Benchmark U.S. crude oil for March delivery fell...
Benchmark U.S. crude oil for March delivery fell 39 cents to $74.37 per barrel Tuesday. Brent crude for March delivery fell 51 cents to $79.55 per barrel.
Wholesale gasoline for February delivery fell 3 centsto $2.21 a gallon. February heating oilwas unchangedat $2.69 a gallon. February natural gasrose 3 cents to $2.45 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Halliburton reveals biggest quarterly dividend in two decades
Halliburton Co., the firm that...
Halliburton Co., the firm that traces its beginnings to Duncan, Oklahoma, announced this week an increase in its latest quarterly dividend.
The payout will be up 6% to 17 cents a share, which is the highest dividend since the start of the COVID pandemic. The increase came after Halliburton’s Q4 earnings beat expectations and it generated $1.1 billion in free cash flow. It also was the best quarter for the company in more than 20 years.
Halliburton, with its unrivaled footprint in all of the major shale basins, offers the closest proxy to US producer activity. The Houston-based company’s dividend boost comes after SLB, the world’s biggest oilfield services provider, announced a 10% hike to its payout last week on the expected growth in offshore markets in the coming years.
Natural gas futures extended yesterday’s steep declines into today’s session, reeling amid an updated...
Natural gas futures extended yesterday’s steep declines into today’s session, reeling amid an updated weather forecast that temperatures through the first week of February could be some of the warmest seasonally in decades. Futures were down this morning almost 6 cents at $2.36 per MMBtu at 9:25 ET.
The energy sector is off to a mixed-to-lower start, seesawing in early...
The energy sector is off to a mixed-to-lower start, seesawing in early trading amid weakness in the underlying commodities while major equity futures steadied after the Dow and S&P 500 both hit fresh record highs.
In earnings news, Halliburton reported 4Q results that topped analyst expectations, driven by strength in offshore and overseas markets. The company also raised its dividend and reported it returned $1.4 billion of cash to shareholders through stock repurchases and dividends in 2023, representing over 60% of its free cash flow.
WTI and Brent crude oil futures are handing back some of the previous day's strong gains,slipping as traders weigh rising crude supply in Libya and Norway against simmering geopolitical tensions in several regions and domestic production outages. Norway's crude production rose to 1.85 million bpd in December, up from 1.81 million bpd the previous month and beating analysts' forecasts of 1.81 million bpd, according to the Norwegian Offshore Directorate. Meanwhile in Libya, production at the 300,000 bpd Sharara oilfield restarted on Jan. 21 after the end of protests that had halted output since early this month. Supply, however, remains constrained in the U.S. with as much as 20% of North Dakota's oil output still shut as of Monday night. Traders are also still assessing the Ukrainian drone strike on Novatek's Ust-Luga Baltic fuel export terminal yesterday and reports from last night that U.S. and British forces carried out a second joint round of strikes on Houthi positions in Yemen. Attention will start to shift the latest round of inventory reports which will give a clear read on the impact that weather-induced shutdowns over the last week had on production. Analysts expect that U.S. crude oil inventories will fall by about 3 million barrels in the week to Jan. 19.
Technological advancements have allowed US oil and natural...
Technological advancements have allowed US oil and natural gas operators to increase production even as drilling activity and prices have fallen, but concerns are growing about the sustainability of this trend. Occidental Petroleum CEO Vicki Hollub warned of potential global oil supply shortages starting in 2025 unless investment picks up, an unlikely prospect without improved pricing conditions.