Oil And Gas Index News

Schlumberger, the world's largest oilfield services firm, and smaller peer Subsea 7 said on Friday they were entering exclusive talks to form a joint venture to deliver subsea installations and services for oilfields. The news lifted Subsea 7 shares on hopes the talks could be the first step towards a full takeover, in a sector that has already seen consolidation with the 2016 merger of Technip and FMC Technologies. In recent months, oil firms have returned to profits due to higher oil prices and the benefits of deep cost cuts they made during the downturn.

SBM Offshore, a Dutch provider of floating oil and gas production vessels, raised its core earnings guidance on Wednesday citing clients slowly spending more on deepsea projects. "Deepwater is becoming attractive again. It's on a par from an economic standpoint with shale oil," said Chief Executive Bruno Chabas, in reference to a recovery in spending which fell after a sharp drop in oil prices in 2014. Due to low production costs, the shale oil market has attracted huge investments, especially in the United States, and outperformed investor interest elsewhere in the oil market.

Borr Drilling, founded by former executives of financially troubled Seadrill, has snapped up Transocean's fleet of shallow-water drilling rigs for $1.35 billion. The rig market deal is Borr's biggest since it was set up last year by Tor Olav Troeim and other executives who had left Seadrill, once the jewel in the crown of Norwegian-born shipping tycoon John Fredriksen but now battling with $14 billion in debt and liabilities. After years at Fredriksen's side, Troeim split with him in 2014. Since then Troeim has re-established himself as an independent player in the global shipping market with a high profile and a reputation for successful capital raising. Transocean, executives at Borr Drilling and Troeim were not immediately available for comment.

Royal Dutch Shell has abandoned its Arctic search for oil after failing to find enough crude in a move that will appease environmental campaigners and shareholders who said its project was too expensive and risky. Shell has spent about $7 billion on exploration in the waters off Alaska so far and said it could take a hit of up to $4.1 billion for pulling out of the Chukchi Sea for the "foreseeable future". The unsuccessful campaign is Shell's second major setback in the Arctic after it interrupted exploration for three years in 2012 when an enormous drilling rig broke free and grounded.

Norway's Statoil has found more gas offshore Tanzania, increasing its total for an eventual investment decision on a liquefaction plant with Britain's BG Group, which operates neighboring exploration blocks, it said on Tuesday. Statoil found another 1.2 trillion cubic feet of gas in its block, taking its total volume in-place to 21 trillion cubic feet, or about 3.8 billion barrels of oil equivalents. BG has also found about 15 trillion cubic feet of gross resources in nearby blocks. "This discovery has proven the gas play extends into the western part of block 2, which opens additional prospects," Statoil said in a statement. Although Statoil and its partner ExxonMobil have released few detail on the project…

Norwegian Arctic discovery could be game changer; Lundin Petroleum shares rise 7 percent. Noreco, Det Norske shares also rise on news. Swedish oil firm Lundin Petroleum has made a big oil and gas discovery in the Norwegian Arctic, sending its shares more than 7 percent higher and raising hopes that more oil could be found in the remote region. Lundin Petroleum's find in the Alta prospect contains between 125 and 400 million barrels of oil equivalent, including 85 to 310 million barrels of oil, near Statoil's Snoehvit field and Lundin's own Gohta find, the firm said in a statement on Tuesday. The discovery raises hopes that more oil could be found in a region where only a handful of oil fields have been discovered after several decades, and none have started production.

Norway's Statoil defied gloom in the oil sector by reporting first-quarter earnings above expectations on Tuesday due to higher prices and good results from shale gas activities in the United States, lifting its shares. Regarding new sanctions on Russia, Statoil's CEO told Reuters it was too early to say whether he would attend a high-profile St Petersburg economic forum in June as planned, as the firm had to assess the impact of the measures first. Oil firms have seen their profit margins decline due to a rise in costs as crude becomes more difficult to extract and several big projects…

Reuters - The global oil drilling market will slow by more than expected over the next two years as energy firms save cash for dividends and delay exploration, Seadrill , the world's biggest offshore driller by market capitalisation, said. Oil companies are struggling with cash outflows, while they also need to spend more just to maintain production levels at their existing assets, where depletion rates are high, Seadrill said on Tuesday. "Combined with a relatively high dividend payout and increasing development cost to bring new production on stream, oil companies have limited opportunities to fund exploration activities," Seadrill, the crown jewel is shipping tycoon John Fredriksen's business empire, said in a quarterly results statement.

The offshore support-vessels builder has outperformed the FTSE Straits Times Oil and Gas Index, of which it is a component, making year-to-date returns of 38.8 per cent compared with the index's 16.8 per cent, reports 'Sgmarine Industries'. First and foremost, STX is in the right place at the right time, with the conventional shipbuilding sector having taken a hammering because new ships are no longer being ordered. STX OSV, however, has been incredibly blessed with orders. Vessels built by STX OSV are tied to the oil-and-gas industry, which is in the midst of expanding into deeper-water exploration as shallow water or land sources of energy dry up.

Energy shares drew little comfort Feb. 4 from rising oil prices lifted first by red hot heating oil, then gasoline soaring to nine-year highs. U.S. light crude for March delivery settled 79 cents higher at $28.82 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, about $1 away from post Gulf War highs reached in late January. Prompt heat oil barges delivered to the New York Harbor soared to a $1.00 premium to the futures, which closed up 0.88 cent at 78.78 cents gallon. This put the cash wholesale price for a gallon of the fuel over $1.73, their highest ever level. Gasoline futures shot up to a fresh nine-year high of 80.15 cents a gallon amid fears that current tight supplies may even get tighter as the summer driving season looms.