Wyoming Energy News

April 19, 2019

The School of Energy Resources features information about the energy industry on a weekly basis. Here is a recap of this week's stories.

Baker Hughes Rig Counts

Baker Hughes reports the total rig counts this week. 

• The U.S. rig count is down 10 rigs from last week to 1,012, with oil rigs down 8 to 825, gas rigs down 2 to 187, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 0.
• The U.S. rig count is down 1 rig from last year's count of 1,013, with oil rigs up 5, gas rigs down 5, and miscellaneous rigs down 1. 
• The Wyoming rig count has gone down 2 rigs from last week's count to 34.
• The Colorado rig count has gone down 1 rig to 31.
• The New Mexico rig count remains at 105.
• The North Dakota rig count has also remained unchanged at 61.
• The Texas rig count has gone down 2 rigs to 500. 

Opening Prices from Bloomberg Energy April 19

• West Texas Intermediate (WTI) opened at $63.75, up from last week. 
• Brent Crude opened at $71.63, up from last week. 
• Natural gas opened at $2.51, down from last week. 

News

• Thermal coal production in the Powder River Basin is down, however, metallurgical coal has seen an increase in demand and price and may help boost Wyoming Coal production according to Wyoming Public Media. 
• According to Wyoming Public Media, Cloud Peak Energy, a Powder River Basin coal company, got an extension on an interest payment, pushing back their bankruptcy filing until May. 
• The Casper Star Tribune discusses the potential impacts on Wyoming with the Chevron and Anadarko acquisition. 
• The Torrington Telegram discussed the potential of carbon dioxide storage under the Powder River Basin with the School of Energy Resources' Center of Economic Geology Research. 
• The School of Energy Resources' Center of Economic Geology Research has been working on determining the suitability of commercial carbon dioxide storage near the Dry Fork Station by Gillette, and drilling has begun to determine steps to move forward. 
• The U.S. News reports that the Midwest has seen a rise in clean energy jobs, with more than 28,000 jobs being added in 2018.