Cushing ( sac, Koshineki, iow, Amína P^óp^oye Chína, ''meaning: "Soft-seat town"'') is a city in
Payne County
Payne County is located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 77,350. Its county seat is Stillwater. The county was created in 1890 as part of Oklahoma Territory and is named for Capt. David L. Payne, a lead ...
,
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
, United States. The population was 7,826 at the time of the 2010 census, a decline of 6.5% since 8,371 in
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
. Cushing was established after the
Land Run of 1891
The Land Run of 1891 was a set of horse races to settle land acquired by the federal government through the opening of several small Indian reservations in Oklahoma Territory. The race involved approximately 20,000 homesteaders, who gathered to ...
by William "Billy Rae" Little. It was named for Marshall Cushing, private secretary to U.S. Postmaster General John Wanamaker.
A 1912 oil boom led to the city's development as a refining center.''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture' "Cushing" By D. Earl Newsome, Accessed June 9, 2010. Today, Cushing is a major trading hub for
crude oil
Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...
and a price settlement point for
West Texas Intermediate
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is a grade or mix of crude oil; the term is also used to refer to the spot price, the futures price, or assessed price for that oil. In colloquial usage, WTI usually refers to the WTI Crude Oil futures contract tr ...
on the
New York Mercantile Exchange
The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is a commodity futures exchange owned and operated by CME Group of Chicago. NYMEX is located at One North End Avenue in Brookfield Place in the Battery Park City section of Manhattan, New York City.
...
and is known as the "Pipeline Crossroads of the World."
History
The area that became Cushing was part of the
Sac and Fox Reservation The Sac and Fox Reservation of Sauk (Sac) and Meskwaki (Fox) people is a 23.639 sq mi (61.226 km²) tract located in southeastern Richardson County, Nebraska, and northeastern Brown County, Kansas. It governed by the Sac and Fox Nation of Mi ...
. With the
Land Run of 1891
The Land Run of 1891 was a set of horse races to settle land acquired by the federal government through the opening of several small Indian reservations in Oklahoma Territory. The race involved approximately 20,000 homesteaders, who gathered to ...
, a former government trader for the tribe, Billy Rae Little, built a house, established his claim, and laid out town lots. The town got a post office on November 10, 1891, and was named for Marshall Cushing, private secretary to U.S. Postmaster General John Wanamaker.
In 1902, the
Eastern Oklahoma Railway
The Eastern Oklahoma Railway was incorporated under the laws of Oklahoma Territory on July 24, 1899. The railroad constructed much of its own track. This included Guthrie junction (Eastern Oklahoma junction) to Cushing junction, 47.9 miles, in ...
Wildcatter
A wildcatter is an individual who drills wildcat wells, which are exploration oil wells drilled in areas not known to be oil fields. Notable wildcatters include Glenn McCarthy, Thomas Baker Slick Sr., Mike Benedum, Joe Trees, Clem S. Clarke, ...
Thomas B. Slick started an oil boom on March 17, 1912, when he brought in a gusher east of Cushing. Other wells were soon drilled nearby, and the oil field became known as the
Cushing-Drumright Oil Field
The Cushing Oil Field, also known as the Cushing-Drumright Oil Field, is an oil field in northeastern Oklahoma, part of the Mid-Continent oil province. The by field includes southeastern Payne County, northwestern Creek County, and northeas ...
. The city became a center for exploration of and production from nearby oil fields and also a refining center, when Consumers Oil Company opened a refinery in 1913. Production centered on the new town of Drumright, and Cushing became a refining center. Eventually, 23 oil companies and five oil-field supply houses located in the town, and more than 50 refineries once operated in the Cushing area. Pipelines and storage facilities have since made it "the pipeline crossroads of the world".
The oil boom did not last long. Production peaked in 1915 with 8.3 million barrels of oil, but went down by 50% in 1916.
During the 1970s and 1980s refining operations continued in Cushing until the last two refineries, Kerr-McGee and Hudson, closed. Rail service ended in 1982.
As the oil fields started to run dry, starting in the 1940s, production and refining became less important.
The town retained a great asset in the Shell pipeline terminal, with 39 storage tanks and pipelines that could move as much as 1.5 million barrels a day. This enhanced Cushing's status as "Pipeline Crossroads of the World."
The maze of pipelines and tanks that had been built led to the NYMEX choosing Cushing as the official delivery point for its light sweet crude futures contract in 1983.
