EOG to Buy Yates in $2.5 bln Deal
EOG Resources Inc said on Tuesday it would buy privately held Yates Petroleum Corp and some of its subsidiaries and other entities in a deal valued at $2.5 billion to boost its assets in the Permian and Powder River basins. Oil and gas companies, encouraged by an uptick in oil prices, have been buying up acreage in the Permian Basin in west Texas and eastern New Mexico - the nation's largest shale oil play - as the region is considered among the most cost-effective and most viable to drill.
US Oil Drillers Cut Rigs for 10th Straight Week
U.S. energy firms this week cut oil rigs for an 10th week in a row to the lowest levels since December 2009, data showed on Friday, as some producers focus more on completing their drilled but uncompleted wells instead of drilling new ones. Looking forward, analysts forecast the rig count will bottom in a few months before recovering later this year when they expect crude prices to rise. Drillers removed 13 oil rigs in the week ended Feb. 26, bringing the total rig count down to 400, oil services company Baker Hughes Inc said in its closely followed report.
US Rig Count Seen Bottoming Out Soon
The U.S. drilling-rig count, which recorded its 26th straight weekly decline this week, is close to bottoming out ahead of a recovery in the second half of the year, mainly in the Permian and Eagle Ford shale plays in Texas, analysts said. Oil prices are expected to hold roughly at current levels over the next three to six months after OPEC agreed on Friday to stick by its policy of unconstrained output for another six months, but did not raise its output ceiling. That implied stability is expected to encourage drilling, especially in cost-efficient U.S. shale basins.
Diamond Offshore Shares on the Rise
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc, one of the world's top five offshore rig contractors, reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit as it cut drilling costs and hiked prices, sending its shares up as much as 10.5 percent. The company - owned 50.4 percent by hotel, energy and financial services conglomerate Loews Corp - also said it would pay a special cash dividend of 75 cents per share on top of its regular quarterly dividend of 13 cents. Diamond Offshore, which has one of the oldest fleet of rigs…
