Eagle Ford Shale

Houston-based Sanchez Energy Corp. has again cut its capital spending plan for this year due to depressed commodity prices. The original plan to spend $1.15 billion has now been cut to $600-650 million with the latest reduction. Previous guidance was for $875 million.

SM Energy Co. is selling natural gas-heavy assets in the Arkoma Basin of Oklahoma and in the Arklatex area of East Texas and northern Louisiana — its remaining Midcontinent holdings — in order to focus on its Eagle Ford and Bakken/Three Forks development areas, the company said Tuesday.

Civeo Corp., a major provider of housing to energy patch workers, especially in Canada, is slashing its workforce in the United States and Canada due to weak commodity prices and in response to oil/gas producer spending cutbacks next year.

New drilling permits issued in Texas during November were down by 50% from the total issued in October; however, the November permit total of 1,508 was down modestly from the year-ago level of 1,559 in November 2013, according to Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) data.

Marathon Oil Corp. plans to cut 2015 spending by 20%, or about $1 billion, year/year with “significant weighting” to U.S. resource plays.

Frisco, TX-based Comstock Resources Inc. next year will turn away from the Eagle Ford Shale and Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) and spend more in the dry gas-rich Haynesville as it believes “improved completion technology, including longer laterals, will provide strong returns on drilling projects at current natural gas prices.”

Texas state Rep. Phil King (R-Weatherford) has introduced two bills for the upcoming legislative session that target potential future anti-drilling/hydraulic fracturing (fracking) actions in the Lone Star State, such as what happened in the Barnett Shale town of Denton earlier this year.

Weak commodity prices have prompted Texas-focused Rosetta Resources Inc. to cut its capital spending plans for next year. The company said it anticipates spending $700-800 million and possibly as much as $900 million.

Encana Corp. plans to spend up to $2.9 billion for upstream development in 2015, with 80% of the capital targeting the Permian Basin, Eagle Ford Shale and the Montney and Duvernay formations in Canada.