U.S. Department of Energy said last week it will purchase another three million barrels of U.S.-sourced sour crude oil to add to the strategic petroleum reserve in August.  DOE said Feb. 26 it wants to purchase oil at or below $79 per barrel.  Bids for this solicitation are due by 11 a.m. (central), Wednesday, March […]

Count of active oil and gas drilling rigs in Permian Basin increased by 1 to 315 as of March 1, according to Baker Hughes.  Permian’s count is up 6 this year and is its highest since September 2023.  Permian’s count was 349 a year ago.  Texas was the only major producing state to report a […]

Denver-based Civitas Resources said last week it decreased estimated capital spending for 2024 while maintaining production guidance of 325,000-to-345,000 boed (71-to-74 percent liquids).  The decrease of $150 million to $1.8 billion-to-$2.1 billion primarily is driven by optimized activity levels, enhanced well productivity and reduced cycle times. CEO Chris Doyle said Feb. 27 Civitas expects to […]

Midland-based Permian Resources said last week it will focus on its New Mexico operations in 2024 in the follow-up to its $4.5 billion purchase last year of Earthstone Energy.  Permian Resources will dedicate 70 percent of 2024 capital spending (about $2 billion) to northern Delaware Basin, 25 percent to southern Delaware Basin in Texas and […]

Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy said recently it plans to acquire Spring-based Southwestern Energy for $7.4 billion to create a natural gas producer with more than 5,000 locations that currently produce about 7.9 Bcfd.  The company will have 1.2 million net acres in Appalachia and 650,000 acres in Haynesville. Nick Pope of Seaport Research told Oil […]

Houston-based Enterprise Products Partners said last week it increased its interests in certain midstream assets in Texas through deals with Western Midstream Partners.  In the Permian Basin, Enterprise consolidated ownership by acquiring interests in Whitehorn Pipeline and Enterprise EF78 from affiliates of Western Midstream in a series of debt-free transactions for $375 million cash. Enterprise […]

Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners said recently it has commitments for about 25 percent of capacity for Warrior natural gas pipeline.  It’s a 260-mile pipeline from Permian Basin to Energy Transfer interconnects southwest of Fort Worth with continued transport to Gulf Coast.  Mike McCrea, co-CEO and CCO, said Feb. 14 during an earnings call that the […]

Austin-based Atlas Energy Solutions said Tuesday it agreed to acquire all Permian Basin proppant production assets and North American logistics operations of Houston-based Hi-Crush in a transaction valued at $450 million.  The transaction includes $150 million upfront cash, $175 million in stock and $125 million in deferred cash.  Atlas said the combination “brings together two […]

Permian Basin, Texas, New Mexico and U.S. each reported an increase in count of active oil and gas drilling rigs in the past week.  Baker Hughes said as of Feb. 23 there were 314 rigs in Permian (312 previous week, 353 year ago), 301 in Texas (299 previous week, 370 year ago) and 102 in […]

Houston-based Occidental Petroleum said recently its 2024 production in Permian Basin will be flat after a 14 percent increase last year.  Total production this year is forecast at 1.22 million-to-1.28 million boed (midpoint would be an increase of 2.2 percent from 2023).  In 2023Q4 Occidental’s total production was 1.23 million boed, including 588,000 boed from […]