TOPICS OF INTEREST
ASSET/PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
North Sea Still a Big Part of Total’s Future
Recent exploration success in the North Sea has motivated Total to invest some $10 billion in the basin over the next 5 years.
BP To Sell Alaska Business to Hilcorp
The $5.6-billion deal includes the Prudhoe Bay field and the Trans Alaska Pipeline and vaults Hilcorp to be the second-largest Alaska producer and reserves holder, behind only ConocoPhillips.
PDC Energy and SRC Energy Merge in Latest Shale Deal
The shale sector is making moves to consolidate amid investor pressure to increase cash flow. This deal will form the second-largest producer in Colorado’s DJ Basin.
Equinor, YPF To Explore Block Offshore Argentina
The firms are now partners on multiple blocks in the North Argentina Basin.
BHP, Anadarko Among Leaders in Latest US Gulf Lease Sale
Australia’s BHP Billiton and the recently acquired Anadarko Petroleum submitted the largest dollar totals of high bids in US Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 253.
The Shale Bankruptcies Continue
Times are still financially tough for many shale operators: Sanchez Energy and Halcón Resources become the latest to file for Chapter 11 protection.
Oxy Acquisition of Anadarko Is Complete
The biggest merger in the oil and gas industry in 3 years has become official, making Oxy the largest holder of land in both the Permian Basin and DJ Basin.
Anadarko’s Digital Legacy Offers a Template for Others
The large independent put together a team of data scientists, software developers, and petrotechnical staff to create a forward-looking vision for how to use digital technology to solve problems.
Shale Consolidation: Callon Acquiring Carrizo in $3.2 Billion Stock Deal
The combined company will produce more than 100,000 BOE/D from the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale and is switching its focus to “mega-pad” developments.
W&T Offshore To Acquire ExxonMobil’s Assets Off Alabama
The deal consists of stakes in nine shallow-water producing fields covering 108,000 gross acres in 10–50 m of water.
Comstock Resources to Buy Covey Park, Triple Haynesville-Bossier Position
The combination will create one of the Haynesville Shale’s top gas producers, tripling Comstock’s Haynesville-Bossier acreage.
Thirty Firms Awarded Blocks in UK’s 31st Offshore Licensing Round
The round marked a continuation of a recent trend on the UKCS in which lesser-known firms and newcomers have gained stature, replacing more-familiar, bigger operators that have pared down their North Sea positions.
Malaysia’s Petronas is Looking Near and Far for Gas and Oil
The state-owned firm is looking within its home country, around Southeast Asia, and to the Americas—including shale—in an effort to maintain its forecast average yearly production of 1.7 million BOE/D over the next 5 years.
Murphy Oil to Buy Deepwater US Gulf Assets for up to $1.625 Billion
The El Dorado, Arkansas-based Murphy has quickly found a home for some of the cash it will receive from the sale of its Malaysia business. The company has been rapidly expanding its US gulf footprint while simplifying its portfolio and targeting more oil.
Canadian Oil Business Gets More Canadian as Devon Exits
Devon Energy and its debt gets smaller, as Canadian Natural Resources adds to its huge, long-term bet on Canadian heavy and ultra-heavy crude.
Weatherford Plans Chapter 11 Restructuring
Weatherford said it will file for bankruptcy after reaching a deal with its biggest lenders to halve its debt load and provide financing during and after the process.
Chevron No Longer Pursuing Anadarko
Oxy has won the fight for Anadarko. Citing capital discipline as the reason, Chevron has elected not to make another bid for the independent.
Anadarko Accepts Oxy's Revised Takeover Offer
Anadarko Petroleum now plans to exit its agreement with Chevron after deeming Occidental Petroleum's revised takeover bid "superior."
Operator Executives Share Haynesville Development Strategies
Indigo Natural Resources, Aethon Energy, and Rockcliff Energy are among the most active operators in the revived Haynesville Shale of North Louisiana and East Texas. And most people outside of the region likely have never heard of them.
Machine Learning Optimizes Duvernay Shale-Well Performance
This paper discusses how machine learning by use of multiple linear regression and a neural network was used to optimize completions and well designs in the Duvernay shale.
