Shale drillers add oil rigs for longest streak in a year

U.S. oil drillers added rigs for the sixth-straight week, marking the longest period of expansion in a year as the shale patch revives from the worst downturn in a generation. More »

YPF plans to sell non-core assets after second-quarter loss

YPF SA, Argentina’s biggest company, plans to divest non-core assets in a bid to focus in projects that pay back quickly. More »

Hungary’s Mol affirms earnings outlook as investment target cut

Hungarian energy group Mol Nyrt. confirmed its earnings guidance and reduced investment plans for this year after a 45% jump in second-quarter net income on the back of rising oil prices and production. More »

Premier Oil’s Bagpuss well proves oil offshore Scotland

Premier Oil’s 13/25-1 well, which was targeting the Bagpuss prospect, on the Halibut Horst in the Outer Moray Firth, has reached a total depth of 1,532 ft (TVDSS) in a granite basement. More »

NOV promotes Isaac H. Joseph to president, Wellbore Technologies

National Oilwell Varco has announced the promotion of Isaac H. Joseph to president, Wellbore Technologies. More »

Premier Oil’s Bagpuss well proves oil

Premier Oil’s 13/25-1 well, which was targeting the Bagpuss prospect, on the Halibut Horst in the Outer Moray Firth, has reached a total depth of 1,532 ft (TVDSS) in a granite basement. More »

Det norske wildcat misses in North Sea

Det norske oljeselskap, operator of production license 626, has completed the drilling of wildcat well 25/10-15 S. The well is dry. More »

Hoover Container Solutions, Ferguson Group, CCC to merge

HOUSTON -- Hoover Container Solutions, Ferguson Group and CHEP Catalyst and Chemical Containers (CCC), three of the leading global providers of container solutions products in the energy, petrochemical and general industrial markets, are merging to form Hoover Ferguson Group (HFG). More »

Hoover Container Solutions, Ferguson Group and CHEP Catalyst and Chemical Containers announce merger

HOUSTON -- Hoover Container Solutions, Ferguson Group and CHEP Catalyst and Chemical Containers (CCC), three of the leading global providers of container solutions products in the energy, petrochemical and general industrial markets, are merging to form Hoover Ferguson Group (HFG). More »

Permier Oil’s Bagpuss well proves oil

Premier Oil’s 13/25-1 well, which was targeting the Bagpuss prospect, on the Halibut Horst in the Outer Moray Firth, has reached a total depth of 1,532 ft (TVDSS) in a granite basement. More »

Crude slump sees oil majors’ debt burden double to $138 billion

When commodity prices crashed in late 2014, oil executives could look at their mining counterparts with a sense of superiority. More »

Oil traders see glimmer of profit in hoarding crude at sea

NEW YORK (Bloomberg) -- Oil traders once again believe it’s worth heading out to sea. More »

Oil above $100/bbl was ‘abnormal,’ OPEC’s new chief says

Oil’s climb above $100/bbl before prices crashed in 2014 was driven by “abnormal” conditions that couldn’t last, according to OPEC’s new Secretary-General. More »

Oil has probably bottomed out at $40, Greenspan suggests

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan suggested that oil prices have probably bottomed out at about $40/bbl after tumbling more than 20% in the past two months into a bear market. More »

Transocean lowers cost guidance 9% after posting surprise profit

Transocean Ltd. followed up a surprisingly profitable three months by revealing there’s more costs to cut as the world’s largest owner of offshore rigs gets smarter at parking equipment that explorers don’t want. More »

SEG selects new president-elect

The Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) today announced results of its 2016–2017 board of directors election. More »

Canadian Natural cost cuts trim loss as output misses estimates

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the nation’s largest heavy-oil producer, reported a narrower second-quarter loss as lower costs helped offset the slump in crude prices. More »

Bollinger Shipyards announces safety milestones

Bollinger Shipyards, LLC said Wednesday that the Bollinger Lockport New Construction facility has worked 6,000,000 man-hours without a lost time accident and the Bollinger Fourchon facility has worked fifteen (15) years without a lost time accident. More »

