The onshore rig count continues to bump along near the bottom. A few weeks ago we noted that after hitting bottom, the Enverus rig count had once again started to climb (see Bottom! Enverus Onshore Rig Count Finally Moves Higher Last Week). Then the count went down a bit again (see Retrograde: Enverus Onshore Rig Count Slips Again, Down 7 Rigs). Last week’s numbers show the count staying about the same–maybe up or down one or two rigs, we’ll call it even. The Baker Hughes rig count, on the other hand, hit an all-time historic low. Not since BH began counting rigs in 1940 has the count been this low. Yuck.
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Category: Crude Oil
Retrograde: Enverus Onshore Rig Count Slips Again, Down 7 Rigs
Two weeks ago the Enverus onshore rig count finally hit bottom and turned around, nudging up by five rigs (see Bottom! Enverus Onshore Rig Count Finally Moves Higher Last Week). Last week the count climbed again, up another 11 (see Enverus Onshore Rig Count Higher Again, Leaving Bottom Behind). Over the past seven days the rig count faltered and has gone backward (retrograde) once again, going down seven rigs. The good news is that we’re still higher than the bottom hit a few weeks ago.
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Trump Visits Texas Permian to Extol U.S. Energy Dominance
President Trump visited the Permian Basin yesterday to announce export authorizations for LNG will now go through 2050, to sign four permits for pipeline and rail transport of fossil fuels, and to get the truth out about his administration’s efforts to make America secure by making our country “energy dominant.” The liberal media spin machine was in overdrive trying to cover up the great news about U.S. fossil fuels–but they could not. Trump was on his “A” game yesterday and it showed.
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Fossil Fuels – The REAL Superheroes!
Who would win a fight between Thor and Superman? Could Wonder Woman defeat Spider-Man? Does it even matter? Of course not! We just know we love watching superhero movies. But there would be no superhero flicks without oil, natural gas, and coal. You wouldn’t know it to listen to the news media, activists, and many politicians, but these essential energy resources are the REAL LIFE superheroes of our daily lives. Without fossil fuels, we would all be living in an unending horror show with no popcorn, no drink, no comfortable seat, no air conditioning, and… not much else for that matter.
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Enverus Onshore Rig Count Higher Again, Leaving Bottom Behind
Once again the Enverus onshore rig count added more active rigs over the past week. Last week at this time the rig count stood at 279. This week, as of yesterday, the count stood at 290, a gain of 11 rigs! However, the Marcellus/Utica counts remain pretty anemic. The Marcellus lost a rig from the dry gas area of northeastern PA. The total Marcellus count is 27. The Ohio Utica remains steady at a paltry 7 active rigs.
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Bottom! Enverus Onshore Rig Count Finally Moves Higher Last Week
Over the past week, comparing this past Wednesday (Jul 15) with a week ago Wednesday (Jul 8), the Enverus onshore rig count increased by five–from 276 to 281. After four solid months of the rig count going down, perhaps we’ve finally hit bottom, turned a corner, and any other analogy you can think of to indicate better days are ahead.
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Rystad: O&G Drilling to Hit 20-Yr Low in 2020, >5 Yrs to Recover
Rystad Energy, an independent energy research and business intelligence company headquartered in Oslo, Norway (but with major offices in cities including Houston), recently issued their latest assessment of the worldwide oil and gas marketplace. Rystad is predicting the number of oil and gas wells drilled worldwide in 2020 will fall by a staggering 23% from the number drilled last year. Rystad’s prediction models stretch out five years and forecasts over the next five years the number of wells drilled in any given year will *still not* exceed the number of wells drilled in 2019. Yuck.
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EIA DPR: Marcellus/Utica Gas Production Continues Big Drop
Yesterday our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), issued our favorite monthly report, the Drilling Productivity Report (DPR). The DPR estimates how much oil and natural gas each of the country’s seven largest shale plays produced in the previous (current) month, and how much each will produce in the coming (next) month. The July report, which predicts production for the coming month of August, estimates natural gas production in the Marcellus/Utica will decrease by 210 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d)–the biggest decrease for any of the major shale plays.