Schlumberger to Sell its Middle East Drilling Business to Saudi Arabia’s TAQA
The deal will bolster Arabian Drilling Company’s fleet to 67 rigs across the Middle East and North Africa.
Spain’s Repsol, LLOG to Partner on Deepwater US Gulf Developments
The pact, which builds on the firms’ current partnership on the Buckskin project, covers four Keathley Canyon blocks including the Leon and Moccasin discoveries.
Shale Oil Focus Shifts to Cash Flow, Squeezing Growth and Small Players
In the shale oil business, cash flow is a life or death issue. For smaller players, money from investors and lenders is getting harder to find.
Oxy Makes $38-Billion Bid for Anadarko in Hopes of Beating Out Chevron
Keen on Anadarko for a while, Occidental Petroleum is ready to do battle with Chevron for the big independent.
ConocoPhillips to Exit UK E&P Business in $2.7-Billion Sale
With the purchase, the growing, privately-held Chrysaor Holdings will expand its UK North Sea production to 185,000 BOE/D.
Majors, IOCs Win Blocks in Argentine Offshore Bid Round
Thirteen companies placed bids on 18 blocks in the Austral, North Argentina, and Malvinas West basins as part of Argentina’s first open bid round for offshore acreage in more than 20 years.
Israel’s Delek Group to Buy Stake from Shell in US Gulf Field for Almost $1 Billion
The move is part of Delek’s strategy to expand its operations beyond the Eastern Mediterranean region. Shell, meanwhile, is in the midst of a $10-billion divestment program.
What Happened to the Private, Family-Owned Oil Company?
When the oil and gas industry goes one way, family-owned Hunt Oil goes the other. And that’s why the company has been around for three generations.
Three Big Numbers Shaping the Global Crude Picture
Take a quick look at some of the data points shaping upstream headlines and the movement of oil supplies around the world.
Repsol, ExxonMobil Latest to Add Colombian E&P Blocks
Colombia now counts Repsol, ExxonMobil, Shell, and Noble Energy as companies committed to exploration in its portion of the Caribbean Sea.
Noble Energy, Shell to Explore Colombian Caribbean Sea
Noble’s farm-in to blocks recently awarded to Shell marks the Houston-based independent’s entry into Colombia, where the government hopes to boost offshore exploration.
PTTEP to Buy Murphy Oil’s Malaysian Business for $2.1 Billion
Thailand’s PTTEP is doubling down on Malaysian oil and gas in an effort to broaden its reach in its native Southeast Asia.
Shell Dominates US Gulf Lease Sale
The major’s dominant showing in US Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 252 propelled another rise in bids and dollars for the biannual regionwide auction.
Shale CEO on Parent-Child Challenge, Well Declines: We Know
Encana CEO Doug Suttles assures that shale executives are acutely aware of the parent-child well challenge, and he doesn’t think it’s “a big threat” to the sector.
Israel Hopes to Build on Success of First Bid Round
The second round will offer 19 offshore blocks clustered in five zones to continue natural gas development in the eastern Mediterranean’s Levant Basin.
Devon Pulls Up Its Roots, Goes All In on US Oil
Devon Energy will be getting simpler and smaller by selling two no-growth assets—gas acreage in the Barnett Shale in Texas and oil sand operations in Canada. Its future is staked on growing oil production in the Permian’s Delaware Basin and three other unconventional oil plays.
Chesapeake Teams With Analytics Firm To Improve Asset Performance
The Oklahoma City independent has a new-look portfolio and new operational and financial priorities. And now it has enlisted an energy research firm to leverage advanced analytics and machine learning to help get the most out of its assets.
The Eagle Ford Still Looks Good to Operators
The Eagle Ford Shale has reclaimed its standing as one of the most attractive US onshore liquids basins, and for good reason. Does this mean more operators will seek to buy in to the play, and could further consolidation take hold following last year’s big deals?
To Solve Frac Hits, Unconventional Engineering Must Revolve Around Them
The struggle to overcome the challenge of frac hits has led to a critical dialogue about which pathway the shale sector should take. One idea is to simply put the problem at the center of every major decision.
What Happened to all the E&P Deal-Making?
One of last year’s big stories in the industry was consolidation among several of the larger upstream operators. But deal activity has fallen off in recent months. Will things remain this quiet during the somewhat uncertain year ahead?
