For Investors Only; Long Article On Oil Companies Containing Costs

In early trading, it looks like the entire energy sector is up. Even Oasis is up over 2.5%. KOG is up almost 3%. HP could blow through to a new high.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on what you read here or what you think you may have read here. 

WTI oil is up almost 1% in pre-market trading. Slight dollar gains are holding, so rise in oil is not due to dollar's weakness: other possibilities:

• tension in the Crimean, made worse by Obama's speeches
• simmering unrest in the Mideast, just off the radar scope (see OXY's latest woes)
• Keystone XL 2.0 South bringing oil from Cushing to the coast
• Houston Ship Channel gradually returning to normal
• winter-spring-summer demand dynamics
• gasoline formulations transition

Of all of these, the most likely and the most worrisome is related to the tension in the Crimean made worse by Obama's past policies and present actions. Yesterday, it was my understanding there was a sell-off in the market based on actions coming out of Russia.

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Reuters via Rigzone is reporting that oil companies are "cracking the whip on oil service companies:

On a mission to crush costs, global oil firms are rewriting the rule book on how they deal with service companies.

Energy companies have sharply cut spending plans after a decade of double-digit growth, saving cash for dividends as stagnating oil prices and cost increase on mega projects worldwide have squeezed margins and angered shareholders.

Some now ask service firms to come into projects at the start, ditch some tailor-made designs in favour of standardised solutions and stay with projects longer to reduce the number of contractors involved, moves that reduce costs but favour bigger, integrated firms.

I've seen this cycle before. There appear to be three stages in a boom: a) time is more important than money; b) money is more important than time; c) money is more important than everything else.

In the first stage of the boom, the gold rush, the land grabs: no matter how much money it takes, spend it; just SPEND.

In the second stage, as things start to be better defined: take some time to think through some of these deals before spending money, but don't worry too much about the bottom line; just SPEND SMART.

In the final stages of the boom: the guys with the beady eyes and green shades in the back room start to focus on reality: just STOP SPENDING.

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NRG Energy acquires Roof Diagnostics Solar; financial terms not disclosed : Co announces it has acquired one of the nation's leading residential solar companies, Roof Diagnostics Solar, to support and expand the company's efforts to empower its customers to control their own energy destiny through clean self-generation. 

Baxter plans to create two separate global healthcare companies; independent companies will focus on biopharmaceuticals and medical products:

• Co announced plans to create two separate, independent global healthcare companies - one focused on developing and marketing innovative biopharmaceuticals and the other on life-saving medical products.
• The spinoff will create two, well-capitalized independent companies with strong balance sheets, investment grade profiles, and disciplined approaches to capital allocation. 
• The transaction is intended to take the form of a tax-free distribution to Baxter shareholders of a new publicly traded stock in the new biopharmaceuticals co. The transaction is expected to be completed by mid-year 2015...

Sempra Energy reaffirms FY14 EPS; guides FY15 EPS in-line; will discuss LT guidance, strategy at Analyst Conf.: Co reaffirms FY14 EPS $4.25-4.55 vs $4.46 Capital IQ Consensus.