Eni wildcat strikes out northeast of Johan Castberg

STAVANGER, Norway -- Eni Norge, operator of production license 226, is in the process of completing the drilling of wildcat well 7222/1-1. The well is dry. More »

Chesapeake misses estimates as gas field writedowns mount

Chesapeake Energy Corp. missed analyst estimates as a slump in natural gas prices prompted a $1-billion impairment of its gas fields and eroded the value of the company’s hedges. More »

New North Sea strike goes ahead as company rejects union offer

A 48-hour strike by North Sea offshore oil and gas workers started Thursday, after company managers rejected an offer from trade unions. More »

Kongsberg wins EPC contract for two heavy lift/accommodation units

Kongsberg Maritime has been awarded significant offshore EPC contracts with China Merchants Heavy Industries (CMHI). More »

ClearSign secures major multi-flare contract with California producer

ClearSign Combustion Corporation, an emerging provider of industrial combustion technologies that help to reduce emissions and improve efficiency, has received a multi-flare contract from a major California oil producer to retrofit their enclosed wellhead ground flares with its Duplex technology to ensure compliance with air district emission requirements. More »

PJ Valves inks contracts for Maersk Oil’s Culzean project

PJ Valves (PJV), the specialist manufacturer and supplier of valves to the global energy industry, has been awarded more than £1 million ($1.3 million) worth of contracts to supply over 1,000 valves to Maersk Oil’s Culzean field in the UK North Sea. More »

TGS, Schlumberger announce new Dual Coil Shooting full-azimuth multiclient acquisition in U.S. Gulf of Mexico

TGS and Schlumberger have announced commencement of the Dual Coil Shooting multi-vessel full-azimuth acquisition Revolution XII and XIII surveys in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The surveys will cover approximately 7,150 km2 (306 blocks) in the Green Canyon, Atwater Valley and Ewing Bank protraction areas of the Central Gulf of Mexico. More »

Middle East drives LNG demand as glut makes prices attractive

Countries in the Middle East and North Africa led by Egypt, Kuwait and Morocco are boosting LNG import capacity, taking advantage of low prices to meet rising energy demand. More »

U.S. crude imports surge to highest since 2012 as output slips

U.S. crude imports rose to the highest level since October 2012 as excess global supply finds its way to American ports. More »

One nook of America’s shale industry is eyeing a big comeback

Amid the gloom and doom that’s set in all along America’s shale fields these past two years, there has been one small, but consistent, bright spot. Sand, it turns out, is a much greater tool in hydraulic fracturing than drillers had understood it to be. More »

Transocean posts unexpected profit thanks to cost cuts

Transocean Ltd. surprised analysts by slashing its way to profitability in the second quarter as the world’s largest owner of offshore rigs tries to keep up with dwindling drilling demand from explorers. More »

IPAA files litigation over EPA’s final methane regulations

Yesterday afternoon, the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) led efforts on two legal actions against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) related to its new regulations governing methane emissions for the oil and natural gas industry. More »

Intermoor completes decommissioning operations of OSX-1 FPSO in Brazil

InterMoor do Brasil, an Acteon company, successfully completed their involvement in the decommissioning operations of the OSX-1 Floating Production System and Offloading (FPSO). More »

Eagle Ford shale still shows promise of greatness in variations

Attendance at the Unconventional Resources Technology Conference in San Antonio may have been a bit light this week, given the continuing industry downturn, but the core group of shale experts and enthusiasts was still in evidence at this three-day event that ended Wednesday. More »

Oil rises as U.S. gasoline supply decrease outweighs crude gain

Oil increased after U.S. gasoline stockpiles fell the most since April as refineries increased operating rates. More »

Quantum Materials Corp. developing nanomaterials for tracing frac fluids

Quantum Materials Corporation has partnered with a Texas-based EandP technology business and is developing specialized nanomaterials for use in oil and gas well production optimization. More »

Enbridge, Marathon agree to buy $2-billion Bakken pipeline stake

A unit of Enbridge Inc. and Marathon Petroleum Corp. have agreed to pay a combined $2 billion in cash for a stake in the Bakken pipeline system from an affiliate of Energy Transfer Partners LP and Sunoco Logistics Partners LP. More »