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Onshore Rig Count Drops Another 3 to New Record Low of 276
In our weekly tracking of the Enverus rig count, the numbers from the latest report (as of Wednesday) show a new record low of 276 active rigs. Quite disturbing for us is that comparing Wednesday of this week with Wednesday of last week, the Marcellus/Utica rig count is down by a whopping six. Ouch. The rig apocalypse continues.
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Onshore Rig Count Craters, Still No Bottom, M-U Holds
For the past few months, MDN has followed the Enverus (Drillinginfo) rig count numbers. In our most recent rig count post from two weeks ago we noted the count had fallen to a historic, new all-time low of 298 (see Onshore Rig Count Hits New Low of 298 – Finds Bottom?). Dan Eberhart, CEO of Canary, LLC (the largest privately-owned oilfield services company in the U.S.) wrote a column on the Forbes website stating his belief the rig count had hit bottom and “the worst appears to be behind us.” Looks like Dan was wrong. The latest Enverus rig count, as of Monday, shows the rig count has slipped another 19 to 279. The apocalypse has arrived.
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Onshore Rig Count Hits New Low of 298 – Finds Bottom?
Last week S&P Global Platts reported the Enverus (Drillinginfo) rig count for the U.S. had slipped to a new all-time low of 299 (see U.S. Rig Count Goes Below 300 – Marcellus Gains 1, Utica Loses 2). This week for the first time in months, S&P didn’t bother to report on the latest Enverus rig count. So we have our own report. Overall rigs decreased by one more, to 298, over the past week, prompting some industry experts to speculate we’ve finally “hit bottom” with the rig count. Have we?
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EIA: Permian Gas Drop Almost Stops While M-U Gas Drops Like a Rock
Yesterday our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), issued our favorite monthly report, the Drilling Productivity Report (DPR). The DPR estimates how much oil and natural gas each of the country’s seven largest shale plays produced in the previous (current) month, and how much each will produce in the coming (next) month. The June report, which predicts production for the coming month of July, estimates natural gas production in the Permian basin has just about stabilized (will go down just a little). However, natgas production in the Marcellus/Utica will continue to drop like a rock in the coming month.
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U.S. Rig Count Goes Below 300 – Marcellus Gains 1, Utica Loses 2
The U.S. onshore rig count continues to collapse, hitting a historic new low of 299. Over the past week, another 12 rigs disappeared from the count, mainly located in oil plays (like the Permian). Since the beginning of March, the Marcellus had (as of last week) lost 11 rigs in total. The Marcellus gained back one of those rigs. Since the beginning of March the Utica has stayed consistent with 10-11 rigs operating. Last week the Utica lost two rigs, now down to 9 rigs operating.
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Rig Count Continues Crash to 311 – Marcellus Loses 1 More Rig
The U.S. onshore rig count continues to collapse. Over the past week another 22 rigs disappeared from the count, mainly located in oil plays (like the Permian). Yet the news continues to be spun as “the bottom appears closer” when the decrease will stop. Really? We don’t see it! Last week the Marcellus (dry gas area of northeastern PA) lost another rig.
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Rig Count Drop Accelerates Again, 24 Gone Including 1 Marcellus
For the past month and a half, MDN has brought you rig count data from Enverus (formerly Drillinginfo) each Friday. Last Friday we reported the count had hit a new modern-day low, but that the Marcellus had gained back one of the seven rigs lost over a previous three week period (see Enverus: Drop in Rig Count Slows Again, Marcellus Picks Up 1 Rig). Today’s update shows rigs hitting another new modern-day low, with the Marcellus giving up the rig it gained last week. How much lower can the rig count go?
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IEA Predicts Biggest Collapse in Global Energy Investment in History
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the “lifeblood” of the global energy system is…investment. That is, money. Without investment, new sources of energy don’t appear. In 2016 IEA began to publish an annual report called World Energy Investment, in order to track spending on all forms of energy worldwide. Earlier this week IEA published its fifth annual version of the report. In the report, IEA says 2020, because of the coronavirus pandemic, will mark the largest-ever collapse in global energy investment in history. IEA says the coming investment decline will impact oil the most.
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