Upstream

Constrained availability of oilfield services (OFS) supply capacity in North America, and increasingly internationally, rank among ongoing “tailwinds” for natural gas and oil prices, management at Schlumberger Ltd. said Friday. The OFS giant sees “a decoupling of upstream spending from potential near-term demand volatility, resulting in resilient global oil and gas activity growth in 2022…

Driven by gains in natural gas-directed drilling, the U.S. rig count ticked two units higher to 758 during the week ended Friday (July 22), updated numbers from Baker Hughes Co. (BKR) show. The United States added two natural gas-directed rigs for the period, while total oil-directed rigs went unchanged week/week at 599. The 758 active…

Devon Energy Corp. said Thursday that it has closed on its $865 million acquisition of RimRock Oil and Gas LP’s leasehold interest and related assets in the Williston Basin. The bolt-on deal, announced last month, adds 38,000 contiguous net acres (88% working interest) to Devon’s existing Williston footprint. Oklahoma City-based Devon said it expects the…

Baker Hughes Co. (BKR) management on Wednesday offered a bullish assessment of natural gas growth opportunities but conveyed a more measured outlook for the oil market. “Overall, we remain very positive on the outlook for natural gas,” Baker Hughes’ CEO Lorenzo Simonelli told analysts during the oilfield services (OFS) giant’s 2Q2022 earnings call. “We also…

Texas’ chief tax collector recently projected that state lawmakers will have about 10% more money available to spend in 2022-23 than expected, citing robust natural gas and oil production tax revenues as a key factor in the outlook. “Severance taxes performed extremely well due to elevated oil and gas prices caused by energy market volatility,”…

The U.S. government is escalating its response to Mexico’s energy policies under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, alleging violation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and discriminatory treatment of U.S. energy companies. U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai said Monday that her office is requesting dispute settlement consultations with Mexico under the free trade pact,…

Global oil and natural gas upstream spending is climbing sharply higher from initial 2022 forecasts, with North America likely looking at a 33% jump from last year. Evercore ISI last December in its global upstream capital expenditure (capex) survey, said the average increase over 2021 would be 16%. However, exploration and production (E&P) companies worldwide…

Editor’s Note: NGI’s Mexico Gas Price Index, a leader tracking Mexico natural gas market reform, is offering the following column by Eduardo Prud’homme as part of a regular series on understanding this process. A few weeks after Mexican Energy Minister Sener announced its strategy for optimizing capacity on the Sistrangas natural gas pipeline network, the…

The U.S. natural gas rig count went unchanged at 153 for the week ended Friday (July 15), while an uptick in the oil patch helped lift the overall domestic drilling tally four units higher to 756, according to updated numbers from Baker Hughes Co. (BKR). Gains in the United States for the week included two…