RBN Energy
Early Access
Monday, 9/29/2025
Friday, 9/26/2025
Before data centers were the hot topic everywhere, Virginia was already rolling out the red carpet and it seemed that tech firms were constructing facilities as fast as humanly possible, drawn by the state’s robust fiber-optic network and low power prices. But while other states are racing to catch up, Virginia may be hitting the brakes. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll look at what makes Virginia so “sweet” for data center developers, their impact on the state, and efforts by some to slow progress.
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
Sunday, 6/30/2013
Category:
Crude Oil
Permian crude production increased by 26 percent between January 2012 and May 2013 according to Bentek. Production is now about 1.4 MMb/d - virtually the same as existing pipeline takeaway capacity and local crude consumption. That tight balance has caused considerable price volatility between Midland, TX in the production region and Cushing, OK in the past year. Today we begin an updated analysis of Permian production and takeaway capacity.
Thursday, 6/27/2013
Category:
Natural Gas
NYMEX natural gas prices have fallen 16 percent since reaching their high for the year so far of $4.408/MMBtu on April 19, 2013. The NYMEX August contract closed at $3.582/MMBtu on June 27, 2013.The market is currently in the low demand shoulder season. Winter is over and summer heat is on the way but temperatures in May and June are not typically high enough to significantly increase demand for air conditioning. Today we review shoulder season gas market fundamentals.
Wednesday, 6/26/2013
Category:
Crude Oil
The new Turner Mason (TMC) study titled “North American Crude and Condensate Outlook” (NACCO) forecasts a high case 8.2 MMb/d increase in crude supplies from US and Canadian production over the next 10 years. While most crude imports will be pushed out by this production surge over the 10-year period, a minimum structural import level of about 1.4 MMb/d will remain. As domestic and Canadian crude supplies overwhelm refining capacity in coastal regions TMC predict crude exports will be required to balance demand. Today we review TMC’s crude market and refinery operations predictions.
Tuesday, 6/25/2013
Category:
Crude Oil
The volume of crude moving out of Corpus by barge and tanker increased from 7 Mb/d in January 2012 to 370 Mb/d in May 2013. At the same time two 300 Mb/d plus pipelines from the South Texas Eagle Ford to Houston are running at less than half full. We know these stats because of information from a company called Clipper Data, which among other things provides detailed waterborne movements of Eagle Ford crude from the Port of Corpus Christi to Gulf Coast destinations. Today we examine the shipping data for clues.
Monday, 6/24/2013
Category:
Refined Fuels
A couple of months back in March 2013, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released proposed Tier 3 gasoline regulations that, if approved, will go into effect on January 1, 2017. The new rules include lower sulfur specifications for gasoline and tighter emissions controls for motor vehicles. Tier 3 also encourages acceptance of higher percentages of ethanol in gasoline. These regulations come at a time when US refinery gasoline blenders are jumping through hoops to handle a flood of new light shale crudes and increased demand for natural gasoline exports to Canada. Today we examines the proposals and their impact on gasoline and natural gas liquids markets.
Sunday, 6/23/2013
Category:
Natural Gas Liquids
Two weeks ago we posted part 1 of a series looking to answer the question – ‘Are we likely to run into storage issues with NGLs in PADD 1 while we are waiting for infrastructure and demand side projects such as export terminals and petrochemical facilities to be built out?’ We assessed growing supply and demand mismatches, how production will move between regions, and set the stage for today’s blog where we will examine the need for and availability of NGL storage capacity in PADD 1. In today’s blog, we will finish painting the PADD 1 NGL storage picture.
Thursday, 6/20/2013
Category:
Natural Gas
Two years ago in June 2011 the forward curve for NYMEX natural gas pointed to $5/MMBtu for gas in 2012 – rising to $8/MMBtu by 2022. This week (June 2013) the forward curve structure looks much the same except that expected prices in 2022 are down two bucks at $6/MMBtu. In between those forward curves, spot prices for natural gas plunged to less than $2/MMBtu in April 2012 and climbed back up to $4/MMBtu a few weeks ago. Today we consder how changing production and new patterns of demand look set to change gas market price structures for good.
