Oil

Hitting nearly 100,000 b/d of production, or about one-third of its global total, Hess Corp.’s Bakken Shale oil production in North Dakota is poised for more rigs and substantial growth to kick in late this year, said CEO John Hess, who outlined 1Q2017 results during a conference call Wednesday.

Seneca Resources Corp. agreed to pay the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) a $375,000 fine for violating the state’s Clean Streams Law, Dam Safety and Encroachment Act, the Oil and Gas Act and the Solid Waste Management Act.

The Lone Star State’s oil and natural gas industry is back in another growth cycle after a three-year downturn, according to the economist who compiles the Texas Petro Index (TPI), a barometer of industry activity.

With numerous roadblocks to energy development on Native American tribal lands, the complex industrial development that accompanies petroleum refineries may be a way for some tribes to get into the energy sector in a big way, according to Denver-based attorney.

Global oil markets are facing down a “decade of disorder” if long-term supply projects aren’t put into the pipeline, a former chief of the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Tuesday.

Producers and their oil service brethren, looking to nourish their balance sheets after wandering in a price wasteland for two years, are receiving manna for equity offerings from the unlikely source of the oil price debacle in late 2014, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) formally agreed Wednesday to its first global oil production reduction in eight years, announcing its members would cut output by 1.2 million b/d effective Jan. 1, which sent U.S. and Brent prices soaring for the day.

In the largest estimate ever of unconventional oil in the United States, the U.S. Geological Survey said the Wolfcamp Shale within the Permian Basin’s Midland formation in West Texas contains an estimated mean of 20 billion bbl of oil, 16 Tcf of associated natural gas and 1.6 billion bbl of natural gas liquids.

The Colorado Oil/Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) has launched an online information source,Daily Activity Dashboard, that captures on a county-by-county basis oil and natural gas activity statewide. COGCC said the tool can locate information on pending permits, well status, production, well inspection data, violation notices, operator notifications and spills. It is being provided as a supplement to COGCC’s existing and extensive web-based data search tools, a spokesperson said.