Oil posts worst quarter ever as physical market craters

Oil posted the worst quarter on record after the coronavirus crushed demand and raised fears about overflowing storage tanks amid a price war that has flooded the market with extra supply. More »

Saudis unleash oil exports for April, as promised

Saudi Arabia has made good on its pledge to ramp up oil exports in April, with a first wave of crude already on its way toward Europe and the U.S., a clear sign the price war remains in full swing. More »

IHS Markit sees forced oil production cuts of 10MMbpd ahead

Research firm IHS Markit expects up to 10 MMbpd of world oil production will be cut or shut-in from April to June 2020 as oil storage fills up and output from financially strapped companies begins to fall. More »

Parsley Energy CEO seeks 20% cut in Texas oil output

Pioneer Natural Resources Co. and Parsley Energy Inc. are asking Texas oil regulators for an emergency meeting to consider curbs on state output as a collapsing oil market envelops the nation’s biggest crude-producing state. More »

Oil selling below $10/bbl at key American hubs

Oil is selling for less than $10 across key North American hubs as the global demand shock from coronavirus leaves crude with nowhere to go. More »

Trelleborg to supply cable protection for world’s largest offshore wind farm

Trelleborg’s applied technologies operation has been awarded a contract by leading renewable energy provider, Ørsted, to provide four integrated cable protection systems for Hornsea Two, the world’s largest offshore windfarm. More »

Shale drillers ask oil regulators to curb output, countering industry groups

Pioneer Natural Resources Co. and Parsley Energy Inc. are asking Texas oil regulators for an emergency meeting to consider curbs on state output as a collapsing oil market envelops the nation’s biggest crude-producing state. More »

Daily Brief podcast, Monday, March 30th

Trump and Putin talk about the oil market via phone today, and the Saudis make a move to increase cash reserves while prices reach another constant-dollar low. More »

Trump, Putin discuss falling oil prices

President Donald Trump held a call with Vladimir Putin on Monday to discuss Russia’s oil price war with Saudi Arabia and the global response to the coronavirus pandemic. More »

Saudi Aramco considers $10B pipeline stake sale to raise cash

Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil producer, is weighing the sale of a stake in its pipeline unit to raise money amid a slump in crude prices, according to people familiar with the matter. More »

Trump, Putin to discuss falling oil prices today

President Donald Trump said he’s planning to call Vladimir Putin on Monday to discuss Russia’s oil price war with Saudi Arabia and the global response to the coronavirus pandemic. More »

Equinor sees Johan Sverdrup production ramp faster than expected

Equinor’s Johan Sverdrup field in the North Sea expects to reach plateau production for the first phase in early May, earlier than anticipated. Due to higher plant capacity, plateau production will increase from around 440,000 boepd to around 470,000 boepd. More »

Oil hits 17-year low with market awash in crude

Oil slumped to a 17-year low as coronavirus lockdowns cascaded through the world’s largest economies, leaving the market overwhelmed by cratering demand and a ballooning surplus. More »

Aker Solutions secures Brunei brownfield services contract

Scope of work covers maintenance and upgrades to maintain production levels for more than 200 offshore assets. More »

Coronavirus delays hindering oil and gas maintenance regimes

The coronavirus pandemic is delaying vital maintenance across the oil and natural gas industries in Europe and North America. More »

Pipelines ask U.S. drillers to slow output as storage capacity dwindles

American pipeline operators have begun asking oil producers to voluntarily ratchet back their output in the clearest sign yet that a growing glut of crude is overwhelming storage capacity. More »

Consumption drop most dangerous for U.S., Russian, Canadian crude

Oil demand is getting hammered at a faster pace than anyone had predicted and landlocked crude production in the U.S., Russia and Canada is most vulnerable, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. More »

Experts see a future for shale: ‘Rocks don’t go bankrupt’

The American shale industry shocked the world with its rebound after the 2014-2016 bust, setting records for output that pushed the U.S. to the top spot among oil-producing countries. A handful of experts is saying that will happen again. More »

Scores of drilling rigs idled as downturn gains momentum

The oil industry’s meltdown is accelerating as explorers shut down scores of drilling rigs across the U.S. in response to cratering crude prices and expanding supply gluts. More »

Some Canadian crude costs more to ship than to buy

Canadian heavy crude has become so cheap that the cost of shipping it to refineries exceeds the value of the oil itself, a situation that may result in even more oil-sands producers shutting operations. More »

OPEC members balk at request to review virus’ impact on markets

OPEC nations aren’t giving support to a request from the group’s president for emergency consultations over tanking oil prices, according to a delegate. More »

Russia nationalizes Venezuelan assets to skirt U.S. sanctions

Russian oil giant Rosneft PJSC sold its assets in Venezuela to the Russian government, in what may be a maneuver to avoid any U.S. sanctions in an escalating fight between Caracas, Washington and Moscow. More »

California judge upholds Trump’s repeal of fracing regulations on public lands

Judge Haywood Gilliam of the U.S. District Court for Northern California rejected challenges brought by California and other states, as well as environmental groups, and upheld the Trump Administration's repeal of a 2015 Obama Administration rule that regulated hydraulic fracturing on public lands. More »

Daily Brief podcast, Friday, March 27th

Kurt Abraham and Cameron Wallace summarize the week's market moves, discuss reaction to Wayne Christian's op-ed, and finish off reviewing results of the tariff survey. More »

Saudis dispel rumors, saying no talks with Moscow on oil output

Saudi Arabia held firm on its position in the price war with Russia, saying on Friday that the kingdom hasn’t had any contacts with Moscow about oil production cuts or about enlarging the OPEC+ alliance. More »

Oil at historic lows beginning to force shut-in of wells

The industry is bracing for something that last happened on this scale 35 years ago: producers shutting down their wells as pumping crude makes no economic sense. More »

