Calgary-based Tourmaline Oil Corp. announced today that it is acquiring Black Swan Energy in an all-stock deal valued at CAD $1.1 billion. The transaction is set to boost Tourmaline's output by 50,000 BOE/D and the company expects to average around 500,000 BOE/D by mid-2022. The operator said the Black Swan acquisition is one of several it has made recently to become the largest producer in the north Montney Shale area of British Columbia. Black Swan's 231,000-acre position gives Tourmaline an estimated 1,600 horizontal drilling locations and proven and probable reserves of 491.9 million BOE. Tourmaline said in its announcement that Black Swan has not booked material reserves in other areas that it sees as having high potential and complementary to its existing footprint.

Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) said this week it has agreed to sell almost 25,000 net acres in the Permian Basin of Texas to Colgate Energy Partners III for nearly $508 million. Average output of the properties amounts to 10,000 BOE/D from about 360 wells in the southern Delaware Basin, Houston-based Oxy reported in its announcement. The sale, expected to close in the third quarter, will boost Midland-based Colgate's holdings in the Permian to about 83,000 acres with an estimated production of 55,000. Colgate said it plans to run up to six drilling rigs by year's end and boost average production to 75,000 BOE/D by 2022. Proceeds from the sale will be used to pay down Oxy's debt that was around $35.4 billion in March, down slightly from the $36.03-billion debt reported last June.

The International Gas Union's (IGU) recent report on world LNG markets found that the trade increased by only 1.4 mt to 356.1 mt compared to 2019 supported by increased exports from the US and Australia, together adding 13.4 mt of exports. Asia Pacific and Asia again imported the most volumes in 2020, together accounting for more than 70% of global LNG imports. Asia also accounted for the largest growth in imports in 2020--adding 9.5 mt of net LNG imports vs. 2019. While 20 mtpa in liquefaction capacity was brought on stream in 2020, all in the US, startup of several liquefaction trains in Russia, Indonesia, the US, and Malaysia were delayed as a result of the pandemic, according to the report. The only project that was sanctioned in 2020 was the 3.25-mtpa Energia Costa Azul facility in Mexico, and in early 2021 Qatar took final investment decision (FID) on four expansion trains totaling 32 mtpa.

Transocean told investors the debut of the world's first two 20,000-psi-ready (20K) rigs has been pushed into next year. While the share price dropped on the news, the delay attributed to supply chain disruptions during the pandemic could be well timed to a rising tide of work with oil demand and prices up sharply. Transocean's message is that the market is recovering in time for the start of work by the Deepwater Atlas, which is set to begin drilling next year, and the Deepwater Titan, scheduled for early 2023. They are the new high-specification rigs to be available for deepwater work at a time when demand is rising for the limited supply of high-end deepwater rigs. Bobby Thigpen, chief executive officer for Transocean, predicted that by year's end nearly every active rig in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico is likely to be on contract.

Canada's oil sands have been criticized as being one of the most carbon-intensive assets in the world's vast basket of crude plays. If a new plan comes together, however, they will become a carbon-negative source of hydrocarbons by 2050. This is the goal of a group of operators that represent nearly 90% of oil sands production in Canada: Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus Energy, Imperial Oil, MEG Energy, and Suncor Energy. The five-company alliance is calling its plan the "Oil Sands Pathways to Net Zero." In April, production from the region was nearly 3.2 million B/D.

Pembina Pipeline will acquire a 50% stake in the proposed $2.4-billion Cedar LNG Project to develop the floating LNG facility in British Columbia in partnership with indigenous group, the Haisla Nation. The pipeline operator expects to invest about $90 million into Cedar LNG over the next 24 months, including costs to acquire its interest in the project as well as development costs prior to the final investment decision expected sometime in 2023. The company, which will acquire the equity interests in Cedar LNG from PTE Cedar LP and Delfin Midstream Inc., will operate the project going forward. Haisla will own the remaining 50% stake. Pembina has been busy of late.

Independence Energy and Contango Oil & Gas announced today an all-stock merger that will create a company with an estimated enterprise value of almost $5.7 billion. Independence shareholders will own 76% of the combined company which is to be headquartered in Houston. Contango shareholders will own the remainder. The two companies combined production for the first quarter was approximately 111,000 BOE/D and their combined decline rate for the year is estimated to be 18%. On a pro forma basis, the 2020 booked reserves show a commodity breakdown of 47% oil, 15% natural gas liquids, and 38% natural gas.

Denver-based Civitas Resources announced today that it is acquiring Crestone Peak Resources in an all-stock transaction. Civitas was formed last month through the announced merger of Denver-Julesburg (DJ) Basin operators Bonanza Creek Energy and Extraction Oil & Gas. On a pro forma basis, the three-way merger will create a firm with an enterprise value of nearly $4.5 billion and a production profile of almost 160,000 BOE/D. Crestone's assets will bring Civitas' position in the DJ Basin to more than 500,000 net acres. In addition, the combination with Crestone is expected to realize nearly $45 million in expected annual synergies.

The Biden administration called for new protections under the Endangered Species Act for an iconic bird of the Great Plains, a move with major consequences for the oil and gas industry. US Fish and Wildlife Service officials proposed listing as endangered a portion of the lesser prairie chicken's population living in Texas and New Mexico, whose range overlaps with the oil- and gas-rich Permian Basin. The agency stopped short of awarding the same protections to the birds' northern population, in Oklahoma and Kansas, on the grounds that their numbers had declined less drastically. The decision, one of nearly two dozen new conservation measures the administration has adopted in the past four months, underscores President Biden's push to unravel his predecessor's environmental policies. In a separate move, the Environmental Protection Agency abolished a rule restricting what sort of studies the agency can use in crafting public health rules.

Introduction The three primary functions of a drilling fluid--the transport of cuttings out of the wellbore, prevention of fluid influx, and the maintenance of wellbore stability--depend on the flow of drilling fluids and the pressures associated with that flow. For example, if the wellbore pressure exceeds the fracture pressure, fluids will be lost to the formation. If the wellbore pressure falls below the pore pressure, fluids will flow into the wellbore, perhaps causing a blowout. It is clear that accurate wellbore pressure prediction is necessary. To properly engineer a drilling fluid system, it is necessary to be able to predict pressures and flows of fluids in the wellbore. The purpose of this chapter is to describe in detail the calculations necessary to predict the flow performance of various drilling fluids for the variety of operations used in drilling and completing a well. Overview Drilling fluids range from relatively incompressible fluids, such as water and brines, to ...