Category: Shale Oil

(Reuters) – Oilfield service providers Baker Hughes Inc and Halliburton Co plan to cut thousands of jobs as drilling activity slows further due to a steep fall in crude oil prices. Global oil prices have tumbled almost 60 percent since June, hitting five-year lows as growing production and tepid global demand has caused a supply glut and prompted oil producers to scale back spending. "We expect our headcount adjustments to be in line with our primary competitors," Halliburton’s Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey Miller said on a post-earnings call on Tuesday, without giving a specific number. The company, which employees more than 80,000 people, said it cut 1,000 jobs in its operations in the eastern hemisphere in the fourth quarter. Baker Hughes, which is being acquired by Halliburton in a near-$35 billion deal, said earlier in the day it would lay off 7,000 employees. Shares of Halliburton and Baker Hughes […]

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BHP Billiton is cutting its shale oil production and reducing the number of rigs it operates onshore in the US by 40 per cent due to the drop in oil prices . The world’s biggest miner by market capitalisation said on Wednesday that the revised drilling programme would boost efficiency but added that its shale investment programme remained under review. “In petroleum, we have moved quickly in response to lower prices and will reduce the number of rigs we operate in the onshore US business by approximately 40 per cent by the end of the financial year,” said BHP. This will reduce the number of rigs it operates to 16, down from 26. BHP’s drilling programme will be focused on its higher quality liquids-rich Black Hawk acreage in southern Texas. Noting that many of BHP’s peers were also cutting rig numbers at their shale oil operations in the US, […]

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URL: http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/136801/Wood_Mackenzie_Operators_Could_See_up_to_40_in_Cost_Reductions Wood Mackenzie lists 15 things to watch for in North America’s upstream sector in 2015. This opinion piece presents the opinions of the author. It does not necessarily reflect the views of Rigzone. The drop in oil prices has led to an unprecedented level of uncertainty going into 2015, especially for the prospects of the North American upstream oil and gas sector. While there is a lack of consensus about when oil prices will stabilize and at what level, Wood Mackenzie expects service cost relief, asset high-grading, and efficiency improvements in operations. "We are already seeing this play out as upstream operators announce drastically reduced capital budgets for 2015, yet forecast increased production growth (in aggregate)," says Delia Morris, senior North American upstream analyst for Wood Mackenzie. " As long as operators can move to the core areas of plays and sub-play breakevens continue to fall with […]

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A sign tower reaches toward the sky at the entrance to oil-field services company Schlumberger. ASSOCIATED PRESS Energy companies aren’t finished shedding jobs due to crude oil prices that are half what they were about six months ago, the world’s biggest oil-field-services provider warned soon after disclosing 9,000 job cuts. Paal Kibsgaard, chief executive of Schlumberger Ltd. , said on Friday U.S. oil producers that focus on shale fields are worse off than rivals elsewhere because of their higher costs. “The new oil prices are clearly going to test the resilience of several North American land producers going forward,” he said, citing “their ability to get financing, their ability to continue to drive efficiencies and reduce costs and their ability to maintain production at current levels.” Some of the largest U.S. oil-and-gas producers have cut 2015 capital spending budgets by 20% or more. Investment bank Cowen and Co. said […]

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ByJeffrey Sparshott Oil and gas extraction surged in December from a month earlier, but the companies moving more crude out of the ground are drilling fewer wells. Getty Images The oil industry is at a crossroads. Figures in the Federal Reserve’s December industrial production report show oil and gas extraction surged last month, rising 2.8% from November. But the same companies that are pumping more crude out of the ground are drilling fewer wells. Drilling activity sank 1.9%, the third consecutive monthly drop. The mismatch in activity follows a crash in oil prices. Crude has lost more than half of its value since the summer amid booming U.S. production and weak global demand. Global Brent crude contracts traded below $50 a barrel on Friday . “The continued rise in oil output suggests the marginal cost of production is below $50, so if OPEC wants to hurt U.S. shale  output […]

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HOUSTON, Jan. 16 01/16/2015 The US drilling rig count plunged 74 units—all on land—to settle at 1,676 rigs working during the week ended Jan. 16, Baker Hughes Inc. reported. That’s the lowest total since the Oct. 29, 2010, rig count, which totaled 1,672. The count has now fallen in 7 consecutive weeks, during which time it has lost 244 units ( OGJ Online, Dec. 5, 2014 ). The US has 101 fewer rigs compared with this week a year ago. Land rigs have plummeted 134 units in the last 2 weeks to settle at a total of 1,610. Unchanged from a week ago were offshore rigs at 54 and rigs drilling in inland waters at 12. Oils rigs this week dropped 55 units to 1,366. Gas rigs dropped 19 units to 310. Horizontal drilling rigs plunged 48 units to 1,253. Directional drilling rigs dropped 8 units to 153. Canada […]

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A worker waits to connect a drill bit on Endeavor Energy Resources LP’s Big Dog Drilling Rig 22 in the Permian basin outside of Midland, Texas The number of rigs drilling for oil in the US dropped sharply this week as plunging crude prices hit development of shale reserves, the most-watched survey of industry activity has shown. There were 1,366 rigs drilling wells primarily for oil in the US, the lowest number since October 2013, according to Baker Hughes , the oilfield services company that compiles a weekly count. The number of oil-directed rigs has now fallen 15 per cent from its recent peak of 1,609 in October last year. The figures show a broad-based decline in activity in all the areas that have led the US shale oil boom, reinforcing expectations that US crude production growth will slow sharply this year, or even go into reverse. Standard & […]

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U.S. drillers have taken a record number of oil rigs out of service in the past six weeks as OPEC’s sustained production sent prices below $50 a barrel. The oil rig count has fallen by 209 since Dec. 5, the steepest six-week decline since Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) began tracking the data in July 1987. The count fell by 55 this week to 1,366. Horizontal rigs used in U.S. shale formations that account for virtually all of the nation’s oil production growth fell by 48, the biggest single-week decline. Analysts including HSBC Holdings Plc say the decline shows that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is winning its fight for market share and slowing the growth that’s propelled U.S. production to the highest in at least three decades. OPEC’s decision not to curb its output amid increasing supplies from the U.S. and other countries has driven global oil prices […]

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The North Dakota Industrial Commission is out with the Bakken November Production Data and the North Dakota Production Data . Bakken bpd Bakken production was up 5,293 BP/D while total North Dakota was up 3,691 BP/D. Total North Dakota oil production is up 901 barrels per day from two months ago, October production. Bakken Wells Total wells producing was up by 110 in the Bakken but only up by 63 in North Dakota. That means a lot of conventional wells were shut down. From the Director’s Cut : Oct Sweet Crude Price = $68.94/barrel Nov Sweet Crude Price = $60.61/barrel Dec Sweet Crude Price = $40.74/barrel Today Sweet Crude Price = $29.25/barrel (lowest since December 2008) (all-time high was $136.29 7/3/2008) Oct rig count 191 Nov rig count 188 Dec rig count 181 Today’s rig count is 156 (lowest since Oct 2010)(all-time high was 218 on 5/29/2012) The statewide […]

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