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O&G Execs Talk Harris Fracking Flip-Flop, LNG “Pause” at Gastech

The Gastech Exhibition & Conference 2024 is happening this week in Houston, TX. It is a massive event with an estimated 50,000 attendees. Gastech bills itself as the world’s largest exhibition and conference for natural gas, LNG, hydrogen, climate technologies, AI, energy manufacturing, and low-carbon solutions. We’ve seen reports from the event that say big names in the oil and gas space are talking about important issues of the day, including Kamala Harris’ fracking flip-flop, Biden’s “pause” on new LNG approvals, and more. At first, it appeared Big Oil CEOs were giving Harris a pass, saying her flip-flop is legit—she won’t ban fracking, and we should all sing kumbaya as we coronate Kamala Queen. But then we read further… Read More “O&G Execs Talk Harris Fracking Flip-Flop, LNG “Pause” at Gastech”

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Big Oil Asks U.S. Supremes to Shut Down Lawsuits re Global Warming

A coalition of major oil companies is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on a key aspect of numerous ongoing nationwide lawsuits filed by cities, counties, and states. The lawsuits by multiple “blue” states and cities accuse Big Oil companies of deceiving the public about their role in causing mythical manmade global warming. The companies being targeted are the biggest of the big, with deep pockets. It’s nothing more than elaborate shakedown. Sunoco, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Marathon Petroleum, ConocoPhillips, Phillips 66, and others have asked the Supremes to intervene in a climate case filed against them by the City and County of Honolulu. The case serves as an important precedent for a number of other cases.
Read More “Big Oil Asks U.S. Supremes to Shut Down Lawsuits re Global Warming”

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Shale Energy is on the Verge of Next Oil and Gas Breakthrough

Tim Leach, ConocoPhillips

Every time we read about peak oil or gas (demand or supply), or that there are no more good places left to drill for shale and drillers are now left to scrape and claw at less desirable locations, or that the decline curves are killing shale, etc. — we laugh. How many times over the years has MDN told you something along the lines of this: The shale industry is a marvel. It keeps getting better and keeps discovering new shale layers to drill, new techniques to use, and new technologies to employ. In a talk given at the University of Texas, Tim Leach, a board member with ConocoPhillips and a former Permian Basin explorer, made this prediction: Someone out in the shale world is on the verge of the next oil and gas breakthrough. Sound familiar?
Read More “Shale Energy is on the Verge of Next Oil and Gas Breakthrough”

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Bloomberg: Shale in Midlife Crisis, Big Oil Rides in to Save Day

Credit: MY21 Photography. FLFBS.

We spotted an article by a Bloomberg opinion columnist that says American shale energy is in a “midlife crisis.” The article pictures Big Oil (companies like Exxon and ConocoPhillips) as riding in on Harley Davidson motorcycles to save shale. It’s something of a twisted and mixed metaphor (old guys with money in a midlife crisis ride Harleys), but humorous nonetheless. The larger point of the article, which IS worth pondering, is whether or not the era of independent shale drillers is drawing to a close. The author offers evidence and analysis that such is the case–or should be.
Read More “Bloomberg: Shale in Midlife Crisis, Big Oil Rides in to Save Day”

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Big Oil Working on Industry Standard for 3D Printing of Spare Parts

click for larger version

Ever hear of additive manufacturing (AM) technology? That was a new one for us. You may know it better by the phrase 3D printing. AM uses computers to control a machine that creates a product before your eyes. Very cool stuff, and increasingly, AM (3D printing) is the future. Five global oil and gas companies–ConocoPhillips, Equinor, Shell, TotalEnergies and Vår Energi–have joined forces to standardize the digital supply of spare parts (using AM tech), setting an industry standard for a digital inventory ecosystem.
Read More “Big Oil Working on Industry Standard for 3D Printing of Spare Parts”

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Senate Democrats Attack Big Oil Again, Propose Huge New Taxes

What can we say? Once again, the Democrat Party is trying to demonize fossil fuels and is going after “Big Oil,” proposing insanely high new taxes on a handful of oil companies because, for a single year (2022), they have actually made some money. All money and profits belong to the government in the left’s twisted worldview. A cabal of seven Senators led by Sen. Robert Menendez from New Jersey has launched this latest attack against our industry.
Read More “Senate Democrats Attack Big Oil Again, Propose Huge New Taxes”

