Alaska North Slope crude oil production averaged 459,327 barrels per day in July, down 6.53 percent from a June average of 491,419 bpd, a drop driven primarily by scheduled maintenance. The largest month-over-month drop was at the ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Alpine field, which averaged 36,748 bp…
Rep. Geran Tarr is wrapping up her fourth year on the House Resources Committee. Even after nearly six months of talk on oil tax credits and rates, there was no break during the interim. Resource committee members from both chambers met to discuss the prospects of the AKLNG project and whether the a…
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has notified companies holding oil and gas leases on the federal outer continental shelf that the agency is updating its requirements for financial assurance and risk management associated with the decommissioning of oil and gas production facilities. The agency…
Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas has approved a permit allowing Geokinetics Inc. to conduct a 3-D seismic survey during the winter of 2016-17 over about 64 square miles of state land on the North Slope about 40 miles southwest of Deadhorse. The area of the survey, called the Itkillik survey, lies so…
Scientists from Alaska’s Division of Geological and Geophysical Services have published the results of a detailed analysis of rock core from the Wainwright No. 1 well, a coalbed methane test well drilled by the U.S. Geological Survey in conjunction with the Bureau of Land Management in 2007. The pur…
A new study by the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Institute of Social and Economic Research finds compensation – salary and benefits – not significantly different between public and private workers.
ISER researchers Mouhcine Guettabi and Matt Berman studied wage and benefits of private and state…
Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas is seeking comments on a best interest finding, proposing the sale of state royalty oil to Petro Star Inc. The oil would be used as a feedstock for Petro Star refineries in North Pole and Valdez. The division requires comments by Aug. 29.
The proposal involves two se…
On July 27 the U.S. Department of Energy announced that it had selected eight research and development projects to receive a total of $11.8 million in funding under the agency’s program for subsurface engineering research and development. The projects target technologies for the storage of waste car…
The Bureau of Land Management is putting the finishing touches to its new online system for the electronic filing of drilling permit applications. The agency has announced the completion of a multiyear upgrade to its online system – the rollout of the system began in October 2015. The plan is to mov…
The public advocacy section of the state attorney general’s office has commented to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska on Chugach Electric Association’s proposed internal pricing for the utility’s natural gas from the Beluga gas field. Chugach Electric, in conjunction with Municipal Light and Power,…
Dan Stickel has been appointed chief economist at the Alaska Department of Revenue, Commissioner Randy Hoffbeck said. Stickel has been assistant state economist since 2011.
He joined the department’s Tax Division in 2004, and has worked in administration of the state’s tax and revenue systems along…
Lower oil prices continue to punish Exxon Mobil Corp., which reported its weakest quarterly profit in nearly 17 years.
Exxon still earned $1.7 billion in the second quarter. It was, however, down 59 percent from a year ago, and per share income missed Wall Street expectations.
The energy giant cit…
The number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. increased by one the week ending July 29 to 463.
A year ago, 874 rigs were active. Depressed energy prices have sharply curtailed oil and gas exploration.
Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. said 374 rigs were targetin…
The office that processes claims for businesses and people who suffered economic losses from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill says it has approved payments totaling $8.5 billion as of June 30.
Of that, $7.9 billion in claims has been paid.
The figures are in the latest federal court filing from M…
Gov. Bill Walker said July 22 that the state has contracted with former-Attorney General Craig Richards to provide legal counsel on oil and gas development matters, including the Alaska LNG project.
When the governor announced June 23 that Richards was stepping down as attorney general, he thanked…
Perhaps predictably, the Regulatory Commission of Alaska has suspended a rate increase recently proposed by Enstar Natural Gas Co., the main Southcentral gas utility, and has ordered a hearing into the rate change. The state Department of Law, the Southcentral Alaska electric utilities and some othe…
Polyguard Products Inc. said it recently held its 29th annual employee stock ownership plan dinner at Winding Brooks event venue where 22 new employees received their first account statement.
Polyguard’s ESOP is a broad-based ownership plan where employees become owners with no out-of-pocket contrib…
Roughly 74 percent of U.S. Bureau of Land Management-administered lands in Alaska’s Eastern Interior region will be off limits to mining, according to the preferred resource management plan published July 30 by the federal land manager.
BLM is responsible for the management of 6.5 million acres in t…
PND Engineers Inc. recently said it is pleased to announce Anchorage staff professional achievements for Alexandra West, Corey Roche and Feifei Bai.