World Oil survey: Trump administration would have to impose U.S. import tariff

While a near majority of U.S. professionals believes that an import fee could stabilize and perhaps improve domestic drilling as a whole, there is less certainty when the question is applied to their own individual companies and/or customers. More »

Oil resumes plunge after IEA warns of ‘free fall’ in demand

Oil resumed its decline after the head of the International Energy Agency warned global demand was in ‘free fall’ as coronavirus lockdowns wreak havoc on consumption while major producers pump more. More »

Daily Brief podcast, Thursday, March 26th

We've been talking a lot about production lately, so today we'll take a look at what's happening with oil demand, and the resulting need for storage options for all the extra crude. More »

Oxy calls truce with Carl Icahn, makes changes to its board

Occidental Petroleum agreed to a truce with activist investor Carl Icahn, ending a bitter 10-month campaign by the billionaire activist investor to fire the board and seize control of the company. More »

Energy Department withdraws tender to fill Strategic Petroleum Reserve

The Energy Department said in a notice dated Wednesday that it was withdrawing a March 19 tender for the first part of its plan to purchase 77 million barrels for the reserve. More »

Oil market fears U.S. is running out of crude storage capacity

The U.S. oil market is displaying worries that stockpiles are going to run out of storage space, with futures being whipsawed as a growing glut counters economic stimulus measures. More »

Pipeline companies concerned traders may use their network for oil storage

The glut of U.S. oil is growing so fast that at least one pipeline owner is concerned wily traders may try to stow away crude on its network until prices improve. More »

Venezuela’s output plunges, may be shutting in wells

High inventories of oil and low prices are forcing Venezuela to consider shutting wells, adding a dire context for Nicolas Maduro’s handling of an economy already under stress from the coronavirus crisis. More »

World Oil survey: Near majority of U.S. firms thinks import tariff could help

While a near majority of U.S. professionals believes that an import fee could stabilize and perhaps improve domestic drilling as a whole, there is less certainty when the question is applied to their own individual companies and/or customers. More »

Daily Brief podcast, Wednesday, March 25th

Kurt and Cameron talk about market prices, Wayne Christian's op-ed, and the opinions of service companies and operators regarding intervention in the oil market. More »

Funding to refill U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve cut from stimulus plan

Funding for President Donald Trump’s plan to fill up the nation’s emergency oil reserve to help struggling drillers cope with the price crash failed to make it into the latest stimulus legislation, but could return in other forms. More »

U.S. urges Saudis to reassure global energy and financial markets

The U.S. made its most direct intervention yet in the oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia, urging Riyadh to “rise to the occasion and reassure” energy markets at a time of economic uncertainty. More »

Texas RRC Chairman Wayne Christian: We must stabilize worldwide oil markets

In an exclusive World Oil guest editorial, Wayne Christian, Chairman, Railroad Commission of Texas says time is of the essence to identify and implement a solution to global oil market turmoil. More »

Oil trader says demand is down as much as 20% from last year

Global oil demand has fallen as much as 20% from last year as more countries lockdown billions of people inside their houses in a bid to halt the spread of the coranavirus, the world’s top independent oil trader said. More »

Oceaneering secures maintenance build and inspection contract with GOLAR for FLNG

Oceaneering has been awarded a contract by Golar LNG for a FLNG vessel maintenance build, and inspection and maintenance program. More »

Fugro, SEA-KIT join to advance uncrewed surface vessels

Fugro and SEA-KIT International will accelerate the development and use of uncrewed vessels, remotely operated from Fugro’s ROCs, to improve safety, efficiency, and reduce the environmental impact on marine activities. More »

Equinor halts U.S. land activities as part of $3B cost-reduction plan

Equinor says the company can be organic cash flow neutral before capital distribution in 2020 with an average oil price around $25/bbl for the remaining part of the year. More »

Oil prices are even lower than they appear, thanks to heavy discounting

As oil crashes due to demand destruction and a price war, it’s easy to overlook an even more dismal reality for producers: the real prices they’re getting for their barrels are worse still. More »

Oil rises on U.S. stimulus plan, as global price war continues

Oil rode a rally driven by optimism over U.S. stimulus spending into a third day, but a vicious price war that shows no signs of abating continued to hang over the market. More »

World Oil survey: U.S. industry prefers some form of import tariff

On March 23rd, when we released initial results of our survey of our U.S. EandP readership, we told you that 76.5% of all respondents “believe that the global oil market will experience a sustained (more than 3 months) period of very low (below $40/bbl) oil prices.” Today, we report the results of questions on what form of action should be taken by the U.S. More »

Shale service leaders warn of a bigger crash this time around

Two of the world’s biggest oilfield service companies are warning of a bigger shale crash than the one that hit the U.S. and Canada just five years ago. More »

Chevron cuts spending by $4 billion, suspends share buybacks

Chevron became the latest oil company to take an ax to its budget, cutting capital expenses by $4 billion and suspending its share buybacks. More »

Tullow cancels Maersk Venturer contract offshore Ghana

Maersk Drilling has been notified by Tullow Ghana of early termination of its contract for the Maersk Venturer deepwater drillship. More »

These countries have the most firepower in the oil price war

With OPEC’s output limits suspended and a price war under way, the group’s biggest oil producers are preparing to churn out more barrels to protect market share. More »

Oil steadies on Fed action, hope for U.S.-Saudi talks

Oil rallied for a second day after the Federal Reserve unveiled a sweeping set of measures to support the world’s largest economy, while investors clung to hopes of a U.S.-Saudi Arabian deal to limit output. More »

World Oil survey results: U.S. industry favors strong government action

There is no doubt that the actions of Russia and Saudi Arabia have been predatory. And many industry professionals, as evidenced by our survey, are highly concerned about the potential effect/damage to the U.S. upstream industry. More »

