Bad News: As energy companies release their quarterly reports, the question of whether investors want the bad news or the even worse news is becoming more commonplace. As OilPrice.com reports for USA Today, there are already $6.5 billion worth of asset write-downs, even as most of the earnings reports have yet to be released. ExxonMobil announced this morning that its third-quarter earnings fell 47%, though still beat the energy giant’s expectations, while Chevron is cutting its 2016 budget by 25% and will lay off about 10% of its workforce. USA Today has the full story.
Going smaller: In another sign of the pressure continued low oil prices are having on the industry, major oil producers are forgoing costly megaprojects and moving towards safer drilling in U.S. shale. Bloomberg News reports that ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Hess Corp. have all either stopped or delayed large drilling projects in the Gulf of Mexico, Canada and Arctic Circle. “What makes more sense in this environment: drill a $100 million well in the deepwater Gulf that might come up empty, or poke lots of holes in west Texas where you already know there’s oil for a few million apiece?” said Michael Webber, deputy director of the University of Texas Energy Institute. Bloomberg has the full story.
Good News: Despite the near daily forecasts of doom and gloom for the oil industry, industry executives headed to Lafayette in droves for the three-day Louisiana Gulf Coast Oil Exposition that ended Thursday. The Daily Advertiser reports that LAGCOE organizers say they had 448 vendors and 16,400 total attendees from 46 countries and 49 states, which is the second-highest attendance total in the event’s history and a close second to the 17,000 who attended two years ago. LAGCOE 2017 will be held Oct. 24-26, 2017. The Daily Advertiser has the full story. (May be behind a paywall)
