Harvey

ConocoPhillips 3Q2017 earnings were up for a second consecutive quarter, even as production declined, according to the Houston-based independent, which said Thursday it has cut its 2017 capital expenditures (capex) budget by 10%.

The third quarter earnings season is getting underway in earnest this week, with investors eyeing what the declining onshore rig count may mean as prices have barely budged. Kinder Morgan Inc. was first out the blocks late Wednesday, with the Big Three oilfield services (OFS) operators bookending the weekend, as Schlumberger Ltd. and Baker Hughes, a GE company, sharing their results on Friday and Halliburton Co. reporting on Monday.

Houston-based EP Energy Corp. said full-year production remains on track, despite losing roughly 900 boe/d during the third quarter because of impacts from Hurricane Harvey.

Hurricane Harvey’s flooding rains sharply reduced domestic and in turn global petrochemical production of linear alpha olefins (LAO), and operators still are scrambling to make up for the shortfall, according to IHS Markit.

Tropical Storm (TS) Nate, gaining steam as it headed north toward an expected landing on the northern Gulf Coast, had by Friday midday reduced natural gas production from the offshore by more than half to about 1.713 Bcf/d.

Houston-based Marathon Oil Corp.’s third quarter U.S. production should average toward the high end of its guidance of 230,000-240,000 boe/d net, despite the temporary impacts from Hurricane Harvey, with annual output jumping by double-digits from 2016.

As another tropical storm formed in the Caribbean Sea on Thursday and with the effects of Hurricane Harvey still being felt throughout the energy value chain, those working to attract more petrochemical operations to the Appalachian Basin are raising their voices about supply diversity and the region’s other benefits.

Oil and natural gas activity across Texas, northern Louisiana and southern New Mexico improved during the third quarter, but at a slower pace than earlier this year, a survey of energy executives has found.

Before Hurricane Harvey pummeled the state and wiped out, at least temporarily, some employment, the Texas economy in August expanded for the 14th consecutive month, adding 5,500 jobs, the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) said Friday.