Geography
Cushing is located in
Payne County
Payne County is located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 77,350. Its county seat is Stillwater. The county was created in 1890 as part of Oklahoma Territory and is named for Capt. David L. Payne, a lead ...
Oklahoma State Highway 33
State Highway 33 (SH-33 or OK-33) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is a major highway that traverses most of the state, and at one time traversed its entirety. Its general orientation is west to east.
Route description Roger ...
. Its geographic coordinates are (35.982628, -96.764171). According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
, the city has a total area of , of which is land and 0.13% is water.
Climate
Demographics
As of the
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
of 2000, there were 8,371 people, 3,071 households, and 2,002 families residing in the city. The
population density
Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...
was 1,096.1 people per square mile (423.0/km). There were 3,636 housing units at an average density of 476.1 per square mile (183.8/km). The racial makeup of the city was 79.66%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, 7.02%
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 0.90% from
other races
Other often refers to:
* Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy
Other or The Other may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack
* ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 4.32% from two or more races.
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
or
Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
of any race were 2.70% of the population.
There were 3,071 households, out of which 29.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.7% were
married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...
living together, 12.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.8% were non-families. 31.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 2.99.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 22.9% under the age of 18, 10.0% from 18 to 24, 29.5% from 25 to 44, 20.0% from 45 to 64, and 17.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 111.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 115.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $26,483, and the median income for a family was $32,284. Males had a median income of $26,710 versus $17,711 for females. The
per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population.
Per capita i ...
for the city was $12,620. About 15.1% of families and 16.4% of the population were below the
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...
, including 21.0% of those under age 18 and 10.1% of those age 65 or over.
Government
Cushing has a commissioner-manager form of government.
The
Cimarron Correctional Facility
Cimarron Correctional Facility is a medium security prison in unincorporated Payne County, Oklahoma, located southwest of the city of Cushing. It is owned and operated by CoreCivic, formerly Corrections Corporation of America, under contract wi ...
is located three miles southwest of Cushing. Due to reductions by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections in the number of inmates put in private prisons because of budgetary issues, owner CoreCivic announced closure of the facility in July 2020.
Education
The Cushing school district has five schools that include a
preschool
A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary school ...
, two elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school. The district serves approximately 1,800 students.Cushing School District Education.com (accessed June 9, 2010).
Parks and recreation
The foundations of Cushing Municipal Park were established in 1935 with Cushing Memorial Park, constructed by the
WPA
WPA may refer to:
Computing
*Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard
*Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing
* Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada
* Windows Performance An ...
. Over time, more and more features have been added, including a Duck Pond, a picnic pavilion, gazebos, various playground areas, skate park, disc golf course, sand volleyball court, and baseball diamond. The Cushing Aquatic Center includes a splashpad, wading pool, full sized pool with swim lanes, and a three-tiered ramp with 5 pool slides.
Main Street is the locale for the Downtown Cushing Centennial Park, which has a stage and picnic tables with umbrellas.
Buffalo Rock Golf and Venue Golf Course, originally the Cushing Country Club dating from 1921, is an 18-hole course open to the public.
Cushing Lake, 6 miles west of the city, offers a boat ramp, dock, and picnic area.
Historic Sites
The following are NRHP-listed:
*The Bassett House
*Luke D. Berry House
* Cushing American Legion Building
*Cushing Armory
*Gillespie Drilling Company Building
*Christian K. Usher Luston House
Southwestern League
The Southwestern League was the name of four former minor league baseball leagues that operated in the Southwestern United States. The second league, also known as the ''Oklahoma State League'', was in operation for the 1904 season. The third l ...
(1921), the Class D Oklahoma State League (1923–1924) and Southwestern League (1925).
Baseball Hall of Fame
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...
member Carl Hubbell made his professional debut with the 1923 Cushing Refiners.
Transportation
Cushing is at the eastern intersection of State Highway 33 (east-west) and
State Highway 18
Route 18, or Highway 18, may refer to:
International
* Asian Highway 18
* European route E18
* European route E018
Argentina
*
Australia
* Waterfall Way
Canada
* Alberta Highway 18
* British Columbia Highway 18
* Manitoba Highway 18
* Ont ...
(north-south).
