Gas Prices Unlikely To Skyrocket As Oil Companies Assess Hurricane Ida Damage August 31, 2021 Oil companies are still assessing the damage at the oil rigs, platforms and refineries that were struck by Hurricane Ida. Read more
USA Holds Largest Oil Reserves Sale in 7 Years
USA Holds Largest Oil Reserves Sale in 7 Years August 24, 2021 The U.S. is holding its largest sale of oil from strategic reserves since 2014 at a time when the outlook for fuel demand is darkening amid the resurgent Covid-19 virus. Read more
U.S. shale sector rebounds in 2021 on higher oil prices and market discipline
U.S. shale sector rebounds in 2021 on higher oil prices and market discipline Energize Weekly, August 25, 2021 After years of red ink and a string of bankruptcies, the U.S. shale oil sector is staging a rebound, buoyed by higher oil prices and continued financial discipline, according to analyses by…
API Files Lawsuit Against Biden Administration
API Files Lawsuit Against Biden Administration August 17, 2021 The American Petroleum Institute (API) has announced that it, along with 11 other energy industry trade groups, has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI’s) indefinite pause on…
Permian Gets Confidence Vote with Infrastructure Plan
Permian Gets Confidence Vote with Infrastructure Plan August 10, 2021 The region at the heart of the once-booming U.S. shale industry is signaling confidence in a nascent recovery after the pandemic crushed demand and curtailed oil and gas drilling. Read more
Devon and Conoco Study $10B Shell Permian Assets
Devon and Conoco Study $10B Shell Permian Assets August 03, 2021 Devon Energy Corp. and ConocoPhillips are among potential suitors studying Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s portfolio of Permian Basin oil fields, which could be worth as much as $10 billion in a sale, people familiar with the matter said. Read…
Shell greenlights Gulf of Mexico ‘Whale’ oilfield project
Shell greenlights Gulf of Mexico ‘Whale’ oilfield project July 26, 2021 Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) announced plans on Monday to develop a new oilfield in the Gulf of Mexico, its first major project to get the go-ahead since a Dutch court ordered the energy company to accelerate its carbon emissions reduction targets.…
Oil industry mergers and acquisitions bounce back in the second quarter of 2021
Oil industry mergers and acquisitions bounce back in the second quarter of 2021 Energize Weekly, July 21, 2021 Mergers and acquisitions among oil and gas producers rebounded in the second quarter of 2021 with more than 40 deals totaling $33 billion, with seven deals each worth more than $1 billion,…
Baker Hughes Tallies More Drilling Rigs
Baker Hughes Tallies More Drilling Rigs July 10, 2021 The overall U.S. rotary rig count increased by four to 479 drilling units this week, Baker Hughes Co. (NYSE: BKR) reported Friday. Read more
Activists Demand Biden Kill More Pipeline Projects
Activists Demand Biden Kill More Pipeline Projects June 14, 2021 Environmentalists emboldened by this week’s defeat of Keystone XL are pressuring President Joe Biden to revoke permits for other oil and gas pipelines, warning their votes depend on the administration blocking fossil fuel infrastructure. Read more
U.S. shale oil companies keeping production and budgets tight 2021 and beyond
U.S. shale oil companies keeping production and budgets tight 2021 and beyond Energize Weekly, June 9, 2021 U.S. shale drillers are continuing to limit production and spending with the return to pre-pandemic levels years off, according to Oslo-based energy analyst Rystad Energy. Oil output is projected to drop 5.2 percent, about…
Biden to Suspend Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Drilling
Biden to Suspend Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Drilling JUNE 1, 2021 The pendulum has swung again in the decades-long battle over drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Biden administration is moving to suspend oil-and-gas leases in the sensitive Alaskan habitat, blocking a last minute rush by the Trump administration to…
Oil and gas market rebound underpinned by market discipline at home and abroad
Oil and gas market rebound underpinned by market discipline at home and abroad Energize Weekly, May 26, 2021 Oil and natural gas have seen a rebound in 2021 but those gains are delicately balanced on market discipline in both global and domestic markets, according to an assessment by industry analyst…
Black Hills Energy joins ONE Future Coalition, commits to reduce methane emissions
Black Hills Energy joins ONE Future Coalition, commits to reduce methane emissions May 03, 2021 by Chris Galford Black Hills Corp., operating utilities as Black Hills Energy, became the latest natural gas company to join the Our Nation’s Energy Future (ONE Future) Coalition last week, committing to reducing methane emissions throughout…
Cost of winterizing Texas electricity grid worth the expense, Dallas Federal Reserve says
