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Sacrosanct Dividends
“Rigzone” reports that despite the crude oil price collapse and dramatic cutbacks in spending, the major international oil companies are either maintaining, or increasing, their dividends paid to shareholders. The majors are willing to fire workers, cancel drilling, postpone production and sell assets in order to raise enough cash to pay dividends. ExxonMobil Corp., the… Read More
$2 Natural Gas?
“World Oil” reports that an oversupply of natural gas, in conjunction with unseasonably warm weather, is driving natural gas prices toward $2 per Million British Thermal units. Prices have not been this low since April of 2012. Tim Evans, energy analyst at Citi Futures Perspective, observed that at these prices investment, drilling and production will… Read More
Whiting Writes Off Kodiak
“Rigzone” reports that Whiting Petroleum, the largest oil producer in North Dakota, has written off $2.57 billion in assets. $870 million of this write off relates to the 2014 purchase of Kodiak Oil for $1.55 billion. The write down of the Kodiak assets is surprising to many industry observers, as these were largely prime acreage… Read More
Operators at Risk
“Rigzone” reports a sharp increase in the number of companies on the B3 Negative List published by Moody’s Investor Service. The list includes those companies that Moody’s considers speculative and high-risk for the long term. The number of companies on the list has increased to 223 over the last three months. This is an 8%… Read More
High Stakes for Domestic Operators
In a recent blog (https://rudyenergy.com/risk-to-independents-exaggerated/ ) I cited an article in “World Oil”, which, based on analysis by consulting group Wood Mackenzie, contended that domestic operators were largely immune to the impact of fall reserve revaluations by lenders. Now, “Rigzone” reports the investment firm Raymond James (RayJa) has reached the opposite conclusion. RayJa contends that… Read More
