RBN Energy
Early Access
Friday, 5/23/2025
Thursday, 5/22/2025
It’s been about a year and a half since Next Wave Energy Partners opened its Project Traveler facility, a milestone in the energy industry. Overall, Project Traveler has exceeded production expectations and proven the innovative approach of combining ethylene and isobutane to produce high-quality alkylate. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll look at what’s been accomplished so far and dive into what’s ahead for Next Wave.
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 Martin King - Friday, 5/23/2025 (1:30 pm)
For the week of May 23, Baker Hughes reported that the Western Canadian gas-directed rig count fell four to 43 (blue line and text in left hand chart below), 13 less than one year ago and its lowest point this year.
By Jason Lindquist - Friday, 5/23/2025 (8:45 am)
Report Highlight: Hydrogen Billboard
Infinium has begun construction on its Project Roadrunner site near Pecos, TX, which would produce up to 23,000 metric tons (MT) per year (7.6 million gallons) of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and other eFuel products, making it the world’s largest facility of its kind, the company said May 19.
Recently Published Reports
| Report | Title | Published |
|---|---|---|
| Chart Toppers | Chart Toppers - May 20, 2025 | 4 days 8 hours ago |
| TradeView Daily Data | TradeView Daily Data - May 19, 2025 | 4 days 22 hours ago |
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Daily Energy Blog
Wednesday, 2/26/2025
Category:
Natural Gas Liquids
In their first earnings calls of 2025, the handful of large midstream companies that provide the gamut of “wellhead-to-water” services in Texas laid out plans for yet another round of projects — everything from gas processing plants and takeaway pipelines to fractionators and export terminal expansions. At the same time, many of these same midstreamers expressed a degree of caution about overbuilding. They sought to reassure Wall Street that they were only approving plans underpinned by strong commercial support. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the latest capital spending plans of this select, upper tier of midstream service providers.
Tuesday, 2/25/2025
Category:
Natural Gas
A significant shift is underway within Mexico’s energy landscape, reflected by the development of large-scale oil and gas infrastructure projects in the country, particularly the Southeast Gateway and Sierra Madre gas pipelines that would move U.S.-sourced natural gas across Mexico. These projects — the first an undersea pipe in the Gulf of Mexico and the second a pipe across the country’s northern tier — would enhance Mexico’s gas transport capacity while supporting power generation and industrial development. Mexico, which is already heavily reliant on imports of U.S. gas, is forecast to see gas demand rise in the coming years as domestic production drops. In today’s RBN blog, we look at those two pipelines, their challenges, and how the potential for U.S. tariffs on Mexican imports might complicate the future of both projects.
Monday, 2/24/2025
Category:
Crude Oil
PADD 3 has it all — crude oil production from the prolific Permian Basin, a string of refineries along the Gulf Coast, and a fair bit of refined product consumption. Its importance in crude oil production and refining has allowed it to play a central role in the nation’s crude oil supply-and-demand balance. This is especially true regarding crude oil exports, as it’s responsible for virtually all of the U.S. total that can top 4 MMb/d. Because of this, PADD 3 has a significant and growing influence in balancing domestic and international markets for crude oil and refined products. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll look at how the Shale Revolution has transformed the Gulf Coast and how its connectedness with international markets has reaffirmed its dominant position.
Friday, 2/21/2025
Category:
Refined Fuels
Globally, government policies have shifted away from petroleum in recent years toward lower-carbon alternatives such as renewable fuels and electric vehicles (EVs), largely driven by worries about climate change. This has pushed down investment in petroleum refining, and RBN’s Refined Fuels Analytics (RFA) practice predicts global net refining capacity will increase by only 2.1 MMb/d, or 422 Mb/d annually, from 2025-29 — the slowest rate in 30 years. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll discuss the upcoming refinery closures, proposed projects, and the obstacles new and existing refiners face.
Thursday, 2/20/2025
Category:
Natural Gas Liquids
The decision by the U.S.’s largest independent propane wholesaler to exit the business serves as a reminder of the challenges and risks that companies like it face. The move also highlights the fact that at least some other independent wholesalers — including the presumed buyer of NGL Energy Partners’ propane-related assets — believe that by increasing their scale and scope they can compete more effectively with their two classes of competitors: affiliates of big midstream companies and affiliates of propane retailers. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss what the latest M&A activity in the propane space reveals.
Wednesday, 2/19/2025
Category:
Financial
We defy you to name an oil and gas producer that’s been on the buying side of more $1-billion-plus M&A than Permian pure play Diamondback Energy, which announced February 18 that it had agreed to purchase a chunk of Midland Basin assets from Double Eagle IV, one of the Permian’s largest privately held producers, for just under $4.1 billion. You’d be equally hard-pressed to find a team that’s assembled and flipped more Permian acreage and production than the folks at Double Eagle. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the newly announced Diamondback/Double Eagle IV deal and what it gives Diamondback, the fourth-largest producer in the Permian after ExxonMobil, Chevron and Occidental Petroleum.
