Category

Oil

Environment, Oil, Podcast

Columbia Energy Exchange: Oil Drilling in Cuba

March 27, 2018

Will Cuba try to drill again for oil off its coast any time soon? And if it does, how safely will it be done? And what happens if there is a spill? In this edition of the Columbia Energy Exchange podcast, I was pleased to sit down with a foremost expert on Cuba, Dan Whittle of the Environmental Defense Fund, to discuss ongoing efforts by Cuba and the U.S. to promote safe oil drilling despite new political tensions between Washington and Havana. We sat down outside a conference in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., organized by Lee Hunt and Brian Petty, two former officials of the International Association of Drilling Contractors. Let me know what you think!

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by Bill Loveless
Blog, Oil, Prices

Stable outlook for U.S. oil producers at $45 a barrel

July 19, 2017

Most U.S. oil companies will be able to produce more oil while reducing operating costs at prices of $45 a barrel or so, Fitch Ratings said July 19. While the price for West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark for crude oil, has fallen from a 2017 high of $54.45 on February 23, producers with solid credit ratings can compensate for the lower price now through further gains in efficiency and lower costs per barrel, Fitch said. WTI closed at $46.02 on July 18. “Most U.S. (exploration and production) companies will continue to see production profile gains and lower costs per barrel of oil equivalent through a combination of reduced drilling days, improved well bore placement, expanded multi-well pad drilling, longer laterals and higher intensity completions, which should help offset market price pressures,” Dino Kritikos, senior director for U.S. Corporates at…

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by Bill Loveless
Natural Gas, Oil, Podcast, Policy

Columbia Energy Exchange: Tommy Beaudreau

May 3, 2017

President Trump has ordered the Department of the Interior to consider sweeping changes in the government’s plan for offshore oil and natural gas drilling, including opening areas in the Arctic and off the Atlantic Coast where exploration and production was prohibited by President Obama before he left office. What will it take to implement Trump’s plan, and how likely is it to happen? In this episode of the “Columbia Energy Exchange,” host Bill Loveless looks for answers from a man who ran the offshore oil and gas program for Obama, Tommy Beaudreau. Beaudreau is now a partner with the law firm Latham & Watkins in Washington and a non-resident fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. He and Jason Bordoff, the founding director of the center, have just completed a paper on the topic: “What’s Next…

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by Bill Loveless
Blog, Electricity, Natural Gas, Oil

Oil and gas M&A off to strong start in 2017

April 20, 2017

Investor interest in U.S. oil and natural gas soared in the first quarter of 2017, as measured in mergers and acquisitions. The professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers reports $73 billion in announced deals for the quarter, representing a striking 160% increase in deal value compared to results in the first quarter of 2016. That’s a record high for oil and gas deals in the first quarter of any year since PwC began tracking such activity in 2002. “Pleased by a pro-energy policy agenda taking shape, reassured by the relative steadiness of the price of oil, and encouraged by advances in shale technology, investors entered 2017 with renewed optimism,” PwC says in a report released April 20. The surge was driven by the upstream segment, with the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico continuing to stand out. In all, PwC cites…

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by Bill Loveless
Climate, Oil, Podcast, Policy, Shale

Columbia Energy Exchange: Chevron CEO John Watson

April 11, 2017

Host Bill Loveless talks with John Watson, Chairman of the Board and CEO of the Chevron Corporation, the second largest integrated oil company in the United States. Bill and John spoke in Washington, D.C. about topics including: the outlook for oil and natural gas markets; climate change and the role of energy companies; the breakdown of public discourse on energy issues; and the Trump Administration, free trade, tax reform and energy policy. Listen.

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by Bill Loveless
Blog, Oil, Shale

Amid shale revival, don’t forget oil bounty offshore

April 5, 2017

Given their extensive oil and natural gas capacity and their accessibility, U.S. shale reserves are increasingly the investment of choice for producers. Integrated oil companies like Chevron are making that clear as they plan to spend more on areas like the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico. But don’t rule out a comeback for oil buried deep beneath offshore waters. A new report by the consulting firm Wood Mackenzie says the deepwater industry is emerging leaner and more cost-competitive from the slump in oil prices that began in 2014, especially in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. On average, the costs of deepwater projects have fallen by just over 20% since 2014, the Scotland-based consultancy says. Assuming a 15% rate of return for producers, 5 billion barrels of deepwater reserves now break even at $50 per barrel or less. By…

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by Bill Loveless