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
Wednesday, 7/31/2024
Category:
Natural Gas
Data center power demand is soaring as AI — artificial intelligence — rapidly expands across all sorts of applications. That statement is certainly the top buzz factor in today’s energy markets. These facilities need 24x7, super-reliable power, and there’s only one power generation fuel that has any hope of keeping up with the demand surge: natural gas. While most data center developers would prefer green energy to cover their power requirements, the intermittent nature of wind and solar means that for many facilities, it can't happen, at least for the short-to-medium term hyped-up market we are seeing right now. But how much incremental power are we talking about? And how much natural gas will be needed? That’s what we’ll explore in today’s RBN blog.
Tuesday, 7/30/2024
Category:
Natural Gas Liquids
Crude-oil-focused production in the Bakken still hasn’t fully recovered from its pre-COVID high, partly because the western North Dakota shale play continues to face takeaway constraints, especially for natural gas and NGLs. A couple of NGL pipeline projects in the works will certainly help, but will they be enough to enable the Bakken’s increasingly consolidated E&P sector to ramp up its crude oil production? And one more thing: How will the incremental NGLs flowing south on Kinder Morgan’s soon-to-be-repurposed Double H Pipeline find their way to fractionation centers in Conway and Mont Belvieu? In today’s RBN blog, we’ll look at the Bakken’s complicated production-vs.-takeaway conundrum and the ongoing efforts to address it.
Monday, 7/29/2024
Category:
Refined Fuels
More than a decade ago, several U.S. refiners brought new hydrocracking capacity online, wagering that rising demand for middle distillates made such major investments necessary. They were good bets. Demand for jet fuel is expected to continue to grow, and while diesel demand is seen as relatively flat in the U.S. over the next few years, it will continue to climb globally through 2045, according to RBN’s recently released Future of Fuels report. In contrast, the report also sees domestic gasoline demand declines accelerating post-2026 and peaking globally by about 2030, as more consumers turn to electric vehicles (EVs). These contrasting trajectories for middle distillates vs. gasoline will put a growing premium on distillate-centric hydrocracking capacity. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll examine trends incentivizing hydrocracking capacity and how these units will allow U.S. refiners to maintain their competitiveness in a rapidly changing product market.
Friday, 7/26/2024
Category:
Natural Gas
There are two primary drivers for consuming more natural gas close to where it emerges from production wells. One is to eliminate routine gas flaring, which is wasteful and environmentally detrimental, and the other — especially true in takeaway-constrained plays like the Permian — is to add value to gas that otherwise would be sold downstream at steeply discounted prices. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss some innovative approaches to maximizing gas value by consuming it “in-basin” — and the potential for a lot more gas to be used in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico.
Thursday, 7/25/2024
Category:
Crude Oil
In a refinery, crude oil is first distilled, which separates it into light, medium and heavy fractions. After that, refiners start performing chemical reactions to change the oil’s molecules from their natural form into those needed in modern fuels. But the catalysts used in that process aren’t only expensive, they essentially end up as hazardous waste at the end of their productive life. That helps to explain why there’s been a lot of interest in catalyst recycling, which advocates see as a way for refiners to improve both their profitability and their environmental performance. In today’s RBN blog, we continue our look into catalyst recycling — the technology, economics and trade-offs — and detail some of the pushback against it.
Wednesday, 7/24/2024
Category:
Crude Oil
The Biden administration has been on a mission for more than a year to restock the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), which was tapped at unprecedented levels in an effort to keep crude oil and refined product prices under control after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 disrupted energy flows globally. But if returning all of the released 180 MMbbl and replenishing the SPR to pre-war levels was the plan, they’ve got a long way to go. In today’s RBN blog, we examine the steps the administration has taken to replenish the reserve and the headwinds it faces.
Tuesday, 7/23/2024
Category:
Natural Gas
Every day, more than 7.5 Bcf of natural gas flows through the Agua Dulce Hub region in South Texas — 1.7 times the volume five years ago. And the hub’s growth is just beginning. By 2030, flows may well top 11.5 Bcf/d as gas production ramps up in the Permian and the Eagle Ford, pipeline exports to Mexico increase, and new LNG export capacity comes online along the South Texas coast. In today’s RBN blog, we begin a detailed look at the Agua Dulce Hub — its origins, its development during the Shale Era, its major players and its potential to become a major gas trading hub.
