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
Monday, 2/03/2014
Category:
Natural Gas
The idea of using natural gas produced in Pennsylvania to generate power in South Florida would have been considered implausible or even unthinkable just a few years ago. But now it seems likely that by mid-2017 Marcellus-sourced gas will, in fact, be moving deep into the Southeast. Williams’ planned Atlantic Sunrise project will make its Transco mainline bi-directional as far south as Station 85 in southwestern Alabama. From there, Spectra Energy and NextEra Energy’s Sabal Trail pipeline will move Marcellus and other gas into central Florida, and NextEra’s Florida Southeast Connection line will take gas still further south. Today In the second of a two part series, we conclude our analysis of the transformational Atlantic Sunrise project.
Sunday, 2/02/2014
Category:
Crude Oil
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.
Thursday, 1/30/2014
Category:
Industry
Many who write about hydraulic fracturing suggest, or state explicitly, that it is a new technology in the oil and gas industry. This can hardly be further from the truth. Indeed, it is probably the case that hydraulic fracturing is older than most of the people writing about it. Today we begin a series on hydraulic fracturing and why it has had such a significant impact on gas and oil production over the past few years.
Wednesday, 1/29/2014
Category:
Industry
Natural gas and oil development, especially in shale plays that require a lot of wells and a lot of activity, can be inconvenient and noisy. There are also, of course, various criticisms and protests around some of the processes used, such as hydraulic fracturing, and around the overall level of activity, such as truck traffic. The gas and oil producing industry values strong relationships with the communities where it needs to work, and can use all the friends it can get as it takes the lead in developing the nation’s vast energy resource. Bringing big economic benefits to those communities, which are often rural or industrial areas hard-hit by economic downturns, is clearly really important in the efforts to build those relationships and friendships. There are a lot of different kinds of economic benefits deriving from supply development, but by far the most important to the affected landowners are the royalties resulting from private mineral rights. Today we continue our examination of the inner workings of oil and mineral rights issues, this time considering some common oil and gas royalty disputes.
Tuesday, 1/28/2014
Category:
Natural Gas Liquids
We’ve been talking a lot over the past year about the need for increasing exports to balance the U.S propane market as growth in production from gas processing plants outruns domestic demand. U.S. propane production from gas processing has increased by over 100 Mb/d since January 2013, and there’s lots more to come. For the first time U.S. propane exports exceeded 400 Mb/d in October 2013 thanks to growing U.S supply and infrastructure developments including dock expansions by Enterprise and Targa. But just after exports ramped up, the propane market was hit by a couple of wild cards – a late and very heavy crop drying season and a series of record cold temperature events. In today’s blog, we continue our series covering the record setting 2014 NGL markets.
Monday, 1/27/2014
Category:
Crude Oil
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.
Sunday, 1/26/2014
Category:
Natural Gas Liquids
Last week the U.S. NGL markets entered uncharted territory. According to OPIS, cash propane prices in the Conway, KS market reached almost $5.00/gallon for a time, responding to a massive product shortage across the entire eastern half of the country. But at the same NGL hub, OPIS also reported that the price for ethane/propane mix (EP mix) dropped deep into negative territory at $(0.50)/gallon. That’s crazy. The seller is paying the buyer to take the product. Nothing like this has been seen before in these markets. Propane inventories continue to drop, transport trucks are moving product hundreds of miles to markets, terminals remain on allocation and a state of emergency has been declared by at least 20 state governors. The inventory graphs look so scary that the Black Swan is frozen stiff. Today we begin a series on the NGL markets of 2014, a year that this industry will be talking about for a long time.
Thursday, 1/23/2014
Category:
Natural Gas
Here at RBN, we have an often repeated view that the flood of oil and gas being produced from unconventional plays will change everything we once knew about energy markets (see Top Ten Energy Prognostications for 2014). One such fundamental change is that the U.S. is now producing more natural gas, NGLs and some grades of crude oil than we can use (except for the past three weeks of Polar Vortex weather, of course). Consequently the U.S. has shifted from a position of hydrocarbon shortage to one of surplus. That is great news. But just down the road there are potential problems developing – distortions in the markets. Some of those surplus products can be exported, some can’t. The rules regarding exports of these hydrocarbon products that we are living with today were all put on the books during the decades of shortage. When you look closely at what those rules really say, you’ve got to scratch your head. Today we begin a series to examine those rules.
Wednesday, 1/22/2014
Category:
Crude Oil
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
Category:
Crude Oil
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.
Monday, 1/20/2014
Category:
Natural Gas Liquids
There simply is not enough petrochemical demand to absorb all of the ethane that the U.S. can produce. The result is rejection - ethane sold as natural gas at fuel value rather than being extracted and used as a petrochemical feedstock. Today around 250 Mb/d of ethane is being rejected, and that number could increase by 200% over the next three years. Yes, you read that right. Rejection could triple. As NGL production from the big shale plays increases, the U.S. petrochemical industry will not be able to use most of the incremental ethane - thus rejection. But it may not play out that way. All that ethane could be exported - perhaps as liquid ethane. Or is there another possibility: Spiking ethane into the soon to be exported volumes of LNG from terminals like Cheniere Sabine Pass, Freeport, ETP/Southern Union at Lake Charles and Dominion at Cove Point? Today we continue our exploration into the possibility that surplus ethane could be exported in the form of “hot” LNG.
Thursday, 1/16/2014
Category:
Natural Gas
There will be no RBN blog published on Monday, January 20th in honor of the Martin Luther King holiday.
Spectra Energy and NextEra Energy’s planned Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline from near Transco Station 85 in southwestern Alabama to near Orlando in central Florida will do more than provide additional gas-delivery capacity to Florida and the welcomed redundancy of a third pipeline to the Sunshine State. The big news is that Williams’ Atlantic Sunrise project by July 2017 will enable large volumes of Marcellus-sourced gas to be shipped south (backwards!) along the Transco pipeline all the way to Station 85. That (and Sabal Trail) will give Marcellus producers something unthinkable until now: access to major gas users as far south as Miami. Today we lay out the basics of what is being planned.
Wednesday, 1/15/2014
Category:
Natural Gas
As we move into the Golden Years of U.S. natural gas, it is important to understand the long-term sustainability of such a large expansion to U.S. natural gas supplies and their uses. Our strong conclusion is that US natural gas supply will comfortably meet expected increases in demand in the years out to 2025. And that is important, because if the rapid expansion of demand, including hotly debated sectors like LNG exports, really did start putting strain on the nation’s gas supplies, prices could be higher going forward. But if sufficient confidence exists in the ability of producers to supply enough gas to meet plausible demand scenarios for a long time to come, then stable prices can be expected (and are), which will allow some industrial demand projects to actually get built. Today’s blog concludes our series on natural gas supply and demand.
Tuesday, 1/14/2014
Category:
Crude Oil
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
Category:
Crude Oil
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!