Eagle Ford Shale

Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. said low commodity prices for oil and natural gas are forcing it to trim more than $600 million from its capital expenditures (capex) budget for 2015, and it plans to cut four rigs deployed in the Marcellus and Eagle Ford shales by the second quarter.

Increasing fracture stages, adding more sand to proppant operations and drilling longer laterals are helping Devon Energy Corp. exceed its type curve expectations in key U.S. onshore basins and at a lower cost, a big key to remaining flexible in turbulent times, CEO John Richels said Wednesday.

Phillips 66 Partners LP (PSXP) has agreed to acquire equity interests in three pipeline systems from its general partner, Phillips 66 (PSX), in a transaction valued at more than $1 billion.

Houston super independent Apache Corp. has knocked $2 billion out of its capital spending plans for North America this year and slashed its rig count to wait on higher commodity prices and lower service costs.

The Bakken, Eagle Ford and “new” Permian Basin make up what Continental Resources Inc. executives like to call “Cowboyistan.” It’s the seventh-largest petroleum liquids producing area in the world and has made the United States a player in the global oil game, lending more insight into where the global oil market is going, Continental COO Jack Stark said in Houston Wednesday.

U.S. upstream activity has reacted sharply to lower crude oil prices by reducing drilling activity, with January’s new onshore well count down 20% from December. However, new production capacity (NPC) followed the trend but not the magnitude, off 9% for oil and down 6% for natural gas, an assessment by consultant Drillinginfo has found.

Pioneer Natural Resources Co. said it will focus on drilling in the Spraberry/Wolfcamp and Eagle Ford shales in South Texas in 2015, but will cut the number of horizontal rigs deployed there and its overall capital expenditure (capex) budget by nearly half, as revenue increased but earnings missed analysts’ estimates for the fourth quarter of 2014.

Production of both natural gas and oil in the nation’s seven most prolific shale and tight oil plays will increase more than 1% between February and March, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Near-term domestic natural gas prices may struggle to gain momentum this year until there’s more evidence of stalling supply later this year, according to Jefferies LLC.