PATTERSON-UTI ENERGY, INC. today announced that it will make a presentation on March 15, 2007 at the Bear Stearns Global Oil & Gas Conference in New York. Representing the Company at the conference will be Mark S. Siegel, Chairman, and John E. Vollmer, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

The presentation will be webcast live beginning at approximately 1:35 p.m. Eastern Time on March 15, 2007. To access the webcast, go to www.patenergy.com approximately 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time. Replay of the webcast will be available through March 19, 2007 at www.patenergy.com.

About Patterson-UTI

Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. provides onshore contract drilling services to exploration and production companies in North America. The Company has approximately 340 currently marketable land-based drilling rigs that operate primarily in the oil and natural gas producing regions of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and western Canada. Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. is also engaged in the businesses of pressure pumping services and drilling and completion fluid services. Additionally, Patterson-UTI has an exploration and production business.


Source: Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc.

Accounting, tax and business advisory firm Grant Thornton LLP announced today that, according to its 2007 Survey of Upstream U.S. Energy Companies, the top concern among energy executives is the uncertainty of natural gas and oil prices in the near future.

More than 80 companies (40 percent public and 60 percent private) responded to the survey questionnaire distributed by Grant Thornton's Energy Practice. Reed Wood, Grant Thornton's partner-in-charge of the firm's energy practice, says, "The findings show an industry that is generally optimistic and strong, but somewhat apprehensive about projecting increases in capital spending and drilling activities when the prices of natural gas and oil remain uncertain for the most part."

According to 41 percent of survey respondents, the average price of natural gas for 2007 must be $8.43 per Mcf in order to justify an increase in U.S. drilling activity of more than 20 percent. More than half indicated that natural gas production would be curtailed if prices were less than $5 per Mcf in 2007. Yet, only 10 percent expect natural gas prices to be high enough to support an increase in drilling this year.

On the topic of crude oil, 93 percent of respondents said that the average price per barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude must be greater than $60 to justify an increase in U.S. drilling activity in 2007. Sixty percent indicated that crude oil drilling would be curtailed if prices dropped to $40 or less per barrel.

Randall D. Stilley, CEO and President of Houston-based Hercules Offshore, Inc., indicated the issues for the sector this year are broad. "For those of us in the oil and gas service industry, we face three main challenges as we enter 2007 - recruiting and retaining talented people; allocating resources in an environment of uncertain demand and increasing geopolitical risk; and planning for the future, when faced with highly volatile commodity prices. Our success will depend largely on how well we anticipate and respond to these challenges."

Here are some additional highlights from the survey:

* 65 percent anticipate increases in domestic capital expenditures in 2007 (compared to 89 percent in 2006).
* More than half of those interviewed said they plan to focus on both natural gas and crude oil activities in 2007, not primarily natural gas as in 2006.
* As in 2006, the respondents said the Gulf of Mexico holds the greatest potential for oil and gas discoveries, followed by the Rocky Mountains and Alaska.
* 79 percent expect a need for more capital in the next five years (compared to 89 percent in 2006).
* Companies surveyed plan to add jobs in 2007, but executives surveyed expect continued challenges in finding and keeping qualified industry professionals, especially geologists and engineers, even when offering top salaries.
* Respondents also anticipate a rise in merger and acquisitions and restructurings in the coming year.
* 61 percent believe there will be increased environmental legislation enacted in the future to further protect the environment; consequently, almost half of those interviewed say their companies will spend more on environmental remediation or studies compared to current levels.

Survey respondent Matt Manning, Controller of Lafayette-based Marlin Energy LLC, said, "Energy industry leaders should be concerned about replacing the rapidly aging workforce. In these times of record profits and employee compensation, jobs in the energy industry should be attractive to young professionals."

Many of the survey's respondents concluded that the growth of operations last year bodes well for local economies this year that are supported by energy and energy related companies. "We are optimistic that our market will continue to thrive, and demand will remain high," said Gene Miller, partner in Grant Thornton's Dallas office.

To order a copy of the survey or to view more detailed results, visit www.GrantThornton.com/oilandgas.

About the Survey

This is the fifth survey of U.S. energy companies commissioned by Grant Thornton. Survey questionnaires were mailed to senior executives of independent oil and gas operators and service companies throughout the United States.

The survey period was from December 2006 through mid-January 2007. Issues explored by the Grant Thornton Survey of Upstream U.S. Energy Companies were identified by seasoned professionals in Grant Thornton's Energy Practice.

More than 80 companies responded to the survey questionnaire. The following indicate the relative size of the companies that responded to the survey: average total assets at the end of 2006 - $676 million; average revenues for the 2006 fiscal year - $288 million.

