Upstream

With coronavirus fears roiling energy markets and the oil and gas industry entering 4Q2019 earnings season chanting the mantra of capital discipline, analysts at Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. (TPH) said Wednesday they’re lowering their 2020 price decks.

With coronavirus fears roiling energy markets and the oil and gas industry entering 4Q2019 earnings season chanting the mantra of capital discipline, analysts at Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. (TPH) said Wednesday they’re lowering their 2020 price decks.

Stung by the continued slump in natural gas prices, Chevron Corp. plans to cut back spending in Appalachia and a long-delayed gas export project proposed for the west coast of Canada, the supermajor said.

Royal Dutch Shell plc has agreed to sell to Israeli-based Delek Group Ltd. its stakes in the producing Caesar-Tonga field in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) for $965 million.

The energy sector, an underperformer in the S&P 500 since oil prices peaked in 2014, is facing a reckoning to entice investors after ending 2018 “solidly” in last place, according to Deloitte.

Oil and natural gas employment in Texas reversed from a November slump to gain 3,200 jobs in the upstream sector for the final month of the year, according to the Texas Workforce Commission.

Despite a pledged 50% increase in natural gas output to 5.7 Bcf/d by 2024, the 2019 upstream budget of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) disproportionately prioritizes oil over gas, according to local experts.

Some of Canada’s largest exploration and production companies stepped forward Wednesday to enlist in a national campaign by industry and regional governments to cut carbon emissions from the natural gas market.

Chevron Corp. has earmarked $20 billion for organic capital and exploratory spending in 2019, a near-$2 billion boost year/year, with $7.6 billion specifically targeting the U.S. upstream.