U.S. OIL PRIODUCTION UP TO 10.2 MBD

API - U.S. crude production rose to 10.2 million barrels per day (MBD) in January – the highest monthly output on record, according to API's monthly statistical report. This was an increase of 1.1 percent versus December and 15.1 percent from January 2017.

"In Olympic fashion, U.S. crude oil production scored a perfect "10" in January," said API Chief Economist Dean Foreman. "Record production of 10.2 MBD combined with a new high for refinery throughput, plus 6.3 MBD of crude oil and refined product exports, helped to narrow the price difference between U.S. and international crude prices last month, which reinforced the increasingly pivotal role of U.S. energy."

As U.S. crude exports rose, the price premium of international Brent crude oil prices above domestic West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil narrowed to $3.50 per barrel as of February 5th from $5.38 per barrel at the end of January and $6.50 per barrel in December.

Separately, natural gas liquids production sustained near-record output in January at 4.0 MBD, which was an increase of 18.4 percent versus January 2017. According to the EIA's Short-Term Energy Outlook, released February 6, 2018, U.S. dry natural gas production averaged 77.6 billion cubic feet per day during January, which was up 9.9 percent from January 2017.

In addition to strong output and exports, U.S. petroleum demand, as measured by total domestic petroleum deliveries, rose to 20.3 million barrels a day in January, which was an increase of 5.5 percent compared with January 2017. It was the strongest January monthly demand since 2007.

Product highlights:

• Consumer gasoline demand rose by 3.0 percent y/y to 8.8 MBD, which reflected how increases in economic growth and income have trumped the rise in crude oil and gasoline prices.
• With indicators of solid industrial activity and freight transportation, January distillate demand eclipsed 4.1 MBD, which was an increase of 0.8 percent versus December and 9.0 percent compared with January 2017. The 9.0 percent year to year increase marked a reversal of three years of declines for the month.
• Residual fuel oil, which is used for electric power production, space heating, vessel bunkering and other industrial applications, fell to 284 thousand barrels per day (KBD) in January. This represented decreases of 35.2 percent from December and 38.3 percent versus January 2017 and suggested increased natural gas substitution.
• "Other oils" – liquid petrochemical feedstocks, naphtha and gasoil – demand of 5.5 MBD was the highest monthly demand on record and second highest share of total monthly deliveries since 1965.

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Earlier:

2018, February, 14, 09:30:00 U.S. OIL +110 TBD, GAS + 832 MCFD EIA - Crude oil production from the major US onshore regions is forecast to increase 110,000 b/d month-over-month in March to 6,756 million b/d, gas production to increase 832 million cubic feet/day to 64,941 million cubic feet/day .

2018, February, 12, 07:25:00 U.S. SALES 100 MB PLATTS - Congress early Friday approved a two-year budget agreement which mandates the sale of 100 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve within a decade and authorizes sales of another $350 million of government-owned crude this fiscal year.

2018, February, 12, 07:00:00 U.S. RIGS UP +29 TO 975 BAKER HUGHES A GE - U.S. Rig Count is up 29 rigs from last week to 975, with oil rigs up 26 to 791, gas rigs up 3 to 184, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged. Canada Rig Count is down 17 rigs from last week to 325, with oil rigs down 13 to 221 and gas rigs down 4 to 104.

2018, January, 29, 08:40:00 U.S. PETROLEUM DELIVERIES: 20.7 MBD API - Total petroleum deliveries in December rose to 20.7 million barrels per day. This was the strongest December monthly demand in the last decade.

2018, January, 19, 12:30:00 U.S. FOSSIL FUELS WILL UP EIA - EIA forecasts that total fossil fuels production in the United States will average almost 73 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) in 2018, the highest level of production on record. EIA expects total fossil fuel production to then set another record in 2019, with production forecast to rise to 75 quadrillion Btu.

2018, January, 15, 10:00:00 FOSSIL FUELS DIVESTMENT $5 BLN RBF - New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Comptroller Scott Stringer announced plans to divest the city’s five pension funds of approximately $5 billion in fossil fuel investments in an effort to safeguard the retirement plans of the city’s employees from the threat of underperforming assets. The total size of the retirement funds, $189 billion, makes New York City the largest American municipality to divest to date.

2018, January, 12, 12:30:00 U.S. GAS EXPORTS BLOOMBERG - “Never before has the global LNG market had such significant flexible LNG volumes as the volumes coming online in the next three years, mostly from the U.S., which will lead to a fundamental shift in how LNG is marketed and traded globally,”