Oil & Gas Exploration

Centrica, a British company, announced on Tuesday that Spirit Energy - its joint venture with German utility Stadtwerke Munchen GmbH - will sell to Ithaca Energy a 46.25 percent stake in the Cygnus field for approximately 116 million pounds (155.05 millions dollars). Cygnus is located in the Southern North Sea and is the UK's largest continental shelf gas field. It also contributes to the UK energy security. Ithaca Energy will increase its operating interest in Cygnus from 65% to 85%. This will position the company as a majority owner, and reinforces the strategic goal of becoming one the largest independent...

A U.S. court of appeals ruled Thursday that Citigroup will have to face a lawsuit alleging it caused over $1 billion in losses by orchestrating a fraud at the Mexican oil and gas service company Oceanografia. Three judges of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Miami said that 30 Oceanografia vendors, creditors and bondholders adequately alleged that Citigroup substantially aided the fraud. A lower court judge erred by dismissing this nine-year-old case. Circuit Court of Appeals, Miami, said that 30 Oceanografia vendors and creditors, as well as bondholders, adequately alleged Citigroup's involvement in the fraud. A lower court...

ConocoPhillips surpassed Wall Street expectations for the first-quarter profits on Thursday. Chief Financial Officer Bill Bullock, who has worked at the Texas-based oil producer for 39 years, will retire. ConocoPhillips has increased its presence in the Permian and Eagle Ford basins and Bakken Basins with the $22.5 billion purchase of Marathon Oil. It also added new operations to the Anadarko Shale Formation and Equatorial Guinea. ConocoPhillips produced 2.38 million barrels equivalents per day in the first quarter, an increase of 487,000 boepd over the previous quarter. The increased output helped to offset the effect of low oil prices. The price...

Occidental Petroleum beat Wall Street expectations for the first-quarter profits on Wednesday thanks to strong production and favorable commodities prices. Benchmark Brent crude averaged $74.98 per barrel in the first quarter of 2018, up 1.3% from the previous quarter. Meanwhile, U.S. Natural Gas prices have been steadily rising over the last few quarters, and reached a 2-year high on 10 March. The average domestic realized price of total natural gas production has risen to $2.42 for every thousand cubic feet. This is a 50% increase from last year. Natural gas liquids (NGLs) realized by the company were $25.94 a barrel,...

APA Corp announced on Wednesday it would sell New Mexico Permian assets to focus on its core business. This was in an effort for the company to streamline its operations and concentrate on areas of strength. It also beat Wall Street's expectations for first-quarter profits. These assets, which generate about 12,400 barrels equivalent of oil per day (boepd), are less than 5% APA's overall Permian production. The company stated that the deal with Permian Resource is expected to close by the end of the second quarter and proceeds will be used to reduce the debt. This move comes after APA...

The U.S. Energy Information Administration announced on Wednesday that they estimate that the average number oil wells completed within 50 feet from each other simultaneously in the Lower 48 States has more than doubled since the last decade. The agency stated that the number of wells completed simultaneously per location has increased from 1 1/2 wells per location in December 2014 to over three wells per location in June 2024. This will allow operators to "accelerate production timelines and reduce costs per well." The EIA defines wells that are drilled within a 50-foot radius of each other as being at...

Coterra Energy, a U.S. producer of shale gas, reported an increase in its first-quarter profits on Monday. However, it said that due to the macroeconomic uncertainty they would reduce their annual budget for capital expenditures. The U.S. Energy Sector is preparing for possible fallout due to President Donald Trump's sweeping trade tariffs and a fierce trade war with China - factors that could decrease demand for oil and gas. Diamondback Energy, earlier today, also reduced its annual capital budget as well as production forecasts due to macroeconomic uncertainties affecting the global energy demand. Coterra CEO Tom Jorden said: "As we...

LSEG data show that the United States equaled the record of the highest volume of liquefied gas exported in April as the capacity increased due to the ramp-up at Venture Global's Plaquemines facility. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the U.S. already has the largest LNG export capacity in the world. It is expected that this will grow by 20% to 115 millions tonnes in 2025 after a record-breaking year in 2024. LSEG data shows that in April the U.S. exported 9.3 MT of LNG, which is the same as the previous monthly record. The startup of Venture Global’s...

