The oil company has received a hold rating from analysts due to the falling oil and gas prices in the global market.
Chesapeake Energy has recently been rated by the analysts at equity firm Argus and a detailed account has been released by the analysts who believe that currently the investors in the oil digging company should hold back their shares and trade cautiously.
A rating of ‘hold’ has been granted to the oil stock taking into consideration the changes in the oil industry that has been observed lately. Such a rating given by the analysts has been released due to the many changes in the nature of the stock due to the falling oil prices. On the other hand, it should also be taken into consideration that if the current year is compared to the year before, it will be seen that the value of the oil has fallen by around 39 percent.
The analysts at Argus are also of the opinion that presently it is not possible to say that Chesapeake stock is going to perform in a better way in the future as the oil and gas prices are expected to stay in a declining position for some time. The financial firm has also cut down the estimations it made on the gas price of Henry Hub for the year of 2015 and has brought it down to $3 million from $3.5 million. However, even after all the negative changes being brought about on the stock, the analysts have yet not given a bearish verdict on the future of the firm due to a few reasons. It is to be believed by them that the oil company has managed to hold itself from falling despite the uncertainty in the oil prices that seemed to leave no other way for it.
Recently, it was also seen that Chesapeake management head CEO Doug Lawler sold quite a lot of the assets belonging to the company namely of Utica and Southern Marcellus which has backed up the oil field services providers in a much positive way. Analysts now believe that the firm has a chance to cut down on the net debt as well and give more money towards the capital expenditure. Furthermore, this will also help the oil company to raise more cash by investing more in the business.
However, Chesapeake is believed to still in trouble according to Argus analysts as the firm is a little too dependent on the price of natural gas and oil which has been stated as a problem by the analysts. The more the prices fluctuate, the more problems the firm is expected to face to balance itself on the stock market.
The oil digging company has faced a massive downfall in which its shares came down by 1.8% bringing the share price to $11.67.
In a recent press release, it was seen that Chesapeake Energy Corporation fell by a massive 1.8 percent in the last trading session that oil firm went through as of on Friday, June 19. The share price that was recorded by the end of the trading day came around at $11.67 which was taken as a surprisingly low price for the shares to adopt.
This decline was noted down due to the fall in the value of the crude oil that brought about a stir in the energy companies all over the globe. As for the crude oil delivery, it was seen to see a massive dip of 1.9 percent for the month of July, while on the other hand, per barrel price of the oil was seen to be at $59.30. As for the Brent crude oil prices, they also went down by a large difference. The delivery for August of the crude oil (brent) was seen to fall by 2.4 percent, which resulted in the value of one barrel coming around at $62.70.
This fall in the oil industry had been predicted as per a report published by Reuters recently, and the predictions were mentioned in oil forecasts. Even though a fall has been seen in the oil output, the shale oil producing companies seem to be quite bullish about their future as they think that their position in the market is expected to become better in the coming months.
On the other hand, many analysts made coverage on Chesapeake stock and decided to give various ratings. TheStreet equity analysts also carried out a detailed research on the stock activities in which they came to the conclusion of granting the shares of the oil digging firm with a ‘sell’ rating. The reason such a negative rating was presented to the shares of the oil company due to many reasons, among which one of them was the fact that no proper strengths were shown by the firm. The analysts also believe that the current situation shows that the firm’s negativity is far more on the heavier side than any positivity which means that the shareholders and investors have not much to look forward to.
Due to the downgraded position of the shares, the investors in the oil company will not be able to obtain good results out of their shares, which is why they have been guided by the firm to sell their Chesapeake shares. The discouraging return on the shares is one more displeasing factor which has made the analysts turn bearish towards the company.
Oil major enters with Princeton on 5-year, $5 million investment program on energy demand research.
Imperial Oil LTD IMO, Canada’s integrated oil producer and refiner that is majorly owned by Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), has commenced operation of its second phase of $7.5 billion of Kearl oil fields project in northern Alberta, a move that will help to boost its production capacity at its site to 220,000bpd.
