Oil Demand at 2024
It is Nov. 13, 2024, and for the first time in five years, global oil demand is set to average just over 100 MMbbl/d annually. Oil consumption trod a long and uneven path to get here. While the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the energy “transition” in the OECD, oil is experiencing a surprising renaissance in non-OECD […]
Southern Delaware – The Children Need Space
Well results in the southern Delaware Basin degraded severely in recent years. Although early parent well delineation presented enticing recoveries, as operators tightened well spacing and introduced child well drilling, meaning a second, third or even fourth well in close proximity to the original one, oil recoveries and economic returns suffered. Compared with the northern […]
Dipping an Analytical Toe Into the Deep Basin
The Alberta Deep Basin encompasses stacked hydrocarbon-bearing intervals, allowing many operator to target multiple intervals to boost economics. Unlike other similar plays such as the Montney or Midland Basin, the Deep Basin’s zones are more conventional, meaning they consist of discontinuous shorefaces and winding channels deposited millions of years ago. As a result, the regional […]
Midstream Exposure to Federal Lands
With the U.S. presidential election less than two weeks away, a potential Joe Biden victory and his promise of restricting access to federal lands are top of mind for investors. While many oil and gas producers could lose inventory and long-term production potential, midstream companies who hold immobile, hard assets on federal lands and deliver […]
ConocoPhillips acquires Concho Resources for $13.3 billion in the largest pure shale deal since 2011
ConocoPhillips is acquiring Permian heavyweight Concho Resources in an all-stock deal for $49.30 per share (total equity value of $9.7 billion) and a total enterprise value of $13.3 billion. The acquisition adds 550,000 net acres in the Permian (350,000 Delaware acres and 200,000 Midland acres) plus 200,000 bbl/d oil output and 719 MMcf/d gas production […]
More Than Just a Stick on a Map
The Austin Chalk Formation continues to produce some of the most prolific horizontal wells across the Lower 48. In Karnes County, the core of the Eagle Ford play in South Texas, Austin Chalk oil recoveries since 2018 averaged 60% higher than those of the Lower Eagle Ford, another drilling target in the area. Despite the […]
Eagle Ford Capital Allocation
The price collapse earlier this year forced players across the upstream industry to slash initial spending estimates and concentrate resources on a smaller core asset base. With this year’s budgets averaging roughly 60% of 2019 levels, capital efficiency and consistency of returns were key considerations as companies refreshed their 2020 guidance. Relative capital allocation provides […]
Woodside, Aker BP, CNRL and Suncor: Hungry for More in 2020
Sharks in the Water — Part Five In our previous blog on “Sharks in the Water” — companies with solid balance sheets, long-term growth strategies and cash to spend on acquisitions from stressed rivals — we offered our best guess as to where the remains of beleaguered Tullow Oil will wind up in the […]
State of the Energy Industry Amid COVID-19, Aging Workforce, Electrification
The energy industry has always had one rock solid foundational belief — worldwide demand for hydrocarbons would rise as more and more nations enlarged their GDP through increased energy demand. Demand forecasts are still unpredictable due to a number of COVID-19-related factors: a troubling rise in cases in Europe, parity in deaths in U.S. red […]
When Midstream Shows Its Teeth
Understanding volume risk has become a major concern for midstream operators and their investors as commodity price volatility this year impaired growth expectations among upstream counterparties. Once regarded as relatively safe investments due to contracted volumes and seemingly endless production growth, the midstream industry (loosely defined as the companies that gather, process and transport hydrocarbons) […]