The March jobs report is out and it’s a miss.
In March, the economy added 103,000 jobs while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.1% for the fifth-straight month, according to the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Fascination: apparently I'm not the only "oil blog" fascinated with the Tesla story. A screenshot of the "front page" over at oilprice.com today:Economists had expected the report to show 185,000 jobs were created in March while the unemployment rate was expected to fall to 4%, according to estimates from Bloomberg. March’s report is also a big slowdown from the 313,000 jobs created in February.
- Fox Business News analyst suggest share price could "crash" within next six months with capital raise
- even if Tesla were to finally hit a Model X production target, Tesla would continue to face financial challenges. Tesla, [the analyst] argues, is still losing $2 billion per year and $20,000 per vehicle on its $100,000 vehicle. The Model 3, which will sell for about half that, is unlikely to be a bearer of significant profits for the EV manufacturer.
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Back to the Bakken
Active rigs:
| $62.93↓↓ | 4/6/2018 | 04/06/2017 | 04/06/2016 | 04/06/2015 | 04/06/2014 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active Rigs | 57 | 49 | 28 | 94 | 192 |
RBN Energy: oil-weighted exploration and production companies are flush at $60 oil.
Despite widespread predictions that the oil and gas exploration and production sector would drown in an ocean of red ink after the crude oil price crash that started a little over three years ago, E&P companies finally returned to profitability in 2017. Better yet, with oil prices exceeding $60/bbl, margins are expected to increase in 2018, giving the 44 major E&Ps we track $24.5 billion in incremental cash flow. It’s no surprise that the 17 companies in our Oil-Weighted Peer Group are the prime beneficiaries of the higher crude price, garnering $13.6 billion, or 55%, of the incremental cash flow. Today, we continue our review of how rebounding oil prices are affecting E&P cash flow, this time zeroing in on oil-focused producers.
The severe plunge in oil prices in late 2014 and 2015 at first appeared to be a crippling blow to U.S. E&Ps addicted to wild spending fueled by $100/bbl oil prices. But most of the upstream industry weathered the crisis remarkably well through new strategies.
These included the “high-grading” of portfolios, impressive capital discipline and an intense focus on operational efficiencies. After slashing capital expenditures by 70% — from $46 billion in 2014 to $15 billion in 2016 — and reducing drilling and operating expenses by an average 50%, the oil-weighted producers we track emerged financially stable.
Growth resumed in 2017, as our universe of E&Ps boosted capex by 43% to $56 billion, a level still less than half of 2014 spending. The focus of that spending shifted to premium unconventional plays, with two-thirds allocated to the Permian, Eagle Ford, SCOOP/STACK, Bakken, and Marcellus/Utica. Even at $50/bbl crude oil prices, the industry returned to profitability in the first quarter of 2017. Despite a mid-year dip in oil prices that dampened production from first-quarter 2017 levels, most E&Ps didn’t throttle back on their capital investment budgets, expecting a recovery. By year’s end, prices were up to about $60/bbl, validating their strategy, and the E&Ps we track ended 2017 narrowly in the black.
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