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SLB beat Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter profit on Friday, helped by steady demand for its oilfield equipment and services in North America. U.S. crude production was expected to hit a record 13.41 million barrels per day in 2025, according to Energy Information Administration forecast, benefiting oilfield services companies. Quarterly revenue from SLB's North America segment was $2.21 billion, compared with $1.75 billion a year earlier. The world's top oilfield services provider [Read more]

Oil prices rebounded on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump renewed threats against major Middle Eastern producer Iran, raising concerns of military action that could disrupt supplies. Brent crude futures for March rose 43 cents, or 0.7%, to $64.49 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 42 cents, also 0.7%, to $59.78 a barrel as of 0522 GMT. Both contracts slumped about 2% on Thursday. They rebounded after Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One the U.S. has an "armada" [Read more]

U.S. control of Venezuela's oil exports has ensnared barrels that had been servicing debt to China, lining up another potential showdown between the two superpowers that could further complicate the South American country's path out of default. Around a tenth of Venezuela's $150 billion foreign debt pile is estimated to be loans from China that the OPEC member was paying in oil cargoes - until the U.S. seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier this month. Debt experts said the [Read more]

The U.S. takeover of Venezuela's oil exports has re-routed crude barrels that were being used to service debt owed to China. How much does Venezuela owe China, and how and why was the country getting debt payments after Venezuela's default? HOW MUCH DOES VENEZUELA OWE CHINA? Data on Venezuela's debt is sketchy, particularly since 2017 when U.S. sanctions triggered a sovereign default. AidData, a research lab at the U.S. university William & Mary which tracks lending, estimated that [Read more]

The Trump administration is allowing China to purchase Venezuelan oil but not at "unfair, undercut" prices at which Caracas sold the crude before the U.S. removed its leader Nicolas Maduro, an administration official said on Thursday. While the oil will be sold in the global marketplace, the U.S. administration has required that the majority be sold to the United States, the official said on condition of anonymity. The U.S. says it will control Venezuela's oil sales indefinitely after seizing [Read more]

Winter electricity demand on the largest U.S. power grid - the PJM Interconnection - is expected to set an all-time record next week as large swaths of the United States brace for an Arctic blast of cold weather. PJM's seven-day forecast on Thursday morning predicted 144,465 megawatts of demand on January 27. That would top PJM's all-time winter high of 143,700 set in January 2025. PJM is the biggest grid operator in North America, serving 67 million people in 13 states and Washington, [Read more]

Investment firm Kimmeridge plans to nominate former Pioneer Natural Resources CEO Scott Sheffield to Coterra Energy's board, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. Kimmeridge has said Coterra's board must reassess its leadership structure and appoint an independent, non-executive chair, the report said, adding that it expects to nominate four more people to the board. In November, activist investor Kimmeridge called for an overhaul of [Read more]

A profound proposed reform of Venezuela's hydrocarbons law would allow foreign and local companies to operate oilfields on their own through a new contract model, commercialize output and receive sale proceeds even if acting as minority partners of state company PDVSA, drafts seen by Reuters on Thursday showed. Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez last week submitted the reform proposal, expected to deeply modify the backbone of the OPEC country's oil industry by changing late President [Read more]