West and Roche have obtained professional engineer registrations from the state of Alaska. Both are lifelong Alaskans and graduates of the University…
Coeur Mining Inc. July 27 said the costs to produce each ounce of gold at its Kensington Mine reached a new historical low in the second quarter. The Southeast Alaska operation churned out 32,210 oz. gold at US$740/oz. during the period, compared with 29,845 oz. gold at US$745/oz. during the same pe…
With immense sadness, Ucore Rare Metals Inc. Aug. 2 reported the sudden passing of COO Ken Collison, a mining engineer highly regarded both professionally and personally. ‘Ken was a towering figure in the mine engineering industry,’ said Ucore President and CEO Jim McKenzie. ‘His outstanding success…
Kinross Gold Corp. July 27 reported that its Fort Knox Mine in Interior Alaska produced 97,221 ounces of gold in the second quarter, down 16 percent from output of 116,061 oz. during the same period in 2015. The company attributed the lower production primarily to lower mill grades and recoveries. T…
Coventry Resources Ltd. July 28 said its 2016 field program has extended mineralization at its high-grade Caribou Dome copper project in Alaska by more than 1,000 meters. A historical reserve of 550,000 short tons averaging 5.84 percent copper was calculated for the Caribou Dome deposit in 1970. Cov…
Teck Resources Inc. July 27 reported that its Red Dog Mine in Northwest Alaska produced 152,900 metric tons of zinc and 27,100 metric tons of lead during the second quarter of 2016. This is about a 1 percent drop for zinc and a 13 percent drop for lead, when compared with production during the same…
Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. Aug. 3 said the commissioning of the Gahcho Kué diamond plant in Northwest Territories has been completed ahead of schedule and the ramp up to commercial production has commenced. Gahcho Kué remains on track to achieve commercial production on schedule during the firs…
Atac Resources Ltd. Aug. 2 reported the conclusion of an agreement to sell Arcus Development Group Inc. its 50 percent interest in the Dawson Gold Joint Venture. Formed in 2012, the JV contains four mineral properties – Dan Man, Touleary, Green Gulch and Shamrock – located in Yukon Territory’s White…
Strategic Metals Ltd. Aug. 3 posted results from exploration at its OOO property, a silver-gold property located midway between Goldcorp Inc.’s Coffee gold project and Rockhaven Resources Ltd.’s Klaza gold-silver project. The silver- and gold-rich epithermal veins at OOO have received little histori…
Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. July 28 provided an update on its gold projects in Nunavut. The company’s Meadowbank Mine produced 144,713 ounces gold at total cash costs of US$789/oz. through the first half of 2016, compared with 179,799 oz. gold at US$672/oz. during the first six months of 2015. The lower…
TerraX Minerals Inc. July 28 reported the start of a 27,000-meter drill program at its Yellowknife City Gold project in the Northwest Territories. Drilling is now underway on the Mispickel target, where discovery drilling during the winter of 2016 program cut 8.6 meters averaging 12.87 grams per me…
Strategic Metals Ltd. July 28 posted results from the initial phase of 2016 exploration at its Hartless Joe gold-silver property, located 28 kilometers (17 miles) northeast of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. High-grade results were obtained from three showings in the north-central portion of the proper…
RIL has also sought shareholders’ approval to raise Rs10,000 crore through non-convertible debentures (NCDs) this fiscal year.
High yield bond funds suffered their first redemptions since June last week in a sign that investor nerves have been rattled by the in the price of crude.
The asset class, which had enjoyed a after a turbulent first quarter, counted $1.9bn of withdrawals in the week to August 3, according to data provider EPFR. It marked the largest withdrawal in seven weeks and drained junk bond fund inflows for the year to less than $1bn.
Scrutiny of the has come to the fore after US oil prices briefly dipped below $40 a barrel, sliding into bear market territory. The threat of rising inventories of gasoline — which slipped after three successive weeks of increases — as the driving season in the US winds to an end has weighed on the energy sector.
Bonds issued by a swath of lowly-rated groups have weakened since oil began its slow and seemingly silent decline. While West Texas Intermediate, the US oil marker, has advanced for two consecutive days — the first time it has done so since mid-July — it remains 19 per cent below the year’s peak.