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New Jersey Sues Big Oil in Attempt to Shut Down Free Speech

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution says: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” New Jersey is attempting to abridge the freedom of speech for Exxon Mobil, Shell Oil, Chevron, BP, ConocoPhillips, and the American Petroleum Institute (API). NJ has sued those entities claiming they knew that the products they manufacture and promote (oil and gas) have caused global warming and that these entities have lied, and continue to lie, about knowing. NJ wants to muzzle the right of the API and Exxon, et al., to freely defend themselves and stick up for fossil energy, claiming to do so endangers the public and harms the residents of NJ. It’s the most outlandish thing you’ve ever heard.
Read More “New Jersey Sues Big Oil in Attempt to Shut Down Free Speech”

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CERAWeek Panel: Why Oil & Gas Drillers Limit Growth to Single Digits

The CERAWeek conference was held in Houston, Texas all of last week. We’re still analyzing important news from the event. The CEOs of major drillers and midstream companies were there, as were heads of government agencies (like Jennifer Granholm, Biden’s incompetent Secretary of Energy). For example, we spotted a report from a session where the heads of three drillers, Pioneer Natural Resources, ConocoPhillips, and Chesapeake Energy, shared their insights on what lies ahead for 2022 and 2023. The panel provided insight into how and why growth (new drilling, more production) is being limited in U.S. shale plays, including in the Marcellus/Utica.
Read More “CERAWeek Panel: Why Oil & Gas Drillers Limit Growth to Single Digits”

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Which Companies Sold the Most Natural Gas in the U.S. in 2020?

Who are the biggest natural gas sellers in the U.S.? You might be surprised to learn that the biggest *sellers* are not necessarily the biggest *producers* of natural gas. Oh, you might recognize some of the names of the top sellers (BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips). But others might be more of a mystery (Macquarie, Tenaska, Sequent, and J. Aron & Co.). Would it surprise you to learn that BP (i.e. British Petroleum) is the #1 seller of natural gas in the U.S. and has been for many years?
Read More “Which Companies Sold the Most Natural Gas in the U.S. in 2020?”

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Who *Sold* the Most NatGas in the U.S. in 3Q18?

Who are the biggest natural gas sellers in the U.S.? You might be surprised to learn that the biggest *sellers* are not necessarily the biggest *producers* of natural gas. Oh, you might recognize some of the names of the top sellers (BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips). But others might be more of a mystery (Macquarie, Tenaska, Sequent, and J. Aron & Co.). Would it surprise you to learn that BP (i.e. British Petroleum) is the #1 seller of natgas in the U.S., and has been for years? Last quarter BP sold 21.01 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas here in the colonies. Each quarter NGI (Natural Gas Intelligence) runs the numbers and publishes the list of 25 top natural gas marketers in the U.S. They recently published the third quarter 2018 list, which shows that overall volumes are up from the same quarter a year ago, and that we are on track to have the highest growth in production for a single year since the new millennium began.
Read More “Who *Sold* the Most NatGas in the U.S. in 3Q18?”

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Who *Sells* the Most NatGas in the U.S.?

Who are the biggest natural gas sellers in the U.S.? You might be surprised to learn that the biggest sellers are not necessarily the biggest producers of natural gas. Oh, you might recognize some of the names of the top sellers (BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips). But others might be more of a mystery (Macquarie, Tenaska, Direct Energy). Would it surprise you to learn that BP (i.e. British Petroleum) is the #1 seller of natgas in the U.S., and has been for years? Last quarter BP sold 22.10 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas here in the colonies. That represents 18% of all natural gas bought and sold. Each quarter NGI (Natural Gas Intelligence) runs the numbers and publishes the list of 25 top natural gas marketers in the U.S. They recently published the first quarter 2018 list, which shows that for a second quarter in a row, overall volumes are up from the same quarter a year ago. Here’s the cool thing: NGI publishes the list absolutely free on their website! As we scan down the list of who sells (i.e. markets) the most natgas in the U.S., we can’t help but notice that many of them have operations in the Marcellus/Utica region…
Read More “Who *Sells* the Most NatGas in the U.S.?”

