For Investors Only -- The Story In Venezuela Looks Fairly Dire

Reuters is reporting:

Schlumberger Ltd, the world's largest oilfield services company, said on Monday it expects first-quarter earnings to be much higher than in the same period last year, as it takes market share from rivals and cuts costs.

Much of the growth will come from state-owned and independent energy companies that are spending to develop shale and other resources around the world, rather than multinational energy companies, most of whom are cutting spending, Schlumberger Chief Executive Paal Kibsgaard said at an energy conference in New Orleans.

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Houston channel closure is quite significant; it will be interesting to see if it affects the price of gasoline in the US or Europe. Reuters is reporting:

The closure of the channel on Saturday has led to a queue of more than 80 vessels trying to move into or out of the Gulf of Mexico. Shipping delays forced Exxon Mobil Corp to cut production at its largest refinery.

Exxon said production at its 560,500 barrel per day Baytown, Texas, refinery had been cut on Monday due to the closure of the Houston Ship Channel. The company expects further production cuts by mid-week if the channel remains shut.

Weatherford is cutting back operations in Venezuela; the situation looks fairly dire. I don't watch CNBC. I wonder if the Venezuela story is getting as much air time as the Greek story did all last year? Reuters is reporting:

Oilfield services provider Weatherford International Ltd said on Monday it was reducing operations in Venezuela and expects its Russian business to grow this year. The Swiss-headquartered company, which competes with Schlumberger and Halliburton, said the "serious liquidity situation in Venezuela" is causing it to pare back services it provides inside the OPEC country, Chief Executive Bernard Duroc-Danner said at the Howard Weil conference in New Orleans on Monday.

Reuters is also reporting (blogged earlier; the proposed route is quite interesting):

MDU Resources Group Inc is looking for more natural gas producers to sign up to use capacity on a planned $650 million pipeline that would transport the fuel through North Dakota to Minnesota, the company's chief executive said on Monday.

The company in January launched a 120-day period for prospective customers of the pipeline to sign supply agreements to transport natural gas.

"We're encouraged by the reaction of the marketplace, but I'd be getting ahead of myself if I said we're ready to build" the pipeline, Dave Goodin, MDU's chief executive, said during an interview at the Howard Weil energy conference in New Orleans.

"We need some binding commitments." Goodin declined to specify how much business the proposed pipeline has inked so far. Given that roughly a third of all natural gas produced in North Dakota's Bakken shale is flared, pressure has been strong from political and environmental groups to build new pipelines. Yet with the cost of natural gas near decade-lows, producers have been reluctant to spend significant amounts of money to address the issue.