Debt sold by oil exploration group Murphy Oil, offshore drilling servicer Rowan Companies and oil and gas servicer Weatherford International, have all weakened over the past two weeks, data from electronic bond trading platform MarketAxess shows.
“People watch oil pretty closely with high yield given what has happened over the past 18 months,” said Marc Bushallow, managing director of fixed income at Manning & Napier. Mr Bushallow noted that the drop in bond prices was far more moderate than slides seen in January and February, when fears swelled that many junk-rated energy groups were on the verge of default.
“You have not yet seen a lot of forced sellers,” he added. “It remains pretty well bid on a day like today when equities are unchanged.”
The search for income sent buyers instead to US corporate and , which have been appealing destinations for foreign investors. Bond-buying programmes from the Bank of Japan and European Central Bank, as well as fresh stimulus from the Bank of England on Thursday, has depressed sovereign bond yields across the globe and driven many investors out of their home markets.
Emerging market bond funds counted $2.1bn of fresh additions in the last week, lifting inflows over the past five weeks to $16.4bn, according to the EPFR data.
Funds that invest in highly rated US corporate bonds counted $735m of inflows in the last week, more than doubling the prior week’s haul and extending its streak of inflows to 10 weeks.
European equity funds remained under pressure as investors assess the fallout from Britain’s vote to leave the EU. Investors withdrew $3.9bn from funds invested in stocks across the continent, lifting outflows since the Brexit vote to $24.5bn.
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Joe Kaeser, CEO of , calls his ambitious restructuring agenda “Vision 2020”. Impatient investors hope he will deliver improvements earlier than that. This year offers some relief: on Thursday, earnings targets for 2016 were raised for the second time this year. The shares rose 5 per cent.
The strength is in part derived from a 69 per cent profit increase in the power and gas unit. It acquired Dresser Rand, a Texan oil equipment manufacturer, last year. The deal was amid falling oil prices. Today, the combined subsidiary is benefiting from an €8bn “,” building power plants and wind turbines in Egypt. Profits from the projects will continue to lift revenues — if in lumpy fashion — as delivery progresses.
Despite global challenges, orders are flowing faster than revenue gets booked. If this continues through the current environment of global stress and uncertainty, Mr Kaeser’s vision will have proven perfect indeed.
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According to the Oil Field Act, ONGC/OIL are required to pay 20% royalty on price of crude oil it extracts from onland oil blocks to the state governments.
Hundreds of workers on North Sea oil and gas rigs downed tools on Thursday in an escalation of a dispute which has highlighted mounting economic pressure on the UK offshore energy industry.
Seven platforms operated by are affected by the 48-hour stoppage involving employees of its maintenance contractor, .
The strike has exposed rising anger among the North Sea workforce over successive rounds of cuts to jobs and pay since oil prices crashed two years ago.
A by Wood Group workers last month was the first strike by offshore workers in the North Sea for almost 30 years. Talks aimed at averting further action broke down earlier this week.
John Boland, regional officer for Unite, which called the strike together with the RMT union, said workers were bearing a disproportionate share of the pain from the downturn in the oil market. “This is the third round of cuts [by Wood Group] and workers are being offered an unrealistic wage for the work they are doing,” he said.
Shell has so far managed to avoid disruption to production from the dispute, which affects the Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Nelson, Gannet, Shearwater and Curlew platforms. But the Anglo-Dutch group said it was deeply disappointed by the renewed stoppage and urged the two sides to keep talking.
“The UK oil and gas industry is facing an unprecedented challenge with the lower oil price environment and structural change is needed if the North Sea is to remain competitive,” said a Shell spokesman.
The North Sea was under pressure from declining output and high costs even before oil prices collapsed and industry leaders say it is now in a . Oil & Gas UK, the trade group, has estimated that, by the end of this year, over will have been lost in the industry and associated sectors since 2014.
Service providers such as Aberdeen-based Wood Group have been squeezed as big customers such as Shell look to their supply chains for savings.
Wood Group says its workers on the Shell platforms are facing an average 3 per cent cut in pay but unions argue that, when benefits are included, the drop in earnings is as high as 30 per cent for some.
Dave Stewart, chief executive for Wood Group’s eastern region business, was “hugely disappointed” that talks with the unions had collapsed. He said Wood Group had offered to suspend implementation of the proposed cuts while talks continued. Mr Boland said the unions wanted them removed from the discussion altogether to allow negotiations to start from scratch.
