Statoil to triple North America oil and gas output

Norway's Statoil aims to triple its North American oil and natural gas production by the end of the decade as it increases spending in oil-rich prospects, the company said on Wednesday. The state-controlled ...

U.S. drillers that set up rigs amid the rolling farmland of eastern Ohio on projections underground shale held US$500-billion of oil are packing up.

Chesapeake Energy Corp reported quarterly profit that exceeded Wall Street expectations on Wednesday, as the U.S. oil and gas company produced more crude oil from shale basins like the Eagle Ford in Texas and expenses fell. Chesapeake, under the direction of a board handpicked by its largest investors and interim Chief Executive Steve Dixon, is focused on drilling its best properties and increasing output of more profitable crude oil while lowering spending.

Idemitsu Kosan Co, Japan’s third-largest refiner, is interested in acquiring stakes in Canadian gas fields to secure price-competitive LNG imports to Japan, new President-elect Takashi Tsukioka said on Monday. Idemitsu announced in January that it would form a partnership with Canada’s AltaGas Ltd to export liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas to Asia, starting as early as 2017.

Shale prospectors in Australia’s vast Outback are homing in on oil as the lucrative prize that is easier and cheaper to exploit than gas. Initial hopes had been to replicate a U.S. shale gas boom, but the economics of targeting oil rather than gas derived from shale formations, once considered a mere by-product, look increasingly compelling in Australia.

Chevron Corp, after years of living in the shadow of Exxon Mobil Corp, has grown accustomed to having to punch above its weight, and it has now landed a notable blow against another big oil company. Though it ranks fourth in oil and gas reserves among the world’s non-government-controlled producers, the California major recently seized the number two spot from Royal Dutch Shell Plc in terms of stock market valuation.

Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia’s second-biggest oil producer, said it’s in talks with companies for a potential partnership to enter Canada’s natural gas industry to tap rising Asian demand. “It’s natural in an area that has the sort of hydrocarbon resource that Canada does that Woodside is in there talking to people,” Chief Executive Officer Peter Coleman said Thursday in an interview in Sydney, declining to name any companies.

Centrica Plc teamed up with Qatar Petroleum International to buy gas fields from Canada’s Suncor Energy Inc. for $1 billion as the largest U.K. household-energy supplier increases North American customers. The assets, mostly in southern and central Alberta, will be operated by Centrica and produce about 250 million cubic feet of gas a day this year, the British producer said in a statement. Centrica will own 60% and QPI 40%. The deal is the first under a cooperation accord they signed in December 2011.