[copious.abundance]

More hits! The oil and gas investment dollars are a-flowin' !!!!!

Investment in the under-explored northeastern Brazilian coast.

>>> LINK <<<
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Petrobras plans massive offshore drilling, development investment in Sergipe
Dateline: March 17, 2010
Published: Mar 17, 2010

Source: Petrobras

The president and CEO of Petrobras (PBR), José Sergio Gabrielli, Exploration and Production director, Guilherme Estrella, and Gas & Energy director, Graça Foster, made an official visit to the State of Sergipe to announce a major exploratory drilling campaign in the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin in 2010. Petrobras' investments in Exploration and Production in Sergipe add up to US $617.3 million (R $1.5 billion).

[...]

[TheAntiDoomer]

The dolla dolla bils just keep on coming!

Consol Expands U.S. Natural Gas Footprint with $3.5B Deal

http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp ... a_id=89735

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')onsol Energy Inc., expecting that coal and natural gas will continue supplying U.S. energy needs for years, shored up its operations with the $3.5 billion purchase of Dominion Resources Inc.'s Appalachian Basin natural gas exploration-production business.

The primary resource Consol acquires in the deal announced Monday is more than 491,000 acres in Pennsylvania and West Virginia that are part of the natural gas-rich Marcellus Shale formation. The transaction includes nearly 1.5 million acres, with more than 9,000 producing wells.

[copious.abundance]

>>> LINK <<<
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]OPEC returning to oil sector investment
BEN PERRY
March 19, 2010
AFP

With oil prices steady around $US80, OPEC countries are returning to energy investment projects postponed at the height of the economic crisis, while foreign firms are playing a major role.

OPEC nations used the sidelines of this week's meeting of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries to speak about their plans for significant investments in energy infrastructures.

The cartel that pumps 40 per cent of world oil agreed to freeze its output ceiling at a meeting in Vienna on Wednesday against a backdrop of recovering oil prices.

And with oil demand set to rise over the long term, investment in the energy sector, from drilling projects to building new refineries is essential.

"All our delayed projects are in motion now as prices move up," OPEC Secretary General Abdalla Salem El-Badri told reporters after the cartel's latest output announcement.

[...]

[TheAntiDoomer]

OH MY, this graph is telling!!!!!



Today's Trends: U.S. Shale Activity Picks Up Pace

http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=90035
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')In the ongoing U.S. land drilling recovery, activity in key shale plays is rallying at an impressive pace.

In the chart above, we analyze the rig count for select states characterized by significant high growth shale play acreage compared to the overall count, indexing both rig counts to 100 in January 2008.

The shale state rig count index, which represents unconventional drilling activity in key basins, held up much better than the overall U.S. rig count index in the downturn (declining only about half as much). Furthermore, the shale rig index has more than doubled since the bottom -- a much more significant rally than the 65% recovery for the broader market.

[TheAntiDoomer]

Baker Hughes: U.S. Rig Count Continues to Climb

http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp ... 720&hmpn=1

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'B')aker Hughes reported that the international rig count for March 2010 was 1,074, up 6 from the 1,068 counted in February 2010, and up 62 from the 1,012 counted in March 2009. The international offshore rig count for March 2010 was 295, down 6 from the 301 counted in February 2010 and up 14 from the 281 counted in March 2009.

[Maddog78]

I suspect the rig count is about or near its peak for a while, maybe for 6 - 8 months or so.
The big recent run up in n. gas drilling rigs has just about run its course.
This weeks drop in in n. gas price to near or even below 4 buck will make co. think twice about going full speed ahead. Storage is still well above 5 year averages.
My co. has only added the one rig and will not add any more until we see definite signs of a recovery in n. gas prices. This recovery is encouraging service providers to push through price increases again and that will also cause operators to reconsider a full speed recovery to 2007/08 levels of drilling.
Should gas show signs of moving towards 5 bucks or better due to a drop in storage levels it won't take long to pick things up on the drilling side.

[Maddog78]

As earlier posted, things are picking up and service companies are re-hiring and trying to pass on price increases to the operators.


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... _6r44pD1e8



$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')pril 19 (Bloomberg) -- Halliburton Co., the world’s second-largest oilfield contractor, expanded its workforce for the first time since 2008 as gains from onshore exploration helped the company exceed analyst profit expectations.

The company increased its workforce by about 1,200, or 2 percent, in the first quarter, mostly to meet growing demand for services in North America, spokeswoman Cathy Mann said today. Houston-based Halliburton cut about 6,000 jobs last year as the recession eroded energy demand, dragging down prices.

Halliburton’s only revenue gain was a 1.2 percent increase in North America, where producers accelerated development of unconventional oil and gas reservoirs. Drilling techniques pioneered in U.S. shale-gas projects are enabling companies to bust open petroleum deposits trapped in rock and sand that were previously unprofitable to exploit. The number of U.S. oil rigs rose to a 19-year high last week, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

snip..............................

[mcgowanjm]

^
^
l
l-So what do we care about a Dubai Corporation?

