LNG facilities.
Tuesday, 4/01/2014
Category:
Crude Oil
Last month (March 4, 2014) the first unit train shipment of railbit blend bitumen crude from Southern Pacific Resources Western Canadian oil sands project arrived at Genesis Energy’s Natchez, MS terminal in the Eastern Gulf Coast region. This is the first railbit unit train to hit our radar screen. Railbit has less light hydrocarbon diluent blended with it than the 30 percent required for making heavy Canadian bitumen crude flow in pipelines. So using rail to ship railbit saves some of the “diluent penalty” that pipeline shippers incur by buying diluent for blending and shipping it with their crude. Today we look at the logistics behind this ground-breaking shipment.
Monday, 3/31/2014
Category:
Crude Oil
In the eight weeks since January 24, 2014 crude oil stocks in the Gulf Coast region grew by 34 MMBbl to reach record levels. Much of the crude pouring into the Gulf Coast is coming by pipeline from Cushing where stocks have been draining over the same period. In addition the Gulf Coast is receiving increased domestic and Canadian supplies from the Midwest via waterway and rail as well as by pipeline from the Permian Basin and by pipeline and barge from the Eagle Ford. Existing Gulf Coast infrastructure is being strained by the challenge to stage crude supplies to area refineries. Today we describe increasing flows of crude into the Gulf Coast region.
Sunday, 3/30/2014
Category:
Energy
We just wrapped up our Spring School of Energy, and it was another huge success. RBN’s School of Energy is unlike other crude oil, natural gas or natural gas liquids (NGLs) conferences. Our two-day core curriculum includes an introduction to energy market fundamentals as well as a comprehensive analysis of current markets. We walk through key developments for each of the three hydrocarbons including the increasingly important links between them. A set of spreadsheet models supplements the presentation materials. Today’s blog – fair warning this is an advertorial - introduces our latest online offering.
Thursday, 3/27/2014
Category:
Crude Oil
Gulf Coast exports of diesel and gasoline are booming. Net exports of diesel have increased over 300 percent from an average of 232 Mb/d in 2009 to 746 Mb/d in 2013. Over the same period net gasoline exports from the Gulf Coast increased five-fold from an average of 87 Mb/d in 2009 to 439 Mb/d in 2013. Today we look at the drivers behind this dramatic export growth.
Wednesday, 3/26/2014
Category:
Natural Gas
Several key factors point to a gradual increase in natural gas power burn over the next few years. More gas-fired units are coming online, and more coal-units are being retired. But with gas prices trending higher this spring and summer than in the same periods last year, 2014 gas use by the electric sector may end up unchanged from 2013--unless this summer is a scorcher. The stronger pricing is good news for producers, of course, as is the very real need to replenish depleted gas stocks. Today, in the first episode of a new series on power burn demand for natural gas, we look back at 2013 and forward to prospects for 2014
Tuesday, 3/25/2014
Category:
Natural Gas Liquids
At our School of Energy International LPG session earlier this month, Kelly Van Hull presented RBN’s outlook for global liquified petroleum gases (LPG) production – showing the US poised to become the world’s top exporter of LPGs within the next year or two - displacing Qatar. While most U.S. LPG exports go to Latin America today, a growing portion will move to Europe and Asia in the future. The limited fleet of very large gas carriers (VLGCs) used to ship LPG is growing rapidly with a record new build order book of 72 ships – 45 percent of today’s fleet of 161 vessels. Spot freight rates assessed daily by London’s Baltic Exchange are also at record levels of $82/MT this week. Today we take a closer look at international LPG ship chartering.
Monday, 3/24/2014
Category:
Natural Gas Liquids
The large and growing surplus of U.S. ethane is leading producers and shippers to step up efforts to export ethane to Europe and eventually to Asia. But there are several hurdles, including the need to construct specialized dock and loading facilities, special ships required to move ethane in overseas trade, unloading and storage facilities at the receiving end, and the need for ethylene crackers in the global market —most of which now use naphtha as their feedstock—to make costly modifications before they can switch to ethane. It may be costly, but it could happen. There are those that hang on to the belief (a mistaken one, we think) that the ethane surplus will disappear later this decade as planned U.S. crackers come online and use increasing amounts of ethane. It is true that those plants will use a lot of ethane. But not nearly enough. Today in the first episode of this blog series we begin to explore the ethane-export issue.
Sunday, 3/23/2014
Category:
Crude Oil
Cushing crude oil inventories have fallen by 28 percent from 42 MMBbl on January 24 to less than 30 MMBbl on March 14, 2014 according to Energy Information Administration (EIA) data. Since the startup of TransCanada’s Cushing Marketlink pipeline at the end of January, outgoing crude pipeline capacity has exceeded inbound supplies at Cushing and the surplus has been headed to the Gulf Coast. Backwardation in the futures market has also encouraged shippers to move supplies out of storage. Today we begin a new series looking at the Cushing exodus and the resultant growing Gulf Coast stockpile.
Thursday, 3/20/2014
Category:
Natural Gas Liquids
We’ve done several blogs over the past months about the impact of the back-to-back crop drying and Polar Vortex anomalies on natural gas liquids (NGL) prices in general and propane prices in particular. Today we are going to take a walk further downstream and look at how increasing propane exports, the weather related anomalies and subsequent price spikes shifted the petrochemical feedstock slate. From mid-year 2013 to early 2014, huge volumes of propane were backed out of the petrochemical sector, replaced for the most part by ethane. These swings have important implications for the future consumption of NGL feedstocks by petchems. In today’s blog, we assess petrochemical feedstock switching in the 2013-14 timeframe, and beyond.
Wednesday, 3/19/2014
Category:
Crude Oil
No sooner had we finished up our analysis of the divergent fates of two North Dakota crude oil pipeline projects - the Enbridge Sandpiper (going ahead after a successful second open season) and the Koch Dakota Express (cancelled in January) – then we learned that competitor Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) had launched a binding open season for a third pipeline proposal following basically the same route. The ETP press announcement provided few specifics but it seems remarkably similar to the cancelled Koch proposal. Today we look at plusses and minuses of this new pipeline proposal.