Cushing is served by the Cushing Municipal Airport (KCUH, or FAA Identifier CUH), featuring a paved 5201' x 100' runway. Commercial air transportation is available out of the Stillwater Regional Airport about 20 miles to the northwest, and the
Tulsa International Airport
Tulsa International Airport is a civil-military airport five miles (8 km) northeast of downtown Tulsa, in Tulsa County, Oklahoma, United States. It was named Tulsa Municipal Airport when the city acquired it in 1929;
Operators
Cushing is a "vital transshipment point with many intersecting pipelines, storage facilities and easy access to refiners and suppliers." Crude oil flows "inbound to Cushing from all directions and outbound through dozens of pipelines." In 2005, crude oil and refined products in the US were almost always transported by interconnected pipeline systems. In Oklahoma, eight private companies operated almost all the pipelines and frequently operated oil terminals and refineries:
Enbridge
Enbridge Inc. is a multinational pipeline and energy company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Enbridge owns and operates pipelines throughout Canada and the United States, transporting crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. ...
;
Enterprise Products
Enterprise Products Partners L.P. () is an American midstream natural gas and crude oil pipeline company with headquarters in Houston, Texas.
It acquired GulfTerra in September 2004. The company ranked No. 105 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of th ...
Plains All American Pipeline
Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. is a master limited partnership engaged in pipeline transport, marketing, and storage of liquefied petroleum gas and petroleum in the United States and Canada. It owns interests in of pipelines, storage capacity ...
;
Sunoco
Sunoco LP is an American master limited partnership organized under Delaware state laws and headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that is a wholesale distributor of motor fuels. It distributes fuel to more than 5,500 Sunoco-branded gas stations, ...
; and
Valero Energy
Valero Energy Corporation is a Fortune 500 international manufacturer and marketer of transportation fuels, other petrochemical products, and power. It is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, United States. Throughout the United States and Can ...
.
The crude oil tanks around Cushing have approximately 91 million barrels of storage capacity. On October 28, 2016, tanks held a total of 58.5 million barrels of oil, though it has dropped in 2018.
A partial list of tank farm owners at Cushing are:
* Magellan Midstream Partners, of storage, formerly owned by BP.
*
Enbridge Energy Partners
Enbridge Inc. is a multinational pipeline and energy company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Enbridge owns and operates pipelines throughout Canada and the United States, transporting crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. ...
, of storage.
*
Enterprise Products
Enterprise Products Partners L.P. () is an American midstream natural gas and crude oil pipeline company with headquarters in Houston, Texas.
It acquired GulfTerra in September 2004. The company ranked No. 105 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of th ...
, of storage.
* JP Energy, of storage.
*
Plains All American Pipeline
Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. is a master limited partnership engaged in pipeline transport, marketing, and storage of liquefied petroleum gas and petroleum in the United States and Canada. It owns interests in of pipelines, storage capacity ...
, of storage.
*
Energy Transfer LP
Energy Transfer LP is an American company engaged in natural gas and propane pipeline transport. It is organized under Delaware state laws and headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It was founded in 1995 by Ray Davis and Kelcy Warren, who remains Ch ...
, of storage at Rose Rock Midstream Cushing terminal.
Pipelines with connections at Cushing include:
* Basin Oil Pipeline, operated by
Plains All American Pipeline
Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. is a master limited partnership engaged in pipeline transport, marketing, and storage of liquefied petroleum gas and petroleum in the United States and Canada. It owns interests in of pipelines, storage capacity ...
, flows from
Wichita Falls, Texas
Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the seat of government of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay, and Wichita counties. Accordin ...
connecting various fields in Texas.
* Centurion Pipeline, flows from Permian Basin fields in west Texas and southeast New Mexico.
* Hawthorn Pipeline, operated by Hawthorn Oil Transportation, a 17-mile pipeline from Stroud, Oklahoma where a rail unloading facility receives oil from Stanley, North Dakota for
EOG Resources
EOG Resources, Inc. is an American energy company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration. It is organized in Delaware and headquartered in the Heritage Plaza building in Houston, Texas.
The company is ranked 186th on the Fortune 500 and 337th on t ...
.
* Glass Mountain Pipeline, operated by Rose Rock Midstream (
Energy Transfer LP
Energy Transfer LP is an American company engaged in natural gas and propane pipeline transport. It is organized under Delaware state laws and headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It was founded in 1995 by Ray Davis and Kelcy Warren, who remains Ch ...
), flows from fields in west and north-central Oklahoma.
* Great Salt Plains Pipeline, operated by JP Energy, flows from fields around Cherokee, Oklahoma, formerly owned by Parnon Gathering.
*
Keystone Pipeline
The Keystone Pipeline System is an oil pipeline system in Canada and the United States, commissioned in 2010 and owned by TC Energy and as of 31 March 2020 the Government of Alberta. It runs from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in Alber ...
