Employment in the upstream oil and gas industry in Texas showed a decline in November following five consecutive months of growth, according to data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Austin-based Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association said direct upstream employment in Texas for November totaled 194,400.  That’s a decrease of 1,500 jobs from […]

Spring, Texas-based ExxonMobil said recently it drilled and completed its 1,000th horizontal well in the New Mexico portion of the Delaware Basin since 2017.  Its recent acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources more than doubled the company’s Permian footprint and created what Exxon called “an industry-leading U.S. unconventional portfolio.” Scott Buechler, production manager for Exxon’s Delaware […]

Houston-based Coterra Energy said last week it is acquiring an additional 1,650 net royalty acres in Permian Basin from Sandia Minerals.  Purchase price is $43 million to the Denver-based company.  Coterra’s newest purchase complements its earlier $3.95 billion deal with Franklin Mountain Energy and Avant Natural Resources. Investing.com said Dec. 28, “The agreement underscores Coterra’s […]

Dennis Johnson of Midland’s Summit Petroleum will receive the 2024 Top Hand Award from Permian Basin Petroleum Association at a dinner Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, at Petroleum Club of Midland.  Johnson is chairman and CEO of Summit, which he co-founded in 2007.  A graduate of Texas A&M, he previously was president, COO and partner in […]

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 […]