U.S. onshore oil and gas drilling rebounds with smaller, private operators leading the way

U.S. onshore oil and gas drilling rebounds with smaller, private operators leading the way

Energize Weekly, March 31, 2021 U.S. onshore oil and gas drilling showed signs of recovery in the fourth quarter of 2020 and the first few months of 2021 – sparked by a rebound in oil prices and strong activity among private companies, according to a Colorado School of Mines report.…

Read more

Federal lands drilling moratorium could tip activity toward Texas and away from New Mexico

Federal lands drilling moratorium could tip activity toward Texas and away from New Mexico

Energize Weekly, March 10, 2021 The Biden administration’s moratorium on federal lands oil and gas leasing and its review of future leasing could lead to a stark shift in activity to Texas from New Mexico in the Permian Basin, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas analysis. Half of…

Read more

Collapse of the natural gas system from wellhead to turbine fueled Texas’ blackout

Collapse of the natural gas system from wellhead to turbine fueled Texas’ blackout

Energize Weekly, February 24, 2021 The near collapse of Texas’ electric grid was caused in the main by a failure of the natural gas system from the wellhead to pipeline to gas turbine, according to an analysis by the International Energy Agency (IEA). “Texas has a power shortage because it…

Read more

European oil companies changing names and shifting their focus to alternative energy

European oil companies changing names and shifting their focus to alternative energy

Energize Weekly, February 17, 2021 European oil companies are continuing their push to reorient and rebrand themselves as comprehensive energy companies and not just producers of oil and natural gas. On Feb. 9, French oil company Total announced it was changing its name to TotalEnergies to reflect a broader strategy…

Read more

U.S. energy consumption will take years to rebound from pandemic, EIA says

U.S. energy consumption will take years to rebound from pandemic, EIA says

Energize Weekly, February 10, 2021 It will take years for U.S. energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions to return to 2019 levels after the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s economy and the global energy sector, according to the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA). Energy consumption in…

Read more

Oil and gas activity rebounds in the Permian Basin but economic pressure persists

Oil and gas activity rebounds in the Permian Basin but economic pressure persists

Energize Weekly, January 13, 2021 After a punishing year, oil and gas activity in a swatch of oil county from Louisiana through Texas to New Mexico rebounded in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to a survey by Dallas Federal Reserve Bank. The bank queried oil company executives in its…

Read more

Gas flaring is a problem from Texas’ Permian Basin to Russia’s Siberian oil fields

Gas flaring is a problem from Texas’ Permian Basin to Russia’s Siberian oil fields

Energize Weekly, January 6, 2021 The U.S set a record for flaring of gas at well sites in 2019 and was part of a global pollution problem created by a handful of oil-producing countries, according to two energy agencies. An average of 1.48 billion cubic feet of gas was vented…

Read more

Colorado adopts sweeping oil and gas rules, banning flaring, creating a 2,000-foot setback

Colorado adopts sweeping oil and gas rules, banning flaring, creating a 2,000-foot setback

Energize Weekly, December 2, 2020 Colorado has adopted the strongest oil and gas regulations in the country and reoriented its oversight agency from “fostering” oil and gas development to “regulating” the industry to protect public health, safety, the environment and wildlife. After more than a year of hearings and negotiations,…

Read more

Voters weigh in on local and state energy issues from renewable energy to oil and gas taxes

Voters weigh in on local and state energy issues from renewable energy to oil and gas taxes

Energize Weekly, November 11, 2020 Election returns on state and local energy issues were both literally and figuratively all over the map last week on issues ranging from renewable energy to oil and gas taxes. Voters in Alaska rejected a tax on oil operations while the industry was denied a…

Read more

Weak oil and gas markets forcing mergers and bankruptcies among shale operators

Weak oil and gas markets forcing mergers and bankruptcies among shale operators

Energize Weekly, November 4, 2020 After weak third quarter in 2020 for oil and gas industry mergers and acquisition, one of the worst in 10 years, the fourth quarter opened with a string of big deals – a sign that the sector remains under pressure to consolidate, according to analysts.…

Read more

Could a Biden presidency be a boost to both the power sector and the oil and gas industry?

Could a Biden presidency be a boost to both the power sector and the oil and gas industry?

Energize Weekly, September 9, 2020 Joe Biden becoming president of the U.S. could be a boost for clean energy and perhaps somewhat ironically, for oil and gas – at least in the short run. That was the conclusion of energy industry consultants Wood Mackenzie and Rystad Energy in separate analyses.…

Read more

The ongoing pandemic and weak economy led to across-the-board energy production cuts

The ongoing pandemic and weak economy led to across-the-board energy production cuts

Energize Weekly, August 19, 2020 Projections for U.S. energy production in 2020 – from oil to natural gas to coal – continued to fall as the novel coronavirus pandemic and global recession depress economies. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has lowered its estimate for domestic crude oil production by…

Read more

Renewable electricity generation set to surpass coal, which continues to decline, in 2020

Renewable electricity generation set to surpass coal, which continues to decline, in 2020

Energize Weekly, May 20, 2020 Renewable electricity generation is set to surpass coal-fired generation in 2020, as coal continues to slide, having hit a 42-year low in 2019, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The EIA is projecting a 25 percent drop in coal-fired generation in 2020 and…

Read more

Natural gas overtakes coal as a source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. and Europe

Natural gas overtakes coal as a source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. and Europe

Energize Weekly, December 18, 2019 Natural gas – while helping to lower overall greenhouse gas releases – has overtaken coal as a source of carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. and the European Union, according to a report from the Global Carbon Project. While total fossil fuel emissions are projected…

Read more

Employment picture cools in the Permian Basin, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas says

Employment picture cools in the Permian Basin, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas says

Energize Weekly, December 11, 2019 Employment in Texas’ Permian Basin – in a sign of cooling oil and gas activity – declined by 400 jobs through the first 10 months of 2019 after adding 16,700 jobs in 2018, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. For the year, employment…

Read more

International action has been insufficient to curb GHG, drastic action needed, the UN says

International action has been insufficient to curb GHG, drastic action needed, the UN says

Energize Weekly, December 4, 2019 The gap between international efforts to curb greenhouse gases (GHG) and the growing emissions has grown so large that dramatic reductions over the next decade are needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, according to a United Nations (UN) report. Under the 2015…

Read more

Equity and bond money for drillers dries up in Q3 as investors are wary

Equity and bond money for drillers dries up in Q3 as investors are wary

Energize Weekly, November 6, 2019 The stock and bond markets continued to cool for oil and gas drillers in the third quarter of 2019 with $495 million raised in equity, a 79 percent decline year-over-year, according to a report from Enverus, an industry analytics firm. Bond offerings for “upstream” drillers…

Read more

U.S. oil production seen as a moderating force in coping with oil market price volatility

U.S. oil production seen as a moderating force in coping with oil market price volatility

Energize Weekly, May 29, 2019 As costs come down for producing oil from shale plays, U.S. production appears to be playing a larger role in anchoring long-term oil prices, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas analysis. The combination of shorter lead times between drilling and production and the…

Read more

Global energy investment, after a three-year slide, stabilized in 2018, the IEA says

Global energy investment, after a three-year slide, stabilized in 2018, the IEA says

Energize Weekly, May 29, 2019 After a three-year slide, global energy investment stabilized in 2018 at just more than $1.8 trillion dollars—as spending on oil, natural gas and coal increased, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said. Investments in renewable generation and energy efficiency, however, stalled in 2018, according to the…

Read more