Sharp

Offshore activity continues to grow as development begins on a slate of recent discoveries, a sharp contrast to onshore operators, whose “attitude was rather somber,” according to analysts with Raymond James & Associates Inc., who shared their takeaways from last week’s Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston.

Driven by a sharp increase in natural gas prices, gas for electric generation dropped all over the nation, except in Florida, on a month-over-month basis in February compared to February 2012, according to the latest Electricity Monthly report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), which was released Monday.

Cash natural gas prices overall declined an average of 2 cents Monday, but if the sharp declines posted at a handful of Northeast points are excluded, the overall market would have shown an average rise of 6 cents.

The Permian Basin remains Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s (Oxy) go-to area for exploration and production, and beginning in 2014 there should be a sharp increase in oil production in California, according to CEO Steve Chazen.

It won’t happen this year, but starting in 2014 there should be a sharp increase in oil production in California, according to Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy) CEO Steve Chazen, speaking last Thursday on a year-end quarterly earnings conference call.

Texas producers boosted crude oil production for the third straight year in 2012, lifting statewide output by nearly 100 million bbl to 604 million bbl, according to the year-end report issued by the economist who compiles the monthly Texas Petro Index.

Gulf of Mexico operator McMoRan Exploration Co. on Friday reported a big loss in the final three months of 2012 because of impairments and a sharp revenue decrease related in part to its gassy shallow-water operations.

Gulf of Mexico operator McMoRan Exploration Co. on Friday reported a big loss in the final three months of 2012 as well as for the year on impairments and a sharp revenue decrease related in part to its gassy shallow-water operations.

Support for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) among New Yorkers remained unchanged overall, as a sharp increase in backing among suburbanites canceled out flagging support from Upstate voters, according to a Siena College Research Institute poll released Wednesday.