Daily Brief podcast, Monday, March 23rd

Is there really a free market for oil? Kurt and Cameron review the industry's opinion on a tariff, and whose interests the API pursues in their latest communications. More »

Talos reduces costs, expects positive free cash flow in 2020

Talos Energy announced updated full year 2020 financial guidance, inclusive of $170.0 million of reductions in capital, operating and GandA expenses. More »

Oxy nears truce with Icahn, adding new directors to its board

Activist investor Carl Icahn is nearing a truce with Occidental Petroleum Corp. that will see three new directors appointed to the oil company’s board, according to people familiar with the matter. More »

Aker lands 20-year umbilicals master order with Chevron

Aker Solutions has entered a master agreement to provide umbilicals for Chevron-operated oil and gas fields in the US Gulf of Mexico. More »

Total, Shell announce multi-billion-dollar budget cuts as oil continues decline

Following the lead of other supermajors like BP and ExxonMobil, Total and Shell are implementing plans to reduce capital expenditures, operational costs, and cancel planned share buybacks. More »

Wärtsilä creates testbed for smart marine solutions

The test laboratory project is the first of its kind in the world, and its unique approach will identify and open the prospects and possibilities for remote vessel pilotage. More »

Oil slips as OPEC-Texas agreement looks less likely

Oil dropped toward the lowest level since 2003 as prospects for a deal between OPEC and Texas to limit production appeared to fade, while a U.S. coronavirus rescue package ran into political delays. More »

Husky suspends West White Rose project on Covid-19 concerns

Husky Energy announced that it will begin a systematic and orderly suspension of major construction activities related to the West White Rose Project. More »

Shale plays, oil patch see tens of thousands of layoffs across the industry

One of the most painful busts in the history of crude oil happened just six years ago, when a sharp price drop cost 200,000 industry professionals, almost half the entire workforce, their jobs. More »

World Oil analysis: Research shows current oil price collapse near record proportions

The oil price collapse of the last two weeks has reached near-record territory, according to World Oil’s analysis of historical prices in constant dollars. More »

Oxy reaches out to investors for ways to address $39B debt

Occidental Petroleum started reaching out to debt and equity investors about how to ease its $39 billion debt load after collapsing oil prices cast doubt on plans to raise cash via asset sales. More »

Oil’s demand plunge doing more damage than the price war

Taking a snapshot of how much oil consumption is collapsing is impossible, but privately traders put the drop somewhere between 10 million and 20 million barrels a day, with some saying it may be falling even more. More »

Daily Brief podcast, Friday, March 20th

Kurt and Cameron discuss the week's oil price swings, and the developing palace intrigue at Texas' oil regulator as a commissioner is invited to the next OPEC meeting after suggesting a joint agreement to reduce oil production. More »

OPEC secretary general invites Texas RRC’s Sitton to Vienna meeting

One of the most powerful officials in the biggest U.S. oil state has been invited to OPEC’s inner sanctum in June in a rare rapprochement between two historically antagonistic crude powers. More »

Texas RRC chairman Wayne Christian comments on oil markets, proration, and SPR

The United States recently became the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the world, producing a record 12.4 MMbbl in August 2019. Texas is responsible for about 40% of this production. More »

Shale patch sees tens of thousands of layoffs across the industry

One of the most painful busts in the history of crude oil happened just six years ago when a sharp price drop cost 200,000 roughnecks, almost half the entire workforce, their jobs. And now, the spread of the coronavirus coupled with an oil-price war threatens to devastate the oil services industry and its workers once again. More »

Total expands renewables portfolio with wind power investment

Total continues its growth in renewable energy in France with a substantial investment in wind power. More »

Seeing Saudi action as “oil blackmail”, Putin signals resistance

Russian President Vladimir Putin will refuse to submit to what the Kremlin sees as oil blackmail from Saudi Arabia, signaling the price war that’s roiling global energy markets will continue. More »

ION to divest land seismic equipment JV for $12 million

ION Geophysical has entered into an agreement to sell its 49% equity stake in INOVA Geophysical Equipment Limited for $12 million. More »

Texas regulator considers oil output cuts for the first time in decades

Texas’s main oil regulator is weighing for the first time in nearly half a century whether the state should curb crude production, a move that would have an enormous economic and political impact. More »

Oil price scores largest one-day percentage increase in traded oil price in NYMEX history

Oil futures rallied Thursday, with U.S. prices up nearly 24% to score their largest one-day percentage climb on record, as moves by global central banks and governments to support global economy helped to ease worries about the slowdown in energy demand. More »

Oil’s rebound from 18-year low comes as economies attempt a recovery

Oil rebounded on Thursday after plunging on Wednesday to its lowest level in 18 years, as policymakers across the globe try to strengthen economies against the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. More »

Oil price scores largest one-day percentage increase in the traded oil price in NYMEX history

Oil futures rallied Thursday, with U.S. prices up nearly 24% to score their largest one-day percentage climb on record, as moves by global central banks and governments to support global economy helped to ease worries about the slowdown in energy demand. More »

PSS Industrial Group appoints industry veteran and leader, Robert Workman, as Chief Executive Officer

PSS Industrial Group, a leading specialty distributor serving a diverse base of customers in the energy industry, today announced that Robert Workman has been named Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors, effective immediately. More »

Negative oil prices are rare, but not impossible

How bad is too bad for oil markets? As prices barrel toward the lowest levels since the start of the century, negative prices have re-entered the realm of possibility. More »

Strategic oil reserve buy could benefit smaller shale drillers

The Trump administration’s plan to aid struggling American shale drillers involves buying as much as $3 billion worth of oil from domestic producers who employ 5,000 people or fewer. More »

