(Reuters) - U.S. energy firms this week cut the number of oil and natural gas rigs operating for a fifth week to the lowest since November 2021, energy services firm Baker Hughes said in its closely followed report on Friday.
It was the first time since September 2023 that the number of rigs declined for five straight weeks.
The combined oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, fell by three to 563 in the week to May 30th. This week's decline decreased the total count by 37 rigs, or 6%, from this time last year.
Baker Hughes said oil rigs fell by four to 461 this week, their lowest since November 2021. Gas rigs rose by one to 99.
In the Permian Basin in West Texas and eastern New Mexico, the nation's biggest oil-producing shale formation, drillers cut one rig, bringing the total down to 278, the lowest since November 2021. Oklahoma dropped one rig, now at 52 rigs running.
Powder River E&Ps Target New Zones as Oil Prices Threaten Growth
Analysts say that new investment in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin could...
Analysts say that new investment in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin could suffer under a lower oil price environment.
The Powder’s deep stacked pay potential is still relatively untapped and major oil producers, including Occidental Petroleum and Devon Energy, are looking to the emerging horizontal play for future output growth.
But the outlook for oil producers is unclear because wells drilled in the Powder’s Niobrara Shale—the basin’s top drilling target—and Mowry Shale still break even around $60/bbl, according to Ryan Hill, principal analyst at Enverus Intelligence Research.
“And oil is $60/bbl right now,” Hill said in an interview with Hart Energy. “Nobody really invests in a breakeven project.”
Hill said drilling longer 3—and 4-mile laterals in the Bakken has been shown to reduce breakeven costs by up to $10/bbl.
“When you’re talking about $60 to $50, that’s a whole different ballgame,” he said. “It is very hard to find $50/bbl breakeven inventory these days.”
EOG to Buy Utica Shale Oil Producer Encino for $5.6B
EOG Resources will buy Encino Acquisition Partners from Canada Pension...
EOG Resources will buy Encino Acquisition Partners from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP) and Encino Energy, a top producer in Ohio Utica Shale, for $5.6 billion.
EOG said the transaction, which will be purchased with $3.5 billion in debt and $2.1 billion cash, will create a leading producer in the Utica.
"This acquisition combines large, premier acreage positions in the Utica, creating a third foundational play for EOG alongside our Delaware Basin and Eagle Ford assets," said EOG chairman and CEO Ezra Y. Yacob during a May 30 conference call with investors.
"Encino's acreage improves the quality and depth of our Utica position, expanding EOG's multi-basin portfolio to more than 12 billion barrels of oil equivalent net resource,” he said.
The acquisition adds 675,000 net core acres to EOG's Utica position for a combined 1.1 million net acres, representing more than 2 Bboe of undeveloped net resource. Pro forma production is estimated at 275,000 boe/d.
JPMorgan CEO predicted calamity for US bond market. Jamie...
JPMorgan CEO predicted calamity for US bond market. Jamie Dimon, who has served as the bank’s chief executive since 2006, did not go quietly into a summer Friday last week. He appeared at the Reagan National Economic Forum in Simi Valley, CA, and predicted that the US bond market is going to crack. “I just don’t know if it’s going to be a crisis in six months or six years,” he said. Dimon pointed to the tax legislation currently wending its way through Congress, post-Covid overstimulation of the economy, and regulations on banks set following the 2008 financial crisis that make it harder for them to hold bonds as contributors to the problem. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, however, played down Dimon’s concerns on Face the Nation yesterday, saying, “For his entire career he’s made predictions like this. Fortunately none of them have come true.”
“Tariffs are not going away,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Fox News Sunday, in response to recent legal challenges.
Ukrainian secret services said the country inflicted $7 billion in damage on Russian air bases in drone strikes launched on Sunday.
Stanley Fischer, a prominent economist and former central banker in the US and Israel, died on Saturday. He was 81.
Inside the NBA on TNT aired for the last time on Saturday night after nearly 40 years on the network. The show will appear on ESPN and ABC next season.
Lilo & Stitch, the live-action remake, surpassed Sinners to become the second-highest-grossing film at the US box office so far this year. It still trails the shooting star that is A Minecraft Movie.
(Reuters) - U.S. crude futures fell on Friday as traders expected OPEC+...
(Reuters) - U.S. crude futures fell on Friday as traders expected OPEC+ would decide on Saturday to boost oil output for July beyond previous forecasts.
Brent crude futures settled down 25 cents, or 0.39%, at $63.90 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude finished down 15 cents, or 0.25%, at $60.79 a barrel, having dropped more than $1 a barrel earlier.
The Brent July futures contract is due to expire on Friday. The more liquid August contract was down 71 cents, or 1.12%, at $62.64 a barrel.
The front-month benchmark contracts were headed for weekly losses of over 1% at these levels.
Prices dipped into negative territory after Reuters reported that OPEC+ may discuss an increase in July output larger than the 411,000 barrels per day (bpd) rise that the group decided on for May and June.
