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The Weekly USA Oil & Gas Update: 29th September 2015

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The Oil & Gas Weekly is compiled by Todd Erickson. Todd is a veteran executive manager in the North American E&P market.

He has management experience in high-growth oil & gas service organizations performing a leadership role in operations, strategy, and corporate development with a track record of identifying opportunities and best-practices, creating execution plans, then developing effective teams and leaders to execute them.

Learn more about Todd here

Rig Counts - select states with key plays

Select states

This Week

Change from last week

3 months ago

One year ago

Alaska

13

0

10

10

Arkansas

3

-1

5

12

California land

13

0

11

43

Colorado

33

0

38

77

Kansas

9

0

13

25

Mississippi

5

0

1

14

N. Louisiana

28

-2

27

30

New Mexico

50

+1

44

101

North Dakota

66

-1

74

189

Ohio

19

0

17

42

Oklahoma

105

-1

105

213

Pennsylvania

33

0

47

57

Texas

363

-2

361

897

Utah

5

0

8

23

West Virginia

17

0

20

27

Wyoming

24

0

21

60

Total US

838

-4

859

1931

Total Canada land

175

-5

132

427

Oil & Gas Prices - Bloomberg/EIA

This Morning

12 weeks ago

1 year ago

Crude Oil - USD/bbl

WTI

45.70

52.48

92.46

Brent

48.60

57.19

95.37

Natural Gas-USD/mmbtu

NYMEX Henry Hub

2.56

2.88

3.88

General News

Halliburton laying off more employees

In an internal memo published September 22nd, Halliburton revealed they were implementing additional staff reductions, primarily in North America. The memo said the intention was to "flatten the North America business by eliminating multiple layers of management." This follows Halliburton's September 21st announcement that it would lay off employees in Williston, ND. Article here

Unconventional Oil & Gas News

Morningstar report says rig count to drop more in 2016

The report projected US horizontal rig counts to drop to 500 in tight oil plays during 2016, down 40-60 rigs from the current number. As a result, US oil production will fall by 600-800 thousand barrels per day next year, a bearish prediction compared to consensus. The report also expressed that offshore and conventional production would fall by 200 thousand barrels per day in 2016, after having fallen by that amount over the last six months. The report wasn't all doom and gloom with the statement that it expects prices to rebound to $60-$70 in 2018, with a resulting increase in rig activity. Article here

Environment and Safety News

Shell abandons drilling in Arctic ocean

After seven years and $7 billion, Shell is throwing in the towel on its drilling program in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northern coast. The company said that although there were "indications of oil and gas," they were "not sufficient to warrant further exploration." The decision took into account not only Shell's disappointing results in its most recent well drilled last summer, but also the project's high costs and unpredictable regulatory environment. Article here

Mergers and Acquisitions News

Energy Transfer Equity still pursuing Williams acquisition
Although ETE made a failed bid for the Tulsa-based Williams last spring, reports are surfacing that ETE continues to make offers for a proposed merger. One report says that Williams' board is currently reviewing a revised offer. The potential deal was described by ETE's board chairman Kelcy Warren as creating a "transformative combination." Article here


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