The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Midland WTI Futures (HOU) contract is set to reach its highest monthly volume yet — more than doubling year over year (see red bar on chart below). HOU is a benchmark for pricing U.S.

Last week, net refinery inputs increased by 330 Mb/d, reaching 16.1 MMb/d. This rise boosted refinery utilization by 1.8%, up to 89.5%. Refinery inputs began declining the week of September 6, hit their fall maintenance seasonal low the week of October 4, and now appear to be climbing back.

Permian Basin crude oil flows to Houston rose in May after two consecutive months of decline, following a six-month growth streak that culminated in a record set in February, according to recently released data from the Texas Railroad Commission.

U.S. crude oil loadings fell to 3.5 MMb/d last week, a decrease of 756 Mb/d from the previous week. The four-week moving average (dashed red line in Figure below) now stands at 3.7 MMb/d, below the year-to-date (YTD) average of 3.9 MMb/d.

So far in October we are recording the lowest average monthly dry gas production figures in the Permian since July. The ramp-up of flows on Matterhorn Express was expected to occasion a jump in regional production, but events on other pipelines have ensured a far different outcome.