And they can operate at a much higher profit than US companies, even with inefficiencies. They don't have private mineral owners.

And in many countries, they don't have private competition either. Sure they may partner with the majors to use their knowledge and technology, but its rarely a race against another oil company. Their only race is the price of crude at market.

With regard to unconventional development the private mineral ownership may actually be a positive because the government and forces that influence the government can't necessarily stop it. When local landowners don't have a vested interest in the form of royalties they are a lot less inclined to cooperate with respect to surface right issues needed to do unconventional development such as lease roads, locations , pipelines, water access and infrastructure, etc. this is imo a primary reason unconventional development has largely failed to get any momentum in Europe . Poland particularly comes to mind.

I suppose the notable exception stateside is New York State where the politicians have successfully blocked unconventional development and denied the landowners access to their minerals . It's the only place I know of in the Us where they know the mineral resources (Marcellus shale) are there but the envirowackos have categorically shut it down.

Middle East is a different beast altogether as unconventional is not remotely economic or needed . Turkey is kind of a hybrid between Europe and the Middle East … probably depends on where the unconventional resources are relative to population and other interests eg in otherwise largely unexploited land vs land that is otherwise occupied or used .

You also can't forget about the issues with dealing with foreign governments and being reliant on them....

I mean doesn't Egypt owe international companies like $4B?

True on top of the fact that locals have no tangible reason to cooperate for the most part. Unless you are in the middle of nowhere there is a ton of financial risk and even if you are in the middle of nowhere the government can still screw you over and it has happened many times. There's always the risk of the government nationalizing assets that you spent millions to billions developing.

Looks like BP is going to start encroaching on Noble\Chevron in Israel. Should be interesting to see how this plays out. They are going to go from only one producer making all of their gas to 4 in the span of about 4 years.

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/israel-awards-natural-gas-exploration-licences-bp-socar-newmed-2025-03-17/

FHKChE07 said:

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Looks like BP is going to start encroaching on Noble\Chevron in Israel. Should be interesting to see how this plays out. They are going to go from only one producer making all of their gas to 4 in the span of about 4 years.

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/israel-awards-natural-gas-exploration-licences-bp-socar-newmed-2025-03-17/

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Any BP production is years away, so not quite 4 producing operators.

Some Israeli regulators are making noise about taking one of CVX's facilities away from them in the name of "anti-monopoly". They already did it to Noble prior to CVX buying them. Obviously CVX is pushing back on that pretty hard. Not going to see them invest billions in their infrastructure if the Israelis just want to take it away.

But yes, generally speaking, EMED activity is increasing. Evidently the Egyptians pay a pretty good premium for gas.

I'm not at the level to make it happen, but the majors should be partnering on an integrated LNG project to export all this excess Israeli gas to the Euros post haste. But alas the Egyptians need for gas will likely prevent any reasonable efforts in this regard.

Greenpeace must pay over $660M in case over Dakota Access protest activities, jury finds

With everything else going on today this is kind of being pushed aside but makes me wonder where things are heading with OPEC:

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/03/eight-opec-producers-accelerate-crude-oil-output-hikes-pushing-oil-prices-down-6percent-.html

Oil headed to a five handle by next week. Not good with service costs where they are.

More like the end of the day.

Rigs about to be getting dropped in a hurry

Anyone know who Matador sold this to?


Matador Resources Company (NYSE: MTDR) ("Matador") today announced the sale of its remaining Eagle Ford shale position in South Texas

Black Mountain is what I heard

Ag CPA said:

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With everything else going on today this is kind of being pushed aside but makes me wonder where things are heading with OPEC:

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/03/eight-opec-producers-accelerate-crude-oil-output-hikes-pushing-oil-prices-down-6percent-.html

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Our economy and O&G are on the ropes. They're being opportunistic and taking a flyer at a cheap kill shot. If it doesn't work they'll just reverse it next quarter.

Just imagine how much more money they can make if we go into a full 1980s type recesion with our O&G production getting pulled back to nearly nothing.

Ag CPA said:

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More like the end of the day.

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It's bounced back slightly, but it's dipped there twice already today.

This is what I'm thinking - OPEC looking to wage war on American shale again. Their stated reason for the increase in production was, "healthy market fundamentals and the positive market outlook". That reads as a load of BS to me.

They see 1) the US still producing near record levels of oil, 2) shale running thin on Tier 1 inventory and breakeven pricing increasing, and 3) a slowing global economy. I think they're hoping they can flood the market with oil and force the US to sideline rigs allowing OPEC to take back some of that market share that they've lost to the US.

gigem1223 said:

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Black Mountain is what I heard

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this is correct.

jetch17 said:

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gigem1223 said:

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Black Mountain is what I heard

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this is correct.

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How substantial were those assets?

Who here is in oil trading? Margin calls might be going out tomorrow.

txaggie_08 said:

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This is what I'm thinking - OPEC looking to wage war on American shale again. Their stated reason for the increase in production was, "healthy market fundamentals and the positive market outlook". That reads as a load of BS to me.

They see 1) the US still producing near record levels of oil, 2) shale running thin on Tier 1 inventory and breakeven pricing increasing, and 3) a slowing global economy. I think they're hoping they can flood the market with oil and force the US to sideline rigs allowing OPEC to take back some of that market share that they've lost to the US.

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A tale as old as time. Didn't work then, won't work now.

Heineken-Ashi said:

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Who here is in oil trading? Margin calls might be going out tomorrow.

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Still gives me nightmares....

Damn, WTI down to $57 this morning.

Need nat gas up another 30% and oil around $75 and our economy will do well. Oil drives our economy like it or not. Kill that industry and we end up on a multi-decade reset.

Oil prices tend to solve themselves. Gas export is coming.

what about refilling the strategic reserve? Won't that help?

Ag CPA said:

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Damn, WTI down to $57 this morning.

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Corporate hedging teams might as well spin a wheel this week.

I imagine those meetings have been and will be fun until the market manipulation stops.

nearing 62

Saudi's picked the nicest week of the year in Houston to cause this chaos. Pendejos...

dallasag12 said:

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Saudi's picked the nicest week of the year in Houston to cause this chaos. Pendejos...

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Yah, kinda feels like they are much less impactful than the tariff shuffle and it's yo yo effect on the strength of the dollar.

Boat Shoes said:

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How substantial were those assets?

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Negligible.

From another forum. An oil trader of 30 years. Anyone have any insight or can corroborate?

Quote:

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BIG reversal from my 55 handle I have been looking for since Q4-2024. Now what?

Ok, first let's look at what happened:. Today we had a monumental move on crude structure that I can only describe as the equivalent of the financial calamity of 2008. most don't understand that crude oil is a fungible commodity so they treat it as they would equities, which is a major mistake. China, who is naturally short energy was massively long deferred oil structure because ..... it was a hedge for what they thought they needed.

Today, they got a margin call. YEP! A country got a margin call.. NEVER in the history of the world has a country gotten a margin call. And it happened today.

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Following

i'd like to see more information on this.

What does that margin call mean to them