Hardisty, Alberta
Hardisty is a town in Flagstaff County in east-central Alberta, Canada. It is approximately from the Saskatchewan border, near the crossroads of Highway 13 and Highway 881, in the Battle River Valley. Hardisty is mainly known as a pivotal pet ...
(Canada) to an intermediary hub in Cushing to
Port Arthur, Texas
Port Arthur is a city in Jefferson County within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area of the U.S. state of Texas. A small, uninhabited portion extends into Orange County; it is east of Houston. The largest oil refinery in the United Sta ...
. It has a maximum capacity of . Another Keystone termination is located at the oil tank farm near
Patoka, Illinois
Patoka is a town in Marion County, Illinois, United States. The population was 584 at the 2010 census.
History
The village was named after a local Native American chieftain.
Patoka is a town created in the 1860s United States.
Geography
Pat ...
.
* Mississippian Lime Pipeline, operated by Plains All American Pipeline, flows from fields in northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas.
* PAA Medford Pipeline, operated by Plains All American Pipeline, from fields around
Medford, Oklahoma
Medford is a city in and the county seat of Grant County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 996.
History
''The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture'' states only that the town name was for Medford, ...
.
* Pony Express Pipeline, operated by Tallgrass Energy Partners, flows from fields around
Guernsey, Wyoming
Guernsey is a town in Platte County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 1,147 at the 2010 census.
The town was named for C. A. Guernsey, a cattle rancher.
Geography
Guernsey is located at (42.267251, −104.743187).
According to the U ...
. It connects to the Ponca City Refinery. It has a capacity of and capable of increasing to .
*
Seaway Pipeline
The Seaway Crude Pipeline System (SCPS), commonly known as the Seaway Pipeline, is an oil pipeline system which transports crude oil between Cushing, Oklahoma and Freeport, Texas, and through the Texas City, Texas Terminal and Distribution System ...
, a dual pipeline operated by Enbridge and
Enterprise Products
Enterprise Products Partners L.P. () is an American midstream natural gas and crude oil pipeline company with headquarters in Houston, Texas.
It acquired GulfTerra in September 2004. The company ranked No. 105 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of th ...
, flows out to
Freeport, Texas
Freeport is a city in Brazoria County, Texas, United States, located on the Gulf of Mexico. According to the 2020 census, the city population was 10,696, down from 12,049 in 2010.
History
Freeport was founded as a European-American settlement ...
. It has a maximum capacity of .
* SemCrude Pipeline System, operated by Rose Rock Midstream (
Energy Transfer LP
Energy Transfer LP is an American company engaged in natural gas and propane pipeline transport. It is organized under Delaware state laws and headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It was founded in 1995 by Ray Davis and Kelcy Warren, who remains Ch ...
), flows from fields in Kansas and northern Oklahoma.
* Spearhead Pipelines, operated by Enbridge, is a pipeline that flows from the Enbridge Mainline System near
Flanagan, Illinois
Flanagan is a village in Livingston County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,110 at the 2010 census.
Geography
Flanagan is located in western Livingston County at . Illinois Route 116 passes along the southern edge of the village, l ...
. It has a maximum capacity of . A second pipeline, Flanagan South, parallels the Spearhead. A third Enbridge pipeline connects to the
Wood River Refinery
The Wood River Refinery is an oil refinery located in Roxana, Illinois, approximately north of St. Louis, Missouri, on the east side of the Mississippi River. The refinery is currently owned by Phillips 66 and Cenovus Energy and operated by the ...
in
Roxana, Illinois
Roxana is a village in Madison County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,542 at the 2010 census.
A majority of the land in Roxana is taken up by the Wood River Refinery, an oil refinery operated by Phillips 66. The refinery was orig ...
.
* White Cliffs Pipeline, operated by Rose Rock Midstream, flows from fields around
Platteville, Colorado
Platteville is a Statutory Town in Weld County, Colorado, United States. The population was 2,485 at the 2010 census. It is adjacent to Fort Vasquez on U.S. Highway 85.
History
Platteville was founded on May 27, 1871, and was incorporated on ...
.
Transhipment point for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil
Cushing is the delivery point for West Texas Intermediate, a blend of US light sweet crude oil streams traded on the
New York Mercantile Exchange
The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is a commodity futures exchange owned and operated by CME Group of Chicago. NYMEX is located at One North End Avenue in Brookfield Place in the Battery Park City section of Manhattan, New York City.