Cost of winterizing Texas electricity grid worth the expense, Dallas Federal Reserve says Energize Weekly, April 21, 2021 The cost of weatherizing the Texas electric power system – which faced a major collapse during a February freeze – could run into hundreds of millions of dollars, but the expense would…
Texas oil pipelines face dry months as production languishes
APRIL 12, 2021 NEW YORK (Reuters) -Nearly half of all oil pipelines from the Permian basin, the biggest U.S. oilfield, are expected to be empty by the end of the year, analysts and executives said. Read more
U.S. onshore oil and gas drilling rebounds with smaller, private operators leading the way
Energize Weekly, March 31, 2021 U.S. onshore oil and gas drilling showed signs of recovery in the fourth quarter of 2020 and the first few months of 2021 – sparked by a rebound in oil prices and strong activity among private companies, according to a Colorado School of Mines report.…
Federal lands drilling moratorium could tip activity toward Texas and away from New Mexico
Energize Weekly, March 10, 2021 The Biden administration’s moratorium on federal lands oil and gas leasing and its review of future leasing could lead to a stark shift in activity to Texas from New Mexico in the Permian Basin, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas analysis. Half of…
Collapse of the natural gas system from wellhead to turbine fueled Texas’ blackout
Energize Weekly, February 24, 2021 The near collapse of Texas’ electric grid was caused in the main by a failure of the natural gas system from the wellhead to pipeline to gas turbine, according to an analysis by the International Energy Agency (IEA). “Texas has a power shortage because it…
European oil companies changing names and shifting their focus to alternative energy
Energize Weekly, February 17, 2021 European oil companies are continuing their push to reorient and rebrand themselves as comprehensive energy companies and not just producers of oil and natural gas. On Feb. 9, French oil company Total announced it was changing its name to TotalEnergies to reflect a broader strategy…
U.S. energy consumption will take years to rebound from pandemic, EIA says
Energize Weekly, February 10, 2021 It will take years for U.S. energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions to return to 2019 levels after the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s economy and the global energy sector, according to the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA). Energy consumption in…
Oil and gas activity rebounds in the Permian Basin but economic pressure persists
Energize Weekly, January 13, 2021 After a punishing year, oil and gas activity in a swatch of oil county from Louisiana through Texas to New Mexico rebounded in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to a survey by Dallas Federal Reserve Bank. The bank queried oil company executives in its…
Gas flaring is a problem from Texas’ Permian Basin to Russia’s Siberian oil fields
Energize Weekly, January 6, 2021 The U.S set a record for flaring of gas at well sites in 2019 and was part of a global pollution problem created by a handful of oil-producing countries, according to two energy agencies. An average of 1.48 billion cubic feet of gas was vented…
Colorado adopts sweeping oil and gas rules, banning flaring, creating a 2,000-foot setback
Energize Weekly, December 2, 2020 Colorado has adopted the strongest oil and gas regulations in the country and reoriented its oversight agency from “fostering” oil and gas development to “regulating” the industry to protect public health, safety, the environment and wildlife. After more than a year of hearings and negotiations,…
Voters weigh in on local and state energy issues from renewable energy to oil and gas taxes
Energize Weekly, November 11, 2020 Election returns on state and local energy issues were both literally and figuratively all over the map last week on issues ranging from renewable energy to oil and gas taxes. Voters in Alaska rejected a tax on oil operations while the industry was denied a…
Weak oil and gas markets forcing mergers and bankruptcies among shale operators
Energize Weekly, November 4, 2020 After weak third quarter in 2020 for oil and gas industry mergers and acquisition, one of the worst in 10 years, the fourth quarter opened with a string of big deals – a sign that the sector remains under pressure to consolidate, according to analysts.…
Pandemic and weak prices drive shale oil companies back into the red and debt
Energize Weekly, October 7, 2020 After trying to cut spending and debt, shale drillers are seeing a wave of red ink and increasing liability in 2020 as a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic and the weak oil and gas prices it has spawned, according to two financial analyses. In…
Could a Biden presidency be a boost to both the power sector and the oil and gas industry?