Trump may intervene in oil price war to stabilize prices

President Donald Trump said Thursday he may intervene in an oil price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia that has U.S. oil drillers reeling, but that for now low prices are like a tax cut for American consumers. More »

Daily Brief podcast, Thursday, March 19th

Trump shares his thoughts on oil prices, some analysts see single-digit prices in the future, Occidental's debt falls to junk status, and more. More »

Treasury secretary calls for U.S. to add $20B of oil to strategic reserve

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he will recommend President Donald Trump ask Congress for as much as $20 billion to keep the Strategic Petroleum Reserve full for a decade. More »

Oil war hits home as Saudis cut nearly 5% from national budget

Saudi Arabia announced 50 billion riyals ($13.3 billion) in budget spending cuts after the crash in oil prices and the coronavirus outbreak wreaked havoc on its public finances. More »

Storing crude at sea becomes a profitable option for traders

The latest collapse in oil prices has put in play a lucrative trade to store crude at sea, reviving memories of the 2008-09 recession when millions of barrels were kept on the world’s oceans. More »

Oil rebounds from 18-year low as economies attempt a recovery

Oil rebounded after plunging to the lowest level in 18 years as policy makers across the globe try to strengthen economies against the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. More »

World Oil analysis: Current oil price drop worst since Asian Financial Crisis

As global oil prices continue to plunge, World Oil analysis of historical records indicates that current rates are the lowest/worst since late 1997 through mid-1999, on a constant dollars/today’s money basis. More »

World Oil Daily Brief podcast, Wednesday, March 18th

Kurt Abraham shares preliminary results of the World Oil import tariff survey, discusses the travails of the stock market, and more. More »

Kremlin says Russia “would like to see crude prices higher”

With oil plummeting near an 18-year low amid unprecedented supply and demand shocks, Russia finally admitted: crude is too cheap. More »

World Oil launches oil import tariff survey; early results show clear trends

Responding to the collapse in global oil prices, World Oil on Tuesday, March 17, launched a survey of its U.S. readers, to gauge the appetite for substantial U.S. federal government action to counteract the predatory oil dumping actions of Russia and Saudi Arabia. More »

Halliburton furloughs 3,500 staff at Houston Headquarters

Halliburton, the world’s biggest provider of fracking services, will furlough about 3,500 workers at its Houston headquarters as crude prices plunged to an 18-year low. More »

ConocoPhillips to implement $2.2B in cash-saving measures

“Today’s circumstances require action and we believe we’re taking the right steps at the right time,” said Ryan Lance, chairman and chief executive officer. “Current conditions represent a significant challenge for our industry overall, but we remain focused on creating long-term value, especially through cycles.” More »

Tendeka lands four-year zonal isolation contract in Malaysia

Tendeka has secured a four-year contract to supply its zonal isolation technologies across a leading operator’s Malaysian assets. More »

Weatherford completes novel cased-hole sidetrack in ultra-deep Gulf of Mexico waters

Weatherford announced a success in an ultra-deepwater Gulf of Mexico operation that saved a major international oil company 14 rig days valued at approximately $14 million. More »

Tracerco secures first baseline subsea inspection project for Gulf of Mexico pipelay development

Tracerco has been awarded a deep-water subsea inspection project to assess the integrity of a new pipelay in the Gulf of Mexico. More »

Oil falls to lowest since 2003 as global economy stalls

Oil extended its slide to the lowest level in almost 17 years as the coronavirus pandemic threatens to bring the global economy to a standstill, battering demand just as supply explodes. More »

History shows the 2020 oil-price war won’t end soon

How long can the vicious oil-price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia last? If history is any guide, the battle will be a long one. More »

The oil-price war Russia helped create complicates their Arctic plans

Oil’s freefall amid a deepening price war and a global pandemic threatens to complicate Russian efforts to turn the Arctic into a major new energy zone. More »

U.S. senators urge Saudis to calm oil market tensions

More than a dozen U.S. Republican senators wrote to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to urge him to take action to cool tensions in the oil market at a time when the world economy is already being battered by the coronavirus. More »

Hess cuts CAPEX and exploration budget by $800 million, focuses on Guyana

The reductions to the company’s 2020 capital budget will be primarily achieved by shifting from a six-rig program to one rig in the Bakken, which is expected to be completed by the end of May. Most discretionary exploration and offshore drilling activities, excluding Guyana, will also be deferred. More »

Total tallies new gas, condensates discovery in UK North Sea

Total and its partners have made an encouraging discovery with the Isabella 30/12d-11 well on the license P1820, located in the Central North Sea offshore U.K., about 40 kilometers south of the Elgin-Franklin Field and 170 kilometers east of Aberdeen. More »

Biden faces skeptical energy workers in swing states

Many Rust Belt voters rely on oil and natural gas jobs and they’re wary of Democratic proposals, such as the “Green New Deal,” that push for “net-zero emissions” and would effectively put coal and other fossil fuels out of business. More »

ExxonMobil planning significant CAPEX, OPEX cuts due to oil price war and pandemic

“Based on this unprecedented environment, we are evaluating all appropriate steps to significantly reduce capital and operating expenses in the near term,” said Darren Woods, chairman and chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil Corporation. More »

China refuses oil from Russian companies hit by U.S. sanctions

The trading arm of a Chinese state-owned refiner is turning away crude from Russian energy giant Rosneft PJSC, the parent of a unit hit by U.S. sanctions. More »

Canadian operators cut nearly $2.5 billion from 2020 budgets

Canadian oil and gas companies are cutting C$2.4 billion to C$3.5 billion ($1.7 billion-$2.5 billion) from their budgets for this year as low prices make most production unprofitable. More »

Daily Brief podcast, Monday, March 16th

With WTI crude exploring record lows in inflation-adjusted dollars, Kurt Abraham talks about how today's prices compare to previous downturns in the industry. More »

