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.
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Hit the Lights - Utica Shale Condensate Production Is Up. Where's It Going and How's It Getting There? Friday, 2/14/2025
Tuesday, 2/11/2025
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.
Friday, 2/07/2025
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.
Wednesday, 2/05/2025
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.
Tuesday, 2/04/2025
After successfully reducing emissions of pollutants like sulfur and nitrogen, the global shipping industry now is focused on ratcheting down — and eventually eliminating — its emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHGs). It’s no easy task. Crude-oil-based bunker like low-sulfur fuel oil (LSFO) and marine gas oil (MGO) are readily available, relatively inexpensive, and pack a lot of energy into each gallon. But GHG-reduction goals are in place, both globally and in the European Union (EU), and shipping companies are taking steps to meet them, initially with more LNG-fueled vessels and later with ships powered by clean methanol, clean ammonia and biofuels. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the shift in bunker fuel consumption since IMO 2020 was implemented five years ago and the efforts to transition to even cleaner shipping fuels through the late 2020s and beyond.
Friday, 1/24/2025
Condensate production in the Utica Shale’s volatile oil window in eastern Ohio has more than doubled over the past three years, and plans by the handful of E&Ps that focus on the super-light crude oil suggest that output will increase further this year and next. Who are these producers, why do they see such promise for condensate growth in the Utica, and how are they measuring their success? In today’s RBN blog, we continue examining rising condensate production in eastern Ohio with a look at the leading E&Ps in this space.
Friday, 1/17/2025
Natural gas production in the Permian is still on a roll — increasing so fast that midstream infrastructure can barely keep up. But producers, marketers and shippers want more than new takeaway capacity. They also need to know that the pipeline systems they sign up with can reliably move their gas to markets where they can get the best price. Put simply, they are demanding optionality. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the optionality provided by a WhiteWater Midstream-led joint venture’s (JV) expanding gas pipeline network in Texas, including a brand-new project between the Agua Dulce and Katy gas hubs that’s in the works.
Tuesday, 1/14/2025
In just a few days, President-elect Trump will return to office, determined to fulfill his many campaign promises, including his high-profile commitment to ease the regulatory burden on oil and gas producers so they can “drill, baby, drill.” Significantly ramping up production would likely bring down consumer prices for gasoline, diesel and other fuels — a noble goal — but it would also be at odds with the conservative, financially disciplined strategies that now guide many oil majors and oil-focused E&Ps. With the prospects for “drill, baby, drill” uncertain at best, and the correlations between oil prices, rig counts and production volumes less reliable than they used to be, how can we develop a production forecast? In today’s RBN blog, we explain what we do — oh, and we share our forecast with you, for free!
Wednesday, 1/08/2025
At first glance, you might think that Phillips 66’s newly announced, $2.2 billion plan to acquire the EPIC NGL pipeline system, two fractionators near Corpus Christi and other NGL-related assets in Texas is just another logical step in the expansion of P66’s “well-to-market” NGL strategy — and you’d be right. But the story is actually much more interesting, involving a long list of well-known midstream players and a long-running, still-evolving effort to dilute the Mont Belvieu NGL hub’s dominance. In today’s RBN blog, we spill the tea.
Friday, 1/03/2025
The Marcellus/Utica is a natural-gas-and-NGLs play, right? Almost entirely, yes. But a handful of dogged, innovative E&Ps have been producing fast-rising volumes of superlight crude — better described as condensate — in the Utica Shale’s “volatile oil window” in eastern Ohio. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss recently ramped-up drilling-and-completion activity in that swath of the Buckeye State, the potential for more growth through the second half of the 2020s, and the impact of increasing output on Midwest midstreamers and refiners.
Monday, 12/23/2024
The U.S. is now the world’s #1 supplier of LNG and the new liquefaction/export capacity slated to come online over the next few years suggest it will hold that position into the 2030s. To control more of the LNG value chain and become more familiar with the inner workings of the U.S. natural gas market, a small-but-growing number of LNG buyers and suppliers have been acquiring gas production assets close to LNG export terminals along the U.S. Gulf Coast — in other words, buying slices of the American gas-supply pie. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the LNG market players pursuing this strategy, what they’ve been buying, and how their acquisitions may benefit them.
Friday, 12/13/2024
As 2023 was drawing to a close, folks with 401(k) plans and IRAs were wondering whether stocks would have another great year in 2024. Many of us tracking oil and gas E&Ps were asking a similar question about upstream M&A: Is there any way to match the consolidation frenzy that started in mid-2020 and didn’t let up? The answer is, yes — 2024 was another barn-burner year for acquisitions. (And for Wall Street and our investments!). In today’s RBN blog, we discuss highlights from our new Drill Down report on the past year in producer M&A.
Monday, 12/09/2024
President-elect Trump’s plan to impose a 25% tariff on all imported goods from Canada and Mexico — including crude oil — has raised concern among U.S. refiners, many of which depend heavily on those imports and would face serious challenges in replacing them. The question is, given that dependence and the incoming administration’s pledge to reduce energy costs, will refiners — and oil producers in Canada and Mexico — succeed in their efforts to exempt crude oil from the tariff plan? In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the degree to which U.S. refineries incorporate Canada- and Mexico-sourced oil in their crude slates, the potentially devastating impacts of a tariff on Canadian crude in particular, and the odds for and against U.S. tariffs on oil imports from its neighbors.
Thursday, 12/05/2024
Over the past few years, tax credits and other incentives — both financial and regulatory — have breathed life into the U.S. market for sustainable aviation fuel, whose production is now ramping up, with more SAF capacity on the way. But the sector may experience turbulence under the incoming Trump administration, which has pledged to undo much of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and pull back on the stepped-up decarbonization efforts that helped define the Biden presidency. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the latest developments in the SAF space and the choppiness the still-fledgling sector may soon face.
Monday, 12/02/2024
Even with all the headline-making deals we’ve seen in the North American oil and gas industry over the past two or three years, producers and midstream companies are still at it. And the M&A, the post-acquisition divestitures and the acreage swaps aren’t confined to the Permian, which has seen more than its share of big-dollar transactions lately. In fact, as we discuss in today’s RBN blog, some of the biggest deals the past few months have involved production assets in the booming Montney in Western Canada, the generally sleepy Piceance in western Colorado, the quirky-as-heck Uinta in Utah, and — on the midstream side of things — a trio of natural gas pipelines in the Midwest.
