Quarter

In the wake of announcing back-to-back deals this week to sell overseas assets for a combined $2.65 billion, Hess Corp. said it plans to use the sales proceeds to reduce its debt and possibly deploy two additional rigs next year in the Bakken Shale, its largest operated growth asset.

Houston-based Superior Energy Services Inc., which makes its mark in the U.S. onshore with its pressure pumping services and specialized drilling, said a lack of direction regarding overall spending plans by producers and “supply chain stress” have created some uncertainty about the outlook for 2018.

Four pure-play exploration operators in the Permian Basin reported increasing production in the second quarter, especially for oil, while successfully batting down lease operating expenses (LOE).

Southwestern Energy Co., one of Appalachia’s largest natural gas producers, expects Northeast basis differentials to improve now that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission quorum has been restored and a path has been cleared to get more pipeline projects approved and built, management said.

Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. is forecasting a slight decline in sequential production during the third quarter and weaker realized prices, but management still expects growth as the company exits the year and heads into 2018, when more takeaway capacity could help to double its Marcellus Shale production.

Encana Corp. has upped its 2017 production guidance on the strength of second quarter results from its core assets in Texas and Western Canada, management said.

Growing natural gas production from the Montney and Duvernay shales has Enbridge Inc. planning an expansion of its British Columbia Pipeline T-South system to deliver 190 MMcf/d into the Huntingdon/Sumas market at the Canadian-U.S. border.

First quarter losses at Houston-based EV Energy Partners LP (EVEP) grew from a year ago while production declined on decreased drilling activity.

Natural gas liquids (NGL) margins dinged the first quarter results of Plains All American Pipeline LP, but increasing producer activity, particularly in the Permian Basin, bodes well for growing transportation volumes later this year, the partnership said.