Russia keeps Saudis at arm’s length, as oil price fall continues

Russia, the world’s largest energy exporter, said the current oil-price slump was expected and it doesn’t plan talks with Saudi Arabia for the time being. More »

BP can cut spending by 20% this year, CFO says

BP can slash its spending by 20% this year as the oil market goes into freefall, with some U.S. operations likely to get less investment. More »

Pioneer CEO says U.S. oil output could drop 20% on shale retreat

America’s oil output could drop nearly 20% as shale drillers slash capital spending and reduce activity after the biggest crash in crude prices since 1991, according to one of the country’s biggest independent producers. More »

CNOOC tallies “large-sized” discovery in Bohai Bay

CNOOC Limited announced a large-sized discovery Kenli 6-1 in Bohai Bay, which is expected to be the first large-sized oil field in the Laibei lower uplift. More »

Global oil use heads for steepest annual contraction in history

The growing fear among many traders is that oil demand, which averaged just over 100 MMbpd in 2019, may contract by the most ever this year, even surpassing the 2.65 MMbpd registered in 1980, when the world economy crashed after the second oil crisis. More »

Oil’s crash is both a help and a hazard for LNG export projects

Oil’s rout may have been an unexpected boon for the biggest buyers of liquefied natural gas, but its knock-on effects may come back to bite them. More »

Aramco slashes CAPEX as the oil-price war hits home

Saudi Aramco is slashing planned spending this year in the first sign that plunging demand and the oil-price war the kingdom unleashed are hitting home. More »

Trump to fill U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve “to the very top”

Replenishing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve -- as proposed by some oil lobbyists earlier this week in light of the collapse in prices -- would enable the government to take as much as 77 million barrels off the world market. More »

2020 Offshore Technology Conference in Houston postponed

Organizers of the Offshore Technology Conference announced that the event has been postponed to the third quarter of 2020. The group is working to confirm new dates for the event in August or September. More »

Daily Brief podcast, Friday, March 13th

World Oil magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Kurt Abraham, leads an oil price summary for the week and compares the current decline to other downturns, in inflation-adjusted dollars. He also talks about gauging industry interest in pursuing a tariff on Saudi crude imported into the United States. More »

Abu Dhabi discounts its Murban crude in growing oil price war

Abu Dhabi took a cue from Saudi Arabia and cut pricing for its crude as the world’s biggest producers prepare to flood oil markets in a race for market share. More »

Trump to declare a national emergency to speed virus response

Trump is under increasing pressure to act as governors and mayors nationwide step up actions to mitigate the spread, closing schools and canceling public events. The president said he will hold a news conference at 3 p.m. in Washington. More »

Oxy swallows ‘poison pill’ as Carl Icahn tries to oust its board of directors

Occidental Petroleum implemented a so-called poison pill plan to defend against unsolicited takeover approaches just a day after activist investor Carl Icahn escalated his campaign to fire the beleaguered U.S. oil producer’s board. More »

Oil hedges that burned shale drillers in 2014 cause trouble again

In the aftermath of the 2014 oil crash, U.S. shale learned a painful lesson: Not all hedging strategies pay off. Countless producers were left exposed to big losses after oil plunged to levels that made their insurance less valuable. More »

Jones Act waiver floated as a stimulus for U.S. oil companies

U.S. oil companies battered by the crude price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia are encouraging the Trump administration to waive a law that mandates only American vessels can be used to transport goods among U.S. ports. More »

U.S. sanctions second Rosneft subsidiary for shipping Venezuelan crude

TNK Trading International SA, a Geneva-based Rosneft subsidiary, was sanctioned for helping transport Venezuelan crude oil, the Treasury Department said Thursday in a statement. More »

Tariff on Saudi crude may be Trump’s answer to oil-price war

If Donald Trump wanted to shield U.S. shale from oil’s crash, he could unleash a familiar weapon against rival producers such as Saudi Arabia: tariffs. More »

Daily Brief podcast, Thursday, March 12th

Does the coronavirus offer a prime opportunity for Russia and Saudi Arabia to team up against U.S. shale producers? Or, as international oil analyst and author, Mr. Simon Watkins, says in today's show, is this a "last throw of the dice" for the Saudis? More »

Shale billionaire to file anti-dumping complaint against Saudis

Harold Hamm intends to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Commerce against Saudi Arabia for “illegal” dumping of crude that sent oil prices into a tailspin earlier this week. More »

Tarriff on Saudi crude may be Trump’s answer to oil-price war

If Donald Trump wanted to shield U.S. shale from oil’s crash, he could unleash a familiar weapon against rival producers such as Saudi Arabia: tariffs. More »

Stress Engineering Services launches new digital flex joint angle monitoring system

Stress Engineering Services has developed a digital flex joint angle measurement system for monitoring real-time drilling operations. More »

Russian producers equipped to compete with flood of Saudi oil

A flood of discounted Saudi crude is heading for Europe, but Russia might just have the only producers in the world equipped to compete with it. More »

Saudis pledge huge oil supply increases to European refiners

Saudi Arabia is unleashing a wave of crude toward Europe, traditionally the backyard for Russian oil sales, pledging to supply regional refineries with as much as triple their usual intake from the kingdom. More »

Shale insiders snapping up stock as prices hit record lows

Shale insiders are swooping in to buy stock in their ailing firms this week after an oil price war erupted between Saudi Arabia and Russia late Sunday. More »

Daily Brief podcast, Wednesday, March 11th

As the UAE piles on to Saudi Arabia and Russia’s production hikes, is this the time for the U.S. to implement an import fee to partially protect domestic output? More »

U.S. oil output to fall next year, for the first time since 2016

The world’s biggest oil producer will see a drop in output next year as a result of the dramatic collapse in prices that’s already forcing drillers to cut back on capital spending. More »

