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Fracking is once again becoming a hot topic in the oil and gas world., with Germany moving Tuesday to impose an indefinite ban on the unconventional drilling technique. But in the U.S. this week the story was the opposite. Oil and gas drillers won a critical legal victory over the future of fracking in America’s shale plays. That came in Wyoming, where a District Judge struck down a set of tougher rules on fracking that had been implemented by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) early last year. Last March, the BLM came down hard on the U.S. shale...

Three days ago, Pioneer surprised oil market watchers when it not only said that it has already produced more oil than it had initially forecast, but that once crude returns to $50, all systems are go. This is what it said in its Q1 press release: producing 222 thousand barrels oil equivalent per day (MBOEPD), of which 55% was oil; production grew by 7 MBOEPD, or 3%, compared to the fourth quarter of 2015, and was significantly above Pioneer’s first quarter production guidance range of 211 MBOEPD to 216 MBOEPD; oil production grew 10 thousand barrels oil per day during...

In recent years, proponents of clean energy have taken heart in the falling prices of solar and wind power, hoping they will drive an energy revolution. But a new study co-authored by an MIT professor suggests otherwise: Technology-driven cost reductions in fossil fuels will lead us to continue using all the oil, gas, and coal we can, unless governments pass new taxes on carbon emissions. “If we don’t adopt new policies, we’re not going to be leaving fossil fuels in the ground,” says Christopher Knittel, an energy economist at the MIT Sloan School of Management. “We need both a policy...

The major beneficiary of the 54 percent jump in oil prices from the lows of $26 per barrel is the U.S. shale oil industry, which will utilize this rise to ramp up production and repair balance sheets. But any move above $45 per barrel will likely reverse all this good luck: The drop in production will halt and more will be added to the supply glut. It’s a bit of a double-edged sword.

When it comes to shale-oil regions in the United States, not all of them are created equal. Oil production in the Permian Basin, which spans from western Texas to southeastern New Mexico, has been much more resilient in the face of the near-65% drop in oil prices CLJ6, -0.18% since mid-2014 than other shale regions, according to Charles Perry, chief executive officer of energy-consulting firm Perry Management. “Not all shale production is the same and production in most shale areas has fallen since 2014,” he said. But the Permian Basin has grown to be the “most prolific oil-producing area” in...

Saudi Arabia has ruled out a deal by major producers to cut oil output and warned high-cost operators such as US shale drillers to trim costs or go bust in a stark message that triggered fresh pressure on crude prices. Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi said a lack of trust between the world's biggest producers meant a cut in production "is not going to happen". He said the kingdom would instead push for a co-ordinated production freeze to help balance a market swamped with an excess of crude which has taken oil prices to their lowest level in more than...

OPEC recognizes role of shale. El-Badri largely admitted OPEC’s waning influence due to the rise of U.S. shale. "Shale oil in the United States, I don’t know how we are going to live together," he said in Houston on Feb. 22. “Any increase in price, shale will come immediately and cover any reduction.” The IEA’s report mostly backed up that sentiment. Although the Paris-based energy agency predicted shale would decline substantially in 2016 and 2017, the IEA also said that shale would bring back 1.3 mb/d of liquids production by the end of the decade. Low prices now, but high...

An OPEC production cut is unlikely until U.S. production declines by about another million barrels per day (mmbpd). OPEC won’t cut because it would accomplish nothing beyond a short-term increase in price. Carefully placed comments by OPEC and Russian oil ministers about the possibility of production cuts achieve almost the same price increase as an actual cut.

So, without further ado here are 25 deeply distressed companies, whose banks we found have quietly shrunk the borrowing base of their credit facilities anywhere from 6 percent in the case of Black Ridge Oil and Gas to a whopping 51 percent for soon to be insolvent New Source Energy Partners. [Link to chart here.]

"...Daniel Yergin, founder of IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates, said it is impossible for OPEC to knock out the US shale industry though a war of attrition even if large numbers of frackers fall by the wayside over coming months. Mr Yergin said groups with deep pockets such as Blackstone and Carlyle will take over the infrastructure when the distressed assets are cheap enough, and bide their time until the oil cycle turns. "The management may change and the companies may change but the resources will still be there," he told the Daily Telegraph. "It takes $10bn and five to...

Does anyone have a link to the complete article that appeared in the WSJ 1/19/16 titled "After the Carnage, Shale Will Rise Again"? Would appreciate it if you could send it to me if you have it.

