North America Crude Markets: 2018 in review

The 2018 crude market was a tale of two stories. It was a year in which the North American continent returned to 'boom times' for crude production. After over two years of depressed global crude prices, operators enjoyed strong pricing for most of the year, which resulted in a 'pedal to the metal' mentality and a resulting surge in L48 production. This swell in L48 production catapulted much of the US and Canadian production regions into pipeline constraints, as the midstream sector failed to keep up – resulting in significant sustained regional pricing dislocations. This sets up 2019 as the year midstream catches up and formerly pipeline constrained operators to once again see an 'open highway' in transport capacity.