Permian Basin

Texas crude oil and natural gas production statistics continue to reflect producers’ preference for oil over less-lucrative natural gas.

The Permian Basin unit of American Energy Partners LP (AELP) could go public within a year depending on market conditions, the Aubrey McClendon-led company said Tuesday.

The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) on Tuesday adopted rule changes that are intended to more closely regulate drilling waste disposal wells in areas of the state where there has been or could be heightened seismic activity.

Oneok Partners LP is buying Texas natural gas liquids (NGL) pipelines and related assets from affiliates of Chevron Corp. for $800 million.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy), which soon will spin off its California assets into a new company, currently has more of a sales mindset, but if oil prices continue to decline it could quickly switch to a buying mode regarding U.S. domestic assets, particularly in the Permian Basin, CEO Stephen Chazen said Thursday on a 3Q2014 earnings conference call.

Reporting lower year-over-year 3Q2014 profits tied to lower oil prices and higher costs, Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy) senior executives expressed bullishness Thursday about their slimmed down company’s future, emphasizing the huge growth potential they see in unconventional plays in the revitalized Permian Basin.

Clayton Williams Energy Inc. (CWEI) is tweaking its Eagle Ford Shale fracking operations and experimenting with downspacing. In the Delaware Basin, three of its recent wells ran into trouble, and the Midland, TX-based independent said it is monitoring the pullback in oil prices as it considers plans for next year.

Talk about natural gas oversupply may not be the big story when the domestic exploration and production (E&P) sector unveils quarterly earnings reports over the next few weeks. Instead, conversations may center around the impact lower crude oil prices had on the third quarter, and how they may impact drilling plans into 2015, energy analysts said this week.

Dallas-based Eagle Materials Inc. has agreed to pay $225 million to buy hydraulic fracturing (fracking) sand producer CRS Proppants LLC to expand market share in the Permian Basin, Eagle Ford Shale and Midcontinent, as well as nearly double its sand capacity and reserves.