Energize Weekly, September 9, 2020 Joe Biden becoming president of the U.S. could be a boost for clean energy and perhaps somewhat ironically, for oil and gas – at least in the short run. That was the conclusion of energy industry consultants Wood Mackenzie and Rystad Energy in separate analyses.…
The ongoing pandemic and weak economy led to across-the-board energy production cuts
Energize Weekly, August 19, 2020 Projections for U.S. energy production in 2020 – from oil to natural gas to coal – continued to fall as the novel coronavirus pandemic and global recession depress economies. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has lowered its estimate for domestic crude oil production by…
Renewable electricity generation set to surpass coal, which continues to decline, in 2020
Energize Weekly, May 20, 2020 Renewable electricity generation is set to surpass coal-fired generation in 2020, as coal continues to slide, having hit a 42-year low in 2019, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The EIA is projecting a 25 percent drop in coal-fired generation in 2020 and…
U.S. crude oil and natural gas production, as well as gas consumption, hit records in 2019
Energize Weekly, March 11, 2020 Annual U.S. crude oil and natural gas production hit records in 2019, as did domestic natural gas consumption, according to data from the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA). Crude oil production was up 11 percent over 2018 to an average of 12.23 million barrels per…
Natural gas overtakes coal as a source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. and Europe
Energize Weekly, December 18, 2019 Natural gas – while helping to lower overall greenhouse gas releases – has overtaken coal as a source of carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. and the European Union, according to a report from the Global Carbon Project. While total fossil fuel emissions are projected…
Employment picture cools in the Permian Basin, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas says
Energize Weekly, December 11, 2019 Employment in Texas’ Permian Basin – in a sign of cooling oil and gas activity – declined by 400 jobs through the first 10 months of 2019 after adding 16,700 jobs in 2018, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. For the year, employment…
International action has been insufficient to curb GHG, drastic action needed, the UN says
Energize Weekly, December 4, 2019 The gap between international efforts to curb greenhouse gases (GHG) and the growing emissions has grown so large that dramatic reductions over the next decade are needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, according to a United Nations (UN) report. Under the 2015…
Equity and bond money for drillers dries up in Q3 as investors are wary
Energize Weekly, November 6, 2019 The stock and bond markets continued to cool for oil and gas drillers in the third quarter of 2019 with $495 million raised in equity, a 79 percent decline year-over-year, according to a report from Enverus, an industry analytics firm. Bond offerings for “upstream” drillers…
U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil production sets record in 2018, on pace for records in 2019 and 2020
Energize Weekly, October 23, 2019 U.S. Gulf of Mexico crude oil production set a record in 2018 at 1.8 million barrels a day, according to the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA) Short-Term Energy Outlook. The record-setting trend is forecast to continue in 2019 with production hitting 1.9 million barrels a…
Bankruptcies and red ink will not mar the future for U.S. shale drilling, Rystad says
Energize Weekly, October 9, 2019 Despite a string of bankruptcies and red ink, the future for U.S. shale drillers is not bleak, according to Oslo-based energy analyst Rystad Energy. “In a nutshell, we do not believe the recent bankruptcies that have beset a number of shale players are indicative of…
Drill rigs operating in the U.S. fall below 900 for the first time since 2017
Energize Weekly, September 11, 2019 The number of oil and gas rigs operating in the U.S. – on land and offshore – fell in September to less than 900 for the first time since 2017, according to the Baker Hughes North American Rig Count. There were 898 rigs operating on…
Horizontal drilling is key to nearly all oil and gas production from tight formations in 2018
Energize Weekly, June 12, 2019 Horizontal wells accounted for 96 percent of the oil production from tight geological formations, such as shale, in 2018, up from 15 percent in 2004, according to data from the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA). The horizontal wells, with laterals that can run two miles…
U.S. oil production seen as a moderating force in coping with oil market price volatility
Energize Weekly, May 29, 2019 As costs come down for producing oil from shale plays, U.S. production appears to be playing a larger role in anchoring long-term oil prices, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas analysis. The combination of shorter lead times between drilling and production and the…
Global energy investment, after a three-year slide, stabilized in 2018, the IEA says
Energize Weekly, May 29, 2019 After a three-year slide, global energy investment stabilized in 2018 at just more than $1.8 trillion dollars—as spending on oil, natural gas and coal increased, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said. Investments in renewable generation and energy efficiency, however, stalled in 2018, according to the…
Demand for frac water and wastewater treatment set to soar by 2021, says Rystad Energy
Energize Weekly, January 30, 2019 The demand for water for hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells has more than doubled in the last three years and is projected to reach more than 6.3 billion barrels by 2021, according to an analysis by Rystad Energy. Hydraulic fracking sends water, chemicals…