Betting on a bailout, investors rush into U.S. energy funds

Exchange-traded fund investors are piling into the U.S. oil and gas industry, despite the recent collapse in prices, partly on bets that the government may bail out producers as part of a stimulus package. More »

BJ Services and Atheon ink contract for next-gen gas fueled frac fleet

BJ Services has entered into a multi-year contract with Aethon Energy for the deployment of the Company's first TITAN next-generation fracturing fleet in the Haynesville shale. More »

DOE encouraged to add 78MMbbl of U.S. oil to strategic reserve

The idea of replenishing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve would enable the government to take at least 78 MMbbl off the world market and provide a modest bump in prices. More »

ADNOC joins price war, pledging to boost supply to 4 MMbpd

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. will boost crude supply to customers to more than 4 million barrels a day in April as OPEC’s third-biggest producer enters the oil-supply fray. More »

Saudis want to raise oil output capacity by a further 1 MMbpd

While delivering the extra capacity may take years and many billions of dollars in investment, the decision shows that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has little intention of pulling back from his aggressive response to the breakdown of OPEC’s alliance with Russia and other oil producers. More »

Coronavirus case reported on Equinor’s Martin Linge field offshore Norway

The infected person has been in isolation in his cabin since March 9th, and measures to prevent further contamination for offshore installations has been introduced. More »

Daily Brief podcast, Tuesday, March 10th

Saudi Arabia and Russia are solidifying their plans to flood the market with crude, while the door remains open for another OPEC discussion. More »

Saudis book more supertankers to help flood the oil market

Saudi Arabia is preparing to unleash so much oil on the world that its own fleet can’t handle it all. More »

U.S. suspends sale from Strategic Petroleum Reserve on price dive

The Trump administration suspended a planned sale of 12 MMbbl of oil from the nation’s emergency reserves after world crude prices plunged the most since 1991. More »

Russia keeps door open for OPEC amid threats to raise output

Russia stepped up its price war with Saudi Arabia by warning it can raise oil production, while also saying further cooperation with OPEC is possible. More »

Oxy plans spending cut to protect dividend payments

The Houston-based explorer is reacting to crude’s plunge of more than 30% on Monday to protect the payout, which Chief Executive Officer Vicki Hollub has said is “one of the defining characteristics” of the company. More »

Oil price havoc derails offshore energy IPOs

A double whammy of crashing oil prices and turbulent stock markets is threatening to upend a string of high-profile initial public offerings by European energy companies. More »

Saudis escalate oil price war with another output hike

The output increase -- more than 25% up from last month -- puts Aramco supply above its maximum sustainable capacity, indicating that the kingdom is even tapping its strategic inventories to dump as much crude, as quickly as possible, on the market. More »

Are America’s days as a net oil exporter numbered?

America’s nascent status as a net petroleum exporter is already at risk as plunging oil prices threaten domestic production and give a leg-up to world’s biggest producers. More »

Oil tests recovery from historic crash following global price war

Oil clawed back some of its biggest drop in a generation as investors grappled with the most volatile market on record in the midst of simultaneous supply and demand shocks. More »

Almost all new wells lose money in shale’s ‘new normal’

At a stroke, Saudi Arabia and Russia and their battle for market share have made almost all U.S. shale drilling unprofitable. Only five companies in two areas of the country have breakeven costs lower than the current oil price. More »

Mnuchin wants ‘orderly’ oil markets in talk with Russian ambassador

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin “emphasized the importance of orderly energy markets” to the Russian ambassador in Washington, Anatoly Antonov, in a meeting on Monday, according to a statement. More »

Trump to weigh options to aid U.S. energy producers amid oil shocks

President Donald Trump and his economic team will weigh measures later Monday to contain the fallout from coronavirus and a sudden crash in oil prices, with funding for a temporary expansion of paid sick leave and aid for battered U.S. energy producers among possible steps. More »

Daily Brief Podcast, Monday, March 9th

On today’s show, World Oil Editor-In-Chief, Kurt Abraham, takes a look at some of the drivers behind previous collapses in the price of oil, and discuss how the fallout from last week’s OPEC+ meetings are impacting prices now. More »

Wall Street slashing ratings on shale producers

The oil price war is turning out to be a disaster for energy equities, and Wall Street appears to be throwing in the towel with multiple stock downgrades. More »

Rosneft to raise output as soon as current OPEC+ deal ends

Russia’s finance ministry said that the country’s oil-wealth reserves would be sufficient to cover lost revenue “for six to 10 years” at oil prices of $25 to $30 a barrel. More »

Houston-based Tellurian slashes staff to save LNG project

U.S. natural gas terminal developer Tellurian Inc. has cut roughly 40% of its workforce in a massive restructuring effort aimed at slashing costs and rescuing a struggling, $29 billion export project. More »

Shale drillers facing uncharted territory in worst oil bust yet

The Saudi-Russia oil price war could mark the end of a historic boom that vaulted the U.S. to predominance in world crude production. More »

Saudi’s oil-price war begins as buyers snap up cheap crude

The opening battle of the global oil price war got under way in Asia as some of the world’s biggest buyers said they’d try to buy more Saudi crude than planned in April after the exporter offered them unprecedented discounts. More »

Oil price meltdown provides some benefit to LNG importers

The rout in oil prices may well put a smile on the faces of liquefied natural gas buyers. More »

A look at how the oil price crash is upending markets

A crude-oil price war in the middle a worsening global virus outbreak sent a fresh wave of volatility surging through financial markets beginning on Monday in Asia. More »

Oil plunges 30% as Saudi-Russian price fight builds

Oil markets tumbled more than 30% after the disintegration of the OPEC+ alliance triggered an all-out price-war between Saudi Arabia and Russia that is likely to have sweeping political and economic consequences. More »

