This past weekend, we read a half dozen transcripts of earnings calls from the oil majors and national oil companies (NOCs). The big guys are all whistling the same tune. They are successfully re-engineering pending deepwater projects to fit $50 oil (and below). They are ready to clear their final investment decision …
Read More »Operators Overheard Getting Grilled About Service Cost Inflation In Vail Last Week
In Vail Colorado last week, Credit Suisse hosted most of the publicly traded upstream industry for the firm’s annual energy summit. Between runs down the slopes, oilfield C-suites talked 2017 prospects with their investors. While service companies were in the next room over talking excitedly about raising prices, E&P management teams …
Read More »Reader Response To Last Mile Research
Our last mile deep dive published earlier this week resulted in the best 24-hour period for signups during Infill Thinking’s short five-month history. We share this not to brag. Instead, we see this as confirmation that the metamorphosis in frac sand’s last mile is indeed transformative with broad implications for the industry …
Read More »Shale Executive Sentiment Index Proved Prophetic
Late-last year, we introduced our Shale Executive Sentiment Index to try and gauge how management teams from drilling to service to E&P were thinking about growth in 2017. We were able to measure sentiment by quantifying the frequency of references to growth as shale executives spoke to investors. At the time …
Read More »Another Day, Another Permian Deal
WPX Energy joined in the Permian deal making fray, announcing a $775mm Delaware Basin acquisition late Thursday. 2017 operating plan announcements from Permian Independents aren’t the standard fare this year. We are used beginning of year E&P operating plans stating capex, production, and drilling program summaries. This year they are …
Read More »Two Operators Mashed Their Gas Pedals In The Permian This Week [Bullet Points]
News from Parsley Energy and SM Energy on Tuesday continued the Great Permian Migration trend this week. We break down the news into the most important incremental bullet points and provide a few words on the bigger picture trend in the Permian. By the way, if you are looking to …
Read More »Read The Controversial Permian Basin Survey That Is Raising Eyebrows
We don’t normally republish articles from third party sources in full. But an in depth survey on the state of the Permian released at the end of last year is making the rounds this week. And if you haven’t seen it yet, it is definitely worth taking a look. Runaway …
Read More »E&P In A Nano-Darcy World – A Brute Force Enterprise Finding Elegance
On a conference call in 2011, the always eloquent Clay Williams of National Oilwell Varco (then CFO, now CEO) said: The unconventional shale model is utterly unlike drilling a generation ago, which saw fleeting glimpses of precious darcy reservoir rock here or there, elusive four-way closure, a rare and fortuitous geologic …
Read More »The Great Permian Migration Continues With SM Energy Deal
The shale industry kicked off the new year with a continuation of the great migration to the Permian Basin. This morning SM Energy announced the sale of its third party operated assets in the Eagle Ford, including its ownership interest in related midstream assets, for $800 million. In this update we …
Read More »Shale Executive Sentiment Index Surges Up To Levels Last Seen At $100 Oil
Two years into the downturn and at oil prices just half of prior highs, the US tight oil industry has begun to stage a recovery. We’ve all seen this new optimism in the tangible data. Rig count, capex, headcount, frac utilization – these are just a few of the US …
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