Newfield Exploration to sell Texas assets for nearly $390 million

Newfield Exploration is to divest substantially all of its assets in Texas for combined net after tax proceeds of nearly $390 million, subject to customary purchase price adjustments. More »

Total starts production at Bolivia’s Incahuasi gas field

Total has brought Incahuasi gas and condensate field, the group’s first operated development in Bolivia, on stream. The field has a production capacity of 50,000 boed. More »

Fugro completes Ghana metocean data acquisition for Hess

Fugro has completed a 33-month period of metocean data acquisition for Hess Ghana Exploration Limited. More »

VAALCO Energy announces retirement of CEO Steve Guidry

VAALCO Energy announced Wednesday that Steve Guidry, the company’s CEO, will retire from the company and board of directors effective Sept. 1, 2016. More »

Iran adopts oil contract as glut no barrier to production boost

Iran approved an outline for a new oil contract model, taking the OPEC member a step closer to welcoming foreign investment in its energy industry and boosting production even more into an oversupplied market. More »

Husky, CNOOC resolve Liwan gas dispute by lowering prices

The end of a dispute over prices from an offshore Chinese energy project resolves an overhang on shares of Husky Energy Inc. and prospects for natural gas development in the Asian nation. More »

Citi sees oil bears ‘gone wild’ at $40 as outages to persist

While oil bears go “wild” at crude’s retreat to $40/bbl, there’s some comfort on the way for the bulls, according to Citigroup Inc. More »

Oil traders don’t see dip to $40 leading to market rout

Oil analysts from Citigroup Inc. to Bank of America Merrill Lynch are confident that the new bear market in crude will be short-lived. The options market increasingly agrees with them. More »

U.S. Silica to acquire logistics solutions provider Sandbox Enterprises

U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc., has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Sandbox Enterprises LLC, a provider of logistics solutions and technology for the transportation of proppant used in hydraulic fracturing in the oil and gas industry. More »

U.S. Silica to acquire Sandbox Enterprises, a logistics solutions provider

U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc., has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Sandbox Enterprises LLC, a provider of logistics solutions and technology for the transportation of proppant used in hydraulic fracturing in the oil and gas industry. More »

Oil drops amid global growth concerns and oversupply worries

Oil settled at the lowest level in almost four months, following a drop in U.S. stocks as global growth concerns resurface. More »

Halliburton installs its 1,000th multilateral junction

Halliburton today announced the installation of its 1,000th multilateral junction. More »

BHP Billiton selects Seven Lakes to equip operations with field data capture application

Seven Lakes Technologies, a developer of innovative enterprise software and solutions for the Oil and Gas industry, announced Tuesday that BHP Billiton Petroleum has selected Seven Lakes' FDG mobile solution for its North American field operations to transform the quality of complex data inputs including wells, routes and pumpers. More »

OPEC output disrupted in July on Nigeria attacks, Libya dispute

OPEC’s crude oil output was disrupted in July by militant attacks in Nigeria and political disputes in Libya, according to a Bloomberg News survey. More »

Lowest offshore project commitments since 1998: Rystad

Rystad Energy's latest market analysis shows that EandP companies have been hesitating to engage in greenfield projects amid the current market downturn, resulting in the lowest offshore project commitment since 1998. More »

Average shale wellhead break-even prices are below $40, Rystad says

Rystad Energy's latest North American Shale Report shows that the average wellhead breakeven price has decreased on average by 22% year-over-year from 2013 to 2016. More »

Transocean Ltd. to acquire Transocean Partners

Transocean Ltd. has agreed to acquire all of the outstanding common units of Transocean Partners LLC not already owned by Transocean in a share-for-unit merger transaction. More »

India seeking merger model for possible state oil champion

India is open to discussing a merger of some of its state-run oil producers and refiners to create a larger, stronger national firm, according to the country’s oil minister. More »

Mid-Con Energy announces Permian bolt-on acquisition

Mid-Con Energy Partners, through its wholly owned subsidiary Mid-Con Energy Properties, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire oil and natural gas properties in Nolan County, Texas, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $19.5 million. More »

