Spending

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will face a $60 million cut in its funding and will have to cut staff to the lowest level since 1989 if President Obama signs the $1.01 trillion spending bill that passed both chambers of Congress with bipartisan support.

The global upstream industry’s capital expenditures totaled $720 billion in 2013, 18% higher than a year before, but margins were squeezed as costs escalated and profits declined, an IHS Inc. analysis has found.

Global exploration and production (E&P) spending in 2014 should increase for the fifth year in a row, with the largest gains again in North America (NAM), a Barclays Capital annual survey has determined.

Oil and natural gas companies that have provided data on upstream expenditures since 2000 spent more on exploration and development last year and less on property acquisitions, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Friday.

Following two years of tepid growth, North America is poised for a “reacceleration” in exploration and production (E&P) going into 2017, with spending rising more than 7% following growth of 2% in 2013 and 4% in 2012, Barclays Capital analysts said Monday.

More than 800 Chesapeake Energy Corp. employees were laid off on Tuesday as CEO Doug Lawler continues to make over the company that Aubrey McClendon built (see related story).

The move to horizontal drilling and longer laterals has made the domestic land rig count not so simple anymore, leading Raymond James & Associates Inc. on Monday to launch well and footage count forecasts.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. is setting the wheels in motion to accelerate U.S. onshore drilling following the $2.64 billion cash sale for part of its offshore Mozambique natural gas project.

Chesapeake Energy Corp., with a new CEO leading the way, is beginning a new era for the company as well, moving away from spending to secure big leaseholds in the onshore to living within its cash flow.