E&P

The recent proliferation of local government proposals to curb or ban oil/natural gas activity, including hydraulic fracturing (fracking), is not immediately ringing any alarm bells in the newly relocated Houston executive offices of Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy) as it works to spin off its multi-billion-dollar California operations into a separate company.

Rail crude oil shipments to California were up sharply compared to the same period last year, according to statistics kept by the California Energy Commission (CEC).

East Texas and Eagle Ford Shale players Sabine Oil & Gas LLC and Forest Oil Corp. announced an all-stock merger that will create a Houston-based publicly traded company with acreage also in the Granite Wash, Permian and Arkoma basins.

The Wattenberg field, in combination with the Eagle Ford Shale and Permian Basin, drove Anadarko Petroleum Corp. in the first quarter to record volumes of 819,000 boe/d, with domestic oil volumes 10,000 b/d above the midpoint of guidance. U.S. onshore output was 12% higher than year-ago levels.

Ultra Petroleum Corp. ramped up production of crude oil and condensate during the first quarter, keeping its sights trained on oil targets in Wyoming’s Pinedale Anticline and Utah’s Uinta Basin while continuing to spin down its activity in the Marcellus Shale.

An explosion and fire at Williams Company’s Opal, WY, processing plant last month put only limited pressure on natural gas prices in the region, and Henry Hub spot prices are expected to decline through this summer, but not to the depths previously forecast, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Onshore specialist EOG Resources Inc. has moved four horizontal plays into drilling mode from exploration in the Denver-Julesburg (DJ) and Powder River basins (PRB), joining a pot of development efforts ongoing in the Eagle Ford and Bakken shales and the Permian Basin.

Concluding there could be a tie to oil and natural gas production activity, U.S. and Oklahoma Geological Survey officials jointly reported Monday that 145 3.0-magnitude or stronger earthquakes have occurred in the state so far this year.

Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. raised its oil production guidance for the rest of the year as 1Q2014 oil and natural gas production beat guidance and acreage was bolted on in the Eagle Ford and Utica shales. The company said it may have the best condensate-producing well in the entire Utica.