Onshore

U.S. land operations for contract driller Helmerich & Payne Inc. (H&P) are hitting on all cylinders, with the onshore market share up 5% from a year ago, the Tulsa operator said Thursday.

Natural gas and oil production from the nation’s seven most prolific onshore unconventional plays will increase by an estimated 1.3% in December compared to November, marking the 12th consecutive month of upswing, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Lifted by Colorado and Texas leaseholds, as well as a massive Israeli natural gas project, Noble Energy Inc. delivered strong oil and natural gas volumes, while capital spending at the lower end of expectations.

A pullback in oil-directed drilling fueled an eight-rig decline in the U.S. rig count for the week ended Friday, according to data released by Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI).

BHP Billiton Ltd., whipsawed by sharp impairments and activist investors that want the company to train its development solely on conventional oil and mining, is actively marketing its U.S. onshore portfolio, an 800,000-plus leasehold that runs through the Permian Basin, Haynesville, Eagle Ford and Fayetteville shales.

North American onshore seismic data expert Seitel is partnering with Schlumberger Ltd. in a multiclient alliance to reimage and acquire geophysical data in key areas across onshore Mexico.

Noble Energy Inc., which has turned its U.S. onshore focus mostly to Texas and Colorado, struck a deal to sell its Marcellus Shale acreage that runs across 385,000 net acres in northern West Virginia and southern Pennsylvania for $1.225 billion.

Mexico is open for business and looking for partners to develop deepwater and onshore oil and natural gas, the director general of state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) said Tuesday.

Onshore oilfield operator Basic Energy Services Inc. began trading once again on the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday after emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.