Canada’s LNG dreams fade as blockades add new costs to industry

Hopes that Canada could turn into a gas export powerhouse seem to be waning fast. More »

North Sea oil producers face near-term carbon target challenge

A group of UK North Sea oil and natural gas producers face an ambitious government-mandated target to cut their emissions as soon as 2025 as the nation seeks to make more real its ambition for net-zero fossil fuel pollution by the middle of the century. More »

Russia's stronger economy lets Putin stare down OPEC

Five years of austerity and safeguarding assets against the threat of U.S. sanctions have left Russia in a stronger position than ever before to cope with lower oil prices. More »

Aramco’s drop below IPO price deals blow to Saudi economic plan

Saudi Aramco shares dropped below their IPO level for the first time as a looming price war in global crude markets battered the outlook for the kingdom’s flagship oil company. More »

Putin dumps OPEC to start a war with America’s shale oil industry

At 10:16 a.m. on a wet and dreary Friday morning, Russia’s energy minister walked into OPEC’s headquarters in central Vienna knowing his boss was ready to turn the global oil market upside down. More »

OPEC’s failure impacts every corner of the global oil market

The OPEC+ alliance’s dramatic failure to reach an output deal is most obviously being felt in oil futures, which plunged the most since 2008 in London. A look at the less-conspicuous corners of the market reveal the scale of the impact. More »

Australia inks deal with U.S. for access to Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Australia said it will sign a deal with the U.S. this week giving it access to crude oil from to America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve during an emergency. More »

Saudis plan oil-price war, slashing prices while raising output

Saudi Arabia plans to boost oil output next month to well above 10 MMbpd, as the kingdom responds aggressively to the collapse of its OPEC+ alliance with Russia. More »

Falling oil is a shot in the arm for U.S. gas drillers

Shares of gas producers including Cabot Oil and Gas Corp., Southwestern Energy Co., Range Resources Corp. and EQT Corp. climbed on speculation that the nosedive in crude prices will force oil explorers in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico to pull back. More »

Daily Brief podcast, Friday, March 6th

We discuss the potentially-overlooked tax opportunities associated with RandD activities, with Herve Amar and Thomas Folsom at business performance consultancy Ayming. More »

Russian resistance hammers oil prices, pushing OPEC to the brink

Russia resisted pressure from OPEC allies to make deeper production cuts, pushing the cartel’s high-stakes diplomatic gamble to the brink of failure and sending prices plunging. More »

API president reaffirms oil’s importance to Colorado in visit

American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Mike Sommers concluded a three-day visit to Colorado, where he reaffirmed the natural gas and oil industry’s commitment to safe, responsible energy development in the Centennial State. More »

Aramco delays April oil pricing, as it waits for OPEC’s decision

Saudi Aramco is delaying the release of its monthly crude-pricing announcement, an exceptional step by the world’s biggest oil exporter, as it waits to see if the OPEC+ alliance will deepen cuts in global output. More »

Meritage Midstream commissions Powder River basin natural gas plant

Meritage Midstream Services II, LLC announced that its subsidiary, Thunder Creek Gas Services, LLC, has completed commissioning of the Steamboat I processing plant in Converse County, Wyoming. More »

The show will go on, says OTC 2020 organizers

Following IHS Markit’s cancellation of its CERAWeek conference in Houston, organizers of major oil and gas industry events have followed suit amid the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Organizers of the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, however, said this week that, for now at least, the show will go on. More »

Exxon to cut Permian growth by 10% in response to price slump

Exxon Mobil is slowing the pace of its flagship shale project in the Permian Basin, one of the first signs that the oil majors are throttling back on production in response to the recent slump in prices. More »

TGS delivers milestone North Sea OBN project

TGS announced that processing of the northern half of its landmark ocean-bottom node (OBN) multi-client survey in the Norwegian North Sea is complete and has been delivered to pre-funding customers. More »

Aker BP taps Tendeka for sand-face completion program offshore Norway

Tendeka has received a Letter of Intent for a multi-million-pound contract to supply sand-face completion equipment to Aker BP’s Norwegian assets. More »

Aker BP and Framo sign “smart” offshore maintenance contract

Aker BP and Framo have entered a long-term maintenance contract for seawater lift pumps where compensation is directly linked to facility uptime. More »

Equinor, Shell team up on digital transformation projects

Equinor and Shell have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on digital collaboration to develop solutions and methods together through the exchange of expertise within areas like data science, artificial intelligence and 3D printing. More »

More Chinese LNG orders canceled under new force majeure claims

China National Petroleum Corp. has issued a force majeure on all prompt natural gas imports, the second Chinese buyer to refuse shipments in a sign that global commodity flows may face a sustained impact from the coronavirus fight. More »

U.S. stimulus boosts oil while divided OPEC+ debates deeper cuts

Oil resumed gains as the U.S. passed an emergency spending bill to combat the impact of the coronavirus, while the two biggest members of the OPEC coalition remain divided over deeper output cuts. More »

Shale borrowers see collateral values take a hit as oil outlook darkens

Troubled oil and gas companies may have a hard time persuading their bankers to keep extending credit as the outlook darkens for energy, potentially leading to more bankruptcies in the already-beleaguered sector. More »

Emerson, QRI team up on AI-based EandP analytics

Together, the two EandP software industry leaders will help oil and gas customers embrace digital transformation technologies and harness vast amounts of data to optimize their reservoir management strategies. More »

Travel restrictions, crew screenings – service companies ramp up coronavirus responses

As coronavirus cases multiply worldwide, oilfield service companies are stepping up their internal safeguards to protect the health of employees and contractors onshore and offshore. More »

Daily Brief podcast, Wednesday, March 4th

Chevron's CEO says they won't go carbon-neutral anytime soon; oil's recovery stumbles following OPEC drama in Vienna, and more More »

