Kansas crude prices start the week at $75.25 per barrel, down $1.75 from a week ago but nearly $10 higher than at the start of the year, and $13 higher than a year ago. Futures prices dropped nearly $2 last week, but by lunchtime Monday were up half a dollar in New York ($85.64/bbl) and London ($91.89/bbl). The auto club AAA says gasoline prices may soon end their string of daily declines after more than 100 consecutive days. U.S. gasoline prices are the lowest since early March, but fluctuating oil prices have slowed down the decline. The national average pump price was a fraction above $3.67 per gallon Monday. That's down nearly four cents from a week ago, the smallest weekly decline in months. Average prices are 24 cents lower than a month ago, but still 48 cents per gallon higher than last year at this time. The national average has fallen $1.34 since its peak in mid-June. Kansas pump prices on Monday average $3.40 per gallon, a dime lower than a month ago but more than half a dollar higher than a year ago. Diesel prices drop to $4.72 across Kansas, down 12 cents from last month, but $1.60 per gallon higher than a year ago. The Rig Count in Kansas shows 32 active drilling rigs west of Wichita, down one from last week. There are 27 active rigs in eastern Kansas. Independent Oil & Gas Service reported drilling underway on one lease in Barton County on Friday. Independent Oil & Gas Service reports one newly-completed well in Russell County, out of 24 west of Wichita last week. Operators have completed 1,151 wells so far this year, compared to 609 at this time last year. Kansas regulators approved 42 permits for drilling at new locations last week, 20 of them east of Wichita and 22 in Western Kansas, including one new permit in Barton County and two in Stafford County. So far this year, there are 1,172 new permits across the state, up from 732 a year ago. Domestic crude inventories topped off at 429.6 million barrels on September 9th, an increase of 2.4 million barrels for the week. That's about two percent below the five-year seasonal average, according to the EIA. Gasoline stockpiles dropped 1.8 million barrels and are about six percent below the five-year average for this time of year. The government reported a slight increase in U.S. crude-oil production last week, topping 12 million barrels per day for the 8th week in a row. Output during the week through September 9th increased about 20,000 barrels per day to 12.134 million. That's more than two million barrels per day higher than the same week last year. The Energy Information Administration says U.S. crude imports dropped by nearly one million barrels per day to 5.8 million. The four week average indicate imports are roughly 2.6 percent higher than a year ago. The first half of this year saw a big jump in U.S. exports of petroleum products, due largely to changing trading patterns after the Ukraine invasion. The government says exports averaged nearly six million barrels per day, the best January-to-June tally since 1981. Oil-by-rail shipments in the United States were down nearly five percent last week. The Association of American Railroads reports 9,351 tankers hauling petroleum or petroleum products during the week through September 10th, down nearly three-hundred carloads from the week before and 4.6% lower than a year ago. Canadian shippers moved 8,063 tanker carloads. That's down more than six hundred tanker carloads from the week before, and 1.6% lower year-over-year. The government predicts the rebound in U.S. crude production will continue, and could set a new record next year. In it's Short Term Energy Outlook, the Energy Information Administration predicts domestic producers will pump an average 11.8 million barrels per day this year, which would be more than half a million barrels per day higher than last year. EIA expects output next year will rise to 12.6 million barrels per day, which would be an all-time record. The current record of 12.3 million barrels per day was set in 2019. North Dakota operators produced just over 33.1 million barrels of crude oil in July, which is down nearly 30,000 barrels per day from the month before. According to the Department of Mineral Resources, the number-three crude-producing state continues to exceed its voluntary limits on gas flaring, capturing 94% of the natural gas produced at oil wells. Saudi Arabia told OPEC it raised crude production to just over 11 million barrels a day last month, according to the cartel's Monthly Oil Market Report. It’s the highest Saudi output since April 2020 during the short-lived price war with Russia. Saudi output has only rarely reached 11 million barrels in the country’s decades as an oil exporter.

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