Oil and Gas Investor Magazine - April 2016

Cover Story

Last Basin Standing?

With superior wellhead economics and a deep bench of productive formations, the Permian Basin is a safe haven for many E&Ps in an economic downturn. But what oil price is needed for new capital investment?

Feature

A&D Watch

Given all the companies looking to sell out in the downturn, the world’s largest publicly traded oil and gas company, ExxonMobil Corp., would appear to be a likely buyer. But for now, takeovers are a nonstarter for the Irving, Texas-based company. ExxonMobil executives don’t want the debt that would come with a merger.

Aubrey McClendon: Game-changer

He didn’t invent the shale revolution, but he certainly took it to the next level.

Mind The Talent Gap

Downcycles are a prime time for introspection. Successful companies are reviewing skill sets and expertise from top to bottom to bridge the knowledge-experience gap and be positioned for the turnaround.

Painting The Target

A decade ago, RKI’s Ronnie Irani scribbled out his ideas for the Delaware Basin on a blank sheet of paper. Years later, WPX Energy Inc. found those ideas translated into a powerhouse of production.

Shift Out Of Oil Overdrive

Not all companies held on desperately to production growth through 2015. EOG Resources Inc.’s first response was to sharply curtail drilling.

Supreme Court Vacancy Raises Questions For Energy

The debate from all circles will reshape this campaign season. Stratas Advisors believes the refusal to consider Garland’s nomination would damage Republican candidates for the Senate come November.

The Capital Search

Growth is in the industry’s DNA, but a lot has to happen before growth is possible again. Where will the capital come from?

The Export Battle Won

Continental Resources Inc. chairman and CEO Harold Hamm was relentless in his advocacy of lifting the ban on U.S. crude exports. He shares his outlook on prices, the company’s strategy and more.

Upstream Contagion

With upstream economics pressured, questions arise as to whether looming E&P bankruptcies foreshadow contract renegotiations for the midstream sector.

A&D Trends

Western Anadarko In Bloom

Operators have been exploring and dril­ling wells in the Anadarko since at least the 1930s. Horizontal drilling revitalized the basin and opened up even more ways to get at the resource.

At Closing

The Wall Of Worry

EIA chief Fatih Birol said any price recovery would lead to increased U.S. shale drilling, putting us right back where we started by capping the price rally. He also cautioned that longer term, as global demand inexorably grows, shale oil will be needed, but oil supply is threatened by the drastic cut in spending, a thought echoed by several other speakers.

Bright Spots

Meet Josh Hickman

Josh Hickman began his career with Consol in 2003 as it spun off its oil and gas assets into CNX Inc. As the company’s only oil and gas geologist, he was given responsibility for the company’s 1.6 million acres of oil and gas rights across the central and eastern U.S.

Completions

Crushing It

Cowen & Co. analysts think the U.S. rig count will hit bottom soon. “Out of the 32 E&Ps that have announced D&C capex for 2016, 19 have provided rig count guidance implying 51 rigs will be dropped,” they said in a report.

E&P Momentum

Open-field Running

Cleveland Tonkawa sands are over-pressured with enough permeability to flow oil and condensate when drilled horizontally. Although considered tight sands, the play doesn’t meet the strict nanodarcy definition of an unconventional formation.

From the Editor-in-Chief

Of Trump, Clinton Or Other

But the outcome of the presidential election does matter to our industry and its future, even if energy isn’t being discussed. Just ask the coal industry how it likes hope and change.

On the Money

New Money For The Gulf

Meanwhile, in the Gulf of Mexico, Cobalt estimated that it has a net discovered resource of 500- to 650 million barrels of oil equivalent at its North Platte, Anchor and Shenandoah discoveries. Each of these has an additional appraisal well planned or in process.