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Packing in the wells: a look at a Bakken downspacing pilot

Overview To see how tightly they can pack wells in North Dakota’s Bakken oil play, Continental Resources is now running several pilot projects. In releasing some preliminary results from one pilot, Continental was upbeat. But rather than taking the company’s word for how that project is going, I took a close look at the production data available from North Dakota—and it looks to me like the results are actually bad news. Published 23 hours ago The first company to go big in the North Dakota’s Bakken oil boom was Continental Resources—as they call themselves, “America’s Oil Champion”—and they’ve long been on the optimistic side about the Bakken’s long-run potential. The company’s founder and CEO, Harold Hamm, has argued that the play could ultimately yield 24 billion barrels of oil. Continental’s president bumped that number higher in a March 2014 talk, saying the Bakken could yield 32 billion barrels . […]

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Ukraine and Russia-Backed Rebels Say They Are Ready for Cease-Fire

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks during talks with the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, on Thursday. Zuma Press KIEV, Ukraine—Ukraine and Russia-backed rebels both said Thursday they are ready for a cease-fire in the country’s war-torn eastern provinces if a peace deal is signed at talks on Friday. At a summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Wales, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he hoped a cease-fire would be agreed to at the meeting of negotiators in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. But the most important details of the plan were still unclear—particularly the contentious issue of how much territory the Ukraine government could effectively have to cede to rebels. Russian President Vladimir Putin has presented a plan that would call for Ukraine to pull back forces and leave the rebels in control of some territory. Mr. Poroshenko hasn’t made public exactly what he […]

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Ukraine battles rage despite ceasefire talks

A volunteer of the Ukrainian paramilitary Azov battalion waits on an armoured vehicle, as pro-Russian separatists fire heavy artillery, on the outskirts of the key southeastern port city of Mariupol, on September 5, 2014. NATO leaders are expected to announce a raft of fresh sanctions against Russia on Friday over its actions in Ukraine, although hopes remain that a ceasefire can be forged at peace talks in Minsk on the same day. AFP PHOTO/PHILIPPE DESMAZES The sound of shelling rattled Mariupol in southeast Ukraine on Friday morning, sparking fresh fears that Russian-backed separatists were plotting to seize the strategic Azov Sea coast city hours before ceasefire talks and a looming EU decision to expand economic sanctions against Moscow. Nato leaders, holding their second day of summit talks in Wales, were considering their response to Russian aggression against Ukraine. More On this story On this topic IN Europe Witnesses reported […]

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BP May Be Fined Up to $18 Billion for Spill in Gulf

NEW ORLEANS — In the four years since the blowout on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig killed 11 workers and sent millions of barrels of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, BP has spent more than $28 billion on damage claims and cleanup costs, pleaded guilty to criminal charges and emerged a shrunken giant. But through it all, the company has maintained that it was not chiefly responsible for the accident, and that its contractors in the operation, Halliburton and Transocean, should shoulder as much, if not more, of the blame. On Thursday, a federal judge here for the first time bluntly rejected those arguments, finding that BP was indeed the primary culprit and that only it had acted with “conscious disregard of known risks.” He added that BP’s “conduct was reckless.” By finding that BP was, in legal parlance, grossly negligent in the disaster, and not merely […]

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Judge’s negligence ruling catches BP investors off guard

US district judge Carl Barbier’s finding that BP acted with gross negligence and wilful misconduct in the Deepwater Horizon disaster is rooted in decisions taken on the day of the accident, April 20 2010. The details of what happened on that day have been thoroughly rehearsed in several inquiries and in the evidence presented at the trial last year. Yet the judge’s assessment of those events, which puts the oil group on the hook for up to $18bn in penalties, still took many in the markets by surprise. BP shares closed nearly 6 per cent lower on Thursday. More On this story On this topic IN Oil & Gas The ruling focuses on the “negative pressure test”, intended to check whether the Macondo well had been safely sealed with cement so the rig could detach from it and move away. Judge Barbier argues that BP knew that deepwater drilling […]

