Houston-based Occidental Petroleum last week opened the first solar facility used to directly power EOR operations in the Goldsmith field in Ector County. The 120-acre field features 174,000 photovoltaic panels with capacity of 16 megawatts. First Solar manufactured the panels and is contracted by Oxy to operate the facility. Subsidiary Oxy Low Carbon Ventures also […]

Railroad Commission of Texas said in FY2019 it plugged more than 1,700 abandoned wells to exceed the goal set by the Texas legislature. Most operators plug their own wells when they are no longer productive. To protect land and water resources, the commission uses industry fees paid into the Oil and Gas Regulation and Cleanup […]

Railroad Commission of Texas this week launched its first interactive data maps that provide oil and gas production and locations of abandoned wells plugged by the commission across the state and by county. The data is available beginning with calendar year 2018. Beginning with January 2019, the maps will be updated each month with year-to-date […]

ExxonMobil and SABIC (Saudi Arabian Basic Industries Corp.) last month started construction of Gulf Coast Growth Ventures, joint venture for a chemical facility and 1.8 million metric ton-per-year ethane steam cracker in San Patricio County near Corpus Christi. Groundbreaking was held Sept. 13. The project received final environmental regulatory approval in June to proceed with […]

Houston-based Cheniere Energy said last month that subsidiaries Corpus Christi Liquefaction and Cheniere Corpus Christi Liquefaction Stage III reached agreements with Houston-based EOG Resources to supply natural gas for 15 years. EOG agreed to sell natural gas to Cheniere beginning in early 2020 starting with 140,000 MMBtu per day and increasing to 440,000 MMBtu per […]

Houston investment startup Pickering Energy Partners said last month it is forming a joint venture with Midland’s Henry Resources to invest about $500 million in acquiring and developing acreage in Permian Basin. Henry Resources is a family firm focused on Permian Basin that sold its original company, Henry Petroleum, to Midland’s Concho Resources. The joint […]

Occidental Petroleum said Sept. 18 it will sell its stake in Houston-based Plains All American Pipeline. Oxy Holding Co. is selling 14.98 million common units of PAA for $21.46 per unit and expects to receive $321.4 million. Oxy also is selling its stake in Plains GP Holdings for a reported $330.8 million (15 million Class […]

Lea County, N.M., is the new leader in Permian Basin in count of active oil and gas drilling rigs as of Sept. 27 by Houston-based oilfield services firm Baker Hughes. Lea added 3 rigs in the past week for a total of 59 while Reeves County lost 2 rigs to trail with 55. Other leaders […]