Equinor has agreed to sell its Bakken Shale operation for $900 million, ending a decade long struggle to make money in the US shale oil business. The buyer, Grayson Mill Energy, is acquiring wells producing around 48,000 BOE/D and 242,000 operated and non-operated acres in North Dakota and Montana. The Norwegian oil company's remaining shale holdings are in the gas producing Marcellus and Utica Shale formations in the eastern US, which it has been paring in recent years. "We are taking action to improve the profitability of Equinor's international oil and gas business," said Al Cook, executive vice president of development and production international at Equinor. He added that Grayson Mill agreed to hire Equinor's Bakken field team and a "significant number of the support teams."

Chesapeake Energy, the once high-flying player in the US shale revolution, has completed its restructuring and emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, equitizing about $7.8 billion of debt under a court-approved plan. As of February 9, 2021, Chesapeake's principal amount of debt outstanding was $1.27 billion, compared to roughly $9.1 billion as of June 30, 2020. "We have fundamentally reset our business, and with an improved capital and cost structure, disciplined approach to capital reinvestment, diverse asset base and talented employees, we are poised to deliver sustainable free cash flow for years to come.," said Chesapeake president and chief executive Doug Lawler. Upon emergence, the Oklahoma City-based company entered into a credit facility with a $2.5 billion borrowing base, with amounts maturing in 2024 and 2025. Chesapeake had approximately $50 million borrowed on the facility at February 9, 2021, as well as $51 million reserved for undrawn letters of credit outstanding.

Wellbore instability has been experienced in areas of the Marcellus Shale and can become particularly troublesome in the superlaterals that are becoming more prevalent in that play. Often, the instability while drilling these very long lateral wells is minimal; problems are more likely to occur while tripping out after reaching total depth (TD). The most common instability events when pulling out of the hole are tight hole, packoff, and stuck pipe and are often accompanied by excessive cavings. These problems often worsen with time, indicating there is some time dependence to the failure mechanism. In order to develop effective mitigation strategies to combat the instability, it is imperative that the failure mechanism be correctly identified. Previous publications (Riley et al., 2012; Addis et al., 2016; Kowan and Ong, 2016) have suggested that bedding planes may play a role in some of the drilling problems experienced in the Marcellus Shale. This case study provides conclusive proof of weak bedding plane failure along a lateral well in the Marcellus Shale, where over 1,000 feet of anisotropic failure was captured with a logging-while-drilling (LWD) image tool. This image not only provided confirmation of the presence and failure of weak bedding planes in the Marcellus Shale, but was also used to validate an existing geomechanical model for the area. Validating the model gave the operator more confidence in the mitigation strategies developed from that geomechanical model, which had been based on the assumption that weak bedding was contributing to the difficulty experienced on multiple lateral wells when tripping out of the hole. This case study begins with an overview of the geomechanical model, including the drilling history, stress/pore pressure model, and rock properties. Next, some highlights from the image log, showing anisotropic bedding plane failure, are featured, as well as a comparison of the image to the geomechanical model. This case study concludes with proposed mitigation strategies that could be implemented to limit the risks posed by weak beds and to minimize instability when drilling laterals in the Marcellus Shale in this area or similarly complex areas.

US service companies are sending hydraulic fracturing units into overflowing equipment yards at the fastest clip ever seen. But one thing not likely to be found at these sites are the recently emerged electrically powered fracturing units, or "e-fleets." At the start of the year, there were about 290 active fleets of all flavors spread across the country, according to figures from Primary Vision. The firm, which publishes the US frac count weekly, estimates the active number was down to 47 at the end of last week--15 of which are believed to be e-fleets. "It's amazing that [e-fleets] accounted for roughly 3% of the market about 2 months ago and now they're potentially about 30%," said Matt Johnson, the president and chief executive of Primary Vision.

US service companies are sending hydraulic fracturing units into overflowing equipment yards at the fastest clip ever seen. But one thing not likely to be found at these sites are the recently emerged electrically powered fracturing units, or "e-fleets." At the start of the year, there were about 290 active fleets of all flavors spread across the country, according to figures from Primary Vision. The firm, which publishes the US frac count weekly, estimates the active number was down to 47 at the end of last week--15 of which are believed to be e-fleets. "It's amazing that [e-fleets] accounted for roughly 3% of the market about 2 months ago and now they're potentially about 30%," said Matt Johnson, the president and chief executive of Primary Vision.

The number of active natural gas rigs in the US fell further to 80 on 8 May. The number had dipped to 85 on 21 April, the lowest number since August 2016, according to the Baker Hughes rig count. As of 8 May, there were 103 (54%) fewer natural gas rigs than last year at the same time. Natural-gas-directed rigs remained concentrated in the Marcellus Basin in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, and in the Haynesville Basin in Louisiana and Texas. These two basins accounted for 50% of the decrease in natural-gas-directed rigs over the past year; 78% of remaining US natural-gas-directed rigs still operate in these basins.

For reasons deep below the surface and right atop it, the North American shale sector was due for a period of turbulence and contraction. Then came two unforeseen accelerants: a global pandemic and a costly price war--the combined forces of which sent oil prices down by a record 65% during the first quarter of the year. The double blow to the US shale sector has meant that in all likelihood, hydraulic fracturing activity in North America has peaked. Going forward, there will be fewer players and less production. Some estimates project that by the end of the year, the hydraulic fracturing market will be just 50% of what it was before the latest crash.

For reasons deep below the surface and right atop it, the North American shale sector was due for a period of turbulence and contraction. Then came two unforeseen accelerants: a global pandemic and a costly price war--the combined forces of which sent oil prices down by a record 65% during the first quarter of the year. The double blow to the US shale sector has meant that in all likelihood, hydraulic fracturing activity in North America has peaked. Going forward, there will be fewer players and less production. Some estimates project that by the end of the year, the hydraulic fracturing market will be just 50% of what it was before the latest crash.

Pennsylvania-based shale-gas producer Range Resources announced today a new goal to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2025. The company noted that the decision comes "in the face of an evolving energy landscape" and that it has committed to bolstering the transparency of its emissions data in sustainability reports. "With significant board guidance and oversight, we have reaffirmed ambitious near-term and long-term emissions reduction goals, which will ensure we are focused on maximizing every opportunity to further reduce our environmental and operating footprint," said Jeffrey Ventura, the chief executive officer, in a statement. Range's target is among the most aggressive to be established among pure-play onshore explorers in the US and is the latest evidence that the carbon-reduction plans adopted by international majors are trickling down throughout the oil and gas industry. The company highlighted that it already has made serious efforts in this regard and ranks as one of the lowest contributors to CO2 emissions in the sector, according to data from oil and gas consultancy Rystad Energy.

Gummy bears is one of the names for a gross mix of downhole junk that can foul a separator or clog tubing in the Woodford play in Oklahoma. The texture is often rubbery--the only connection to the gummy candy--and the color varies depending on whether the well's output tilts toward oil or gas. These "unusual semi-solid" accumulations were described in a 2015 Halliburton paper as containing hydrocarbons, sand, iron, fine particles from clay, and sometimes a bit of friction reducer--polyacrylamide to be exact (SPE 173594). The globs generally are seen at the surface after fracturing. When they are observed downhole, they have been pushed by the well's flow into "choke points" such as "perforations, tubing anchors, gas lift valves" downhole which are noticed when production declines, the paper said.