VAALCO acquires additional working interest in Gabon’s Etame Marin Permit

VAALCO Energy has signed a purchase and sale agreement to acquire an additional 3.23% participating interest in the Etame Marin Permit, offshore of the Republic of Gabon, from Sojitz Etame Limited, which represents the full interest owned by Sojitz in the concession. More »

DNV GL wins in-service verification work for Wintershall

Wintershall Noordzee has awarded DNV GL a five-year contract to provide in-service verification work for two North Sea platforms. More »

Looking beyond a bear market, analysts see $57 crude next year

Oil closed in a bear market Monday, but don’t abandon hope. Analysts are looking beyond the current slide to next year for a rebound. More »

Russia oil output posts 24th month of year-on-year gains in July

MOSCOW (Bloomberg) -- Russian oil output rose 1.8% in July, extending a run of year-on-year gains to 24 months. More »

MicroSeismic awarded monitoring contract in Argentina's Neuquén basin

MicroSeismic, Inc., has announced plans to install the first permanent BuriedArray for a major operator in Argentina. More »

MicroSeismic awarded microseismic monitoring contract in Argentina

MicroSeismic, Inc., has announced plans to install the first permanent BuriedArray for a major operator in Argentina. More »

Nigeria resumes paying former militants as oil output drops

ABUJA, Nigeria (Bloomberg) -- Nigeria resumed payments to former militants in the oil-rich Niger River delta and the military targeted gangs involved in sabotage of pipelines, as the government responded to sustained attacks on infrastructure that dragged crude production back to an almost 30-year low. More »

Oil falls below $40 for first time since April amid global glut

Oil dropped below $40/bbl in New York for first time since April on concern that the global supply glut is returning. More »

EnerMech to deliver turret project on BP's Glen Lyon FPSO

Mechanical engineering specialist EnerMech is in the process of delivering a £5million-plus contract to support the turret delivery team on BP’s Glen Lyon FPSO, which has arrived for hook-up operations West of Shetland. More »

Honeywell to provide automation and safety systems for new Canadian LNG facility

Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS) today announced it will provide full automation and safety systems and serve as integrated main automation contractor (I-MAC) for a new LNG facility being built in Eastern Canada to process North American natural gas for international export. More »

Halliburton introduces new flowback service to improve well performance

Halliburton has announced the release of the CALIBR engineered flowback service, which applies advanced diagnostics and a collaborative workflow to continuously manage flowback operations to improve well productivity. More »

Oil slides after biggest monthly loss in year as U.S. adds rigs

Oil fell after its biggest monthly decline in a year as U.S. producers increased drilling and crude and fuel stockpiles remained at the highest seasonal level in at least two decades. More »

Offshore safety continues to improve, Oil and Gas UK report shows

Personal safety performance across oil and gas operations on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) continued to improve in 2015, according to the 2016 Oil and Gas UK Health and Safety Report published Monday. More »

Statoil sells W.Va. assets to Antero in $96-million deal

Statoil has agreed a further sale of non-core assets from its U.S. onshore portfolio, the third in the southern Marcellus in the last two years. More »

BP Trinidad and Tobago, Atlantic LNG sanction compression project

BP Trinidad and Tobago and Atlantic LNG have sanctioned the Trinidad Onshore Compression (TROC) project. More »

Aqualis Offshore oversees transport of world’s largest jackup

Aqualis Offshore has been contracted by Noble Corporation to oversee the load-on, transportation and load-off operations of the first journey of the world’s largest jackup rig, the Noble Lloyd Noble. More »

Iran’s oil contract due Wednesday to lure billions of investment

Iran is expected to approve a new model for oil contracts on Wednesday, paving the way for billions of dollars of foreign investment to help rebuild its energy industry. More »

Oil's never-ending supply glut story has a built-in ending: Column

This isn't the way things were supposed to be for the oil market. Instead of seeing supply and demand rebalance and prices recover, we're sitting on the edge of a bear market. More »

Saudis lower oil price to Asia most in 10 months in sign of glut

Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil exporter, lowered the pricing terms for Arab Light sold to Asia by the most in 10 months as refineries grapple with falling margins and oversupply. More »