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Helmerich and Payne May Cut 2,000 Jobs as it Idles Rigs

URL: http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/136998/Helmerich_and_Payne_May_Cut_2000_Jobs_as_it_Idles_Rigs Jan 29 (Reuters) – Driller Helmerich & Payne Inc said it may cut 2,000 jobs as it begins to idle rigs amid a slide in crude oil prices, following similar cost cuts by top oilfield services providers Schlumberger NV and Baker Hughes Inc . Helmerich, which had about 11,901 employees as of Sept. 30, also said it would now build only 2 high-tech FlexRigs per month this year, down from the 4 rigs it had planned. The company’s shares fell as much as 10 percent to $54 on Thursday as weak forecast for 2015 margins and revenue overshadowed a better-than-expected quarterly profit. The 2015 forecast "reflects a severe opening blow from the global downturn", FBR Capital Markets analysts wrote in a note. Helmerich has benefited so far from robust shale drilling activity in the United States. The gains extended into the first quarter Dec. 31, but are […]

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US Production and Imports, and a Guest Essay

Even before the shale revolution got underway, US net imports were falling. The data below is from the Weekly Petroleum Status Report  and is in thousand barrels per day. Net Imports This chart shows net crude oil and petroleum products imports. Net imports peaked in 2006 and started to fall in earnest in 2008. They continued to fall until 2010 when the three month average increased sharply and the annual average leveled out for about a year. Then as the Light Tight Oil revolution got underway in 2011, net imports started to fall again. The chart above shows net imports bottom out in late spring, March and April and heads back down again in June. Below is the last year of that chart amplified. Weekly Net Imports But in December of 2014 net imports broke their trend and headed sharply up, about four months earlier than normal.  Much of […]

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US crude oil exports up to record 502,000 b/d in November: EIA

New York (Platts)–29Jan2015/305 pm EST/2005 GMT US crude exports rose 126,000 b/d to a record 502,000 b/d in November, US Energy Information Administration data showed Thursday. The prior record high of 455,000 b/d was set in March of 1957. EIA data goes back to 1920. This time last year, EIA data shows, US exports were just 253,000 b/d. The bulk of the November volume went to Canada, where US barrels rose 104,000 b/d to 455,000 b/d. This echoes Statistics Canada data released at the beginning of the month, which showed Canadian imports from the US were around 487,000 b/d in November. The bulk of the exports — 212,000 b/d — left the US from the Gulf Coast. However, 140,000 b/d was from the Atlantic Coast and 128,000 b/d was from the Midwest. Article continues below… Every Monday, Capitol Hill newshounds Herman Wang and Brian Scheid analyze, dissect and debate […]

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ConocoPhillips and Shell outline billions of dollars in cuts

Two of the world’s largest energy groups, Royal Dutch Shell and ConocoPhillips , have set out plans for billions of dollars worth of cuts in their investment programmes in response to the plunge in crude prices . The cuts are part of a wave of reductions in capital spending announced by oil companies worldwide as they move to shore up their finances and protect dividends as cash flows are squeezed. The cuts have increased expectations that prices will rebound in the future as supply growth slows. More On this story On this topic IN Oil & Gas BP has said it will cut 300 staff and contractor jobs from its 3,500-strong North Sea business and freeze salaries across the company in an attempt to cut costs. It has also sold down its equity interests in two massive Gulf of Mexico oilfields and relinquished its position as operator. French major […]

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Cheap Oil Sours Big-Budget Energy Projects

Chevron CEO John Watson says the energy giant will align costs and spending to market conditions amid a sharp drop in crude oil prices. Photo: Houston Chronicle/Associated Press As Chevron Corp. closes in on its long-elusive goal of pumping more oil, another target is slipping away: Boosting profits. Chevron’s drive to increase its oil-and-gas production, the most ambitious among the world’s giant energy companies, is beginning to show results, with two major deep-water projects in the Gulf of Mexico starting up late last year. But the newest barrels are flowing just as oil prices have crashed more than 60% since last summer; U.S. crude prices dipped below $44 a barrel on Thursday, the lowest in almost six years, and closed at $44.53. Rising production isn’t likely to make up for the bite of sharply lower prices when Chevron reports quarterly profits. On Friday, analysts expect it to report fourth […]

