In this week's news update, the rig count reaches 20-year lows, and an oilfield worker is killed while moving equipment on a job site
An Odessa, Texas, man was killed in an oilfield accident on Jan. 7 in Midland County after he was hit by a piece of equipment being loaded onto a flatbed trailer.
The Midland County Sheriff’s office said James Robert Landis, 74, was hit as he helped load the equipment.
According to the sheriff’s department, Landis was the driver of the truck and was employed by Hughes Oilfield Transportation.
Rig Count Drops By 34
The U.S. rig count dropped by 34 rigs to 664 in the first Baker Hughes tally of 2016 released on Jan. 8.
According to the Texas-based oilfield services company, 516 rigs were seeking oil and 148 for natural gas. There was a 20-rig drop in oil and 14 in natural gas.
The figures mark a 13-year low for new drilling activity in Texas and a 20-year low for the U.S. as a whole.
Texas dropped 13 rigs last week, marking a new 20-year low for the state (308 rigs). Dropping four rigs each were New Mexico, North Dakota and Oklahoma, while West Virginia declined by three. Pennsylvania, Colorado and Alaska each dropped by two, while Arkansas, Kansas and Wyoming declined by one.
Utah, Ohio and California remained unchanged, while the only state to increase was Louisiana, by one rig.
Suncor Energy Extends Bid Deadline for Canadian Oil Sands
Suncor Energy, Canada’s largest oil producer, extended its hostile bid for Canadian Oil Sands on Jan. 8 by nearly three weeks.
Suncor Energy issued the brief statement Friday evening saying it would keep the offer open until Jan. 27. It marks a second delay after an initial attempt to terminate the offer in early December was overruled by a securities regulator in Alberta following an appeal from Canadian Oil Sands.
The delay suggests that Suncor failed to obtain the support it had sought by Friday from at least two-thirds of Canadian Oil Sands shareholders. Suncor declined to comment on the number of shares tendered and the reason for the extension of the deadline.
Superior Silica Sands Buys Frac Sand Reserve in Wisconsin
Superior Silica Sands, based in Texas, announced Jan. 8 that it has finalized an agreement with Performance Technology to purchase an estimated 94 million tons worth of sand reserves in the western Wisconsin county of Jackson.
Superior Silica says it’ll mine the sand and sell it back to Performance, which specializes in pumping the high-pressure mixture of sand, water and chemicals into oil and gas wells.
Superior declined to say what the purchase price was, but said there was a small down payment for the property, along with a 10-year contract to sell sand to Performance Technology at a discounted market rate for a portion of those 10 years.
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