Oil is trying hard to bottom near $50/barrel, but inventory build-ups keep getting in the way. Our pic-of-the-week shows weekly commercial crude oil inventories in the U.S. and they keep getting larger and larger. Crude in storage managed to post an all-time high of 425.6 million barrels last week. Not only does this extend the uptrend but it also represents a bounce well above the trend.
Which energy states are seeing the steepest losses in rig counts? The U.S. rig count peaked in November 2014 at about 1,930 rigs but has quickly dropped to only 1,676 rigs (a 13.2% decline) in just eight short weeks. So far, Texas is taking the brunt of the fall. Of the 253 rigs cut nationally, 139 were land-based rigs operating in Texas, a 15.4% decline. Across all other states and offshore combined, only 113 rigs have been cut.
Mark Snead discusses the role of oil and gas in Oklahoma on a recent airing of NPR.
Mark Snead discusses oil prices and RegionTrack's outlook for the Oklahoma economy in 2015 on a recent airing of Oklahoma Horizons.
Just how big is the current oil boom relative to 1982? In short, not far behind for most of the energy states. Our last pic-of-the-week showed the share of total state earnings derived directly from the oil and gas sector. Requests quickly came in for a comparison of current conditions to those of 1982. This week’s pic answers that question. For each of the energy states,Â