Optimistic

Nabors Industries Inc., the largest onshore drilling fleet operator and the biggest supplier of pressure pumping equipment, is not optimistic about seeing gains in the U.S. oil or gas patch through the rest of this year, CEO Tony Petrello said Wednesday.

Baker Hughes Inc. executives on Friday said the total U.S. rig count should fall on average by 8% this year from 2012, but with better drilling efficiencies, the onshore well count may only decline by 4% to around 35,000.

Oil and natural gas executives are more optimistic than late last year about the global economy, and most expect to either maintain or hire more employees over the coming year, but they still remain focused on “lower-risk growth” rather than on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), according to a survey by Ernst & Young.

The United States has 2,384 Tcf of technically recoverable natural gas, the Potential Gas Committee (PGC) and the American Gas Association (AGA) said Tuesday. That’s more reserves than the PGC has calculated in its 48-year history and beats the previous high seen in 2010 by 486 Tcf.

The global energy business is for the optimistic, those unafraid of facing challenges and taking risks, and it will forever be so, BP plc Group CEO Bob Dudley said last week before a crowd at IHS CERAWeek 2013 in Houston.

The global energy business is for the optimistic, those unafraid of facing challenges and taking risks, and it will forever be so, BP plc Group CEO Bob Dudley said Wednesday before a crowd at IHS CERAWeek 2013 in Houston.

Despite a year of languishing natural gas prices, Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. annual revenues for the first time surpassed $1 billion in 2012. Cash flow set records as proved reserves grew by 27% to 3.8 Tcf on organic growth that replaced 417% of record production. The Marcellus Shale gave much despite infrastructure challenges.

Just days before a 30-day public comment period in New York on proposed rules governing high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) expires, three influential state lawmakers are calling for the comment period to be suspended, citing a lost state report on the practice that surfaced earlier this month.

Natural gas and oil executives are less optimistic about the global economy improving over the coming year, according to an Ernst & Young survey of senior energy executives.