12-20-2016, 11:20 PM
As tax reform and regulatory easing across the U.S. oil and gas industry are anticipated in a new administration, EY expects innovation in financial and operational excellence will be a main driver of value and competitiveness in 2017. Continued advances are especially necessary as abundant supply and resilient shale production are anticipated to cap oil prices — creating a ceiling around $50/bbl to $60/bbl.
Policy, digital and workforce innovation ahead in 2017, says EY
Texas driller Pioneer Natural Resources sees crude prices surging to $70/bbl in a year’s time as the world finally burns through its surplus of oil and drilling in the Permian basin heats up. Pioneer has locked in future sales through hedging contracts for about 85% of its oil and natural gas output next year, COO Tim Dove said in an interview Tuesday in Pioneer’s Midland, Texas office. The company hasn’t hedged much for 2018, as it bets that prices have room to run beyond their jump in the past two weeks, he said.
Pioneer Natural Resources sees oil at $70 in 2018
BP is piling up assets with more than $3 billion of deals in three days as CEO Bob Dudley sees the company emerging from the doldrums after a two-year price slump. Since Saturday, BP has announced a $2.2 billion expansion of output in Abu Dhabi and a $916 million investment in fields in Mauritania and Senegal. That brings its 2016 acquisitions to more than $3.8 billion, the highest in four years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
BP piles up assets as the CEO says the worst is over
Wood Mackenzie's global corporate outlook for 2017 forecasts the oil and gas industry will turn cash flow positive for the first time since the downturn, if OPEC production cuts drive oil prices above $55/bbl. Tom Ellacott, senior V.P. of corporate analysis research at Wood Mackenzie, said, "Most oil and gas companies will start 2017 on a firmer footing, having halved cash flow breakevens to survive the past two years. Further evidence of a cautious, U-shaped recovery in investment should emerge.”