It brings all the three production sites in the operating mode, a couple of years after the first initial phase of the project commenced. The startup was much earlier than expected, as the company anticipated beginning in July, but the expected capacity production will not be reached this year, and may likely take a full year for that to happen.
However, the expansion does not end there, as the company is aiming to do further work on boosting or upgrading its existing facilities to push production up to 345,000 bpd by the end of this decade, i.e. at 2020.
Kearl oil sand project is part of the $185 billion, spread over a period of 5 years that the company intends to spend on its CAPEX projects, which are 21 projects despite low oil prices. In addition to Kearl, there are four other projects located in West Africa, as well as the Kashan Phase-1 project in the Central Asian state of Kazakhstan, which are anticipated to be available by fiscal year 2015-16. This will push total production at one million net oil-equivalent bpd (barrels per day).
Recently, the company has also discovered oil located in the area of Vaca Muerta play in central Argentina and there is an ongoing establishment of Hebron offshore oil field in the Canadian provinces of Labrador and Newfoundland, which is likely to produce its first oil in the fiscal year 2017.
Meanwhile, the company has entered into a partnership with Princeton University in terms of a 5-year $5 million pledge to help in facilitating energy demand research, as part of the Princeton E-ffiliates Partnership, which is a global energy research collaborative authority comprising of experts in the energy field and are part of Princeton University.
For its part, Exxon Mobil will assist research groups, consisting of selected graduate students and post-doctoral fellows in areas of interest to both sides. Projects will include short and long-term focus on the environment. Any Exxon Mobil Corporation’s business unit is welcome to visit the campus for an interaction of research projects with any department of the university.
Exxon Mobil’s stock price ended the day at $84.74, a gain of 0.07% from the previous day, following the commission of the Canadian project.
Brent crude rises to all time high of less than $65, a gain of $1.10.
United States Oil Fund LP (ETF)’s (NYSEARCA: USO) stock price fell by 0.25% the previous day, despite a weaker dollar that has made the fuel cheaper for holders of other currencies. It occurred in addition to last minute deal, which seems to be arising out of tough negations that could ensure Greece remains in the EU block to avoid the Union getting a shock from the effects of Grexit.The dollar has lost its value by 0.5% against the basket of other currencies after the Fed Reserve did not gave a very clear signal regarding the rise of central bank interest rates either for this year or the next, leaving many investors disappointed. This does explain one major reason for the price rise. The devaluation might result in larger payments for oil in dollar terms.On the other hand, a meeting of the top European Union finance ministers in Luxembourg is seen as the last chance of a political rescue for Greece after a string of failures from previous negotiations. German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has stated that it was still possible for Greece to reach an agreement with the international creditors for the three institutions, namely the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank, and the European Union.Initially, oil price slipped due to the US Energy Information Administration releasing its data showing that gasoline stocks rose by 460,000 barrels last week, way past the 315,000 barrels that was expected by many analysts, despite cutback in oil investments.Despite the cutback, Brent crude prices has risen by $1.10 to at an all-time high of less than $65, owing to strong demand from the North American hemisphere during the past few months, as many Americans started to hit the road ahead of next month’s July 4th holiday. However, high summer temperatures In the Middle East have played its part too, and that has pushed gasoline prices to an all-time high in the last decade.This explains why the crude market is still so strong despite the apparent surplus in the market from heavy overproduction from OPEC producers. On top of the conflict in the Middle East, the aforementioned factors are influencing crude supply from the region. Despite the advent of Tropical Depression Bill that has managed to drench parts of Texas, most refineries and oilfield in the Gulf Coast have been unaffected and are running normally, barring any minor interruptions as a safety precaution.
Analysts believe that the oil company is worth much more and the decreasing oil prices are not going to affect it much.
