RBN Energy
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Friday, 8/29/2025
Monday, 9/01/2025
Crude oil production in the Permian may or may not have peaked — that’s TBD. What we do know is that even if the shale play’s oil output flatlines, the Permian will generate increasing volumes of natural gas (and NGLs) and virtually all of it will need to be piped to other markets, primarily the Gulf Coast to feed existing and planned LNG export terminals, gas-fired power plants and other large consumers. To keep pace with that undeniable need for more Permian-to-Gulf takeaway capacity, WhiteWater has announced plans, through its Matterhorn joint venture (JV), for yet another mountain-themed gas conduit to the coast. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss WhiteWater’s newly unveiled Eiger Express Pipeline.
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, 8/29/2025 (3:15 pm)
US oil and gas rig count ended the month of August with another week-on-week decline, dropping two rigs for the week ending August 29 and marking the fourth week of declines this month according to Baker Hughes data.
By Martin King - Friday, 8/29/2025 (12:45 pm)
For the week of August 29, Baker Hughes reported that the Western Canadian gas-directed rig count fell one to 55 (blue line and text in left hand chart below), 12 less than one year ago and is the lowest for this time of year since 2020.
Daily Energy Blog
Thursday, 1/18/2024
Category:
Renewables
The long-delayed rules around the federal government’s Hydrogen Production Tax Credit (PTC), also known as 45V, have been the subject of heated debate (and lobbying) since passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in August 2022. While some industry groups argued for looser guidelines around the PTC that would allow the low-carbon hydrogen industry to grow quickly, others called for a stricter set of rules from the start, arguing that an approach that was too lax would lead to an increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll look at how those newly published rules rely on the so-called “three pillars” of clean hydrogen, how they prioritize production of green hydrogen at the expense of its blue and pink varieties, and explain the rules around temporal matching and why it might be hard to hit the administration’s 2028 target date for implementation.
Wednesday, 1/17/2024
Category:
Natural Gas Liquids
In North Dakota’s Bakken production region, crude oil is king. The light, sweet crude produced there is attractive to buyers in the Midwest and Gulf Coast and is the primary driver of producer economics in the basin. And when the crude is produced, it comes along with a healthy dose of NGL-rich associated natural gas. But while those are valuable products in their own right, providing economic uplift when sold, it’s a double-edged sword. Natural gas and NGL volumes are increasing rapidly and will soon test the limits of takeaway capacity, with the potential to disrupt not only those commodities but also the crude production with which they’re associated. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss three potential limitations faced by Bakken producers: natural gas pipeline capacity, NGL pipeline capacity and, at the fulcrum of those two, the Btu heat content of the gas being piped out of the basin.
Tuesday, 1/16/2024
Category:
Crude Oil
The impending startup of Canada’s government-owned Trans Mountain Expansion Project, better known as TMX, will add exit capacity for Western Canadian crude oil production and is expected to redirect at least some of Alberta’s output toward California and Asia and away from its traditional North American markets, including complex refiners in Eastern Canada and the U.S. Midwest and Gulf Coast. Among them, Gulf Coast refiners, who have become the “price-setting” consumers of heavy Western Canadian crude, are expected to be the hardest hit. In today’s RBN blog, we examine the Gulf of Mexico production and imported grades that might become stand-ins for the “lost” Canadian barrels.
Friday, 1/12/2024
Category:
Financial
In a deal the energy industry had been whispering about for months, Chesapeake Energy and Southwestern Energy will combine to form what will be the largest natural gas producer in the U.S., with 7.3 Bcf/d of production in the Marcellus/Utica and the Haynesville and ready access to the Northeast and the LNG export market — assuming the merger passes muster with federal regulators. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the merger and why it makes sense for both E&Ps.
Monday, 1/15/2024
Category:
Government & Regulatory
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments January 17 in a pair of cases that are poised to capsize the so-called Chevron Deference, a 40-year-old legal doctrine that provides a key foundation for modern administrative law. It’s a big deal – big enough that we’re willing to wade into a little bit of legalese to help make sense of it. So strap in because in today’s RBN blog, we’ll explain what the Chevron Deference is, why it’s worth knowing about, how it applies to two cases that could alter its application, and how a ruling that limits or eliminates the doctrine’s usage and application could transform energy industry regulation.
Thursday, 1/11/2024
Category:
Natural Gas
U.S. natural gas production continues to increase, with more growth expected at least through the middle of this decade to feed new LNG export capacity coming online along the Gulf Coast. Production growth will require new infrastructure, but long-distance transmission lines have become increasingly difficult to build due to entrenched environmental opposition. Meanwhile, gathering pipes have grown in size and length, blurring the lines between gathering and transmission. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll discuss what separates gathering systems from transmission pipelines, why those differences matter, and how those systems are continuing to evolve.
Wednesday, 1/10/2024
Category:
Financial
Permian this and Permian that. For several years now, acreage and production in that sprawling, crude-oil-focused shale play in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico have been at the center of so much M&A activity. And the deals keep coming! Just last week, APA Corp. — the international E&P formerly known as Apache — announced that it will be acquiring Callon Petroleum, which in recent years has become a Permian pure play with significant holdings in both the Delaware and Midland basins. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the APA/Callon deal, the drivers behind it, and why the acquisition makes sense for both companies.
