Eagle Ford Shale

Calgary-based Baytex Energy Corp. is buying out Eagle Ford Shale player Aurora Oil & Gas Ltd. of Perth, Australia in a cash and debt deal worth C$2.6 billion (US$2.36 billion).

Marathon Oil Corp. has not been pursuing a swap or permit arrangement that would allow it to export domestic oil production, CEO Lee Tillman said Thursday. However, the leading Eagle Ford Shale producer is carrying the torch for the pro-export cause and watching attitudes toward crude exports evolve.

Ceramic proppant leader Carbo Ceramics Inc. is attempting to get the word out that “low quality” products from China aren’t worth the lower price producers pay to increase oil and gas recoveries.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. achieved record U.S. onshore sales volumes in the final three months of 2013, delivering 609,000 boe/d, including better-than-expected oil output from Colorado’s Wattenberg field and Eagle Ford Shale, and from higher natural gas growth in the Haynesville and Marcellus shales.

Dallas-based Southcross Energy Partners LP has begun construction of a 94-mile, 24-inch diameter pipeline in the rich gas area of the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas. The Webb Pipeline is expected to have initial uncompressed capacity of 300 MMcf/d.

The growing emphasis on shipping U.S. crude oil production by rail will continue and the oil sector welcomes tougher safety standards now being contemplated by the federal Department of Transportation (DOT), several oil executives said Wednesday during 4Q2013 earnings conference calls.

ConocoPhillips’ decision to sell its refinery arm and become a pure-play exploration and production (E&P) company proved its mettle in 2013, with higher output, stronger margins and solid cash flow, particularly in North America.

Production of Texas oil and natural gas during November was higher than year-ago levels, based on preliminary data from the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC). While crude oil output was up from October’s level, Natural gas production declined.

Valero Energy Corp. is upgrading two of its refineries in Texas so they can process more light sweet crude from the prolific Eagle Ford Shale, a company spokesman told NGI’s Shale Daily.