About Grant Thornton

Grant Thornton LLP is the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International, one of the leading global accounting, tax and business advisory organizations. Through member firms in more than 110 countries, including 50 offices in the United States, the partners and employees of Grant Thornton member firms provide personalized attention and the highest quality service to public and private clients around the globe. Visit Grant Thornton LLP at www.GrantThornton.com.

National Energy Practice

Grant Thornton's National Energy Practice is dedicated to serving the accounting and tax needs of public and privately owned energy companies. Headquartered in Houston with significant energy expertise in Dallas, Denver, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Kansas City and Wichita, Grant Thornton's energy practice group has experience in all segments of the industry with a focus on exploration and production, drilling and energy services, pipeline and distribution, and refining and marketing.

Visit Grant Thornton LLP at www.GrantThornton.com.


Contact:

Grant Thornton LLP
Jennifer Dollinger
832.476.5065
jennifer.dollinger@gt.com
or
Pierpont Communications
Gina Biondillo
713.627.2223 ; ext. 1150
gbiondillo@piercom.com
or
Pierpont Communications
Kerri Protas
214.549.9837
kprotas@piercom.com

Source: Grant Thornton LLP

EV Energy Partners, L.P. today announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire natural gas properties in the Monroe Field of North Louisiana for $96 million from an institutional partnership managed by EnerVest Management Partners, Ltd. The acquisition, which has been approved by the Board of Directors, is expected to close before mid-April 2007, and is subject to customary closing conditions and purchase price adjustments.

EVEP plans to initially finance the acquisition with borrowings under its existing credit facility.

"The acquisition of these properties will create excellent synergies with our existing Monroe field assets," said John B. Walker, Chairman and CEO. "As with our recently completed acquisitions, these properties fit well with EVEP's asset base and we expect the acquisition to be accretive to distributable cash flow per unit."

As a result of this acquisition, management anticipates that it will recommend to the Board of Directors an increase in the quarterly distribution rate, beginning with the distribution for the second quarter of 2007 (payable during the third quarter of 2007) subject to the closing of the acquisition of substantially all of the Monroe properties.

The properties include:

* Over 2,800 wells located in Union, Morehouse and Ouachita Parishes in Louisiana
* Proved reserves of approximately 65.4 Bcfe (99% proved developed producing)
* 100% natural gas
* Significant third-party transportation and marketing
* Operate 100% of wells
* High net revenue interest of over 95%
* Reserves-to-production ratio of over 22 years
* Current net daily production of approximately 7,600 MCF

ccomplete this report click here

Japan's Cabinet today approved a revised energy policy that highlights stronger ties with nations producing oil, natural gas and uranium, and the development of next-generation nuclear technology, the government said.

"Moving ahead with nuclear power development, concerted efforts to secure stable supply of oil and energy-saving are the pillars of the revised policy,'' Trade Minister Akira Amari told reporters after the Cabinet approved the policy today.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government is stepping up efforts to tackle the rising risks of tightening oil and gas supplies amid growing demand from China and India. Japan, which is increasingly reliant on nuclear energy, is seeking reciprocal relations with countries that produce the atomic fuel to strengthen energy security.

``Japan has yet to achieve and set out decisive measures to resolve the vulnerability of our energy security, given that it imports almost all its energy needs and that 90 percent of its oil requirements comes from the Middle East,'' the government said in the revised energy policy prepared by the trade ministry.

The policy contains other measures, including promoting energy saving, such as the use of biomass, fuel cells, ethanol- blended gasoline, and renewable energy like sunlight.

Recycling spent nuclear fuel and the development of fast breeder reactors will help the country boost electricity generated by atomic power plants from about 30 percent currently to above 40 percent, according to the energy policy.

``The government should have various measures to meet basic policies stated in the Nuclear State Plan,'' compiled in August last year, the revised policy said.

Nuclear State Plan

Japan's nuclear plan, prepared by the trade ministry's energy advisory committee, contains ways that allow the country to develop nuclear technologies, such as spent fuel recycling, the acquisition of overseas uranium supply, the commercializing of fast breeder reactor, and the provision of technical assistance to other countries building atomic power plants.

Nuclear fuel are ``spent'' when they can no longer effectively produce energy. Recycling spent nuclear fuel is central to Japan's energy policy as the global race for natural uranium intensifies. Uranium prices have jumped more than 10- fold in five years as demand from utilities surged and stockpiles fell. China, India and Vietnam all have plans to build atomic power plants.

Fast breeder reactors are designed to produce more nuclear fuel than they consume.

Russian Oil, Gas

The Japanese government reviews and revises the country's energy policy every three years, taking into account any major changes in the global market during the period.

The Cabinet's approval comes after the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito gave their consent to the revised policy last month.

