re: U.S. rig count drops by 5 after three straight flat weeks, Baker Hughes says

Pipeline restraints and demand are key to the market. Production gets dinged in some plays due high paraffin wax content of the crude causing restrictions in pipelines with higher maintenance cost. Thus, pipeline companies pay them way less than delivered prices at ports and refineries.

Tight shale crude is generally very light, with some having very high paraffin wax content. This is far from ideal for refining. Transportation fuels are not big percent profit centers for refineries, and often negative. The crack spread is an OLD metric quite valid pre 1980's when most production was shallow, or from offshore fields on the Continental Shelf, and cars got 8-10 MPG.