Chesapeake Energy Company has been facing some issues on the stock index, given the fact that the oil prices have been on a serious low for some time. Analysts at Oppenheimer were seen to give a downgraded rating to the shares of the oil digging company considering the fluctuation that the oil prices were showing in the market. Analysts have also expected the company to receive a negative cash flow in the upcoming months of 2015 and even in the next year. The rating that was received by the firm was of a ‘performer’ from previously ‘outperform’ given by the analysts of the same equity firm.
The oil and gas prices which have become quite a significant reason for the undoing of many oil companies in the industry have been adopting much of an undecided pace for some time. Chesapeake has also been reportedly selling off its assets in order to fill up for the loss being faced because of the declining prices of the natural has which is why the analysts seem to be holding a negative stance towards the firm. Furthermore, some analysts believe that the oil diggers are not going to face much of a cash flow problem as anticipated in the coming weeks.
Even though there are issues that the energy company is facing, cash flow is less likely to be one of them as per analysts’ belief. This is being said by equity firms keeping in mind a cash credit facility valued up to $4 billion that the oil services providing company currently has. This facility has also not been in use of the firm as per recent reports which mean that the firm has a strong reason to not panic at this moment. Also, the cash flows that the currently noted down by the firm are up to $2.7 billion, that too in cash.
Analysts are also looking at all the possible reasons why the firm should not worry about declining cash flows and one of them is that the oil company has strong boundaries made around the oil and gas prices which are making the analysts turn positive for the near future of the company.
As seen in the recent times, even though the Chesapeake is cutting down its assets and selling them off, it will be seen that the already being carried out production of the oil services and operations are being carried out quite perfectly, precisely in Utica and Eagle Ford. It has also been announced that a massive chunk of the company’s capex is going to be handed down to these two oil fields.
Company also hands out rewards to two senior citizens for their volunteer works
Consumers Energy, which is CMS Energy Corporation's (NYSE:CMS) subsidiary, the provider of natural gas and electricity provider, is cooperating with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources for the installation of buoys in areas where hydropower electric stations are located, albeit at a medium size, to aid in warning residents to stay away from unsafe areas from the downstream hydro facilities to avoid deaths.Rich Castle, Consumers Energy's administrator of natural resource division, which is responsible for hydropower operations, has stated that that the plan involves installing buoys initially at Foote and Cooke dams before eventually spreading it out to other dams in the Michigan area,13 in total, once it is decided that the devices are deemed suitable to run at all various hydropower facilities. Foote and Cooke dams are located on the Au Sable River in Iosco County, whereas Cronton Dam is located on the Muskegon River in Newaygo County.The buoys will be located across the rivers, which face towards the dam, where the amount of water discharged can flow at a very dangerous rate, making it increasingly life threatening for passersby. The public has been informed to keep themselves limited to the downstream sector and not even tamper with the buoys; doing so will result in serious criminal charges and prosecution.Meanwhile, Consumers Energy has handed out two checks worth $1000 each for two senior citizens, who had given their valuable time for the benefit of the neighbors, friends, and community. The first award went to Joe Evans, 76, resident of Jackson, who accepted the award under the category of Community Leadership at the Older Michiganians Day. The second award went to Julian Lauren, 67, resident from Detroit, who, unfortunately, passed away before the ceremony, was also selected in the Service to Others category.Whitney Skeans, Consumers Energy's customer assistance manager, said that the awards reinforce the notion that a service is a very noble cause and one that is critical to the growth of the state and the well-being of the citizens. Consumers Energy is the proud award partner of Senior Citizen of the Year and has been holding the event annually where businesses, associations, and public and private entities can nominate elders, older than 60, who have performed uncompensated volunteering work, after which a vigorous selection process takes place from hundreds of nominated.CMS Energy Corporation stock price ended the day at $31.78, a 0.08% gain from the previous day.
The oil digging company has experienced an eminent loss in the short interest shares which has been recorded at 6.3 percent.
