Austin-based Atlas Energy Solutions is making driverless deliveries of proppant across the Permian Basin with two RoboTrucks equipped with Kodiak Robotics’ self-driving system.  Kodiak said Jan. 24 Atlas completed its first 100 loads to mark “the first time ever that a customer has taken ownership of a RoboTruck and launched driverless commercial semi-trucking operations.”  The […]

Houston-based Phillips 66 last week reported record NGL fractionation and LPG export volumes in its midstream unit for 2024 fourth quarter.  Mark Lashier, chairman and CEO, said Jan. 31, “During the fourth quarter we achieved our strategic priority targets for shareholder distributions and asset dispositions.  We also delivered on our goal of improving refining performance […]

Spring, Texas-based ExxonMobil said last week in 2024 it reached its highest production in more than a decade in a surge driven by record outputs from Permian Basin and offshore Guyana.  The company’s net production averaged 4.3 million boed – marking an increase of 16 percent from 2023.  Exxon said earnings increased $1.6 billion “due […]

Calgary-based Enverus Intelligence Research said last week upstream activity in mergers and acquisitions reached $105 billion in 2024 – the third highest total tracked by Enverus.  That trailed only the record-setting $192 billion in 2023 and $108 billion in 2014.  Activity did tumble in the second half of 2024; activity was only $9.6 billion in […]

Fort Worth-based U.S. Energy Development Corp. said this week it will spend up to $1 billion this year primarily in Permian Basin.  The announcement followed a record-breaking year during which USEDC deployed nearly $800 million into operated and non-operated projects.  Jordan Jayson, chairman and CEO, said Monday, “Our long-term acquisition and production strategies continue to […]

Data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association show a decline in upstream employment in the industry in Texas in December.  TIPRO said upstream employment in the state in December was 195,500 – a decrease of 700 positions from November (500 in oil and gas extraction, 200 in […]

Chris Wright, CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate Monday as secretary of energy in the new administration of President Donald Trump.  Wright, 60, has been chair and CEO of Liberty since 2011.  A graduate of MIT, he founded Pinnacle Technologies and later served as chairman of Stroud Energy.  He was […]

U.S. Energy Information Administration expects Henry Hub natural gas price to increase in 2025 and 2026 as demand for natural gas grows faster than supply.  There is more demand from U.S. LNG export facilities which reduces natural gas in storage compared with the last two years.  EIA said Jan. 23 it expects U.S. benchmark Henry […]

Austin-based Atlas Energy Solutions said last week it agreed to purchase Moser Energy Systems, a provider of distributed power solutions, in a cash and stock transaction valued at $220 million ($180 million cash).  Atlas said the combination of its completion platform and Moser’s distributed power platform creates “an innovative, diversified energy solutions provider with a […]

Permian Basin and U.S. added drilling rigs last week for the first time in eight weeks, according to the weekly report of Jan. 31 from Baker Hughes.  There were 303 rigs in Permian Basin (up 5 in the past week, down 8 in the past year) and 582 in U.S. (up 6 in the past […]