Expenditures

Global oilfield equipment spending is forecast to total $622 billion between 2016 and 2020, with onshore growth surpassing the offshore by 2017, Douglas-Westwood said Wednesday.

An estimated $153.7 billion was spent on oil and natural gas drilling in the United States in 2012, up 23.1% from 2011, according to a new report issued by the American Petroleum Institute (API). Significantly, it revealed that spending on shale drilling fell during the period.

Driven primarily by the continued success of its drilling program in the Marcellus Shale, Range Resources Corp. saw its production volumes surge to a record high of 910 MMcfe/d in 2Q2013, a 27% increase over 2Q2012, the Forth Worth, TX-based company said Thursday.

Natural gas prices have moved higher in recent months, and some producers are taking the opportunity now to tweak their capital expenditures in preparation for better returns in 2014 and beyond, a Genscape Inc. executive said last week.

Denver-based Enservco Corp., a provider of well-site services, said it will invest $6 million in capital expenditures during 2013, with $4.7 million being allocated to new equipment fabrication. The budget also includes $1.3 million for enhancements to existing equipment. Management estimates the annualized revenue potential from the new equipment at about $10 million. The equipment includes nine frack heating trucks with a total of 12 burner boxes, four hot oilers and two well acidizing trucks. The investments will expand the company’s frack heating capacity by 40% and increase its hot oiling fleet by 15%. Enservco said sales during April reached $3.7 million, up 85% from one year ago. The improvement was fueled in part by cool spring temperatures across the company’s service territories, as well as sustained demand for fluid heating services, particularly in regions where new fracking techniques require higher water temperatures than traditional frack designs.

Gulfport Energy Corp. expects to increase the number operated horizontal rig count in the Utica Shale to seven from the current four by the end of June, and it has budgeted $494-504 million to drill 55-60 gross (49-54 net) wells in the play this year, company officials said Wednesday.

SM Energy Co. is seeing encouraging results from a test well drilled in the Woodbine formation and has added about 10,000 net acres to its position on the northeastern edge of the Eagle Ford Shale in East Texas.

Forest Oil Corp. has struck an agreement with Schlumberger that the company said will allow it to accelerate development of its Eagle Ford Shale acreage.

PDC Energy Inc. has signed a midstream services agreement with MarkWest Utica EMG LLC and plans to nearly double its capital expenditures (capex) in the Utica Shale for 2013 while also increasing its estimated net production.