In the most recent news about oil companies, it emerged as a fact that Halliburton Company experienced a fall in the short interest shares of the firm on the stock index by a massive change of 6.3 percent. As for the record noted down on May 29 2015, the short interest shares were recorded at 44,013,064 shares and the days to cover have come around at 4, considering the shares traded on a daily basis are at 10,749,017. As for the outstanding shares that are found on the stock index, it was seen that the interest of those shares also declined by a massive 5.2% which is not being taken in a positive manner by analysts.
Halliburton has also reported a number of insiders selling and buying transactions in filings presented to the Securities Exchange Commission in which it was seen that on May 5, the President of the oil digging company carried out a selling transaction within the stock of the oil firm in which he was seen to be selling around 6,000 shares at an average price of $50. On a whole, the revenue generated through the selling turned out to be around $300,000.
On the other hand, it was seen that the oil field services providing company was covered by various analysts at different brokerage firms. JP Morgan was seen giving guidance to the investors by giving Halliburton shares a rating of an ‘overweight’ along with an indication that suggested them to sell their shares as the price target has been set by the analysts of the equity firm at $56.
On Tuesday, June 9, 2015, Halliburton stock seemed to be going through an active trade session in which the shares ended up going down by around 0.14 points. The share price that was recorded by the end of the day came around to be $45.28. The lowest point that the shares were seen touching during the day was noted down at $45.26 whereas the highest point was at $46.07. The oil field company has a market value that is worth $38.528 million.
Halliburton has around 850,874,000 shares that have been offered to the general public for ownership. In the past year, the firm witnessed its shares reaching the highest position with a share price of $74.33 whereas the lowest that was experienced was at $37.21. The 52-week high value of the shares has been printed out at $74.33 and, on the other hand, the 52 week low of the energy company has turned out to be at $37.21.
The oil company has been trading on a real low following the EIA report that was released regarding the expected decline in oil prices that might take place in the summer of 2015.
Chesapeake Energy Corporation was seen trading on quite a low share price on Friday, June 5, which was due to the negative report that emerged regarding the natural gas reserves that were seen to show unnatural highs and lows. According to a report by Energy Information Administration of the United States, it was seen that on June 4 the natural gas reserves increased by a massive amount that surprised the whole industry. The expectation from the gas reserves was to reach around 112 billion cubic feet, however, the actual reserves touched a massive 132 billion cubic feet as per the research of the EIA. This significant change in the amount of the natural gas was recorded as the largest increase in the gas reserves in the past ten years.Only last week, it was seen that the natural gas reserves had increased to 112 billion cubic feet. Therefore, the total inventory of the natural gas has come around at 2.233 billion cubic feet. This is one of the most significant changes of the year, keeping in mind that last year the gas reserves were 50.6 percent less than what they are now, been reported to be around 1,482 billion cubic feet only.On the other hand, the Natural Gas Supply Association has released a new research on the demand of natural gas that might surface in the current year. The annual outlook that is reported by the association every year looks quite positive this time around, believing the demand to be a record-setting one. One thing to be considered is that the increase in demand is not going to help the oil industry as analysts believe that the production expenses are also going to be seen on the surface.In a report by the NGSA, it was explained that even though the demand is likely to increase, the price of natural gas is also expected to get affected on a big scale. Saying this, the prices are therefore expected to be going down on the scale more than they did in 2014. One more thing is that the fact price of production is also going to get increased cannot be ignored and it is expected that that too might break records.On the other hand, since the supply is much more than the demand considering the high volume of natural gas in the current situation, it is expected that the oil prices go much lower than the present price natural gas is being traded on. Chesapeake shares have been taking a downward toll following this report which has made the share price reach the 52 week low of the stock at $12.8.
CEO Rex Tillerson says that it will be business as usual, climate change or no climate change, but the biggest customer is taking a dive into renewable future.