Tuesday, 1/09/2024
Category:
Financial
There’s been a lot of M&A activity the past couple of years among oil and gas producers — midstreamers too. That makes sense. Joining forces can provide all kinds of opportunities: for synergy, economies of scale, and expansion within (or into) key production areas, to name just a few. Well, energy-industry consolidation isn’t limited to E&Ps and midstream companies. Just recently, two major providers of contract compression services — critical to the gathering and processing of natural gas in the Permian and other plays — announced that they will be combining to form what they say will be the largest firm in that space. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll look at the gas compression services sector and the plan by Kodiak Gas Services to acquire CSI Compressco LP.
Monday, 1/08/2024
Category:
Natural Gas Liquids
The demand for ethane by Alberta’s petrochemical industry has experienced a slow expansion in the past 20 or so years. However, that demand is likely to increase sharply by the end of the decade now that Dow Chemical has sanctioned a major expansion at its operations in Fort Saskatchewan, AB, that will more than double the site’s ethane requirements. As we discuss in today’s RBN blog, this will call for an “all-hands-on-deck” approach to increasing Alberta’s access to ethane supplies from numerous sources.
Friday, 1/05/2024
Category:
Government & Regulatory
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments January 17 in a pair of cases that are poised to capsize the so-called Chevron Deference, a 40-year-old legal doctrine that provides a key foundation for modern administrative law. It’s a big deal – big enough that we’re willing to wade into a little bit of legalese to help make sense of it. So strap in because in today’s RBN blog, we’ll explain what the Chevron Deference is, why it’s worth knowing about, how it applies to two cases that could alter its application, and how a ruling that limits or eliminates the doctrine’s usage and application could transform energy industry regulation.
Thursday, 1/04/2024
Category:
Natural Gas
We’ve been saying for a while now that the natural gas storage market may be on the verge of a comeback. At the same time, we’ve cautioned that the world has changed since the heyday of gas storage in the mid-to-late 2000s, and that while market participants are clamoring for storage solutions and storage values are rising, what’s driving storage values today is vastly different than what drove the last big capacity build-out (which resulted in a major storage overbuild). As a result, only a handful of storage projects meeting special needs in particular places are likely to reach a final investment decision (FID). In today’s RBN blog, we discuss one such project: a greenfield storage facility under construction at two depleted dry-gas reservoirs 90 miles southeast of Dallas.
Wednesday, 1/03/2024
Category:
Natural Gas Liquids
After a roughly three-year wait for a critical state permit, Enbridge’s Great Lakes Tunnel and Pipe Replacement project for its Line 5 pipeline across the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan has taken a step forward. The Army Corps of Engineers’ permits for the tunnel project would seem to be the only major obstacle standing in the way of construction, but there may well be more challenges ahead. Like a few other oil and gas projects — namely, Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) — Line 5 has become entangled in controversy, including local opposition worried that a spill would irreparably damage their surroundings and spoil the state’s natural resources. In today’s RBN blog, we take a closer look at the Line 5 project, its next steps, and the opposition it continues to encounter.
Tuesday, 1/02/2024
Category:
Government & Regulatory
Folks not directly involved in the FERC’s rate-setting process for interstate gas pipelines may think it’s a largely mechanical — and painfully boring — activity. But the process is actually often incredibly dynamic, with a lot of give-and-take among pipeline representatives, pipeline customers and FERC staffers, all aimed at reaching an agreement on rates that everyone involved can live with. We recently explained the “formal process” and (informal, confidential) “settlement process” that usually play out along parallel tracks. In today’s RBN blog, we expand on our look at the rate-setting process for gas pipelines with a few more nuances of how negotiated resolution really works.
Friday, 12/29/2023
Category:
Energy
Think energy markets are getting back to normal? After all, prices have been relatively stable, production is growing at a healthy rate, and infrastructure bottlenecks are front and center again. Just like the good ol’ days, right? Absolutely not. It’s a whole new energy world out there, with unexpected twists and turns around every corner — everything from regional hostilities, renewables subsidies, disruptions at shipping pinch points, pipeline capacity shortfalls and all sorts of other quirky variables. There’s just no way to predict what is going to happen next, right? Nah. All we need to do is stick our collective RBN necks out one more time, peer into our crystal ball, and see what 2024 has in store for us.
Monday, 1/01/2024
Category:
Government & Regulatory
The rates regulators set for transporting natural gas on interstate pipelines are all-important. They determine how much it costs to get gas from A to B, whether new capacity can be funded, and serve as the bedrock of regional gas price relationships around the nation’s pipeline grid. But the process for establishing those rates can seem opaque and is often misunderstood — it’s one of those things you need to be directly involved in to fully grasp. Well, RBN’s Advisory Practice lives and breathes gas pipeline rate cases month in, month out, and we thought it would be interesting — and kind of fun — to take you behind the curtain and explain how rate cases at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) really play out.