Heavy reliance on Saudi Arabia's oil and Indonesia's natural gas underscores the vulnerability of Japan's energy security. Japan's petroleum refiners and power utilities are increasing imports of crude oil and liquefied natural gas from Russia to break that reliance.

Nippon Oil Corp., Japan's largest refiner, and other petroleum companies last year began importing Sokol crude oil from Exxon Mobil Corp.'s Sakhalin-1 project in Russia.

Russia's natural resources ministry will begin ecological checks at the oil and gas project, Interfax reported, citing Oleg Mitvol, the deputy of the ministry's environmental inspectorate.

``I hope there will be no major impacts'' on the project from the planned inspection, Amari said, speaking at a regular press conference in Tokyo.

Oil Imports

In 2006, Japan imported 243 million kiloliters, or 4.19 million barrels a day, of crude oil, according to oil data compiled by the trade ministry. Imports from Saudi Arabia were 72.9 million kiloliters, or 30 percent of the total.

The country imported 62.1 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas that year, trade reports issued by the finance ministry said. Indonesia shipped 14 million tons to Japan, accounting for 23 percent.

LNG is natural gas that has been chilled to liquid form, reducing it to one-six-hundredth of its original volume, for transportation by ship to destinations not connected by pipeline. On arrival, it's turned back into gas for distribution to power plants and other buyers.

To contact the reporters on this story: Shigeru Sato in Tokyo at ssato10@bloomberg.net .

Federal regulators are questioning how oil flowing through the trans-Alaska pipeline is charged, prompting some Alaska lawmakers to say this could serve as a warning for a producer-owned natural gas pipeline.

The company that manages the oil pipeline is owned largely by a consortium of BP PLC, ConocoPhillips Co. and Exxon Mobil Corp., but other oil companies say they are being charged too much to send their oil down the 800-mile pipeline.

State lawmakers are paying close attention to a dispute over rates — or a tariff — between the consortium, Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., and Tesoro Corp. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp.

Tariffs cover transportation rates, terms and conditions for the service. Higher tariffs mean lower royalties for the state and higher costs for companies paying to use the pipeline.

The issue comes as state lawmakers begin reviewing Gov. Sarah Palin's plan called the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, or AGIA, and tariff structure will be a critical component of the proposed natural gas pipeline.

“The three most important things — bar none — are the tariff, the tariff and the tariff,” said state Rep. Carl Gatto, R-Palmer, who co-chairs the House Resources Committee.

“Both pipelines, the one that exists and the one that is coming, and AGIA, are all the same issue: develop resources so we can run the state.”

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is in the middle of reviewing the oil pipeline dispute that may ultimately be resolved by the courts, state officials and lawmakers said.

Tesoro, a refiner, and Anadarko, a producer, want the federal rates to be closer to the state rate, which would drop their fees by about $3 a barrel, the companies said. The companies haven't quantified the difference yet, because the lower tariff would be offset in part by a higher royalty to the state, but could result in millions of dollars in savings for them.

On March 5, the House Resources Committee discussed but took no action on the FERC report. The report from the agency's legal department has sided with Tesoro and Anadarko in the dispute.

Tariff adjustments are submitted to FERC, which can approve, deny or conditionally approve pending appeals, which means the higher rates go into effect.

The battle has lawmakers concerned over potential fallouts from having producers own any natural gas pipeline.

Producers Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips and BP have told House and Senate committees they have every fiscal motivation to keep the costs down if they are chosen to build the natural gas pipeline. The producers also argued that they have the financial stability and a proven track record to undertake such a project.

What they don't have any longer is an exclusive deal to build the project, like they had last year with the former governor. When Palin took office, she totally rewrote the process to build a pipeline, proposing a competitive bidding process which has attracted more interest than just from the big three oil companies.

While lawmakers have expressed concern about a producer-owned pipeline, Palin's plan calls for an openly competitive process. She introduced her bill on March 2, and lawmakers could start holding hearings on it shortly.

Sen. Gene Therriault, R-North Pole, said producers won't be prejudged.

“We could go end up going arm-and-arm with them to FERC and say this is how we'd like the pipeline to be run and how we can avoid these potential pitfalls,” he said.

Even though there are many unknowns at this point, at the March 5 committee meeting, lawmakers held up the tariff dispute as an example of a glitch in the current pipeline structure.

“The report appears to say perhaps we made some errors,” Gatto said. “It tells us, are these errors correctable and more importantly, don't make the same errors for the gas line.”

A prohibitive tariff structure could preclude additional North Slope natural gas exploration from independent companies such as Anadarko, because of the potential costs to transport the gas.

Palin's proposal pledges to expand the pipeline project when new gas is available. This can accommodate untapped fields; for now there are about 35 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves on the North Slope.

