No New Wells Coming Off Confidential List -- August 23, 2022

Yesterday: link here.

Link here.

OXY and Buffett: The WSJ. 

Buoyed by soaring commodity prices, Occidental has substantially paid down its debt load and is generating cash. The company now looks like a strong fit for Mr. Buffett, say investors and analysts. It is strengthening its balance sheet and returning cash to shareholders; it holds the largest position in the most active U.S. oil field; and it is investing in technologies to reduce carbon emissions, which some of Mr. Buffett’s businesses are also doing.

That strategy is paying off. Occidental generated a record $4.35 billion in free cash flow in the second quarter and $3.7 billion in profit. After its shares fell roughly 80% in 2020, Occidental’s stock has jumped 138% this year, a rally driven, in part, by Mr. Buffett’s purchases. 

Occidental entered the pandemic saddled with debt from a $38 billion deal to take over rival Anadarko Petroleum Corp., part of which it funded with $10 billion from Berkshire. Plunging oil prices led the company to lay off employees and cut executives’ salaries—including Ms. Hollub’s—and slash expenses in the oil patch.

But while the deal looked ill-timed, analysts say, the assets Occidental acquired from Anadarko have since helped solidify its position as the largest producer in the Permian basin, the prolific shale oil field in West Texas and New Mexico. The company said it produced roughly half a million barrels of oil a day domestically in the second quarter of the year, compared with about 280,000 barrels before it acquired Anadarko.

6:04 a.m.: 

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Back to the Bakken

The Far Side: link here.

WTI: $91.83. After Saudi suggested they want to stabilize the oil markets.

Natural gas: $9.801. Will we hit $10 this week?

Active rigs: 46.

No wells coming off confidential list.

RBN Energy: the case for Corpus Christi to become a clean hydrogen hub, part 3. 

It wouldn’t be hard to work up a checklist of the qualities that a major clean hydrogen hub should offer. Easy access to low-cost natural gas for methane reforming, and to carbon sequestration sites for captured carbon dioxide (CO₂). Plentiful wind and solar energy to power electrolyzers that split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Lots of available land for clean hydrogen and ammonia production facilities. Nearby refineries and other industrial consumers of hydrogen. And don’t forget export terminals, because the rest of the world will continue to demand U.S.-sourced energy. Well, as we discuss in today’s RBN blog, Corpus Christi seems to check all the boxes.