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Is $140 oil in the works again?

By Bill Loveless Oil prices, which hit a record $140 a barrel in 2008, could reach that level again within three years because of insufficient investments in exploration and production around the world, the professional services firm PwC warns in a new report. “While we’re not in the business of predicting the price of oil, the foundation exists to suggest that oil prices could rise over the next three years, potentially hitting new record highs of $140 (a barrel),” PwC says in a report on U.S. oil and natural gas deals released July 26. Oil producers have been reducing investments since 2015, a trend that continues today, causing “a pause” in exploration and development and “creating a lag in the development of new barrels,” PwC says. “Looking ahead at the next five years, the shortage of supply is clear, yet…

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Blog, Electricity, Natural Gas, Oil

Oil and gas M&A off to strong start in 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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