Tuesday, 2/18/2025
Category:
Crude Oil
In the race to build the next deepwater crude oil export terminal in the Gulf of Mexico, Sentinel Midstream’s proposed Texas GulfLink (TGL) has become one of the frontrunners. TGL’s plan gained its crucial Record of Decision (ROD) Approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) on February 14, but there is still some distance to go before a final investment decision (FID) is reached. In today’s RBN blog we’ll discuss Sentinel’s TGL plan, why it might be uniquely positioned to move forward, and the other contenders still in play.
Friday, 2/14/2025
Category:
Crude Oil
Wells operated by a half-dozen E&Ps in eastern Ohio’s Utica Shale are now churning out more than 100 Mb/d of superlight crude oil — aka condensate — more than twice as much as they were just three years ago, and there’s talk that condensate production in the play’s “volatile oil window” could increase significantly over the next few years. This surge in condensate output raises three relevant questions: (1) how is the condensate being transported to market, (2) where is it headed and (3) what is it being used for? In today’s RBN blog, we continue our series on Utica condensate with a look at the approaches used to transport the commodity to refineries and others in the Midwest and points beyond.
Monday, 2/17/2025
Category:
Natural Gas Liquids
It finally happened. And it’s a very big deal for MPLX and ONEOK, both of which have been working for years to become full-fledged members of the elite “NGL wellhead-to-water club.” But the companies’ announcements that MPLX will build two fractionators at the terminus of a new NGL pipeline from Sweeny to Texas City and that ONEOK and MPLX will joint build a new LPG export terminal nearby (and a new purity-product pipeline between Mont Belvieu and the terminal) doesn’t just fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle they’ve been assembling. The plans also will give Gulf Coast LPG exporters the additional capacity they desperately need and — no small thing — create another fractionation hub. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss what MPLX and ONEOK are planning and why it matters.
Thursday, 2/13/2025
Category:
Refined Fuels
A primary objective of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) implemented in 2007 was to stimulate the production of at least 16 billion gallons/year of gasoline and diesel made from cellulosic biomass, or non-food crops and waste biomass like corn stalks, corncobs, straw, wood, wood byproducts and animal manure. But the vision of making gasoline from wood chips never materialized and today’s cellulosic biofuel is a whole different ballgame. In today’s RBN blog, we look at the evolution of cellulosic biofuels and the D3 Renewable Identification Number, aka the D3 RIN.
Wednesday, 2/12/2025
Category:
Crude Oil
Suriname has been a very minor crude oil producer over the past few decades, with minimal output from its onshore reserves. But with more than a dozen offshore blocks already awarded for development and production set to spike in the coming years, the small South American nation looks primed to follow in the footsteps of its next-door neighbor, Guyana, which is amid an oil-production boom. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll look at the status of Suriname’s offshore developments, the major players involved, and what we know about the crude grades to be produced there.
Tuesday, 2/11/2025
Category:
Financial
The U.S. energy industry’s midstream sector has experienced an extraordinary consolidation over the past few years. This undeniable trend has been driven by the widely held (and sensible) view that the winners in the industry’s next era will be the midstreamers with massive scale and the right assets in the best places. As evidenced by the extension of this buying spree into 2025, there’s still a lot more reshuffling to do. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss a few of the latest midstream deals in the Permian, the Eagle Ford and the Bakken, as well as highlights from our new Drill Down Report on midstream M&A.
Sitting, Waiting, Wishing - Haynesville Gas Producers Hold Steady Ahead of Expected LNG Export Surge
Monday, 2/10/2025
Category:
Natural Gas
Producers in the Haynesville Shale had anticipated that growth in LNG exports in 2024 would goose prices and propel the play’s role as a crucial source of LNG feedgas. Instead, lackluster demand, exacerbated by delays at the Golden Pass LNG project, contributed to lower-than-expected natural gas prices, which caused some producers to scale back drilling plans and trimmed Haynesville production from about 16 Bcf/d in the first half of 2023 to less than 14 Bcf/d by the end of 2024. So, what do they have planned for 2025? In today’s RBN blog, we’ll discuss the Haynesville’s promise and challenges and highlight what E&Ps there are planning.
Friday, 2/07/2025
Category:
Refined Fuels
The looming threat of a 10% tariff on U.S. imports of Canadian crude oil hasn’t just angered Canadians — and understandably so, we might add. It’s also put a spotlight on PADD 2 — the Midwest/Great Plains region — whose pipelines transport the vast majority of Canadian exports and whose 25 refineries (combined capacity 4.3 MMb/d) are, in many cases, significant consumers of heavy and light crudes from up north. Put simply, to assess the impacts of the still-possible trade war on U.S. refiners and producers on both sides of the border, you need to understand PADD 2’s crude oil supply/demand balance and the options Midwestern refineries that currently run Canadian crude would have if a tariff were put in place. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll discuss these dynamics.
Thursday, 2/06/2025
Category:
Crude Oil
Offshore platforms facilitate Gulf of Mexico (GOM) production, but when their useful life is over they are typically decommissioned and dismantled to be sold as scrap or converted into an artificial reef. Not always, though. In certain cases, inactive rigs can be refurbished and used in new projects — a potentially inviting possibility, especially with GOM production expected to rise and drillers under pressure to keep costs down. In today’s RBN blog, we will examine the challenges (and potential benefits) of reusing an inactive platform and look at plans by LLOG Exploration to refurbish an existing facility for its upcoming Salamanca development, the first such project in a decade.