In this week's news update, the period of review for Halliburton's acquisition of Baker Hughes is extended, and the Energy Information Administration projects a continued slump in shale oil production.
In its latest Drilling Productivity Report, the U.S. Energy Information Administration says U.S. crude oil production from shales is projected to fall for the fourth straight month in August to 5.357 million b/d — a drop of 91,000 b/d from July estimates.
It is the second consecutive month the agency has predicted a month-on-month decline of 91,000 b/d.
In the report, released July 13, the EIA predicts oil output in the Permian to increase 5,000 b/d in August to 2.046 million b/d. The Eagle Ford should continue to show the steepest decline in August and is predicted to have a drop of 55,000 b/d to 1.538 million b/d. The EIA also predicts oil production from the Bakken should drop 22,000 b/d to 1.182 million b/d in August.
Marathon Petroleum to acquire MarkWest Energy
Marathon Petroleum Corp., based in Findlay, Ohio, has reached a deal to acquire midstream natural gas firm MarkWest Energy Partners in a deal valued at about $15.8 billion, Marathon officials said July 13.
MarkWest would become a wholly owned subsidiary of Marathon’s MPLX LP following the close of the deal, which is expected to happen in the fourth quarter of 2015.
MPLX owns crude oil pipelines in the Midwest and Gulf Coast regions and a butane storage cavern in West Virginia.
The combined company will have a total market capitalization of $21 billion, making it the fourth-largest limited master partnership.
DOJ Extending Review of Halliburton, Baker Hughes Deal
Halliburton and Baker Hughes signed a deal with the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on July 10, giving consent to extend the period of review of Halliburton’s planned acquisition of Baker Hughes.
The deal extends the review of the proposed merger to Nov. 25, or 90 days after Halliburton and Baker Hughes certify they have substantially complied with DOJ’s second requests for information.
Both Halliburton and Baker Hughes anticipate the merger being completed by Dec. 1 as both companies are discussing the planned acquisition already with the DOJ.
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