About half of U.S. energy company executives polled by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas expect their firms to increase capital spending in 2021, and another quarter of respondents see those expenditures remaining flat next year, according to a survey released on Dec. 30. The coronavirus health crisis wiped out as much as a third
Read More...Devon Energy Corp. and WPX Energy Inc. shareholders voted on Dec. 30 in favor of the companies’ all-stock merger valued at more than $5 billion. The combined company, which will be named Devon Energy, is set to create a leading unconventional oil producer in the U.S. with a dominant Delaware Basin acreage position totaling 400,000
Read More...[Editor’s note: This story was updated at 11:14 a.m. CT Dec. 31.] Global crude prices slipped on Dec. 31 and lost more than a fifth of their value in volatile trade in 2020, as lockdowns to combat the novel coronavirus depressed economic activity and slammed fuel demand. Still, Brent and U.S. crude benchmarks have more than
Read More...Solar stocks dazzled in 2020 and looked set to wrap up a year ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic with triple-digit gains amid a shift in focus to ‘clean energy’ as the outbreak decimated the global oil industry. Giving the rally a leg up was Joe Biden’s victory in the November U.S. presidential election, along with
Read More...Michael Woodward, vice president of business development of Meritage Midstream II LLC, is today’s featured Forty Under 40 honoree. Woodward, who joined Meritage in 2013 through the acquisition of Thunder Creek Gas Services, has led his team in directing significant investment dollars into the Powder River Basin. Since 2013, the company has grown its rich
Read More...Roger CaiazzaIndependent Researcher and Publisher,Pragmatic Environmentalist of New York … [Editor’s Note: Deep decarbonization is, supposedly, the goal and political will is the means but it all sounds like more like “deep do-do” for New Yorkers.] On December 8, 2020, the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA) and the New York State
Read More...Exxon Mobil Corp. signaled in a regulatory filing that higher oil and gas prices and improved chemicals margins would aid fourth-quarter results, but the gains would be overshadowed by an up to $20 billion asset write down. The largest U.S. oil producer has posted losses in the first three quarters of 2020 on an ill-timed
Read More...[Editor’s note: Updated at 11:07 a.m. CT Dec. 31 to correct previous Reuters story after Halliburton spokeswoman says company has no staff in the country.] Oilfield services provider Halliburton Co. has eliminated all staff positions in Venezuela as a result of U.S. sanctions limiting its operations in the crisis-stricken OPEC nation, a spokeswoman for the
Read More...How it started: Out-of-control global pandemic, Saudi-Russia price war, epic economic collapse, crude price plunge to -$37/bbl, massive layoffs. How it’s going: Better, but the oil and gas industry will be nursing wounds well into 2021. “We have been characterizing the oil market at this point going forward as recovering but not recovered,” Mark Finley,
Read More...As we look back on 2020, there’s no denying it was a challenging year for everyone, including the U.S. oil and natural gas industry. Production decreased for the first time in years as a result of the pandemic and its impacts on global markets. But despite these unique and unexpected challenges, the industry continued to
Read More...America’s shale industry battled low oil prices, economic shutdowns resulting in decreased demand and a pandemic in 2020, but that didn’t stop the industry from continuing to strive to improve its environmental footprint through research, innovation, collaboration and commitments to greater transparency. As we round out December, let’s take a look at some of the
Read More...David Wojick, PhDIndependent Analyst … … … [Editor’s Note: Solar and wind get a lot of attention but its gas fired generation that is producing more and more of our electricity in this country.] The subsidies that never die — for wind and solar power — are back. With Christmas coming on the Lame Duck
Read More...Crude oil export operations have commenced on Dec. 30 at the second deepwater dock at South Texas Gateway (STG), a new state-of-the-art terminal operated by Buckeye Partners LP at the mouth of the Corpus Christi Ship Channel in Ingleside, Texas. In a company release, Buckeye also announced the loading of the first VLCC tanker to
Read More...Italy’s Edison SpA said on Dec. 30 it had sold its exploration and production assets in Norway to Norwegian oil and gas group Sval Energi AS as part of its strategy to focus on clean energy. Edison, owned by France’s EDF, said the deal valued Edison Norge AS at $300 million, including debt. It said
Read More...U.S. energy firms this week added oil and natural gas rigs for a sixth week in a row in the best quarter for boosting the rig count since the second quarter of 2017 as producers return to the wellpad with crude prices holding above $45/bbl. The oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of
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