Permian Basin

A Texas jury last week awarded T. Boone Pickens and his company, Mesa Petroleum Partners LP, up to $146 million after ruling that Permian Basin operators conspired to cheat the oil magnate out of well ownership interests in West Texas.

An upturn in oil pricing since the start of the year has led many U.S. exploration operators to go “hog wild” in the futures market by increasing 2017 hedged oil and natural gas volumes sharply above levels at the start of this year, Raymond James & Associates said this week.

Investors haven’t reacted favorably to Sunoco Logistics Partners LP’s (SXL) announcement on Monday that it would acquire its owner Energy Transfer Partners LP in an all-stock deal, as it remains unclear how the new entity will deal with distributions, debt and growth once the deal closes.

A Texas state lawmaker has filed a bill that would “update” the Lone Star State’s unitization procedures — what some call forced pooling — and bring them in line with those in other top oil-producing states.

North Dakota faces increasingly stiff competition for investment capital from the burgeoning exploration/production activity in West Texas unfolding in the Permian Basin, according to North Dakota’s chief oil/natural gas regulator, Lynn Helms.

The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) on Tuesday adopted lower production thresholds at which the state’s low-producing oil/natural gas wells may attain “active” status and avoid being shut in.

Noble Energy Inc. took the downturn and created an uplift in opportunities to provide a platform for growth over the next four years, the Houston independent’s management said Wednesday.

In the largest estimate ever of unconventional oil in the United States, the U.S. Geological Survey said the Wolfcamp Shale within the Permian Basin’s Midland formation in West Texas contains an estimated mean of 20 billion bbl of oil, 16 Tcf of associated natural gas and 1.6 billion bbl of natural gas liquids.

ExxonMobil Corp. and Sunoco Logistics Partners LP have agreed to combine some of their key U.S. onshore crude oil assets, mostly in Texas, to establish a logistics network that would offer more takeaway options for shippers.