shortonoil wrote:"This one from ( http://www.euanmearns.com/ ) shows a peak in July 2008: What is not being considered in this graph is that from 2004 to present condensate production as a total of C&C has increased from 3% to 14%, or more (see post by West Texas: Dr. Brown). Condensate which is >90% pentane does not contain sufficient C7+ molecules for it to be used in the production of fuels. It is primarily a source of feedstock. From a fuel production aspect the ability to produce those fuels has most likely not increased since 2006.
What *is* condensate, anyway?
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-oil-c ... BU20141008"The Energy Information Administration (EIA) is now trying to remove that uncertainty by defining condensate and quantifying its output.
"We hope to have this sorted out so that policymakers will know what the numbers are," EIA's chief Adam Sieminski said late last month in New York.
The agency, the independent statistics branch of the Department of Energy, aims to launch by mid-2015 a new survey that would capture the quality of oil from each well.
It also held a closed-door "Condensate Workshop" for officials from several agencies and energy experts last Friday, one of its first efforts to produce a firm definition, according to two participants.
...
The term refers broadly to any type of oil that "condenses" into a liquid after being freed from high-pressure wells, where it often lurks in gas form, or separated from gas.
But once it becomes a liquid, there is no agreed way to tell condensate from ordinary crude. Most state regulators do not even measure it; those that do, only measure gas-related condensate, not that from the hydraulically fractured oil wells.
...
Refiner Phillips 66 (PSX.N) and midstream giant Plains All American (PAA.N) have said condensate is oil with an API gravity of 45 or above. Meanwhile, Marathon Petroleum Corp's (MPC.N) top executive said in a recent interview he believed condensate should have an API gravity of 60 and above.
Without a universal standard, production data vary wildly. The EIA's own figures suggest that anywhere from 8 percent to 16 percent of U.S. crude oil production is condensate - a difference of more than half a million barrels a day."
IOW if it's not black but burns, we count it. Or we don't.
And I tried to find a recent article I read, saying that US Gulf refineries *do* refine blends of crude & condensate into fuels, but they can only take a limited amount of it, and the blends they get from Cushing contains more and more of the stuff. Crude gets blended with condensate up to max. gravity of 45° so they can legally call the blend WTI, as indexed on the NYSE. Some refineries now pay a premium for unblended crude.
Anyway, I found this, from 2013:
https://rbnenergy.com/dont-let-your-cru ... condensate"A new analysis made available this past week by one of the largest producer in the Eagle Ford – EOG Resources - throws a curve ball into the ongoing debate about how much condensate is being produced in Eagle Ford. The “official” score keepers of the Eagle Ford production data are the Texas Rail Road Commission (RRC). The latest RRC statistics tell us that January to November 2012 Eagle Ford production averaged 340 Mb/d of crude and 72 Mb/d of condensate or 17.5 percent condensate. Most observers including the RBN team believe that these numbers do not reflect reality. They are far too low.
For one thing, the statistics averages for the year to November 2012 and they are based on data known to lag actual production for months because of late reporting. It is also the case that the RRC data is based on the honor system – and lets just say that could lead to some producers being “economical with the truth” about their condensate. That is because crude marketers who buy at the wellhead discount condensate. The posted price for 60 API Eagle Ford condensate averaged $17.5/Bbl below 40 API crude during 2012. As a result, producers are nervous about telling investors that their output is condensate because that makes it less valuable than crude oil. Up until now we had heard estimates that Eagle Ford production might actually be as much as 40 to 50 percent condensate. Finally, a lot of Eagle Ford condensate seems to ‘disappear’ – blended off into the crude oil stream. To the extent that happens it would show up on the RRC statistics as crude oil, not condensate. For all these reasons we have discounted the RRC numbers. But if we can’t rely on the State of Texas, who can we rely on?
How about EOG? Last week one of the largest producers in the Eagle Ford, EOG Resources, presented a chart at their quarterly earnings conference call implying that 7 out of 10 production companies surveyed were actually producing 100 percent condensate in the Eagle Ford –i.e. no crude oil. The data EOG presented (originating from a survey carried out by IHS) said that for these 10 producers condensate represents 70 percent of their total crude and condensate production."
Honor system? Economical with the truth? In the oil business? There's *gambling* going on in my casino?