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WEST TEXAS MYSTERY
How did Border Patrol Agent Martinez die? Men may have been hit by truck driving along interstate File photo by John Davenport / San Antonio Express-News
Truck driver Jesse Parks prepares to drive a Peterbilt tractor rig near China Grove, Texas. Companies are experiencing a shortage of drivers.
A few thousand truckers needed
By Caitlin Dickerson NEW YORK TIME S NEWS SERVICE
President Donald Trump called it proof of the need to build a wall; Sen. Ted Cruz said it was a “stark reminder” of insecurity along the border. To everyone, it seemed like a horrendous example of the dangers that Border Patrol officers face as they cover vast, remote and unforgiving territories. But a month after a middle-
of-the-night incident in which one Border Patrol agent was killed and another, who is said to have no memory of what happened, was severely injured, no one seems to know how the men came into harm’s way off an interstate in West Texas. It was initially thought to be an attack, perhaps by migrants or drug smugglers. But the FBI says it also was possible the men were hurt accidentally. The Culberson County sheriff, Agent continues on A8
Mark Lambie/The El Paso Times / AP
FBI Special Agent Emmerson Buie Jr., center, speaks at a press conference on Nov. 21, 2017 in El Paso about the death of a border patrol agent and the severe injuries of a second agent.
TEXAS CRUDE They were fired in scores 3 years ago By Sheela Tobben
OIL’S BULL RUN WAVERS
BL O O MBE RG
When the price of oil collapsed in 2014 and disrupted drilling operations all across Texas’s massive Permian Basin shale formation, truckers were among those hardest hit. Rendered unnecessary by the slump in output, they were fired in scores. Now, three years later, with oil prices inching back higher and production in the Permian soaring once again, the drillers want the truckers back. The feeling, though, isn’t mutual. The pain of the 2014 bust remains fresh for many who went on to find driving gigs in other industries and, what’s more, they worry that companies will remain tightfisted with pay as they re-hire. The result is a growing trucker shortage that threatens to limit just how high drillers can push production. The problem is most acute in the western fringe of the Permian — known as the Delaware Basin — where shale companies are moving back into aggressively as prices climb. Given the off-the-beaten-path location of these wells amid the sprawling 75,000-square mile Permian, the need for truckers to haul the oil over primitive roads to pipelines is greater than in more centrally located spots. “We are able to sell the trucks to the crude haulers,” said Wade Black, a salesperson with Premier Truck Group in Amarillo, Texas, a city just to the north of the Delaware Basin. “But there’s no one to drive them.” Permian production is surging, thanks to improving oil prices. Explorers are tapping oil in the furthest regions of the field, which extends from West Texas across into New Mexico. Output may reach 2.79 million barrels a day January, 30 percent higher from the year before, according to latest government forecast. Led by Permian growth, total U.S. oil output is set to surpass 10 million barrels a day in June 2018, potentially eclipsing OPEC’s Saudi Arabia. About 3,000 oil truckers are hauling oil around the Permian, more than the 2,000 to Truckers continues on A8
LM Otero / AP
These men are shown working on a well pump near Sweetwater, Texas. The oil’s bull run is grinding to a halt as hedge funds lowered their bets on crude after they rose to a record a week earlier. After a months-long build-up, investors are wavering, concerned U.S. crude will continue to boom in 2018.
Investors wait to see what’s in store for 2018 market By Meenal Vamburkar BL OOMBERG
Oil’s bull run is grinding to a halt. Hedge funds lowered their bets on Brent crude after they rose to a record a week earlier. And the net-bullish position on West Texas Intermediate, which hit a nine-month high last month, dwindled for a third straight week. The message: After a months-long build-up, investors are wavering, concerned U.S. crude will continue to boom in 2018,
undercutting OPEC’s push to drain a global glut. “It seems like now most people have got their positions and are waiting to see what 2018 brings,” said Rob Thummel, managing director at Tortoise Capital Advisors. Oil futures in New York have jumped almost 40 percent since June as OPEC and its allies extended their production-cut deal and U.S. inventories shrank to two-year lows. But the decline in American stockpiles is largely due to refinery maintenance and exports near
an all-time high. Meanwhile gushers in the country are producing at a record pace. Global stockpiles won’t fall enough to reach the level targeted by OPEC when the group meets in June, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid AlFalih said last week. American output is poised to reach 9.99 million barrels a day in May, according to the Energy Information Administration. That would surpass Saudi Arabia’s curtailed production of 9.97 million barrels a day in November.
The Brent net-long position -- the difference between bets on a price increase and wagers on a drop -- fell 1.1 percent to 538,045 contracts in the week ended Dec. 19, according to data from ICE Futures Europe. That’s after reaching a record 544,051 contracts in the previous week. Longs fell 1.2 percent, while shorts decreased 1.8 percent. Money managers cut their WTI net-long position by 1.8 percent to 383,828 futures and options during the week, acOil continues on A8