Mike Johnson (R-LA), speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, visited Permian Basin last week during National Energy Week.  Johnson accepted an invitation from Rep. August Pfluger (R-San Angelo) to visit a drilling rig March 18 in Ector County operated by Diamondback Energy.  “The Permian Basin is so critically important,” Johnson said.  “It’s been a […]

Baker Hughes said the count of natural gas drilling rigs in U.S. declined to 112 (down 4 in past week) as of March 22 – its lowest in 27 months since January 2022.  U.S. Energy Information Administration said the gas well count declined “as some producers slash spending and reduce drilling activities after gas futures […]

Only one of the top 10 counties in Permian Basin added drilling rigs last week as the count declined after a week of gains.  Baker Hughes said as of March 22 there were 315 rigs in Permian Basin (316 previous week, 353 year ago), 294 in Texas (unchanged in past week, 372 year ago), 106 […]

Houston-based APA Corp. said recently it expects to close on or about April 1 on its recent $4.5 billion acquisition of Callon Petroleum.  APA and Callon scheduled shareholder meetings March 27.  “We look forward to integrating the Callon assets and providing more information about the Permian Basin outlook from the combined assets,” John J. Christmann […]

Liberty Energy held groundbreaking ceremony March 5 for a new regional headquarters in Odessa.  The $50 million, two-story facility at Leeco Industrial Park will include a 42-bay maintenance shop, 6-bay truck wash facility, warehouse of 50,000 square feet, offices and training center.  Liberty’s project includes a grant of $2.5 million from Odessa Development Corp. Chris […]

Houston-based APA Corp., parent company of Apache, said recently it expects to surpass its pre-pandemic production levels in Permian Basin by 2024Q4 with 20 percent growth compared to 2023Q4.  John J. Christmann IV, CEO, said Feb. 26, “We have achieved top-tier well results and best-in-class production improvements in both the Midland and Delaware basins.  The […]

In its short-term energy outlook released last week, U.S. Energy Information Administration said U.S. benchmark Henry Hub spot price for natural gas is forecast to stay below $2 per million British thermal units in second quarter.  The price averaged an inflation-adjusted low of $1.72 per MMBtu in February.  EIA said March 12, “We expect natural […]

U.S. oil and gas drillers added the biggest number of drilling rigs for a week in six months since September, according to the weekly report of March 15 from Baker Hughes.  There were 629 rigs in U.S. – up from 622 the previous week, down from 754 a year ago.  Also, there were 316 rigs […]

Crude oil production in Permian Basin is forecast to increase by 8,000 barrels per day in April to 6.112 million b/d after 6.104 million b/d in March.  In its drilling productivity report Monday, U.S. Energy Information Administration said oil production overall in seven major producing regions is forecast at 9.769 million b/d for April – […]

U.S. Energy Information Administration this week raised its forecast for spot price of Brent crude oil to $88 per barrel for the second quarter of 2024.  That’s up $4 per barrel from Feb. 6 forecast.  And EIA said Tuesday the forecast price for fullyear 2024 is $87 per barrel compared to $82 per barrel as […]