Author's posts
Environmentalists Angry Over Trump Plans to Shift Budgets
The Trump administration’s plans to shift $54 billion from federal agencies to the Pentagon has disappointed environmentalists. Alex Taurel, deputy legislative director at the League of Conservation Voters said it will “Make America Sick Again,” using a play on Trump’s campaign slogan. She told The Hill the president’s spending plan would put “polluters first over …
Seventy Seven Energy Moves Closer to Merger
Oklahoma City-based Seventy Seven Energy Inc., the spinoff company from Chesapeake Energy is moving closer to its announced merger with Patterson-UTI Energy Inc, of Houston. The company said it has established a record date for the special meeting of its stockholders to consider and vote upon the merger. The merger was announced in December 2016. …
New OCC Limits Put on Arbuckle Disposal Wells
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission came out with new limits on Arbuckle disposal wells on Friday in another move to limit the rate of earthquakes linked to the wells and lower future risks. “The data from the Oklahoma Geological Survey shows the earthquake rate has been dropping since we issued various directives reducing the then-current …
Chesapeake Continues to Unload Properties
The air of optimism expressed by the leadership at Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy might have something to do with the property unloaded by the company in the past year. Chesapeake reported fourth quarter losses of $741 million compared to the $2.23 billion a year earlier. But CEO Doug Lawler says the company has gone from …
Former Gov. Keating Says Tax Credit Legislation was Wrong—-Calls it a Scam
Sixteen years later and former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating admits he made a mistake. He says it was wrong to have given tax credits to the wind industry. Writing an op-ed piece for the Tulsa World, Gov. Keating said the legislation “warped into a scam costing taxpayers millions to the detriment of other publicly funded …
Oklahoma’s Rig Count Remains at 101 while National Count is up
While Oklahoma’s rig count in the past week remained steady at 101, the national count increased by three, according to figures released by Baker Hughes Company of Houston. The national count is up to 754 and includes an increase of 5 more oil rigs to bring the oil rig county to 602 and the gas …
Former EPA Administrator Sees Nothing Wrong with Pruitt’s Communications with Oil and Gas Industry
Former EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman sees nothing wrong with the communications Scott Pruitt had with oil and gas companies while he was attorney general in Oklahoma. It’s what she said in an interview this week with MSNBC following the release of more than 7,000 communications turned over by the Attorney General’s office to the …
SandRidge Prepares for Exploration Expansion After $334 million 4th quarter loss
Fresh out of bankruptcy and shedding $3.7 billion in debt, Oklahoma City-based SandRidge Energy still faces a significant challenge. Its fourth-quarter earnings report showed a net loss of $334 million which translates into a loss of $17.61 a share. In the fourth quarter of 2015, the company suffered losses of $665 million or $1.13 …
Two New Board Members at OERB
The Oklahoma Energy Resources Board announced the addition of two new board members. David S. Ferris of Devon Energy and David Sikes of Jeroco Inc. were named to the board. Ferris is the Development Manager of the Anadarko Basin Business Unit for Devon Energy Inc. He leads the integrated planning team in the strategic planning, …
State House to Vote on Anti-Protest Bill Sparked by Dakota Access Opposition
Those Native American tribes and the Sierra Club threatening to create a possible encampment protesting construction of a Cushing to Memphis oil pipeline will have a new possible consideration courtesy of the Oklahoma legislature. The encampment would be similar to the one in North Dakota where protesters have fought construction of the Dakota Access pipeline. …