Drilling

Shell, ExxonMobil Employees Reportedly Among Flight MH17 Victims

Employees of Royal Dutch Shell plc and ExxonMobil Corp. were reported to be among the 298 victims of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, which was shot down by a missile fired by unknown assailants over Ukraine on Thursday. Read More

Furie Gets Funding to Turn On Cook Inlet's 'Kitchen Lights'

Independent Furie Operating Alaska LLC has secured funding for the installation of the first new offshore natural gas production platform in Alaska's Cook Inlet since 2000. Read More

New Mexico BLM Oil/Gas Leases Fetch $83M

An oil and natural gas lease auction Wednesday by the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in New Mexico garnered $83 million in proceeds for leases in four counties in the southeastern corner of the state. The 31 leases are for 10 years, the BLM said. Read More

U.S. Basin Reinvention, Capex Levels Pique Analysts’ Interest in 2Q Reports

North American natural gas and oil operators should offer more insight into capital spending through the rest of the year, as well as a few surprises, as 2Q2014 reports are unveiled, analysts said this week. Read More

Shell Touts Third Discovery in GOM's Norphlet Trend

A U.S. unit of Royal Dutch Shell plc has hit another discovery in the Norphlet formation in the eastern deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), its third successful well in the play. Read More

Newbuild Surplus Puts Pressure on U.S. Offshore Drillers

The supply of vessels for U.S. offshore drilling has led to a surplus following several years of new construction, which in turn has cut into the dayrates... Read More

Landrieu Opens Series of Field Hearings on Offshore Production

U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, held the first of what she said will be a series of field hearings Monday in Lafayette, LA, to examine Outer Continental Shelf energy production and to identify what actions the federal government can take to maximize opportunities and minimize challenges there. Read More

Interior IG: 'Very Long' Review of Drilling Applications at BLM

Overall processing times at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for drilling applications on onshore federal and Indian lands have improved, but review times remain very long, largely due to government inefficiencies. However, oil and gas operators share some of the blame, according to the Inspector General's (IG) Office at the U.S. Department of Interior. Read More

House Bill Would Force Administration to Move on Oil/NatGas Lease Sales

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill that its sponsor, Rep. Doc Hastings (D-WA), said would increase domestic oil and natural gas production by requiring the Obama administration to move on offshore lease sales, including off the coast of Virginia, and in areas of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A). Read More

Escalating Upstream Costs Pressuring E&P Returns, Says IHS

The shift to more oil and liquids production, and higher commodity prices, have failed to lift corporate returns on average capital employed (ROACE), for exploration and production (E&P) companies, which are lower than they were in 2001, IHS Inc. said Friday. Read More