Regulation ///
The Railroad Commission of Texas issued a total of 312 original drilling permits in June 2020 compared to 1,001 in June 2019. The June 2020 total includes 262 permits to drill new oil or gas wells, three to re-enter plugged well bores and 21 for re-completions of existing well bores.
The American Petroleum Institute released the following statement from President and CEO Mike Sommers in response to the cancellation of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and a court ruling to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Crude production in Venezuela tumbled for a sixth straight month in June, underscoring the dismal state of the nation’s oil industry as U.S. sanctions batter exports and the coronavirus pummels demand.
The African Energy Chamber said the continuation of travel restrictions and suspension of visas and travel between Africa and Europe is heavily restraining the oil & gas industry’s recovery efforts.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is using the Covid-19 pandemic to accelerate efforts to diversify his oil-dependent economy, a change of emphasis for a leader who once pledged to return the Canadian province to fiscal discipline.
The more than 500-page plan, from the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis convened by Pelosi and chaired by Representative Kathy Castor of Florida, seeks to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 and calls for achieving 100% clean vehicles by 2035, according to people familiar with the details.
BSEE is publishing its inaugural report that summarizes the key lessons learned from 2018 and 2019 government initiated unannounced exercises.
Officially, China hasn’t imported any Venezuelan crude since September after Washington sanctioned state entities including PDVSA. Information from data intelligence firm Kpler, however, signals the Asian nation is still buying, with as much as 3.3 MMbbl waiting off the Chinese coast as of June 15 and another 5 MMbbl en route to the port of Qingdao.
On June 16th, the Railroad Commission of Texas heard from the state's oil and gas trade associations, environmental advocacy groups, and several oil and gas producers about the issue of flaring and how Texas can implement meaningful reforms to reduce flaring before oil and gas activity returns to previous highs.
The Trump administration is preparing sanctions on as many as 50 oil and fuel tankers as part of an effort to cut off trade between Iran and Venezuela, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Craig Fleming, World Oil
The Texas Alliance of Energy Producers held a virtual meeting on May 20 to provide its members, and invited guests, an update on problem issues that the association is working to solve.
In a move condemned by critics as encouraging production the market doesn’t need, the Trump administration has granted at least 76 petitions to cut royalty payments for oil and natural gas produced on public land in Utah.
Key trends for the coming week, including a couple of wild cards that could threaten the recovering global oil price and production balance.
Bleak crude prices and fuel demand forecasts won’t blunt oil company bidding for Arctic drilling rights, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said Monday.
Energy markets are rarely left to their own devices in Argentina, to the frustration of many in the industry, and past governments have used controls to shield the local energy business from global price swings.
The Trump administration shouldn’t create a special relief program to bolster oil and gas producers while ignoring companies with “legitimate needs” that have been harmed by the coronavirus, Senator Elizabeth Warren argued Thursday.
The administration of President Alberto Fernandez has circulated a proposal to set $45 as the per-barrel mandate in a bid to keep the domestic drilling business alive and sustain development of the vast Vaca Muerta shale formation during the demand-killing coronavirus pandemic.
Kurt and Cameron discuss more service company layoffs in Texas, the final outcome on prorationing, and what is likely to happen in shale plays as the crude demand decline levels off.
The Railroad Commission of Texas held yet another meeting on Tuesday, and the results, while predictable, are mostly ineffective, as a whole.
On the same day OPEC-style oil quotas in Texas were pronounced dead on arrival, shale drillers disclosed more supply cuts in response to the crude market collapse.