Upstream

Earthstone Energy Inc. and Northern Oil and Gas Inc. (NOG) are joining forces in the Permian Basin to acquire privately held Novo Oil & Gas Holdings LLC for $1.5 billion. Novo, an exploration and production (E&P) firm backed by EnCap Investments LP, operates in the northern portion of the Permian’s Delaware sub-basin. Earthstone has been…

Investments in low-emission technologies are taking a backseat to Shell plc’s Integrated Gas arm, as LNG prospects show promise for years to come, the executive team said Wednesday. Speaking during a Capital Markets Day at the New York Stock Exchange, CEO Wael Sawan said the London-based integrated major is tilting toward buffing up the Integrated…

Extending a multi-week stretch of steep cuts to domestic drilling activity, the U.S. rig count plunged 15 units to 696 for the week ended Friday (June 2) amid a slowdown in the oil patch, according to the latest numbers from Baker Hughes Co. (BKR). Natural gas-directed drilling was unchanged domestically for the period, with oil-directed…

The upstream natural gas and oil industry in Texas is at risk of slowing in part as natural gas prices have plunged by more than 160% year/year, according to the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers (TAEP). NGI’s spot natural gas price at the Henry Hub was $2.090/MMBtu at the start of April, down more than…

Mexican conglomerate Grupo Carso SAB has bought into the Zama shallow water oil and gas field, considered to be one of the country’s richest hydrocarbon assets. Carso subsidiary Zamajal SA de CV will acquire a 49.9% interest in the Mexican subsidiary of Houston-based Talos Energy Inc. The purchase price was $124.75 million. The transaction is…

Continued retrenchment in domestic drilling activity saw the U.S. natural gas rig count fall four units to 137 for the week ended Friday (May 26), the latest numbers from Baker Hughes Co. (BKR) show. A decline of five oil-directed rigs saw the combined U.S. rig count drop to 711, down nine week/week and off 16…

Mexico’s state oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) has set an upstream capital expenditures (capex) budget of 240 billion pesos ($13.4 billion) for 2023, up from 162 billion pesos ($9.05 billion) in 2022. The 100% state-owned firm outlined the investment plans in its latest 20-F annual report filed to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in…

The U.S. rig count posted a second straight double-digit decline during the week ended Friday (May 19), this time with losses hitting the oil patch, the latest figures from Baker Hughes Co. (BKR) show. U.S. operators shelved 11 rigs — all oil-directed — for the period, dropping the domestic tally to 720, lagging the year-earlier…

The U.S. natural gas and oil industry supported 10.8 million jobs and contributed nearly $1.8 trillion to the domestic economy in 2021, according to the American Petroleum Institute (API).  API commissioned the report, which was completed by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).  API CEO Mike Sommers said natural gas and oil delivered “growing economic contributions to America,” which…