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Record U. S. Oil Production in 2015?
“World Oil” reports that U. S. oil production might peak at 9.7 million barrels per day (MMbpd) by September of 2015, according to Rystad Energy. “Oil” in this case is defined as crude oil and lease condensate. Rystad’s analysis assumed an average West Texas Intermediate oil price of $55 for the year, and 400 horizontal… Read More
Rig Decline Continues
As Yogi Berra said, “This is like déjà vu all over again.” The U. S. oil rig count dropped for the 16’th straight week, but production and inventory levels continued to climb, according to a recent article in “World Oil”. The Baker Hughes oil rig count dropped by another 12 last week to 813, the… Read More
Consolidation Deferred
When crude oil prices first collapsed, many industry observers predicted an energy industry consolidation characterized by a large number of mergers and acquisitions (M&A). A recent article in “Rigzone” deals with the reasons why this has not happened. First, shale operators are enjoying unanticipated access to capital markets. Second, would be parties to M&A activity… Read More
Whiting Sells Shares
In what appears to be an emerging trend among shale operators, Whiting Petroleum Corp. announced its intention to sell up to 40.3 million shares in order to raise $1.9 billion, according to a recent article in “World Oil”. The proceeds would be used to reduce short term revolving debt, much of which was incurred to… Read More
The Saudis on Shale
“World Oil” reports that at a recent conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s representative to OPEC, Mohammed al-Madi, opined that the price of crude oil will not reach $100 per barrel again. He reasoned that at that price more shale oil and output from other high-cost producers would re-enter the global market. The price of crude… Read More