“If indeed we have no control over the tariff, then I'm fearful for the result of getting independent explorers to go out and look for the additional gas,” Gatto said.

source news : alaskajournal.com

The head of an oil-exploration company said he will appeal a decision by the government to stop an environmental assessment of a proposed drilling project in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.

The government didn’t get enough information from Viking Oil Exploration Inc. to complete the assessment, Glen Canyon spokesman Kevin Schneider said. The lease expired Feb. 28.

Viking had proposed to drill an exploratory well in Garfield County near the southern end of Capitol Reef National Park, Schneider said.

“These were questions about very specific site impacts. Without answers, it was impossible to continue the environmental assessment,” he said.

In 2005, company President Chuck Einarsen said oil deposits below the 730-acre area could be worth $24 billion.

He said he was disappointed with the decision and will appeal.

“I’ve been waiting 16 years for them to approve the (drilling permit),” Einarsen said Wednesday. “Then they sent me two letters with (60) questions they wanted me to answer, and gave me 30 days to respond. ... They were so unreasonable in their request.”

(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

The KU-S oil production platform off the coast of Ciudad del Carmen, with its 10,000-ton tangle of yellow and red tanks and pipes, would seem the natural product of three years of soaring energy prices. The newly installed platform certainly is the face that Mexico’s state oil monopoly, Pemex, would like to show off.

But Pemex is in trouble. Its production and proven reserves are falling, and it has no money to reverse the slide. Mexico is the second-largest supplier of imported oil to the United States, after Canada, but its total exports are slipping. If the company continues on its current course, Mexico may one day have trouble just keeping up with rising demand at home.

The evidence of its predicament is clear not far from the KU-S platform. On the horizon, some 50 to 60 miles into the southern Gulf of Mexico, aging rigs billow flames and black smoke over the waters as they burn off the natural gas they are unable to process.

The major reason that Pemex’s prospects are so poor, energy experts agree, is government interference. The Mexican government, which expropriated the oil industry in 1938, depends on Pemex to finance its budget. Last year, sales at Pemex (its full name is Petróleos Mexicanos) reached $97 billion. But $79 billion of that went to the government, Pemex’s chief, Jesús Reyes Heróles, said last month. That accounted for almost 40 percent of the federal budget.

Government interference is only part of the story. Pemex has been hamstrung by years of short-sighted management aimed at extracting the most cash for the government treasury — Mexico’s president and Congress must approve the company’s budget, its output, investments and exports each year. By law, Pemex is closed to any outside investment, shutting it off from private capital and expertise.

In addition, Pemex has not reinvested enough for decades and, because it faces no competition at home, has lagged behind many of the industry’s technical advances. Its labor union has locked it into rigid work rules and siphoned off hundreds of millions of dollars for unexplained benefits. And that does not even touch on the widespread corruption and waste.

“Inside Pemex, I think they have creative solutions,” said Amy Myers Jaffe, an energy analyst at the James A. Baker III Institute at Rice University. “They know what they want to do. How do you get that solved within the politics of Mexico?”

President Bush is scheduled to visit Mexico Monday and Tuesday, and oil is likely to be on the agenda. In comments to Latin American reporters this week, Mr. Bush mused that Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderón, should consider private capital to expand Pemex production. The comments ruffled Mexican sensitivities over national sovereignty of its oil resources.

Over the last five years, Pemex has spent about $50 billion, mostly borrowed, to pump more and more oil and gas. “It should have spent much more on exploration so that it wouldn’t be in the situation it is in today,” said Adrian Lajous, who led Pemex in the 1990s. “It was a drive to generate short-term revenue for the government.”

For all that spending, said George Baker, a Houston analyst who publishes a newsletter covering the Mexican oil industry, Pemex did not get much. “In the end, the results were very weak. You didn’t build a new refinery. You didn’t find more oil.”

Mexico, the fifth-largest oil producer in the world in 2005, is sitting on tens of billions of barrels of untapped oil reserves. But much of that is in the deep waters of the gulf, not far from where American companies have announced discoveries. Pemex has neither the money nor the expertise to get at the oil.

Its biggest field, Cantarell, in the shallow waters of the gulf, is one of the world’s richest. That field used to account for about 60 percent of Mexico’s oil production, but has gone into a sharp decline. Production at Cantarell fell 13.5 percent last year, and it will fall another 15 percent this year, Mr. Reyes Heróles said recently.

The decline at Cantarell pushed Pemex’s output down from its peak of 3.4 million barrels a day in 2004 to 3.26 million last year.

At the same time, Pemex’s proven reserves of crude oil have fallen to 11.8 billion barrels at the end of 2005 from 15.1 billion barrels at the end of 2002.

source news : nytimes.com