Recovery

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy is offering up to $88 million total in research and development grants for projects to improve enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and unconventional oil and natural gas production.

Activity across North America is on the “cusp” of recovery, but pricing improvements will be muted by overcapacity that threatens a near-term, full-throttled rally, Baker Hughes Inc. CEO Martin Craighead said Thursday.

Analysts with Evercore ISI said they expect the oilfield services (OFS) sector will enjoy a “vigorous recovery” under a future Trump administration, complete with increasing rig and well counts and a recovery in commodity prices.

Weatherford International plc reported a big uptick in its North American operations during the third quarter, with revenue rising 12% sequentially, which bodes well for strength across other product service lines going forward, the CEO said Wednesday.

A few quarters at $50/bbl oil could see Whiting Petroleum Corp. return to double digit production growth, management told investors during the company’s quarterly earnings call last week.

The North American onshore industry has shifted its thinking towards recovery, and Halliburton Co.’s second quarter results likely represent the bottom as exploration and production (E&P) companies look ahead to growth, CEO David Lesar said.

North America’s oil and gas industry is “coming off the bottom,” but the recovery is unlikely to be a straight line, Halliburton Co.’s financial chief said Tuesday.

A cyclical recovery in legacy shale drilling will be needed to balance the market beginning in 2017, pointing to natural gas prices of $3.00-3.50/MMBtu to stimulate exploration and production (E&P) activity, according to Damien Courvalin, global head of energy research for Goldman Sachs.

The global oil and natural gas industry is beginning its long-awaited recovery, but crude oil prices likely will remain in the “$50 orbit” during the third quarter, energy expert Daniel Yergin said Monday.