...
Cushing's strategic position as a major hub in oil supply led to WTI's development as a significant physical market price reference or benchmark for over three decades.
In 2005 Cushing was described as the most significant trading hub for
crude oil
Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...
in North America, connecting the
Gulf Coast
The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Texas, Louisiana, Mississ ...
suppliers with northern consumers.
By 2007 Cushing held 5% to 10% of the total US crude inventory. Signs made of a pipe and valve on the major highways near town proclaim Cushing to be the "Pipeline Crossroads of the World", and the town is surrounded by several tank farms.
Oil futures designated delivery point in the US
On April 13, 2007, the now-defunct
Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, a ...
released a study which claimed that West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude at Cushing is no longer an accurate gauge of world oil prices. By May 2007, Cushing's inventory fell by nearly 35% as the
oil-storage trade
The oil-storage trade, also referred to as contango, is a market strategy in which large, often vertically-integrated oil companies purchase oil for immediate delivery and storage—when the price of oil is low— and hold it in storage until the p ...
heated up.
Oil giant BP, and energy-transport and logistics firms Enbridge Energy Partners (an affiliate of Canada's Enbridge), Plains All American Pipeline and
Energy Transfer LP
Energy Transfer LP is an American company engaged in natural gas and propane pipeline transport. It is organized under Delaware state laws and headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It was founded in 1995 by Ray Davis and Kelcy Warren, who remains Ch ...
own most of the oil storage tanks in Cushing.
Oil storage became big business in 2008 and 2009, when the supply glut in the oil market led to situation where oil futures were higher priced than their spot price. Many participants—including Wall Street giants, such as
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...
,
Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...
, and
Citicorp
Citigroup Inc. or Citi (stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomer ...
—turned sizeable profits simply by sitting on tanks of oil. Investors can choose to take profits or losses prior to the oil-delivery date on the basis of specific contracts. Alternatively, they can leave the contract in place and take physical delivery of the oil at an "officially designated delivery point" in the United States; this delivery point is usually Cushing.
On July 13, 2010, BP announced it will sell its assets in Cushing to Magellan Midstream Partners.
In April 2020, it was lack of storage capacity at Cushing which turned WTI petroleum futures contracts negative for the first time in history. While Cushing has maximum storage of about 90 million barrels across 15 terminals, working storage is closer to 76 million barrels, about 13% of total U.S. oil storage capacity. With 59.5 million barrels stored, little demand for oil from customers, and much of the remainder of the storage capacity already booked, traders holding contracts for hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil for delivery at Cushing on April 21 realized they had no place to put the oil, and storage fees charged under the contracts for not taking the oil could be astronomical. Thus paying a party having already-contracted storage capacity to take the oil was cheaper than incurring those contractual storage fees.
Cushing storage hub bottleneck
The bottleneck at Cushing's giant storage hub distorted benchmark US oil prices for many years. In 2007 a large stockpile of oil at the facility was caused largely because Valero Energy Corp.'s McKee refinery near Sunray, Texas, was temporarily shut down. With the refinery closed, crude oil prices were artificially depressed at the Cushing pricing point. The Eagle North pipeline reactivated in 2010, added offtake capacity to Cushing by connecting Valero's oil refinery in Ardmore, Oklahoma with Cushing's cheap crude oil. This should have resulted in boosting WTI prices which were discounted against Brent crude oil because of the glut.
In March 2013 Valero Energy Corp.'s (VLO) McKee refinery in Sunray, Texas was closed for five weeks for planned maintenance.
Oil industry and seismic activity
In October 2014 two moderate-sized
earthquake
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...
s ( Mw 4.0 and 4.3) struck south of Cushing, below one of the largest crude oil storage facility and gas pipeline transportation hubs in the world. The system also includes operational sections of the
Keystone pipeline
The Keystone Pipeline System is an oil pipeline system in Canada and the United States, commissioned in 2010 and owned by TC Energy and as of 31 March 2020 the Government of Alberta. It runs from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in Alber ...
.
On 6 November 2016, around 7:44 pm, a 5.0 MW earthquake rattled north-central Oklahoma. The quake was centered one mile west of Cushing. It was the sixth 5.0 magnitude or higher to strike the state since 1882. Three of those larger quakes occurred in 2016, and the strongest ever recorded in Oklahoma was a 5.8 magnitude that hit Pawnee (25 miles from Cushing) in September.Oklahoma earthquake reignites concerns that fracking wells may be the cause By Rick Jervis. ''
USA TODAY
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'', November 7, 2016.