Monday, 7/22/2024
Category:
Refined Fuels
The last few years have been filled with often-spirited debate about the global energy transition and the move away from fossil fuels to fully embrace renewables and alternatives to keep the lights on, fuel vehicles and power the world’s economy. But there are a growing number of signs that a swift shift from petroleum is not realistic, which has implications in many areas, including which refinery expansion projects move forward (and where), when oil demand might peak, and which of the many forecasts for gasoline and distillate production will prove to be the most accurate. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss highlights from the new Future of Fuels report by RBN’s Refined Fuels Analytics (RFA) practice, including RFA’s expectations for how a slower transition might affect producers, refiners and consumers.
Friday, 7/19/2024
Category:
Natural Gas
Shipping large volumes of LNG from Canada’s West Coast across the Pacific Ocean to gas-hungry markets in Asia has been a dream nearly two decades in the making. After a great deal of work and patience, three projects have moved into the construction phase, with the most advanced — LNG Canada — on the cusp of accepting its first test-gas volumes, with exports possible by the end of the year. Even with all this progress, three additional projects are vying for the opportunity to join Canada’s LNG export party, as we discuss in today’s RBN blog.
Thursday, 7/18/2024
Category:
Natural Gas
Power generation is one of the leading consumers of natural gas in Texas — every month last year, generators in the state used between 4 Bcf/d and 8 Bcf/d, on average, with the volumes peaking (as you would expect) in August, when air conditioning and a friend with a pool are must-haves. But as we’ve seen, the Texas power grid is often stressed to its limit, and the state has been taking steps to significantly increase the gas-fired generating capacity available for peak-demand periods in both the hottest and coldest months. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss one of the state’s boldest steps yet: the creation of a multibillion-dollar fund to support the development of thousands of megawatts of new gas-fired generation.
Wednesday, 7/17/2024
Category:
Natural Gas
U.S. LNG export capacity is poised to grow tremendously over the next few years, mostly near the Texas/Louisiana border. The gas-focused Haynesville Shale in northwestern Louisiana and northeastern Texas is a prime source of additional supply for those new and expanded terminals. But plans for new north-to-south pipelines to deliver incremental gas out of the Haynesville have been clouded by legal challenges. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll discuss the reasons for the disputes, what’s been going on recently, and the potential fallout.
Tuesday, 7/16/2024
Category:
Crude Oil
For a few years now, crude oil shippers out of the Permian have enjoyed a surplus in pipeline takeaway capacity thanks to a slew of new pipes that came online just as COVID crushed demand, prices and production. But Permian production has recovered, and the takeaway situation is changing for some routes. For example, the pipelines from West Texas to Corpus Christi are running close to full, and if a new offshore export terminal gets built, Permian-to-Gulf-Coast takeaway dynamics would get far more complicated — and fast. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss highlights from our new Drill Down Report, which examines Permian crude flows to existing export terminals and the potential impacts of a new deepwater facility.
Monday, 7/15/2024
Category:
Financial
There’s been a frenetic scramble among oil and gas producers through the early 2020s to acquire top-tier acreage and production assets they think they will need to survive and thrive. Some of those acquisitions are still being done through smaller deals such as acreage swaps, but the expansion mode of choice for most has been big-time M&A, which in a single multibillion-dollar deal can add years to a company’s inventory life or perhaps give it a stronger foothold in a key production region or two. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss Devon Energy’s recently announced $5 billion acquisition of Grayson Mill Energy, yet another private-equity-backed E&P cashing in on the smart moves it has been making.
Friday, 7/12/2024
Category:
Financial
The Uinta Basin is no Permian when it comes to drilling activity and production volumes, but the folks behind what may be the biggest M&A deal in Uinta history say the oil-production economics in parts of the quirky-as-heck play in northeastern Utah compare very favorably with the best of the Permian’s Delaware and Midland basins. And where else will an astounding 85%-plus of the produced hydrocarbons come out of the ground as high-quality waxy crude? In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the recently announced plan by SM Energy and non-op specialist Northern Oil & Gas (NOG) to acquire XCL Resources in a pair of deals valued at $2.55 billion.
Thursday, 7/11/2024
Category:
Natural Gas
Three phenomena — the European Union’s laser focus on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the EU’s now-significant reliance on LNG from the U.S., and the impending startup of new LNG export terminals along the Gulf Coast — are converging, with potentially significant implications for gas producers and LNG exporters alike. Starting next year, U.S. and other suppliers that ship LNG to EU member countries will need to begin complying with the EU’s methane emissions reporting requirements — full compliance is mandatory by 2027, and in 2030 and beyond the gas exported to the EU will be expected to meet a to-be-determined methane intensity (MI) target. As we discuss in today’s RBN blog, the EU methane regulations are still a work in progress, but they provide another reason why U.S. gas producers have been increasing their monitoring of methane emissions and their efforts to reduce them.