It seems that Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) CEO, Rex Tillerson, is not willing to budge from his position of a serious threat that climate change poses for the planet, and is not going to do so in the near future, as it seems. However, its biggest customer, the US military, is having other ideas though. It has just recently released a new energy security guideline, including how it intends to wean itself off from the petroleum products.
According to the released ‘Energy Security and Sustainable Strategy’, codenamed ES2 Strategy, it serves as a rebuke to Tillerson’s business model which says that it can no longer continue to assume that it has unimpeded access to energy, water, and other resources that are required to sustain a globally responsive US army.
It further goes on to say that the ‘ES2 Strategy will make the Army be resilient whilst preserving the future of the planet at the same time.’ If this plan holds weightage, then it would definitely ruffle the feathers of the Tillerson since it is the largest consumer of the petroleum products, second to the federal government.
The strategy calls for the inculcation of the concept of energy security and sustainability covering aspects of planning, procurement, system design, and construction. In terms of energy security, the Army will call upon to ensure that the energy resources are diversified and not redundant or disconnected from time to time.
It is obviously clear that the Army will not ‘turn off the taps’ overnight, but the reports state that it wants to slow down the torrent of petroleum supply down to a trickle. It must be stressed here that the main driving force behind this is the need for ‘force effectiveness’.
There are two other driving factors too – the budgetary cuts forcing US military in trying to be creative in managing its forces well while being on tight budgets and other that despite currently low oil prices, sooner than later, they will also shoot up, probably not through the roof.
While Mr. Tillerson may not feel intimidated by the military’s plan, only time will tell if he will have a ‘change of heart’ should the plan materialize, and whether he also steps into the renewable energy sector bandwagon, or if the Exxon Mobil CEO continues to play down the effects on climate change, as he has been for the past three years.
Exxon Mobil stock price ended the day at $103.02, a gain of 0.40%.
Central Arkansas Water says the state, federal government, and Exxon Mobil Pipeline Company are “unacceptable”, as the focus of New Jersey oil spill settlement turn towards Paulsboro.
A water utility company in central Arkansas, Central Arkansas Water, has decried the agreement between the state, federal government, and Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) Pipeline Company unacceptable. John Tina of the utility company says that he has objections to one provision that requires Exxon Mobil to treat one segment of the pipeline, which is “susceptible to longitudinal seam failure”.An executive summary released by CAW claims that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration regulations had a “zero tolerance” to pipeline failure. Exxon’s testing of the pipeline in 1991 and 2006 proved that these pipelines were indeed susceptible to failure.His second objection is the second provision, which requires Exxon Mobil to provide training to employees, who would be the first responders to the spill. In this case, Central Arkansas Water thinks that the pipeline is probably not insured. It recommends that training should be provided to all first responders to the spill, including local and county state emergency responders, i.e. those who are close to the spill impact.The third provision deals with the supplies and equipment to be located in three locations, two in Texas and one in Mayflower, which is not acceptable to the CAW since it is useless when the materials have to transport miles to the site and are deemed too insufficient.CAW has put forward 13 new provisions as a part of the addition to the consent decree, which ranges from pipeline removal from the Lake Maumelle Watershed to ensure that local and state emergency responders receive training in spill response. Ten public officials and utilities around Central Arkansas have also given their consent on comments, which were submitted by CAW yesterday on the last day of submitting comments.Meanwhile, on the other east side of the country, the Exxon Mobil Corporation settlement battle in New Jersey is heading for a decisive end. The deadline for public comments near its end and opponents took aim at another aspect of the deal in the town of Paulsboro with Jeff Tittel, New Jersey Sierra Club director, throwing his weight behind opponents, who said that Paulsboro would not see the dime from the settlement. Environmentalists also share the same concerns that there is no guarantee that the public settlement money would go directly to Paulsboro but have pledged not to give up the fight yet.Exxon Mobil’s stock price ended the day at $85.24, down 0.30% from the previous day, ahead of the close in public comments on the settlements.