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BP Ruling ‘Wakeup Call’ as Risks Mount in Oil Search

A U.S. judge’s watershed ruling means the final cost to BP Plc for the 2010 Gulf oil spill may eclipse $50 billion, wiping out years of profits and highlighting the risks of drilling as the industry pushes into more dangerous areas such as deeper waters and ice-bound Arctic fields. Yesterday’s court decision that BP acted with gross negligence in the Gulf of Mexico disaster may hamstring the company financially as the industry’s search for resources becomes more expensive and dangerous. Companies including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc are also facing increasing pressure to show investors they can still grow as production declines. As producers scour the globe for oil and natural gas, the ruling shows they’ll be held accountable for mistakes that may be inevitable given the complexity of the work, said Edward Overton, professor emeritus at Louisiana State University’s department of environmental sciences in Baton […]

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BP can absorb new oil spill fine, analysts say

LONDON (Reuters) – BP should be able to meet the cost of up to $18 billion of new fines for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill without major asset sales or a big cut in its dividend, analysts say. The oil group’s shares dropped nearly 6 percent on Thursday after U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans, Louisiana, said it was "grossly negligent" in the April 20, 2010, rig explosion and spill that killed 11 workers. However, BP said it would appeal the ruling, meaning any decision on indemnities could be years away. "The headline is obviously negative, but BP will appeal and the appeals process is likely to be dragged out for years," said Bernard Hodee, analyst at Raymond James, which kept its rating on BP shares unchanged at "fair value". BP has set aside only $3.5 billion for fines under the Clean Water Act, part […]

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Eni’s Supply Woes Are a Europe-Wide Issue

The European Central Bank’s surprise interest-rate cut aims to stimulate an economy hobbled by flat or falling prices. It comes against a backdrop of European businesses struggling with a production glut in anything from washing machines and cars to gasoline. An aging oil refinery near the small Sicilian town of Gela offers a window into that struggle. A sharp drop in energy demand in Italy—where consumption of refined petroleum products has slid 30% since 2006, double the European average—has sent capacity usage at the refinery plummeting to 29% from 89% just four years ago. Eni SpA, the Italian energy giant that owns the plant, has racked up €1 billion ($1.31 billion) in operating losses at the facility in five years. As a result, it seemed to make perfect sense when the company began considering the closure of the huge refinery this summer. Yet pressure from unions and politicians quickly […]

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Royal Dutch Shell CEO: Can’t Deny Returns Are Too Low

‘We cannot deny that our returns are too low,’ Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said, here pictured in May. European Pressphoto Agency NEW YORK— Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s new chief executive has an unusual message for the boss of an oil major: He’s prepared to see the company shrink, if that boosts returns. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal here, Ben van Beurden said he won’t set production-growth targets for the Anglo-Dutch company and would consider reducing Shell’s exposure to oil-products. He said he is focused instead on ensuring Shell keeps generating enough cash to keep its dividend growing. "We cannot deny that our returns are too low," Mr. van Beurden said. "We don’t have a [production] volume or capital-employed target. What I want to show is that we can grow free cash flow." Since taking the helm at Shell in January, Mr. van […]

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Oil Prices Fall Amid Volatile Trading

Brent crude fell Thursday, after rebounding a day earlier from falls earlier in the week. Trading has been volatile over the past week, said Andrey Kryuchenkov of VTB Capital, after a long summer decline in prices. "Players in the U.S. returned to the market after the long holiday weekend on Tuesday and aggravated the short selling while volumes have finally started to gain," he wrote in a note to clients. "A stronger U.S. currency added to the pain, with oil futures joining a broader commodity selloff," he said. The low prices are making Brent competitive against other types of crude oil. Saudi Arabia released its prices for October loading crude, with "cuts for every grade in every region," according to JBC Energy. The deepest cuts were to prices for oil deliveries in Asia, according to JBC. JBC noted that Saudi crude was still expensive relative to key competitors such […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple