U.S. crude oil loadings posted their second consecutive drop last week, a reversal from the sharp uptick in volumes following Hurricane Beryl in early July. Exports fell to 3 MMb/d last week, down 0.9 MMb/d from the previous week and 1 MMb/d below than the year-to-date average.

The Dangote Group which recently started up its long-awaited 650-Mb/d refinery in southwestern Nigeria, says it ends up having to buy domestic crude from international traders even though it has a supply agreement from state-owned Nigerian National Oil Company (NNPC).

After languishing below $8/MMbtu during most of 2024, Dutch TTF (title transfer facility, the European marker hub price), has spiked up to almost $13/MMbtu in the past week. Ukrainian war jitters and preparation for winter demand are blamed for the increase.

For the week ending August 9, Baker Hughes reported that the Western Canadian gas-directed drilling rig count was unchanged at 69 (blue line in left hand chart below) and five less than a year ago.

MPLX acquired West Texas Gas’s (WTG) 20% interest in the BANGL pipeline under construction before Energy Transfer closed on its acquisition of WTG in July.