Crude oil production in February from seven major US shale plays is expected to fall 116,000 b/d to 4.83 million b/d, according to the US Energy Information Administration’s latest Drilling Productivity Report (DPR). The agency last month also projected a 116,000-b/d loss for January (OGJ Online, Dec. 7, 2015). The DPR focuses on the Bakken, Eagle Ford, Haynesville, Marcellus, Niobrara, Permian, and Utica, which altogether accounted for 95% of US crude oil production increases and all US natural gas production increases during 2011-13. Production from the Eagle Ford is seen dropping 72,000 b/d during the month to 1.15 million b/d,...

U.S. shale oil production is expected to fall for a seventh month in a row in February, declining at about the same rate as the month before as drillers manage to eke out a few more barrels from each new well, U.S. data showed on Monday. Total output was set to decline by 116,000 bpd to 4.8 million bpd in February compared with January, a U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) drilling productivity report said. Production was estimated to have fallen by about the same margin in January, despite some expectations that the decline rate would begin to quicken as companies...

As crude prices languish below $40 a barrel, American drillers are retreating from domestic oil fields even faster than in the tumultuous 1980s oil bust. U.S. oil companies are set to curb investments by 24 percent this year to $89.6 billion, meaning that from the beginning of last year to the end of this year, domestic drillers will have cut their annual capital budgets by 51 percent. That's more than the industry's 46 percent cut in the mid-1980s, according to Cowen & Co., which began its oil-company spending survey in 1982. But the oil field exodus will eventually pay off....

The OPEC 2015 World Oil Outlook came out a few days ago. They basically produce two outlooks, a medium term outlook to 2020 and a long term outlook to 2040. I found their medium term outlook pessimistic in some cases too optimistic in others. But I found their long term outlook to be wildly optimistic… in most cases. In all cases below I chart crude when it is available and “liquids” only when no other option is available. The data is in million barrels per day.

EIA continues to expand its assessment of technically recoverable shale oil and shale natural gas resources around the world. The addition of four countries--Chad, Kazakhstan, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)--to a previous assessment covering 42 countries has resulted in a 13% increase in the global assessed total resource estimate for shale oil and a 4% increase for shale gas. A total of 26 formations within 11 basins were analyzed in these 4 countries. Although these formations contain significant volumes of technically recoverable resources, there is currently no shale exploration underway in any of the four countries, meaning the...

U.S. shale oil production is expected to fall by more than 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) in January from the March peak, according to a U.S. government forecast on Monday, on the back of a global glut that's slashed oil prices to a near seven-year low. Total output is set to decline by just over 115,000 bpd to 4.86 million bpd in January compared with December, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's drilling productivity report. Bakken production from North Dakota is set to fall 27,000 bpd, while production from the Eagle Ford is expected to fall 77,000 bpd. In...

Panelists at Business First's second annual New Mexico Energy Outlook Summit yesterday offered but one common ground: Something needs to be done to turn the industry around. SPONSORED BY PEOPLE ON THE MOVE Tanja Jenkins Tanja Jenkins Boys & Girls Clubs of Central New Mexico Andrew G. Schultz Andrew G. Schultz City of Albuquerque Board of Ethics and Campaign Practices SPONSORTony Royle, CPA Tony Royle, CPA Moss Adams See More People on the Move Emceed by ABF publisher Candace Beeke, the event brought together Dr. Daniel Fine, associate director of the New Mexico Center for Energy Policy at New Mexico...

The Jacki Daily Show Radical Environmentalist are Anti Humanist - 11/8/15 Jacki starts the show interviewing Gifford Briggs, vice president and chief lobbyist of the Louisiana Oil & Gas Association (LOGA), which represents the independent and service sectors of the state’s oil and gas industry. Jacki is joined by Rob Henneke of the Texas Public Policy Foundation to discuss the upcoming At the Crossroads: Energy & Climate Policy Summit on November 19th 2015 Jacki is also joined by Robert Zubrin, author of" Merchants of Despair: Radical Environmentalists, Criminal Pseudo-Scientists, and the Fatal Cult of Antihumanism"

When President Obama announced he was killing the Keystone XL pipeline, he said he was agreeing with the State Department’s assessment that the pipeline from Canada “would not serve the national interests of the United States.” The fact is that it would not have benefitted the personal financial interests of friend and economic mentor, Warren Buffett, who can rest assured that oil from Canada and the nearby Bakken formation in North Dakota will continue to be transported by a railroad he owns. As Investor’s Business Daily noted in a 2011 editorial: Killing the Keystone XL pipeline may help one of...