Two Oklahoma-based shale producers, Devon Energy and WPX Energy, said this week they will combine in a $2.56 billion all-stock deal to create one of the nation’s largest producers with a dominant position in Delaware Basin. The “merger of equals” creates a combined company valued at about $12 billion to be named Devon Energy and […]

Organizers of next month’s Permian Basin International Oil and Gas Show said recently the show is being postponed because of coronavirus pandemic. The show scheduled Oct. 20-22 will be delayed until Oct. 19-21, 2021. The executive committee voted to postpone it for the first time since World War II. They said, “It is not realistic […]

Railroad Commission of Texas said this week it exceeded for the fourth straight year its goal for plugging abandoned oil and gas wells. For the fiscal year that ended Aug. 31, the agency plugged 1,477 orphan wells to exceed the goal of 1,400 set by the legislature for FY2020. The program is funded by industry […]

Rig counts in Texas and U.S. inched up by 1 rig each in the Sept. 18 report from Baker Hughes, but the count in New Mexico fell to a 2020 low of 43 rigs. Texas has 106 rigs (105 week ago, 423 year ago), and U.S. has 255 rigs (254 week ago, 868 year ago). […]

U.S. crude oil production from seven major shale formations is expected to decline by 68,000 barrels per day in October to 7.64 million b/d, according to the latest drilling productivity report from U.S. Energy Information Administration. That would be the first decline in production since May based on revised data from the agency. Output from […]

Boulder-based nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute launched its Climate Action Engine last week to help oil and gas companies in Permian Basin reduce greenhouse gas emissions by providing real-time data and climate intelligence to inform and evaluate decision-making. Companies participating in the project by providing data include Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Origin Energy. CAE will help […]

Christi Craddick of Midland was unanimously elected chair of the Railroad Commission of Texas Tuesday to succeed commissioner Wayne Christian. Craddick, an attorney specializing in oil and gas, water, tax, electric deregulation and environmental policy, was first elected to the RRC in November 2012. “Continuing to provide regulatory certainty to the energy sector will be […]

Reuters reported last week that producers in U.S. shale fields are stockpiling drilling permits on federal land ahead of the presidential election Nov. 3 “concerned that a win by Democratic candidate Joe Biden could lead to a clamp-down on oilfield activity.” Federal permitting in Permian Basin was up 80 percent in the last three months […]

Texas Petro Index from petroleum economist Karr Ingham declined in July for the 17th consecutive month to 154.5 despite the fact that crude oil prices have rebounded from low prices in April. The index (base 100.0 January 1995) is down from a revised 159.2 in June and down nearly 25 percent in the past year […]