Author: PatrickO'Brian
The 7 reasons behind U.S. oil’s sharpest daily point drop in almost 3 years
The biggest weekly drop in U.S. crude supplies couldn’t halt the drop in oil prices Wednesday as traders chose to focus on expectations for higher global output. Read Full Article Here: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-7-reasons-behind-us-oils-sharpest-daily-point-drop-in-almost-3-years-2018-07-11
BIG OIL BOOMS: Texas Truck Drivers Make $140k, Forces Rising Wages in Other Industries
Big Oil is having an incredible impact, again, in Texas. Midland, TX is experiencing such a booming shale-oil economy that truck drivers are making more than $100,000. In turn, smaller businesses are forced to either raise their wages or extend hours to retain workers. But, this successful economy has what some say are a few downsides as well. With increased wages comes increased rents and labor s...
Venezuela struggles with huge oil export backlog
Venezuela is nearly a month behind delivering crude to customers from its main oil export terminals, according to shipping data, as chronic delays and production declines could breach state-run PDVSA’s supply contracts if they are not cleared soon. Read Full Article Here: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-pdvsa/venezuela-struggles-with-huge-oil-export-backlog-idUSKCN1J22X9
How Oil And Gas Companies Can Thrive In A Shallower Profit Pool
My computer graphics on people and natural resources. Buoyancy has returned to the oil and gas industry as prices stabilize in the $50 to $70 range. Capital spending is rebounding and new upstream projects launch weekly. In previous cycles, this is about the point where executives forgot the hard-won lessons of the downturn and began to spend again, pursing growth at the cost of efficiency. This t...
Saudi Arabia should expect Iran to ‘play hardball’ at OPEC’s next meeting
President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal is likely to exacerbate tensions between two of the world’s biggest oil producers at next month’s OPEC meeting, one analyst told CNBC Wednesday. Global oil supplies were already tightening ahead of the U.S. president’s decision to pull out of the landmark nuclear accord on Tuesday, while crude futures have since soared to mul...
Cybercriminals are exposing oil and gas — but the industry is turning a blind eye
There are over a million oil and gas wells in the United States. There are also several hundred thousand miles of pipelines. Digitization is on the rise in the notoriously conservative oil and gas industry as companies wake up to the cost and operational efficiency boost that sensors and algorithms can offer them. Meanwhile, cybercriminals are keeping ahead of the learning curve, but oil and gas i...
It’s Houston vs. Houston, as offshore drillers compete with onshore shale oil
Competition for oil companies does not solely come from overseas anymore; the fiercest opponents are across the street, or maybe even in the same building. Executives and engineers responsible for offshore drilling are struggling to compete with their compatriots in the onshore shale oil fields. With the U.S. pumping more than 10 million barrels a day, the competition is Houston vs. Houston to see...
Exxon Mobil shares fall 3.5% on earnings miss fueled by weak refining and chemicals profits
Exxon Mobil on Friday reported earnings of .09 per share, compared with .12 forecast by Thomson Reuters. Exxon Mobil on Friday reported its quarterly profit increased from a year ago, but fell short of expectations, marking the second straight quarter that earnings disappointed Wall Street. Weakness in the company’s fuel refining and chemicals businesses dragged on an upbeat quarter for Exxon’s un...
Chevron shares rise after big earnings beat on strong oil and gas production profits
Chevron saw its stock price jump as it reported first-quarter earnings that easily topped expectations, fueled by rising oil and natural gas production and higher commodity prices. Shares of Chevron were up more than half a percent shortly after the U.S. stock market opening, backing off stronger gains before the bell. […] Read Full Article Here: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/27/chevron-shares-jump...
Shell earnings surge as oil prices rebound
Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell posted a 42 percent rise in profits in the first quarter of 2018, underpinned by a recent uptick in oil and gas prices. Net income attributable to shareholders on a current cost of supplies (CCS) basis, used as a proxy for net profit, and excluding identified items, came in at $5.322 billion from a year ago. This compared to a company-provided analyst consensu...
Four ways technology is making the oil and gas industry greener
The oil and gas sector has long suffered a negative reputation — traditional extraction and production methods have contributed heavily to Canada’s carbon footprint through the emission of methane gas and other air pollutants — but exploration and production (E&P) companies and cleantech startups are working to fix this. E&P companies have been actively reducing their methane emissions wit...
Oil soars 2.9% to 3-year high, settling at $68.47, as US crude stockpiles drop
Oil prices rose to their highest level since late 2014 after government data showed U.S. crude stockpiles fell last week and as the market continued to worry about supply disruptions in key fossil fuel-producing nations. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures ended Wednesday’s session up $1.95, or 2.9 percent at $68.47, the best settle since Dec. 1, 2014. The contract hit an intra...