ExxonMobil Streamlines Upstream Organization to Support Growth Plans
Exxon Mobil is reorganizing and creating three new upstream companies and a global projects company.
Norway Awards Most Licenses Ever in New Round
In need of an exploration boost, Norway doled out a record 83 production licenses in mature areas of the Norwegian Continental Shelf to 33 firms.
Eni To Team With BP, Others in Growing Middle East Exploration Campaign
By racking up exploration agreements in the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Bahrain, Eni took a big step forward in its pledge to tap into the Middle East’s vast swaths of highly prospective oil and gas acreage.
ProPetro Completes Acquisition of Pioneer’s Pressure Pumping Assets
ProPetro closed its deal to purchase Pioneer’s pressure pumping fleet, boosting its services in the Permian Basin.
Big Year for Shale M&A May End with Shell and Endeavor
2018 has seen a wave of shale deals that are consolidating the landscape. While this one could be among the biggest, it is not yet final.
Straight Out of OPEC, Qatar Flexes Global Ambitions
The small Gulf-nation is expanding its upstream portfolio to include some of the hottest exploration areas.
Natural Gas is Up, Except Where It’s Down
Natural gas prices have risen in the US but not in west Texas. The contrast is a sign of the growing pains that come with explosive growth changing this increasingly competitive market.
Mexico’s Giant Zama Discovery Gets New Interest Owner
DEA Deutsche Erdoel is buying Sierra Oil & Gas, giving the German operator stakes in six new blocks off Mexico—including the Zama discovery, where appraisal drilling is now under way.
Clustered-Development Approach Leads to Better Evaluation of Multiprospect Plays
In the clustered-development approach, the geologic dependence between prospects is combined with the aggregation of prospects to determine the economic viability of a grassroots development offshore.
Reserves/Asset Management
Any entity assessing project viability at any stage of the exploration-to-production life cycle must ensure an evergreen examination of the commercial likelihood on the basis of an ongoing data analysis, refining development synergies coupled with strategic reframing as required.
New Approach to Capital-Allocation Modeling Improves Performance Assessment
This new conceptual framework for capital-allocation management, known as advanced risk and capital-allocation management (ARCAM), aims to synchronize risk, strategy, and capital decision modeling to provide better visibility of future performance of capital-investment opportunities.
Reframing Exploration Strategy Optimizes Project Value
The objective of this case study is to describe a specific approach to establishing an exploration strategy at the initial stage on the basis of not only uncertainty reduction, but also early business-case development and maximization of future economic value.
GE Speeds Up Plan To Sell Stake in Baker Hughes
The deal would raise nearly $4 billion for GE, which plans to reduce its stake in the oilfield services company from 62.5% to at least 50.1% after the transactions. It had previously announced in June its intention to sell its stake over a 2- to 3-year period.
ADNOC Announces Integrated Gas Strategy, Oil Production Boost
The Abu Dhabi government approved a $132.3-billion capital expenditure increase that will fund, among other things, a plan that could enable the country to sustain LNG production through 2040.
US Shale Consolidation Heats Up as Firms Mull Long-Term Survival
With big shale mergers dominating the headlines, some of the industry’s most influential financial players gathered to discuss what’s driving the shift in operational and fiscal priorities.
BP’s Lower 48 Unit Becomes BPX Energy
The rebrand follows the completion of BP’s $10.5-billion purchase of BHP’s assets in the Permian, Eagle Ford, and Haynesville.
Liquids-Rich Permian Showcased as a Model Basin
The SPE Liquids-Rich Basin Conference in Midland, Texas, merged topics that have dominated recent industry discussions: technologies centered on big data, interwell communication, and Permian Basin production.
Oil Prices Float in a “Fragile Equilibrium”
Oil prices appear to have stabilized during the past year, and speakers at the annual Energy and the Economy Conference at the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank say they expect prices to remain level, at least for a little while.
Petrobras, Murphy Oil Form 75,000-BOE/D US Gulf Partnership
The new venture will operate several deepwater assets—including the Cascade, Chinook, Medusa, and Thunder Hawk fields.
Merger of Ensco and Rowan Jacks Up Their Market Share
The merger of Ensco and Rowan creates a company with growing cash flow from the biggest fleet of jackup rigs, and growth potential as deepwater drilling comes back.