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')Halliburton’s only revenue gain was a 1.2 percent increase in North America, where producers accelerated development of unconventional oil and gas reservoirs. Drilling techniques pioneered in U.S. shale-gas projects are enabling companies to bust open petroleum deposits trapped in rock and sand that were previously unprofitable to exploit. The number of U.S. oil rigs rose to a 19-year high last week, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

[Maddog78]

You're right, why should you care if Halliburton hired 1200 people in America?
It goes against your doomer ethos.


As per the second bit of drivel you posted about royalties, I have no comments for a person who doesn't even know the difference between an oilfield service company and an operator.
What does paying royalties have to do with Halliburton hiring back people?

Maybe it's related to your 1 in 6 people starving in America, too?


You would think someone who posts on a peak oil board and who criticizes oil companies would at least learn the basics of how the oil business operates.

[Maddog78]

http://www.financialpost.com/news-secto ... id=3022640




China to invest more than $1B in Penn West deal

Read more: http://www.financialpost.com/news-secto ... z0nprdb6Ot

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'P')enn West Energy Trust has struck a joint venture with China's sovereign wealth fund to develop the company's oil sands assets in the Peace River area of Northern Alberta.

Under the terms of the agreement, Penn West will contribute $1.8-billion of assets to the joint venture, while China Investment Corp. (CIC) will invest $817-million to acquire a 45% stake in the partnership. CIC will also provide Penn West with $435-million in financing by buying about 23.5 million units of the income trust in a private placement.

In a statement, the two companies said they believe the oil assets represent a "world class resource" and that the potential production and reserves are "substantial." The assets include 237,000 net acres of oil sands leases, with current production of about 2,700 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

[copious.abundance]

Where's AP these days? He seems to have disappeared!

In case he's lurking, here's a bit of news for him to peruse.

The oil sands’ silent boom
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')...]

Add up the recent developments, however, and it is clear that the dark days of 2009 are now in the past. The Canadian Energy Research Institute calculates that in late 2008 and 2009, companies paused or abandoned a million barrels per day of production. Since then, they have brought back to life 1.4 million barrels a day – a substantial increase.

[...]

[AirlinePilot]

Oh I'm still here, I just don't enjoy wasting my time. You are once again proving my initial point and the entire point of the thread, that the declining price of oil in 2008-09 caused massive rethinking of projects and outright cancellations. Nowhere did I say that this would be a permanent characteristic of the oil industry. Your predictable and time wasting rantings about fundamental price/production signals don't warrant a response. Hence you see little of me here wasting time with hopeless cornies like you.

[Tanada]

I am bumping this topic because I think it will be very relevant in the next few weeks. I keep seeing hints in the media online that some drillers are facing tough sledding when looking for loans because of the current low price for oil.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')OUSTON – Prices for the risky corporate bonds that have fueled the U.S. shale energy boom are plummeting as oil prices have fallen below $60 a barrel for the first time in more than five years.

The U.S. energy-sector’s high-yield bond prices, known as junk bonds because they carry high risk for investors, have dropped 18.9 percent since the end of June to the close of trading Friday – putting the sector on track for its worst performance in returns since the financial crisis of 2008, according to Barclays.

Most of that decline has occurred in the last 30 days. It’s already making it harder for oil companies to reach out to the financial markets to fund more of their drilling operations, as “in the high-yield space there’s a distinct lack of liquidity in the market right now,” said Larry Whistler, president and chief investment officer at Nottingham Advisors.

Whistler said investors are getting nervous about collateral damage to other sectors, but added he doubts any fallout will be far-reaching.

Other industry observers are less optimistic: The $173 billion in U.S. energy junk bonds make up the biggest portion of the high-yield debt market after the Federal Reserve set low interest rates for years and pushed yield-starved investors toward riskier investments.

Now, as prices for those bonds are in free fall, those investors may begin wondering “what sector would be next,” prompting them to avoid or sell off more debt-market sectors, said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. “It doesn’t take a lot for one sector to affect another.”

Prices for the entire spectrum of U.S. corporate bonds have tumbled 7.7 percent since June, and are also set to perform worse than any year since the U.S. credit crunch six years ago, according to Barclays.

The British bank’s data shows U.S. energy bonds’ option-adjusted spread – a measure of risk for fixed-income instruments – has more than doubled since June, and the spread for U.S. corporate debt has jumped 63 percent.

The sharp selloff comes as a handful of small oil companies are approaching or have exceeded 20 percent yields, analysts with Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. said in an investor update Monday.

The analysts noted that large operators like Occidental Petroleum and EOG Resources have “fared well with little change to yields.”

For companies including Oasis Petroleum, Laredo Petroleum, Rosetta Resources, EP Energy Corp. and Carrizo Oil & Gas, “where we see significant equity upside on core tier 1 assets and where budgets can be pared back to cash flow, we’re less worried,” they wrote.

[copious.abundance]

^
AP had already started a sort-of follow-up thread to this topic here.