Berkshire Hathaway's stock has done well during a turbulent year. This weekend, shareholders will seek reassurances from Warren Buffett to ensure that they are in good hands despite the tariff chaos disrupting corporate America. The 94-year old billionaire will celebrate 60 years of running the conglomerate he created, which now has a value of $1.15 trillion, at Saturday's annual gathering in Omaha, Nebraska. Buffett will spend four-and-a half hours answering shareholder questions. These typically center around Berkshire’s operating businesses, the markets, the economy and life lessons. Berkshire Hathaway Energy is one of the many businesses that Berkshire Hathaway operates. Other...

S&P Global Ratings changed the outlook of Australia's Woodside from "stable" to "negative" after the company made a final decision on investment for $17.5 billion in its Louisiana liquefied gas project. The rating agency stated that Woodside's decision to move forward with the project, without a substantial sell-down of the offtake exposure, has reduced the headroom for ratings. The agency has affirmed Woodside's 'BBB+ long-term issuer rating' and 'BBB+ long-term issuer ratings'. The Australian oil and Gas Company approved an LNG project worth billions of dollars in Louisiana earlier this week. They were confident that the U.S. government would be...

The Mexican state-owned energy company Pemex announced a net loss for the first quarter of $43.3 billion ($2.12 billion), mainly due to falling sales, increasing expenses, currency losses, and financial costs. Pemex reported in a filing to Mexico's stock market that revenue during the period of January to March fell by 2.5%, to 395.59 trillion pesos. This was primarily due to lower crude sales volumes. Pemex, along with its partners, pumped 1,62 million barrels of crude oil per day (bpd), down 11.3% from a year ago. In its local refineries the company processed 936, 000 barrels per day (bpd), down...

Hess announced a decline in its first-quarter profits on Wednesday. The lower oil price was to blame, but the shale producers still managed beat Wall Street's expectations. Benchmark Brent crude averaged $75.16 a baril during the quarter of January-March, an 8.2% drop from a year ago, due to weak global demand, and increased oil supplies by OPEC+. The average realized crude oil price of the company fell from $80.06 per barrel to $71.22 a barrel in the first three months, down from $80.06 barrels a year earlier. Hess will be acquired by Chevron, the industry leader and bigger rival in...

After agreeing to the first reduction in output in 2022, OPEC+ producers have implemented three levels of cuts. Eight OPEC+ oil producers have begun to increase production this year and unwind the most recent tranche. Sources said that the 22-member OPEC+ group will meet online on Wednesday. This meeting is not expected change policy on output. Eight OPEC+ members plan to meet on Saturday and decide on a July production increase. Algeria, Iraq and Kuwait are the eight countries that have met earlier this year to discuss their production targets. They raised them by almost 1 million barrels a day...

A senior executive at Mubadala Energy said that the company would be happy to provide all of the natural gas produced in its South Andaman Block for Indonesian domestic consumption, and do so at the best possible price. Indonesia wants producers of gas to increase their supplies to domestic consumers as the demand is increasing. The producers have been focusing on exports of LNG and asked the government to revise price caps for domestic gas. They argue that it is not a good business decision when spot LNG prices are so high. Abdulla Bu Ali (President Director of Mubadala Energy...

ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance stated on Tuesday that U.S. shale production will plateau if oil prices stay where they are and will begin to decline when oil prices reach $50 per barrel. "The breakeven has probably not moved much." "I think that long-term if oil prices are in a range where they're comfortable - perhaps in the 70s or 65-75 - we will still see modest growth from the U.S.," Lance said, speaking at Qatar Economic Forum. We see a plateauing of production in the U.S. by the end of this year, unless we have a technological breakthrough. Don't bet...

The company announced on Tuesday that Alfred Stern, Chief Executive Officer of Austrian oil-and-gas group OMV, has decided to not run for reelection when his current term expires on August 31, 2026. Stern is CEO of the Vienna-based firm since September 2021. He previously ran the Borealis division, and tried to steer it away from fossil fuels toward sustainable fuels and chemical. In March, he oversaw the merging of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company with OMV's Polyolefin business, creating Borouge International, a chemical powerhouse with a $60 Billion enterprise value. The merger should be completed in the first quarter 2026....

