Downturn

A fall off in Lower 48 exploration activity has slammed the sand mining sector, but some stability should return this year, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

The energy market downturn has played havoc with the bottom line for the oil and gas industry, but it has had a silver lining, weeding out the bottom feeders, the “brilliant jerks,” who may have been doing their jobs but who were unconcerned about a company’s success, energy executives said Wednesday.

The low-price correction period in the oil/natural gas sector may have helped the Bakken transition from a high-priced shale play to one of lower prices and greater value, according to Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council (NDPC).

Productivity gains made in U.S. unconventional oilfields were solid last year and now are melding into more quality driven gains, improved by optimizing targets and increasing fractures, Goldman Sachs & Co. said Wednesday.

Productivity gains made in U.S. unconventional oilfields were solid last year and now are melding into more quality driven gains, improved by optimizing targets and increasing fractures, Goldman Sachs & Co. said Wednesday.

Summer’s sweltering temperatures are on their way to the Lone Star State, but the “Texas Miracle” — until recently driven mainly by the state’s oil/natural gas industry — is on ice, the Austin-based Texas Taxpayers and Research Association (TTARA) said in a new report.

The challenges now facing the oil and natural gas industry partly are driven by the sharp decline in commodity prices, but they also result from failing to improve performance enough to tackle increasingly more complex hydrocarbon developments, Schlumberger Ltd.’s chief charged Monday.

Nabors Industries Inc., which owns and operates the world’s largest land-based drilling rig fleet, said Wednesday the story that has been playing out for contract oilfield service operators remains the same, as activity in North America is forecast to continue to slide this year.

With the downturn in global oil prices and the glut of natural gas that continues to flood domestic markets and hold down prices, there remain significant concerns about demand for Appalachian gas in coming years, according to several experts that spoke at an industry conference in Pittsburgh last month.