Unconventional Oil & Gas

An oil drilling rig is seen September 29

Aubrey McClendon built a reputation for bucking industry views while he built Chesapeake Energy into one of the largest US natural gas producers by volume and helped pioneer the country’s unconventional resource revolution led by independent producers. McClendon also gained a reputation for bleeding shareholder cash as Chesapeake amassed a huge debt load before his… Keep reading →

Fracking In California Under Spotlight As Some Local Municipalities Issue Bans

Unconventional oil and gas operators that is. Bloomberg research indicates numerous companies operating in various US shale plays are severely overleveraged, with interest expenses making up significant double-digit percentages of revenue in many cases. “The list of companies that are financially stressed is considerable,” said Benjamin Dell, managing partner of Kimmeridge Energy, a New York-based… Keep reading →

Oil Boom Shifts The Landscape Of Rural North Dakota

In a wide-ranging interview, Maria van der Hoeven, chief executive of the International Energy Agency said US oil production growth – which is heavily leveraged toward light, tight oil – is expected to plateau and decline post 2025. “The light tight oil revolution in the United States is changing the geographical map of oil trade.… Keep reading →

Surging Oil Industry Brings Opportunity To Rural California

The idea that global oil production was nearing its peak, only to plateau and then decline was a common view in the energy world for many years. The geophysicist M. King Hubbert predicted in the 1950’s that US oil production would peak in the 1970’s, a forecast that held true until technology allowed companies to… Keep reading →

Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade Held In New York City

Many in the oil & gas industry were pleased that President Obama recognized the important role dramatic hydrocarbon production increases are playing in the nation’s energy picture, but some observers feel the president took undue credit for the phenomenon during his State of the Union address last week. Much of the incremental oil & gas… Keep reading →

Scenes From Predominantly Muslim Region Of Xinjiang In China

In the past three years, Beijing’s projections for 2030 oil and gas output increased by a third to almost 700 million tons of oil equivalent, based on hopes of developing unconventional oil and gas. Production last year of oil and natural gas was 318.9 million tons of oil equivalent. With traditional oil production practically stagnant… Keep reading →

High Oil Prices Continue To Drive Gas Prices Steadily Upwards

The development of unconventional oil resources outside the US frequently features in lists of events that could dramatically alter the global energy picture. But international development of unconventional resources of all kinds has been stymied by a range of above-ground factors, and EOG Resources does not expect their development to impact global markets for at… Keep reading →

Web-Based Boycott Of Exxon Mobil Hopes To Lower Gas Prices

Most oil analysts and market observers feel nostalgic this week, as they consider how the global oil market changed in the 40 years following the Arab oil embargo. Citi’s Ed Morse credits the embargo with triggering the largest transfer of wealth in modern history – due to the spate of oil company nationalizations that followed… Keep reading →

High Oil Prices Continue To Drive Gas Prices Steadily Upwards

The 40th anniversary of the Arab oil embargo against states that supported Israel during the Yom Kippur War is an appropriate occasion to evaluate the state of the international oil market. The embargo started on October 16th, 1973. The global petroleum system was irrevocably altered by the embargo and the global oil business forever transformed… Keep reading →

The 12th China Development Forum

Guy Chazan must have inwardly rejoiced while interviewing outgoing Shell CEO Peter Voser for his piece in the Financial Times (which I’d link to, but they have a frustrating paywall situation). Most of the interview is about dull and important matters like capital expenditure cycles for oil majors, but Voser gave the FT a little… Keep reading →

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