Eni, BP To Team in Hopes of Boosting Libyan Oil and Gas Exploration
Eni plans to buy a portion of BP’s interest in Libya’s Ghadames and Sirt Basins in an effort to relaunch exploration activity there next year.
BHGE To Buy Stake in ADNOC Drilling as Firms Form UAE Partnership
The union marks the first time an international company has taken a direct equity stake in one of ADNOC’s service companies. BHGE will expand its presence in UAE, while ADNOC will gain access to BHGE technological expertise and proprietary equipment.
Small-Field Approach Holds Promise for Operators in Southeast Asia
This paper shows how a new approach to small fields could unlock more than twice the net present value (NPV) of larger conventional fields in Southeast Asia at a similar level of capital expenditure (CAPEX).
WATCH: 2018 ATCE Opening Session
These days, it is all about digital. Click to find out what industry leaders from Encana, Google, Schlumberger, and Shell have to say about the ongoing transformation towards data-driven profitability.
Four Charts That Show DUCs Are Soaring in US Shale Fields
There is no single reason that they all exist—and bringing them all on line will face challenges.
BHP Affirms Devotion to Oil and Gas Despite US Shale Exit
BHP Billiton lost billions during its foray into US shale, but that doesn’t mean it has soured on oil and gas—particularly when it comes to deepwater development.
The Company That Slipped Into the Permian “Under The Cover of Darkness”
WPX Energy COO Clay Gaspar discusses his company’s timely transformation into a Permian player and the challenges that lie ahead in the basin.
Oilfield Service Patent Contests Get Heated
From the highest courts of the US judicial branch to the C-suite, contests involving patents have recently come to the fore in the innovation hungry US oilfield services industry, even as filings and litigation have declined in recent years.
Innovation Leaders to Meet in Scotland at SPE ENGenious Event
A new event is kicking off in September that will bring together the brightest minds in digital tech and oil and gas.
Diamondback Energy Spending $10.5 Billion in Permian Acreage Expansion
Diamondback is slated to become the Permian’s latest pure-play giant with its pending purchases of Energen and Ajax Resources.
Bids, Dollars Rise in Third Regionwide US Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale
ExxonMobil and Hess led the way in the most active regionwide US gulf lease sale thus far.
Odds on the World vs. Permian Fight Are Narrowing
While US onshore still holds an edge, international oil companies are finding attractive options for diversifying their portfolios, mixing onshore with offshore conventional fields, where finding and development costs are down , and the time it takes to bring them on line.
BP To Buy US Shale Assets From BHP for $10.5 Billion
BP ends a year of speculation as to who will buy BHP Billiton’s much-coveted US unconventional business, transforming its Lower 48 portfolio in the process.
UK’s Latest Licensing Round Aims for Offshore Frontiers
Just 2 months after issuing more than a hundred licenses, the Oil and Gas Authority begins the process again for a whole new set of blocks.
Chevron Prepares To Sell Central North Sea Assets
The company announced it would “initiate the process” of marketing its UK Central North Sea fields as part of a portfolio review.
Unlocking Egypt’s Unconventional-Resource Potential
The Apollonia tight-gas chalk play is located in the Abu Gharadig Basin in the Western Desert of Egypt. This has long been ignored as a gas play in the overburden, while the Jurassic and Cretaceous oil fields deeper in the basin have been explored and developed.
Coalbed Methane Prospects in Indonesia
This paper reviews the efforts to exploit CBM resources in Indonesia, the challenges these efforts have faced, and possible solutions that can make operations more efficient and profitable.
Coalbed Methane Development in China: Challenges and Opportunities
This paper presents a literature review to determine the engineering challenges and opportunities presented by CBM production in China.
GE To Spin Off Baker Hughes
GE announced today that it is spinning off Baker Hughes in its strategic plan for growth and shareholder value creation. It plans to focus on aviation, power, and renewable energy.
Equinor’s Offshore Bonanza Continues
Equinor has grabbed seven new licenses in the Barents and Norwegian Seas, the latest in a flurry of offshore activity in which the firm has added acreage off the UK and Brazil, gained approval for a big Arctic project, and awarded billions of dollars in service contracts.
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