Barnett Shale

Exxon stock price, earnings climb

The stock of Irving-based Exxon Mobil (ticker: XOM) closed at $80.68 a share today, up $1.69, on a trading volume of nearly 34.5 million shares, after the company reported robust earnings for the fourth quarter of 2010 and the full year.

Exxon, taking advantage of higher oil prices, boosted fourth-quarter production by 19 percent over a year earlier. The company's fourth-quarter natural gas production rose by 31 percent over a year earlier, in part because of its acquistiion of Fort Worth-based natural gas producer XTO Energy. However, XTO's fourth-quarter profits fell by 78 percent, to $120 million, said David Rosenthal, Exxon's vice president of investor relations. Weak gas prices contributed to the sharply lower profits.

 Exxon reported a fourth-quarter net income of $9.25 billion, or $1.85 a share, on revenues of $105 billion. For all of 2010, Exxon earned $30.5 billion, or $6.22 a share, compared with $19.3 billion, or $3.98 a share, in 2009. Annual revenue rose 32 percent to $383 billion and fourth-quarter revenue climbed 17 percent over a year earlier.

--Jack Z. Smith

See full story in Tuesday's Star-Telegram.

North Sea crude tops $100 a barrel

The North Sea crude oil known as "Brent"--a much-followed "benchmark" oil as is West Texas Intermediate light, sweet (low-sulfur) crude oil in the U.S.--topped $100 a barrel today, the Associated Press reports.

--Jack Z. Smith

Southlake could vote on gas wells

The Southlake City Coucil could vote Tuesday on whether to authorize the city's first natural gas wells, as outlined in this report by Nicholas Sakelaris.

--Jack Z. Smith

Judge rules against smart-meter protester

A judge has ruled against a Bell County resident who sought to keep Oncor Electric Delivery from installing an advanced digital "smart" meter at her home, the Killeen Daily Herald reports. 

--Jack Z. Smith

Texas oil and gas sector grows in 2010

Texas' oil and gas exploration business grew steadily in 2010, according to an index of statewide energy activity, the Houston Chronicle reports.

--Jack Z. Smith

Exxon Mobil earnings top $9 billion

Exxon Mobil said today that it posted a net income of $9.25 billion for the fourth quarter of 2010. Revenue jumped 17 percent, to $105 billion.

It's the most-profitable quarter for the Irving-based oil giant since the third quarter of 2008, when the company set a record for quarterly net income by a publicly traded company by earning more than $14.8 billion, an Associated Press report noted.

Exxon, the world's biggest publicly traded oil company, said its net income grew 53 percent in the fourth quarter as it produced more oil to take advantage of higher prices.  Net income was $1.85 per share. In the year-ago quarter, Exxon earned $6.05 billion, or $1.27 per share.

For all of 2010, Exxon earned $30.5 billion, or $6.22 per share, compared with $19.3 billion, or $3.98 per share, in 2009. Annual revenue rose 32 percent to $383 billion.

Exxon cranked up production by 19 percent in the fourth quarter.  Its exploration and production operations posted income of $1.3 billion in the U.S. and $6.2 billion globally. Downstream operations, including refineries, earned $1.2 billion and chemicals earned $1.1 billion.

Last week, Chevron Corp. said net income soared 72 percent to $5.3 billion for the quarter while Conoco Phillips reported a 54-percent jump. BP reports earnings on Tuesday and Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday.

--Jack Z. Smith

Smackover smacking of new oil play?

The Lower Smackover formation in southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana "could emerge as the next new oil play," energy analysts with the Jefferies & Co. firm say in a note to investors.

The Lower Smackover is just below the natural gas-rich Haynesville Shale, which has prompted heavy drilling activity in recent years in northwest Louisana and part of East Texas. But Haynesville activity is being slowed by weak gas prices. The Jefferies analysts, including Subash Chandra, noted that the Lower Smackover is a "liquids-rich" formation that would offer the opportunity to produce oil and natural gas liquids (such as propane and butane) that are commanding more-attractive prices than dry gas.

Horizontal drilling technology "could ignite the Lower Smackover play," the analysts wrote, while adding,  "Success is far from certain. We are not aware of any horizontal successes yet." But they conclude by saying, "We wouldn't be surprised if operators more aggressively switch their attention to the liquids-rich Smackover."

--Jack Z. Smith

73 Barnett rigs going, Chesapeake most active

The number of rigs drilling for natural gas and oil in North Texas' Barnett Shale stood at 73 today, unchanged from a week earlier, according to RigData. The leading counties were Tarrant, 24 rigs; Johnson and Montague, 10 each; Cooke, 8; and Wise, 6.

Chesapeake is the most-active driller, with 17 rigs. Devon Energy and EOG Resources are tied for second, with 13 rigs each. XTO Energy is fourth, with four rigs.

Devon and Chesapeake are the No. 1 and No. 2 producers, respectively, in the Barnett, which underlies more than 20 North Texas counties.

The U.S. drilling rig count rose by 19 this week, to 1,732, according to Baker Hughes. The number of oil rigs rose by 11, to 809, the highest level since at least 1987. Natural gas rigs gained seven, to 913. The number of miscellaneous rigs, primarily geothermal, was 10.

In Texas, the rig count declined by one, to 740.

--Jack Z. Smith

Middle East turmoil jacks oil prices

Oil futures prices jumped nearly $4 a barrel today as thousands continued to riot against the Egyptian government and unrest threatened to spread across the Middle East, the Associated Press reported.

In futures trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a barrel of benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose $3.70 settle at $89.34. Oil rose as high as $89.73 at one point.

Prices shot up about $2 a barrel in less than half an hour after the White House expressed concern about Egypt. The State Department advised Americans to avoid non-essential travel there.

In other Nymex trading in March contracts, heating oil gained 3.9 cents to settle at $2.69 a gallon, gasoline added 7.27 cents to settle at $2.49 a gallon and natural gas picked up 4 cents to settle at $4.32 per million British thermal units.

--Jack Z. Smith

Exxon Mobil goes world-record well length

Irving-based Exxon Mobil announced today that it has drilled the world's longest extended-reach well, to a depth of 40,502 feet, in the Odoptu field offshore far eastern Russia. The well is part of the big Sakhalin-1 oil and natural gas project.

Just how much is 40,252 feet? That's nearly 7.7 miles deep, a measurement  approximately 28 times the height of New York City's Empire State Building, if you count the lightning rod on top that stretches the 102-story building to 1,454 feet.

The extended-reach  process "enables offshore drilling beneath the sea floor to the offshore oil and gas reservoirs to successfully operate in a safe and environmentally responsible manner in one of the most challenging sub-Arctic environments in the world,'" Exxon Mobil said.

The well was drilled by a subsidiary, Exxon Neftegas, operator of the Sakhalin-1 project on behalf of an international consortium that includes companies from Russian, Japan and India.

Since the first Sakhalin-1 well was drilled in 2003, six of the world's 10 record extended-reach wells have been drilled there, Exxon Mobil said. The project has produced about 300 million barrels of oil and 235 billion cubic feet of gas, the company said.

--Jack Z. Smith