Midcontinent

With heavy ramifications for Midcontinent energy infrastructure and eventual exports, the United States will find itself with an oversupply of both domestically produced liquids and crude oil from now through 2017, according to market consultant Rusty Braziel of RBN Energy LLC.

With heavy ramifications for Midcontinent energy infrastructure and eventual exports, the United States will find itself with oversupplies of both domestically produced liquids and crude oil from now through 2017, market consultant/analyst Rusty Braziel of RBN Energy LLC told a session of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association (COGA) annual meeting in Denver earlier this month (Aug. 13-16).

With heavy ramifications for Midcontinent energy infrastructure and eventual exports, the United States will find itself with oversupplies of both domestically produced liquids and crude oil from now through 2017, market consultant/analyst Rusty Braziel of RBN Energy LLC told a session of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association (COGA) annual meeting in Denver earlier this month (Aug. 13-16).

Noble Energy Inc. has agreed to sell oil and natural gas properties in Kansas, including about 250 producing wells on approximately 14,000 net acres, to an affiliate of Citation Oil & Gas Corp. for $140 million as part of an ongoing divestiture plan, the Houston-based company said Monday.

Compressed basis differentials could squeeze cash flows at Midcontinent Express Pipeline LLC (MEP), which is facing recontracting risk in 2019, according to Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P), which lowered its outlook on MEP to “negative” from “stable.”

Most cash market averages inched lower Tuesday with the exception of a handful of Northeast points, much of the Midcontinent and California locations, which posted gains.

Enterprise Products Partners LP, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and DCP Midstream LLC plan to construct a natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline from the Denver-Julesburg (DJ) Basin in Weld County, CO, to Skellytown, TX, in Carson County. Initial capacity of the Front Range Pipeline is expected to be 150,000 b/d.

Following through with market commitments to break through the Midcontinent crude bottleneck, Enbridge Inc. and Enterprise Products Partners LP said late Monday they will double the capacity of the Seaway Pipeline to 850,000 b/d by mid-2014 after lining up capacity commitments from shippers.

Mixed cash market action set the tone for the day Monday with points declining in the gulf Coast and Midcontinent regions while Northeast, Rockies and West Coast points managed moderate gains. The expiring March futures finished on a soft note as the technical environment continued to deteriorate. At the close March had settled at $2.446, down 10.4 cents and April shed 9.2 cents to $2.603. April crude oil dropped $1.21 to $108.56/bbl.