Ted Kerr News

General Electric Co said on Monday it would merge its oil and gas business with Baker Hughes Inc, creating the world's second-largest oilfield services provider as competition heats up to supply more-efficient products and services to the energy industry after several years of low crude prices. The deal to create a company with $32 billion in annual revenue will combine GE's strengths in making equipment long-prized by oil producers with Baker Hughes's expertise in drilling and fracking new wells. Shares of Baker Hughes were down nearly 7 percent, a drop that executives said likely was due to the deal's complicated structure. GE is already the world's largest oilfield equipment maker, supplying blowout preventers, pumps and compressors used in exploration and production.

Large U.S. shale oil companies, flush with cash raised through stock offerings, are gobbling up properties in the Permian Basin straddling Texas and New Mexico, a trend that could boost U.S. oil output in the second half of 2017. Hess Corp and Devon Energy Corp are among oil and gas companies that tapped the equity market in the first eight months of the year, raising a total $20.40 billion. That is the most since at least 1996, barring 2014 when the energy companies raised $20.46 billion in the first eight months of the year. The industry raised $19.78 billion through stock offerings in all of 2015, according to Reuters data, but almost all of this was used to pay off debt.

TransCanada Corp said on Friday a consortium led by Malaysian national oil company Petronas has decided to proceed with plans to build a terminal in northern British Columbia to export Canadian natural gas to Asia. TransCanada said it plans to start construction this year of the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission line, to connect the Montney field near Fort St. John, British Columbia, to the PNW LNG terminal at Lelu Island, near Prince Rupert. The final decision on the line will be confirmed by the partners of PNW LNG after receiving approvals from the British Columbia and Canadian governments, TransCanada said. TransCanada said it planned to put the 900-km (560-mile) into service by 2019-20.

Not so long ago, advanced drillships costing more than half a billion dollars each and capable of operating in ever-deeper waters practically guaranteed big profits for oil-rig operators. Now, with oil prices down by half since June, many have become a burden on their owners as drilling activity slows. Drillship operators face a more brutal hit to margins than they did after the oil-price crash of 2008 because of the huge cost of maintaining the more than $10 billion worth of state-of-the-art vessels that have been idled at sea, analysts say. Noble Corp Plc, Ensco Plc and Transocean Ltd are among companies that have invested in advanced rigs which, unlike older jack-up rigs that attach to the ocean floor, rely on dynamic positioning systems using thrusters to keep them in position.

Enterprise Products Partners LP said it was looking at expanding the ethane export facility it is building on the Houston Ship Channel after winning another transport contract. With the additional contract to provide ethane storage, transportation, refrigeration and loading services, Enterprise said 85 percent of the terminal's capacity was now contracted. Enterprise, which also has a large crude storage facility in Houston, received permission last month from the U.S. Department of Commerce to export a minimally processed form of light crude oil.

Star Bulk Carriers Corp said it would buy Oceanbulk Shipping LLC and Oceanbulk Carriers LLC in an all-stock deal to create the largest U.S.-listed dry bulk shipper. Star Bulk is issuing 54.104 million new shares to buy the Oceanbulk companies, valuing the deal at about $653 million based on Star Bulk's Friday close of $12.07. The deal comes as the global dry bulk shipping industry is poised to recover from a severe downturn, helped by steadying demand for iron ore and coal from China and India and the scrapping of older vessels.

Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc, one of the world's top five offshore rig contractors, reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit as it cut drilling costs and hiked prices, sending its shares up as much as 10.5 percent. The company - owned 50.4 percent by hotel, energy and financial services conglomerate Loews Corp - also said it would pay a special cash dividend of 75 cents per share on top of its regular quarterly dividend of 13 cents. Diamond Offshore, which has one of the oldest fleet of rigs…