According to George Choy, a
geophysicist
Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' som ...
with the
U.S. Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and ...
, Oklahoma has had a severe spike in earthquakes of 3.0 magnitude or higher since 2008. The number of 3.0 magnitude quakes rose from 2 in 2008 to 889 in 2015, according to USGS statistics. In 2016, there have been 572 (up to November). "The oil companies have said for a long time that these are natural earthquakes, that they would have occurred anyway," Choy said, "but when you look at the statistics, that argument does not fly."
Analysis of the spatial distribution of earthquakes and regional moment tensor focal mechanisms indicated reactivation of a subsurface unmapped
strike-slip fault
In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...
. The discovery stoked fears among scientists about other unknown faults that could be triggered by oil and gas wastewater being injected deep underground.New fault line discovered after 5.8 Oklahoma earthquake '' The Wichita Eagle'', Sean Murphy
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
, September 13, 2016. Retrieved 23 May 2017.Coulomb failure stress change calculations indicated that the Wilzetta Fault zone south of Cushing could produce a large, damaging earthquake comparable to the
2011 Oklahoma earthquake
The 2011 Oklahoma earthquake was a 5.7 magnitude intraplate earthquake which occurred near Prague, Oklahoma on November 5 at 10:53 p.m. CDT (03:53 UTC November 6) in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The epicenter of the ear ...
at
Prague, Oklahoma
Prague () is a city in Lincoln County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,346 at the 2020 census, an 1.76 percent decrease from the figure of 2,388 in 2010. Czech immigrants founded the city, and named it after the capital of the pres ...
.
Much of the production, using new horizontal drilling techniques, produces at very high rates, with very high water-to-oil ratios. Thus many of the disposal wells, which re-inject the brine into underground formations, handle much more water at much higher pressures than has been common in other, often older, plays. When high volume, high pressure liquids follow the planes in some susceptible dormant faults, it frequently causes them to slip resulting in quakes. After the strongest
earthquake
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...
in Oklahoma's history, at
Pawnee Pawnee initially refers to a Native American people and its language:
* Pawnee people
* Pawnee language
Pawnee is also the name of several places in the United States:
* Pawnee, Illinois
* Pawnee, Kansas
* Pawnee, Missouri
* Pawnee City, Nebraska
* ...
, recorded at 5.8 on the
Moment magnitude scale
The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mw, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. It was defined in a 1979 pape ...
, concerns about the relationship between disposal wells and earthquakes caused state and federal regulators to respond by shutting down more than 50 disposal sites and wells across the state, considering their proximity to
fault line
In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...
s.
Notable people
* Paul Blair, professional baseball playerNews services and staff reports (December 28, 2013) "Star center fielder won two titles with Orioles" ''The Washington Post'', page B4. Retrieved December 28, 201 /ref>
* Al Buell, former painter of pin-up art
* Kelly Cook, former
running back
A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...
in the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
freestyle wrestling
Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling originated from Great Britain and the United States. Along with Greco-Roman, it is one of the two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games. American high school and men's college wrestling ...
at
1936 Summer Olympics
The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...
*
Robert Pearce Robert Pearce may refer to:
* Robert Pearce (politician) (1840–1922), British Member of Parliament for Leek, 1906–1910 and 1910–1918
* Bobby Pearce (rower) (1905–1976), Australian-Canadian sculler
* Robert Pearce (wrestler) (1908–1996) ...
, Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling at
1932 Summer Olympics
The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held duri ...
Robert Pearce ''National Wrestling Hall of Fame''. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
*
Bob Shirley
Robert Charles Shirley (born June 25, 1954) is a former professional baseball pitcher. He played all or parts of 11 seasons in Major League Baseball, from 1977 to 1987, for the San Diego Padres, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, New York Yanke ...
List of oil pipelines
This is a list of oil pipelines.
Africa
* Chad–Cameroon pipeline – Chad–Cameroon
* Sudeth pipeline – South Sudan–Ethiopia (under construction)
* Transnet Pipelines – South Africa
* Sumed pipeline – Egypt
* Tazama Pipeline – Tanzan ...
List of oil spills
This is a reverse-chronological list of oil spills that have occurred throughout the world and spill(s) that are currently ongoing. Quantities are measured in tonnes of crude oil with one tonne roughly equal to 308 US gallons, 256 Imperial gallon ...