The companies announced on Friday that North Sea oil producer EnQuest would not make an offering for UK-based Serica Energy as they could not reach an agreement on favorable terms in time due to market volatility. At 1623 GMT, EnQuest shares fell about 5% to 13.14 pence. Serica shares rose 0.3% to 127 pence. Serica announced in March that it was in discussions with EnQuest regarding a potential deal. The termination comes amid an economic wave of uncertainty caused by the sweeping tariffs that U.S. president Donald Trump has imposed around the world. Energy prices have been dragged down by...

Bloomberg News reported Monday that Woodside Energy was in discussions with an overseas division of Kuwait Petroleum about selling a stake in their Louisiana liquefied gas plant. The report was based on people familiar with the matter. Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration is also looking at securing LNG from the project. Other companies are interested in both LNG and equity, according to the report. Woodside Energy and Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration did not respond immediately to comments. Woodside, Australia’s largest gas producer, agreed earlier this month to sell a 40 percent stake in its Louisiana Liquefied Natural Gas plant to U.S....

Executives at the CERAWeek Conference in Houston explained that artificial intelligence has accelerated oil and gas drilling, and prompted companies to reconsider areas they previously deemed too expensive or difficult to develop. AI was a major topic in several sessions of the largest energy conference. Oil producers are looking for ways to stay profitable amid a plummeting price of oil and concerns that U.S. president Donald Trump's tariffs may slow down global energy demand. Ann Davies, BP’s senior vice-president of wells, revealed that the UK oil giant BP uses AI to predict problems and steer drill bits before they occur....

On Wednesday, Turkish Energy minister Alparslan Bayraktar announced on the social media platform X that TPAO, Turkey's national oil company, had signed a joint-venture agreement with U.S. producer Continental Resources for the development of shale deposits in Diyarbakir Basin. This cooperation will contribute greatly to our goal to bring Turkiye’s oil and natural gas resources into our economy. "I hope that this agreement will benefit all parties, as it opens up a new phase in Turkiye's exploration," he wrote in the blog. The Turkish oil and gas industry is not very large. Continental Resources CEO Doug Lawler stated in an...

S&P Global Commodity Insights (Platts), a commodities reporting agency that provides information on commodity prices, stated Monday that the dated Brent crude oil market is working well since U.S. WTI was added to it. Further changes are not expected, Platts said. The first year that WTI Midland was included in the Brent benchmark date after its inclusion in the basket began in May 2023 due to falling North Sea production, was also the first year in which it was the first crude oil grade outside of the North Sea. Platts announced on Monday that Brent oil 2024 is a smooth...

The European Union has suspended sanctions against Syria, including those relating to energy, banking and transport, with immediate effect. The EU has implemented a number of sanctions against individuals and sectors in Syria. After the insurgents led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), an islamist group, ousted Bashar al Assad from his position as president in December, European leaders began to rethink their approach. On Monday, the EU Foreign Ministers met in Brussels and agreed to suspend sanctions against the oil, gas, and electricity sectors, as well as the transport sector. The Syrian Central Bank has also been exempted from restrictions...

According to a press release from the president's offices, Lebanon President Joseph Aoun told Qatari Premier Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Tuesday that he hoped TotalEnergies would soon resume oil exploration off the coasts of Lebanon. In 2023, the state-owned QatarEnergy will join France's TotalEnergies (ENI.MI), and Italy's Eni in a consortium of three to search for oil and natural gas in two marine blocks off Lebanon's coast. Two sources who were directly involved in the matter said that no hydrocarbons had been found after the exploratory drilling offshore in 2023. TotalEnergies didn't respond to a comment request...

Kuwait's oil production capability now exceeds 3 million barrels per day, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) CEO Sheikh Nawaf Saud alSabah told reporters on Tuesday. The country's oil production capability was at more than 2.8 million bpd in June last year, Ahmad Jaber Al-Eidan, the CEO of KPC subsidiary Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), stated at the time. Kuwait aims to improve its oil output to 4 million bpd by 2035, having actually formerly missed out on an objective of reaching that level by 2020. Discussing U.S. President Donald Trump's views on fossil fuels, Sheikh Nawaf stated there is no alternative to...