U.S. Drillers Cut Oil, Gas Rigs for Fourth Time in Five Weeks
U.S. energy firms this week cut the number of oil and natural gas rigs...
U.S. energy firms this week cut the number of oil and natural gas rigs operating for the fourth time in five weeks, energy services firm Baker Hughes said in its closely followed report on Aug. 22.
The total oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, fell by one to 538 in the week to August 22, the lowest since mid-July.
Baker Hughes said oil rigs fell by one to 411 this week, while gas rigs held steady at 122.
The independent E&P companies tracked by U.S. financial services firm TD Cowen said they planned to cut capital expenditures by around 4% in 2025 from levels seen in 2024.
That compares with roughly flat year-over-year spending in 2024, increases of 27% in 2023, 40% in 2022, and 4% in 2021.
Cenovus Energy is acquiring fellow Canadian producer MEG Energy Corp....
Cenovus Energy is acquiring fellow Canadian producer MEG Energy Corp. for approximately CA$7.9 billion (US$5.7 billion). The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter.
Consideration includes approximately CA$5.2 billion (US$3.74 billion) in cash, CA$1.7 billion (US$1.22 billion) in Cenovus shares and CA$900,000 (US$646,600) in assumed net debt and lease obligations, Cenovus announced Aug. 22.
The transaction will combine two of Canada’s top oil sands producers and consolidate complementary heavy oil assets in the Christina Lake region of Alberta. Combined oil sands output will average over 720,000 bbl/d.
Wall Street metaphorically hoisted Jerome Powell on its shoulders while...
Wall Street metaphorically hoisted Jerome Powell on its shoulders while singing “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” yesterday by sending stocks soaring as soon as the Fed chair hinted in his Jackson Hole speech that interest rate cuts are likely coming in September (more on that below). The Dow clinched its first record close of the year, and rate-sensitive tech stocks, which had been having a rough week, came roaring back, with Nvidia, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Tesla all rising.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell received a standing ovation on stage in Jackson Hole, WY, while delivering his highly anticipated speech at an annual gathering of central bankers yesterday, and that was before he intimated that the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates as soon as next month.
Taking a break from leaving President Trump on read, JPow told the assembled crowd, “With policy in restrictive territory, the baseline outlook and the shifting balance of risks may warrant adjusting our policy stance.” That’s as close as Powell gets to saying rate cuts are likely. Odds of a rate cut at the Fed’s next meeting on Sept. 16–17 now sit just above 83%, per FedWatch.
Canada drops retaliatory tariffs on billions’ worth of U.S. products
It’s August, so there’s finally something thawing...
It’s August, so there’s finally something thawing in Canada: Prime Minister Mark Carney said the country would drop its recently imposed 25% tariffs on goods covered by the United States-Mexico-Canada trade pact as of Sept. 1, bringing them more in line with what the US has put on Canadian goods. The move to drop import duties on ~$21 billion worth of American goods came a day after Carney spoke to President Trump and was widely interpreted as a gesture of goodwill to try to lay the groundwork for future trade talks. But it’s not all as friendly as Canada is reputed to be—Carney noted that high tariffs would remain for now on US steel, aluminum, and automobiles.
The US now owns 10% of Intel. It’s official: The...
The US now owns 10% of Intel. It’s official: The government has taken the highly unusual step of owning a piece of the beleaguered chipmaker. President Trump said the deal came out of his meeting with the company’s CEO, whom he’d previously called on to step down over his ties to China. “They’ve agreed to do it, and I think it’s a great deal for them,” Trump told reporters yesterday before Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced the deal was done. The move comes as the latest intervention by Trump’s government into the private sector, after taking a “golden share” in the US-Nippon Steel merger and taking a cut of sales to China by other semiconductor makers.
National Guard troops patrolling in Washington, DC, as part of President Trump’s crackdown on the city have been ordered to start carrying guns by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
A UN-backed group that’s considered to be the world’s authority on food crises said that Gaza City and the surrounding areas are experiencing a famine that will spread unless Israel’s restrictions on aid are lifted. UN Chief António Guterres called it a “man-made disaster,” but Israel rejected the finding as “an outright lie.”
Ghislaine Maxwell said she never saw Donald Trump misbehave in transcripts of her recent meetings with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, which were released by the Justice Department yesterday.
A federal judge left the immigration detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz” open for now, but ruled that due to environmental concerns, no new detainees could be brought in, no new construction could start, and construction changes must occur that could force it to shut down.
Waymo got approval to start testing its self-driving vehicles in New York City
