Tulsa-based Vital Energy said last week it signed an agreement to buy assets of another Midland Basin driller, Driftwood Energy Operating, for $215.6 million in cash and stock ($127.6 million cash).  The deal includes 11,200 net acres (16,500 gross, 91 percent held by production) in Reagan and Upton counties with current production of about 5,400 […]

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said last month it has delayed a decision on whether to declare the Permian Basin a non-attainment area for ozone.  Houston Chronicle called the announcement “a break for oil and gas drillers that faced potentially severe restrictions on the amount of pollution they release into the air.” EPA said last year […]

Rig counts in Permian Basin and Texas declined for the second straight week, according to Baker Hughes in its weekly report of Feb. 10.  Permian Basin’s count fell by 2 in the past week to 352 (353 to start 2023), and the count in Texas was down 7 in the past week to 370 (376 […]

Production of oil and natural gas continues to grow in forecasts from U.S. Energy Information Administration.  In its latest drilling productivity report this week, EIA said oil production is expected to grow by 30,000 barrels per day in March to 5.682 million b/d from 5.652 million b/d in February.  Overall in seven major producing regions […]

Growth plans for Marathon Petroleum affiliate MPLX include new gas processing plants in Permian Basin and Marcellus.  MPLX said Jan. 31 its capital spending in 2023 will be $950 million, including $800 million of growth capital ($712 million last year) and $150 million of maintenance capital ($143 million last year). In the Permian Basin, MPLX […]

Railroad Commission of Texas said last week it will add more requirements to new disposal well permits in Permian Basin to help the agency and industry monitor and respond to injection and reservoir conditions that may induce seismic activity.  The new regulations will require certain new disposal wells to be equipped and operated with a […]

Calgary-based Enverus Intelligence Research said recently that upstream M&A (merger and acquisition) activity in 2022 resulted in transaction values down about 20 percent from pre-pandemic averages, and the volume of deals fell to a nearly two-decade low.  Activity was driven by large companies targeting the highest quality assets in billion-dollar-plus deals. Andrew Dittman, director at […]

U.S. count of active oil and gas drilling rigs continues its contraction in 2023.  No state added rigs in the past week, according to Baker Hughes in its weekly report of Feb. 3.  There were 354 rigs in Permian Basin (down 3 in past week, up 60 in past year), 377 in Texas (down 3 […]

The Woodlands-based Earthstone Energy said recently that 14 of 19 wells brought online in 2022Q3 exceeded 1,000 barrels of oil per day, including the five-well Barnhart pad in Irion County, and Enverus said the company plans to allocate part of its 2023 capital budget to the area after it identified 40 additional locations.  Earthstone reached […]

Increased equity commitments will enable Fort Worth-based Double Eagle Energy Holdings to accelerate its acquisition and development strategy in Permian Basin.  Enverus reported recently that EnCap Investments, portfolio company Double Eagle and affiliated mineral company Tumbleweed Royalty IV increased equity funding to $2.3 billion. “We are ramping up our development pace,” co-CEOs Cody Campbell and […]