News

Kevin Robinson-Avila | Albuquerque Journal | March 12, 2019

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Southeastern New Mexico is riding a monster wave of oil production, with output flooding into an all-time record of 250 million barrels in 2018.

That’s up 46 percent over 2017, when the state produced 171 million barrels, also a record high at that time. And its nearly three times the 86 million barrels produced in 2012, when the modern technologies of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling unleashed a years-long gusher from previously untapped shale oil reserves in the Permian Basin in southeastern New Mexico and West Texas.

Victor Blanco | NewsWest9 | March 12, 2019

SANTA FE, NM (KWES) - New Mexico’s oil boom continues to reach new heights as recently-published data shows oil production reaching a record-high of 250 million barrels of oil in 2018.

The United States Energy Information Administration reports oil production climbed 46% from 2017 to 2018, surging 78 million barrels past the previous record of 171 million barrels set in 2017.

Annual oil output increases 46% from 2017 to 2018

SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO – New Mexico’s oil boom continues to reach new heights as recently-published data shows oil production reaching a record-high of 250 million barrels of oil in 2018. The United States Energy Information Administration reports that oil production climbed an impressive 46% from 2017 to 2018, surging 78 million barrels past the previous record of 171 million barrels set in 2017.

Adrian C. Hedden | Carlsbad Current-Argus | February 25, 2019

A pair of pipelines intended to carry crude oil and natural gas liquids from the Permian Basin to the Gulf Coast for export cleared a federal hurdle this month, receiving a nationwide permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The move signified that all federal and state regulatory agencies approved of final construction for the lines, according to a news release from EPIC Midstream Holdings.

“Given the growth that we’ve seen, the need for these investments is tremendous,” said Robert McEntyre, spokesman for the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association. “It continues to grow. This is absolutely part of the solution to remove bottlenecks.”

Jane Wells | CNBC | January 4, 2019

Yes, oil prices go up and down — lately mostly down — but the "Help Wanted" sign is out. There's a generation of workers nearing retirement, and the pipeline of talent needs filling.

"If we look at the pipeline, it's pretty dry," says Katie Mehnert, dressed in a pink safety suit in the middle of a massive Shell refinery and chemical plant in Deer Park, Texas, outside Houston.

Mehnert is CEO of Pink Petro, a for-profit company funded by Shell and others in the energy industry to focus on recruiting women. The Petroleum Equipment and Services Association reports only 15 percent of the current oil and gas workforce is female, a number that drops in half when it comes to higher-paying technical jobs.

Mehnert created Pink Petro four years ago, after flying back to Houston. "I was sitting next to a gentleman," she says, "and he said to me, 'What's a pretty young lady like you doing in a dark, dangerous business like oil and gas?'"

She decided more women needed to be in this "dark" and "dangerous" — and well-paying, rewarding, challenging — industry critical to a functioning world.

S&P Global | Claudia Carpenter | February 20, 2019

US oil production will keep expanding through at least 2020, led by further growth from the Permian and New Mexico and putting a cap on Brent crude prices, according to S&P Global Ratings.

Output from the US will exceed 13 million b/d in 2020 compared with about 12 million b/d this year, Andrey Nikolaev, senior director, analytical manager in S&P Global Ratings, said Wednesday in a presentation given in Dubai.