Jittery Oil Market Could Trigger Consolidation In The Permian – Yahoo Finance

According to industry executives, the recent jump in price volatility will motivate more companies to consolidate, especially in the Permian—the star among the shale plays.

Prices are already excessively volatile with the continuing pandemic, the absence of evidence that mass vaccination is creating herd immunity, and the emergence of the new Omicron variant, which has rendered the herd immunity question moot.

“I’m worried that it may get too high, above $100 ,” Pioneer Natural Resources’ Scott Sheffield told Reuters in an interview at the World Petroleum Congress.

Consolidation is one way to achieve stability, as you would have fewer players in a field and, as a consequence, fewer differing views on what the right level of oil production is.

“Consolidation of our industry is a force that is not going to slow down,” said Tim Leach, former chief executive of Concho Resources, which Conoco acquired earlier this year.

These benefits include leveraging economies of scale and becoming more competitive even at lower oil prices, although few seem to be expecting lower prices anytime soon.

However, half of the increased expenditure will be due to cost inflation, which will account for as much as $9.2 billion of the combined 2022 spending bill.

Company valuations are also on the rise along with the price of oil, and with the Permian still considered the sweetest spot in the shale patch, drillers with exposure to it would be the ones with the biggest valuation gains.

The splurge approach could be costly but give buyers access to a greater resource base at a time when there’s worry about underinvestment in new oil production, despite the green push.

At Red Hill — a Navy fuel storage facility near Pearl Harbor, Hawaii — samples of drinking water bound for military families contained diesel fuel 350 times the safe level, the state announced Friday.Why it matters: The Navy has been denying complaints by military families and other residents for weeks.

EXCLUSIVE: Slight spoiler alert.

Oil prices have been volatile in recent days because investors are worried that the omicron variant of the coronavirus will lead to widespread economic shutdowns.

For his second “Executive Decision” segment of Thursday’s Mad Money program, Jim Cramer spoke with Jim Farley, CEO of Ford Motor , about the company’s turnaround.

— Before the coronavirus struck, investing in luxury stocks and Chinese internet giants like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

Later this decade, fewer graduates will have the skills needed to build and run mines producing lithium, nickel, copper and other metals to feed ravenous makers of electric vehicles, solar panels and other renewable-energy technologies.

After all, back in January, he said over a conference call that he expects to be in the driver’s seat at Tesla for – quote – “several years.” But in addition to helming the electric vehicle maker, Musk also heads the infrastructure firm The Boring Company, the rocket launch service company SpaceX, and brain-chip startup Neuralink.

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