Shale ///
Mason Anderson, Opportune LLP
As regulatory requirements and ESG reporting and transparency increase to address gas flaring, “clean fracs” could be one solution for upstream oil and gas companies towards an energy transition.
BP will spend about $1.3 billion to build a network of pipelines and other infrastructure to collect and capture natural gas produced as a byproduct from oil wells in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Shale, and not the pandemic, was responsible for the initial oil-market crash of 2020, Pioneer Natural Resources CEO Scott Sheffield said at an industry summit. He added that the cartel, frustrated at U.S. producers’ success in taking market share from OPEC, allowed prices to tumble.
Crude production in the Permian basin will reach 4.466 million barrels a day in May, the most in a year, and rig counts have touched a one-year high, according to the latest data from the Energy Information Administration.
Argentina believes a price ceiling would prevent bull runs in oil markets from triggering a surge in fuel prices, while a price floor would discourage oil companies from pulling out of a marginal asset like Vaca Muerta if markets collapse.
The Biden administration’s decision to allow the line to keep operating is a victory for pipeline owner Energy Transfer LP and drillers such as Continental Resources Inc. that use it transport crude from North Dakota’s Bakken oil field.
The Railroad Commission of Texas issued a total of 798 original drilling permits in March 2021 compared to 744 in March 2020. The March 2021 total includes 682 permits to drill new oil or gas wells, 13 to re-enter plugged well bores, and 99 for re-completions of existing well bores.
Enbridge Inc. is moving forward with upgrades to its pipeline network serving the northeastern U.S. to ship more shale gas from the prolific Appalachian Basin as opposition to new conduits mounts in the region.
The sale consists of approximately 78,700 net acres, which are located in the southernmost portion of Hess’ Bakken position and not connected to Hess Midstream infrastructure.
With the U.S. unlikely to ever reach previous crude production levels, OPEC+ is moving to roll back part of their oil supply cuts in the coming months.
“A carbon tax would be bad for a lot of the industry, a carbon tax would be bad for the consumers and especially for those consumers who are more disadvantaged from an economic standpoint,” Occidental CEO Vicki Hollub said at a conference hosted by Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association.
The monthly Oilfield Services and Equipment Employment Report, compiled and published by the Energy Workforce & Technology Council, estimates a peak of 102,000 pandemic-related job losses. Since then, the industry has gained back more than 23,000 jobs.
One day after the U.S. energy secretary phoned Saudi Arabia on the "importance of affordable and reliable energy for consumers," Interior Secretary Deb Haaland called the domestic fossil fuel industry "fundamentally broken," suggesting that Biden's oil and gas leasing moratorium will be anything but temporary.
Pioneer Natural Resources Co. is buying DoublePoint Energy LLC in a deal valued at $6.4 billion, less than three months after completing its purchase of fellow shale driller Parsley Energy Inc. as it expands in the U.S. Permian Basin.
Optimism has also been buoyed by expectations that global crude supplies won’t grow fast enough to satisfy demand as Covid-19 vaccinations proliferate and economies that shut down for the better part of a year begin reopening.
Oil is poised to close out a fourth quarterly advance on Wednesday, but the past week has seen volatility climb amid the Suez Canal blockage. While fuel consumption is rising in many parts of the world, risks remain, with the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warning of “impending doom” as cases and deaths in the country pick up.
The field test, completed on behalf of a major operator, was comprised of more than 300 operating hours with an average of more than 18 pumping hours per day, including the completion of 172 stimulation stages at rates up to 22 barrels per minute.
The three-member New Mexico Oil Conservation Commission voted unanimously for rules that are set to go into effect as early as May. Oil companies, gas processing plants and pipeline operators will have until 2026 to get their gas emissions down to 2% of production.
The backlog of drilled but uncompleted shale wells called DUCs is rapidly shrinking as oil prices rise, signaling that producers are ready to put drilling crews back to work as the industry rebounds from its pandemic-driven downturn.
The oil price needed to profitably drill a new well is $52 a barrel, executives from almost 100 producers said in the latest quarterly survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. That’s an increase of 6%, compared with when the question was asked last year. To cover costs on existing wells, companies need $31, which is 3% more than last year.