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U.S. labor numbers lift oil prices

Strong numbers in the U.S. labor sector help give modest lift to struggling oil markets. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI NEW YORK, Jan. 29 (UPI) — Growth in the U.S. labor sector gave oil prices a lift in Thursday trading despite a string of dismal fourth quarter reports from leading energy companies. The price for West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, gained about a half percent from the previous close to trade for $44.70 for the March contract. Oil prices are struggling to erase last year’s second half decline, trading down about 14 percent since the beginning of the year. Oil prices tumbled in Wednesday trading after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported in a weekly status update that U.S. crude oil inventories were at their highest levels since the early 1980s. Oil markets are tilted heavily toward the supply side in part because of increasing production in […]

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Keystone XL bill passes in Senate, faces Obama veto

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate passed a bill on Thursday to approve the long-pending Keystone XL oil pipeline, despite the White House saying earlier in the day that President Barack Obama would veto the measure. The Republican-led Senate passed the bill that would approve TransCanada Corp’s ( TRP.TO ) project to carry 800,000 barrels per day of heavy Canadian crude to Nebraska on the way to Gulf Coast refineries and ports. The House has passed its own pipeline bill and will work with the Senate to send the bill to the Obama’s desk. After the potential veto, Obama is expected to make his own decision on the pipeline after the State Department finishes a review in coming weeks. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner and Susan Cornwell ; Editing by Sandra Maler )

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Pennsylvania Governor Bars New Oil and Gas Drilling in State Parks, Forests

By Kris Maher The natural gas industry sharply criticized Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s decision Thursday to reinstate a moratorium on future drilling in state parks and forests, which includes cases where private landowners own the mineral rights beneath parks. Mr. Wolf, a Democrat who took office two weeks ago, signed an executive order barring new leases for oil and gas development on those public lands. Unlike with state forests, Pennsylvania doesn’t own the mineral rights for the vast majority of land beneath state parks. At a public signing, Mr. Wolf noted that the parks in the state are visited by 38 million people annually, support more than 13,000 jobs and bring in $1.2 billion to the state’s economy. "Natural gas development is vital to Pennsylvania’s economy, but so is the economic and environmental viability of our parks and forests," Mr. Wolf said. Dave Spigelmyer, head of the Marcellus Shale […]

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As gasoline prices drop, Americans swing to favor oil exports: Poll

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Americans are more likely than ever to favor easing a ban on exporting crude oil, so long as it does not lead to higher gasoline prices that have recently sunk to near $2 a gallon, according to a new Reuters-IPSOS poll. In questions posed to more than 2,000 voting-age Americans earlier this month, around 45 percent generally agreed that oil drillers should be allowed to export domestic crude abroad, while just over 30 percent broadly disagreed. In September, supporters and opponents were both at around 40 percent. It was the first meaningful shift in opinion since Reuters-IPSOS began polling on the issue in October 2013. In the previous three surveys, respondents were generally split 50:50. The poll does not explain why U.S. public sentiment has shifted. However, several events in recent months may have moved the needle on one of the nation’s most pressing, if […]

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Keystone XL need mulled in shale era

Energy scholar from the University of Calgary says Canadian oil sector needs new pipelines, but not necessarily Keystone XL. (UPI/Shutterstock/smereka) Pipelines to the Canadian coasts, not necessarily Keystone XL, will diversify an export economy dependent on U.S. markets, a Canadian energy scholar said. Canada exports nearly all of its oil to the United States, which is relying less on foreign oil because of the increase in shale oil output. Data from the U.S. government show oil imports from Canada were down about 6 percent for the week ending Jan. 23. Dan McFadyen, program director of the extractive resource governance program at the University of Calgary, said in a Wednesday interview with the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association pipeline access to the East and West Coasts would help diversify the nation’s export economy . "We are mostly limited to the U.S. market, and it’s not clear in that market, whether they […]

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