Wednesday, 6/19/2013
Category:
Petrochemicals
Emission regulations require that companies planning new olefin crackers in EPA designated nonattainment areas like Houston must buy emission credits prior to construction. The market for credits in Houston for one criteria pollutant – volatile organic compounds (VOCs) skyrocketed from $4.5K/ton in 2011 to $300K/ton this month. The scarcity of emission credits and their rising price threaten to constrain or delay new petrochemical plant builds and will continue to hamper plant development and expansions in the Gulf Coast region. Today we describe the challenge new projects face.
Tuesday, 6/18/2013
Category:
Petrochemicals
Cheap feedstocks resulting from dramatic increases in US shale production of natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs) have led petrochemical companies to plan at least 7 new processing plants - known as olefin crackers - all but one on the Gulf Coast. These plants are expensive (think $billions) and take years to permit and build. They also produce significant quantities of emissions that are restricted by the Clean Air Act (CAA) – some of which trade in a market that has been skyrocketing for the past few months – threatening to delay or constrain the Gulf Coast cracker building spree before it gets started. Today we describe the regulations.
Monday, 6/17/2013
Category:
Natural Gas
The natural gas trading market has been getting a lot of attention lately and not in a good way. A couple of weeks ago the Wall Street Journal published two articles describing the fact that traders have started to reduce their presence in natural gas storage. At about the same time, Oneok, once a big player in energy services shut down its operation that had used natural gas storage and pipeline transportation capacity to provide those services to the industry. With gas production still coming on strong, more gas being used for power generation and the possibility of serious LNG exports on the way, what’s the problem? Today we look deeper into turmoil in the natural gas markets.
Sunday, 6/16/2013
Category:
Crude Oil
According to a new study just released by Turner Mason titled “North American Crude and Condensate Outlook” (NACCO), U.S. crude oil production could nearly double between early 2012 and 2022. At least that is the Study’s “high case” production scenario. That is very good news for U.S. refiners. Perhaps less good is the fact that 80% of the volume growth is light sweet crude, super-light crude, or even lighter condensate. How will refiners digest all of this light crude and what impact will the growing supply have on price differentials? What will the surge of light crude mean for waterborne and Canadian heavy crude imports? Today we start a two-blog series that will examine some of the findings of TM&C’s “2013 North American Crude and Condensate Outlook” (NACCO).
Thursday, 6/13/2013
Category:
Crude Oil
Three years ago in June 2010, prices for the international benchmark Brent crude and the US domestic benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) traded within $1/Bbl of each other. Then in August 2010, WTI began to trade at a discount to Brent that widened out as far as $28/Bbl in November 2011 and averaged $17.50/Bbl in 2012. Since May 2013 the WTI discount to Brent has narrowed to an average $8.50/Bbl. Today we wonder if it’s time to tie a yellow ribbon round a West Texas oak tree.
Wednesday, 6/12/2013
Category:
Crude Oil
Narrowing price differentials between inland crudes tied to West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and coastal crudes tied to Brent are resulting in a move away from rail shipments and back towards pipelines by producers in North Dakota. The switch away from rail is already having an impact on the lease rates for rail tank cars. Which could call into question the huge backlog of orders for new tank cars. Today we ponder the possibility of a bust in crude-by-rail shipments.
Tuesday, 6/11/2013
Category:
Crude Oil
Two separate companies launched open seasons for complimentary pipelines last week (June 5, 2013) that would offer at least 420 Mb/d of capacity to ship heavy Canadian crude to the Gulf Coast by early 2016. Energy Transfer Partners proposes to reverse part of the Trunkline natural gas pipeline to ship crude. Enbridge propose to build a pipeline to link the Trunkline reversal directly to their Lakehead system. Today we explore the rationale behind these projects.
Monday, 6/10/2013
Category:
Natural Gas Liquids
The production of natural gas liquids (NGLs) increased twice as quickly as expected just two years ago in 2011. Current production of 3.2 MMb/d (gas plants + refineries) was only supposed to be achieved in 2016 and now the forecast is for 4 MMb/d by then. The result has been more rapid implementation of infrastructure to handle NGLs and that supply has exceeded demand so that exports are required. Today we look at the impact of the rapid production ramp up.