Oilfield

Moody’s Investors Service on Wednesday downgraded Chesapeake Energy Corp., as well as its midstream and oilfield services units, to “negative” from “stable” because first quarter results pointed to “an even larger capital spending funding gap for 2012” from low natural prices but also because of a planned increase in spending.

Baker Hughes Inc. CEO Martin Craighead said Tuesday the company sees a big expansion of oilfield services ahead in the Permian Basin, of late the mecca for operators looking for liquids-rich reserves in the old guard oil and gas formations.

Oilfield services provider Baker Hughes Inc. said Wednesday “rapidly changing market conditions,” primarily in the pressure pumping business in North America as drillers move rigs out of natural gas fields, likely will impact profits in the first quarter.

A fountain of gas and oilfield fluid that left a dark streak on a central Alberta snowbank has prompted provincial authorities to warn industry against staining its record with hydraulic fracturing (fracking) technology imported from the United States.

UK-based Weir Group plc this week struck a $176 million deal to acquire Dallas-based Novatech LLC, its second oilfield services purchase in two months. The transaction would give Weir an even bigger footprint in North America’s onshore.

Oilfield services heavyweight Baker Hughes Inc. plans to “significantly” increase North American onshore infrastructure investments in several basins to make its operations more efficient and to prepare for the long term, CEO Martin Craighead said Tuesday.

A new system for treating shale well flowback water at or near the source was introduced Tuesday near Fort Worth, TX, by Fountain Quail Water Management, a unit of Calgary-based Aqua-Pure Ventures Inc.

National Oilwell Varco Inc.’s (NOV) backlog for capital equipment orders jumped by one-third from the end of March to the end of June, the oilfield services operator said Tuesday.

A Houston-based oilfield services company Tuesday pleaded guilty to a violation of the Clean Water Act (CWA) in connection with the hydraulic fracturing (fracking) of a natural gas well in Oklahoma, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).