Permian Basin

Lucid Energy Group announced Tuesday the start-up of a 200 MMcf/d cryogenic natural gas processing expansion at its Red Hills complex in Lea County, NM, adding that it remains on schedule to bring another new plant online in the state early next year to serve more activity in the Permian Basin.

In a bid to expand its U.S. land services and build its pressure pumping capacity by one-quarter, Keane Group Inc. agreed to pay $284.5 million to acquire completion specialist RockPile Energy Services LLC.

Oil and natural gas permits to drill on U.S. land have risen “at least” 49% in every major oil producing state from a year ago, with activity also rising in the fringe areas of major shale plays, Evercore ISI said Tuesday.

Private equity-backed Chisholm Energy Holdings LLC, managed by a roster of former Range Resources Corp. executives, has snapped up its first acquisition, undeveloped acreage in New Mexico, within the Permian Basin’s Delaware formation.

Midstream companies are working hard to keep up with the red-hot Permian Basin. A pair of open seasons for crude oil pipelines servicing the Permian’s Midland sub-basin were announced this week, which together could add a combined 410,000 b/d of capacity out of the play.

Denver-based Resolute Energy Corp. has closed a previously announced $160 million purchase of 4,600 net acres within the Permian Basin from CP Exploration (CPX).

Abraxas Petroleum Corp. said it expects production to increase dramatically later this year once six wells are completed in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, the company is in negotiations for bolt-on acquisitions in the plays were it is active — the Delaware sub-basin, Williston Basin and the Eagle Ford Shale.

Denver-based independents Jagged Peak Energy Inc. and Centennial Resource Development Inc., each working the Permian Basin in West Texas, credited better completion techniques in helping them to increase oil and natural gas production from a year ago.

Compared with one year ago, the U.S. land-based rig count is up 125% as drillers continue returning to their favorite shale patches. Over the same period, the U.S. offshore rig count has languished, up two units during the week ending Friday but still down by one rig from a year ago, according to Baker Hughes Inc.