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World’s Top 10 Natural Gas Producers

top-10.jpgWe sometimes run Top 10 lists for the Marcellus/Utica, or even the U.S., but what about a Top 10 list of natural gas producers in the entire world? We spotted an article on the Forbes magazine website that lists the Top 10 natgas producers for the entire world. By our count, eight of the ten have major or minor operations in the Marcellus/Utica. Cool! Here’s the list…
Read More “World’s Top 10 Natural Gas Producers”

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List of World’s 21 Biggest Oil & Gas Companies

Over the past decade, from 2004 to 2014, something happened: the miracle of hydraulic fracturing. Because of fracking, the world now pumps more oil than it did a decade ago. During the past decade the price for a barrel of oil went sky high. Now, according to the popular narrative of the day, the price of oil has “collapsed” because we’re swimming in “too much oil.” Who woulda thunk? (Side note: the price for a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude in 2004 was $41.50. Today? About $43. So much for a price “collapse”–it’s more like a “price maintenance.”) For a while some people, like the now thoroughly discredited Art Berman, peddled the “peak oil” theory–that the world was running out of oil and would soon be paying $200 a barrel or more (see Peak Oil Theorist Art Berman Says Shale Gas is Peaking Too). So much for those theories. A decade ago the world was pumping 64.1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd)–that is, oil and the energy equivalent in natural gas. Today? The world is pumping 80.4 million boepd. So who are the world’s 21 largest oil and gas producing companies? We have the list below…
Read More “List of World’s 21 Biggest Oil & Gas Companies”

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The Big Picture: Why Some Drillers Avoid Natgas Drilling, for Now

Last week MDN brought you the news that WPX Energy will not be drilling any new Marcellus wells in 2014–and likely beyond (see WPX Gives MDN an Update on Their 2014 Marcellus Plans). WPX is focusing their attention on oil and wet gas shale plays. They’re not the only ones.

A Reuters story running in the Canadian National Post highlights comments by ConocoPhillips, a huge oil and gas driller, saying the company is staying away from natural gas for the time being (at least the next few years) because of the low price environment. According to Conoco’s CFO Jeff Sheets, they want to see the Henry Hub price for natgas at $5 per MMBtu for at least two years before they’ll even consider returning to natgas drilling…
Read More “The Big Picture: Why Some Drillers Avoid Natgas Drilling, for Now”

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Will Investor Pressure Force Some Drillers to Split Company?

Are we about to see large oil and gas companies begin to split U.S. and foreign operations? An interesting theory is put forth in an article on the Investors Business Daily website that a plan by Occidental Petroleum to split its U.S. and foreign businesses may lead to other oil companies doing the same. Why? Investors want to drive up the per-share price of the companies, and by shedding more risky, less profitable international operations, they may be able to do it.

What caught MDN’s eye about the article is that the author uses Cabot Oil & Gas as an example of how a small domestic David-type company’s stock price can run rings around a much larger Goliath-type. MDN pointed this out in early March when we noted that Cabot’s market capitalization soared past Chesapeake Energy, a company at least 10 times the size of Cabot (see Guest Post: Corporate Hubris Humbles Chesapeake – Cabot Soars Sure & Steady). Also of interest is that the article names several large multi-nationals with drilling operations in the Marcellus/Utica (ConocoPhillips, Anadarko Petroleum and Talisman Energy) as being pressured to consider splitting their companies…
Read More “Will Investor Pressure Force Some Drillers to Split Company?”

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Top 10 Energy Companies & Top 10 Drillers Worldwide

Each year Platts publishes a list  of the top 250 energy companies in the world. They evaluate companies using four metrics: asset value, revenue, profit, and return on invested capital. It probably won’t surprise you to find out that 7 of the top 10 energy companies in the world have a presence in the Marcellus or Utica Shale.

Here’s the Platts list of the top 10 energy companies in the world for 2012:

Read More “Top 10 Energy Companies & Top 10 Drillers Worldwide”