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Analyst: Calif. shale oil field results disappoint
AP, via BloombergBusinessweek
A California oil field thought to be one of the biggest in the U.S. has been producing much less oil than hoped, according to a report by Alliance Bernstein analyst Bob Brackett…
… drillers haven’t been able to get the Monterey Shale to produce oil at high rates. Brackett suggests that there are a few characteristics of the geology that could make the field more difficult to develop…
(31 July 2012)
Drought strains U.S. oil production
Steve Hargreaves, CNN Money
One of the worst droughts in U.S. history is hampering oil production, pitting farmers against oilmen and highlighting just how dependent on water modern U.S. energy development has become…
“We’re having difficulty acquiring water,” said Chris Faulkner, CEO of Breitling Oil and Gas, an oil company with operations in many of the new shale regions including Bakken in North Dakota and Marcellus in Pennsylvania.
Faulkner said officials in two Pennsylvania counties have stopped issuing permits for oil companies to draw water from rivers, forcing them to go further afield to obtain the crucial resource…
(31 July 2012)
Gas liquids bloodbath brings shale pain to oil market
Edward Klump, Mike Lee, Financial Post
The shale boom that sent natural-gas prices to a 10 year low is being felt for the first time in the oil markets.
Williams Partners LP joined Marathon Oil Corp. and Devon Energy Corp. Wednesday in blaming a glut of propane and related products for lower profits in the second quarter. Next week more companies are expected to show the effects of falling prices for so-called natural-gas liquids used in backyard barbecues and motor fuels as producer Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Targa Resources Partners LP, a pipeline and storage company whose trading symbol is NGLS, release earnings.
The “NGL bloodbath,” as it was dubbed by Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. last month, is rippling across the oil and gas industry as explorers cut production and reduce cash flow projections, service companies forecast lower demand for drilling rigs, and pipeline partnerships suffer falling revenue for their gas liquids processing plants. The price of an ethane- propane NGL mix is down 58% from a high in January, outpacing the 19 percent drop in crude from a February peak…
(2 July 2012)