Oil price recovery ends as Russia walks out of OPEC+ meeting

Oil pared gains after Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak left the OPEC+ joint meeting in Vienna. More »

Wall Street consensus builds around oil market contraction

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. became the first major Wall Street bank to anticipate that global oil demand will contract in 2020 for only the fourth time in nearly 40 years. More »

Chevron won’t follow rivals’ ‘aspirational’ climate goals, CEO says

Chevron will take a more realistic path for a major producer of fossil fuels with “concrete actions” to reduce carbon emissions within its own operations, CEO Mike Wirth said in an interview. More »

Texas regulator Ryan Sitton loses to GOP challenger in primary upset

A member of the top energy regulator in Texas lost his place on November’s ballot to a Republican challenger, a major upset for an incumbent supported by some of the oil industry’s biggest names. More »

Saudis lobby for million-plus-barrel OPEC cuts, extending oil’s gains

Oil rose for a third day after Saudi Arabia pushed for a deeper output cut than OPEC’s technical committee recommended a day earlier. More »

SPE/IADC Drilling Conference opens with well-received program

Undeterred by low oil prices and the Coronavirus, the annual SPE/IADC International Drilling Conference and Exhibition got underway Tuesday morning with a strong program. More »

Daily Brief podcast, Tuesday, March 3rd

Exxon and Chevron's CEOs are facing a challenging week on Wall Street, oil prices hold on OPEC cut recommendations, and more More »

OPEC may extend cuts beyond February’s 600,000 bpd target

OPEC and its allies have started reviewing their estimate of the damage to oil demand from the coronavirus, laying the ground for ministers to discuss production cuts at a crucial meeting later this week. More »

Chevron plans $80B in dividends as shale production ramps up

Chevron plans as much as $80 billion in dividends and share buybacks over the next five years, boosting distributions by 20% compared with the most recent pace of payouts as the U.S. oil giant ramps up production and returns from the Permian Basin. More »

Sandvik lands first steel tube umbilical order offshore Brazil

The milestone contract is significant for the offshore Brazilian oil and gas industry, which typically uses thermoplastic hose umbilicals. More »

ExxonMobil proposes oil and gas methane-regulation framework

ExxonMobil released a model framework for industry-wide methane regulations and urged stakeholders, policymakers and governments to develop comprehensive, enhanced rules to reduce emissions in all phases of production. More »

Halliburton reduces well time and costs with new drilling motor

“As operators focus on greater operational efficiency, we designed a motor with the highest horsepower in the oil and gas industry to drill faster and reduce non-productive time,” said Lamar Duhon, vice president of Halliburton Sperry Drilling. More »

Weatherford debuts Centro well delivery data platform

By seamlessly integrating every element of an operator's well data, team members from any global location can access, share, and store all vital project information at any time. More »

Oil-state senators push back on Trump’s plan to end biofuel waivers

The oil industry and its Capitol Hill allies are pressing the Trump administration to defend its decision to exempt oil refineries from requirements they blend biofuels into gasoline and diesel. More »

Alaska’s $67B sovereign fund irked by green-leaning banks

Alaska’s $67 billion sovereign wealth fund, a pool that invests some of the state’s revenue from oil and other resources, is expressing displeasure with banks that oppose financing new Arctic exploration or development. More »

Oil rally continues as OPEC+, G7 pledge to safeguard markets

Oil extended its rebound from last week’s slump as global policy makers pledged to safeguard markets from the coronavirus, while OPEC and its allies are expected to deepen production cuts. More »

Daily Brief podcast, Monday, March 2nd

In today's episode, oil climbs on signs that market intervention may be near, Guyana holds an election critical to its energy future, and more. More »

Ampelmann enters Guyana with SBM Offshore contract

In a contract with SBM Offshore, the company assisted the hook-up and commissioning of their FPSO. More »

TGS completes carbon capture storage assessment in Canada

The objective of the study was to provide the most up-to-date understanding of geological carbon storage locations, onshore and offshore, throughout the province of British Columbia. More »

Total-Occidental’s Ghana deal delayed by $500m tax claim

A capital gains tax claim for about $500 million is holding up Total SA’s acquisition of Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s assets in Ghana, according to Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta. More »

Beleaguered LNG traders await bad news from Japan

With liquefied natural gas prices reeling from the triple whammy of a mild winter, rising supply and China’s hobbled economy, Japan may be about to land another blow. More »

China’s drive to restart its economy revives fake data concerns

The pressure to get China back to work after the coronavirus shutdown is resurrecting an old temptation: doctoring data so it shows senior officials what they want to see. More »

Inspired by Aramco IPO results, Bahrain may follow suit

Bahrain may transfer some of its oil and natural gas assets into a proposed state-run fund in which it could sell shares to investors, as the smallest Gulf Arab country seeks to balance its budget. More »

Guyana’s election to decide who controls the nation’s oil boom

Control of the world’s fastest-growing economy and its massive offshore oil fields are up for grabs Monday as Guyana votes in national elections. More »

Hope for action from OPEC, central banks halts oil’s freefall

Oil rebounded from its worst week since 2008 as the world’s central banks sought to stabilize financial markets, while hopes grew that OPEC+ will deepen output cuts following the coronavirus outbreak. More »

CERAWeek canceled after WHO increases virus threat level

CERAWeek by IHS Markit, scheduled to take place in Houston next week, has been canceled. More »

Stricter drilling rules didn’t slow Colorado oil production

Colorado explorers pumped the most crude on record last year even after the state tightened restrictions on oil and gas drilling. More »

Maduro names new PDVSA leadership following “energy emergency”

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro named new executives at PDVSA, a week after declaring an “energy emergency” and appointing a commission to revamp the state oil company. More »