Baker Hughes reported in its final weekly report of 2024 there were 304 active drilling rigs in Permian Basin for the fourth straight week.  As of Dec. 27, there were 284 rigs in Texas (down 1 in past week, down 25 in past year), 103 in New Mexico (unchanged in past week, up 6 in […]

Forbes said recently that preliminary data from U.S. Energy Information Administration show U.S. crude oil production reached a record 13.249 million barrels per day by Dec. 13, 2024, and cumulative production this year is estimated at 4.611 billion barrels by that date.  That was only 110 million barrels shy of the previous annual record so […]

Midland-based ProPetro Holding said recently it entered another term contract to provide electric hydraulic fracturing services to a large independent oil and gas operator in Permian Basin.  Sam Sledge, CEO, said Dec. 19, “We now have four electric fleets on term contracts and continue to experience industry-leading performance from our active fleets that are delivering […]

U.S. Census Bureau said last week Texas’ population surpassed 31 million people.  Texas added 562,941 residents between July 2023 and July 2024 to bring the state’s population to 31,290,831.  A major factor of that growth was net international migration.  Texas added 319,569 new residents from abroad – most since the pandemic and third after Florida […]

Rig counts in Permian Basin and U.S. were unchanged for the past week in the Dec. 20 report from Baker Hughes.  There were 304 rigs in Permian Basin (307 year ago) and 589 in U.S. (620 year ago).  Texas added a rig (up 1 to 285, down 21 from 306 year ago), and New Mexico […]

Affiliates of Austin-based Brigham Exploration said last week they acquired non-operated assets in west Texas and southeast New Mexico from Great Western Drilling.  The combination of the acquired assets and Brigham’s existing portfolio creates one of the largest private non-operated footprints in Permian Basin. The assets include more than 7,000 net acres in the Delaware […]

Houston-based Phillips 66 said last week it agreed to divest DCP GCX Pipeline, which owns 25 percent non-operating equity interest in Gulf Coast Express pipeline, to an affiliate of ArcLight Capital Partners for $865 million.  The 500-mile Gulf Coast Express transports about 2 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas from Permian Basin to […]

Cottonmouth Ventures, subsidiary of Midland-based Diamondback Energy, is making an equity investment in Verde Clean Fuels with a stock purchase agreement valued at $50 million.  It’s the second investment by Cottonmouth in Verde in the last two years for a total of $70 million – making Cottonmouth the second largest shareholder of Verde. Verde’s announcement […]

Global oil production will increase by 1.6 million barrels per day in 2025, but U.S. Energy Information Administration said 90 percent of that growth will come from non-OPEC+ countries.  That is due to ongoing production restraints by OPEC+.  At its meeting Dec. 5, OPEC+ said it will delay production increases until at least April 2025. […]

Electric Reliability Council of Texas estimates that the Permian Basin will experience 26,000 megawatts of new electricity demand by 2038.  Half of that increase will be generated by the oil and gas industry, according to Lori Cobos, commissioner of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, who was in Midland recently to speak to members of […]