The Covid-19 pandemic and the price crisis it has brought upon the oil and gas sector have hit the profitability of exploration and production (E&P) companies hard. Despite the recent relative oil price recovery, dozens of US operators are still threatened by bankruptcies even at a WTI oil price of $30 per barrel. A Rystad Energy analysis shows that royalty exemptions could save the day for many of them.

Total SA’s (Total) robust upstream business tops the European majors’ peer group when assessed against the impact of COVID-19 and the current oil price volatility, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.  

Oil companies are dealing with a plethora of challenges due to the sudden decline in demand amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Distant storage locations increase costs as transportation fees get factored in with storage fees.

Equinor reports adjusted earnings of USD 2.05 billion and USD 0.56 billion after tax in the first quarter of 2020. IFRS net operating income was USD 0.06 billion and the IFRS net income was negative USD 0.71 billion, following net impairments of USD 2.45 billion.

Confidence had returned to global exploration with improved performance and the emergence of several new multi-billion-barrel plays. The confidence carried over into 2020 but has evaporated in the face of the Covid-19 crisis and the collapse in oil prices. Short term plans are in a state of flux and exploration strategy is being reset again.

Equinor, Shell and Total have decided to invest in the Northern Lights project in Norway's first exploitation license for CO₂ storage on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Plans for development and operation have been handed over to the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.

The swift oil price crash caused by the Covid-19 pandemic will reduce the combined free cash flow of FPSO fields, which have produced above three quarters of their original resources at just $2.20 per barrel this year. This is a jaw-dropping decline from 2019’s $11.10 per barrel, a Rystad Energy impact analysis reveals.

ThayerMahan Inc. ("ThayerMahan"), a leading maritime technology company providing autonomous marine sensing solutions, announced that it closed on $10 million of new financing from AE Industrial Partners Structured Solutions I, LP ("AEI Structured Solutions"), an affiliate of AE Industrial Partners, LP ("AEI"), a private equity firm specializing in Aerospace, Defense & Government Services, Power Generation, and Specialty Industrial markets.

After years of talk about the declining role of oil in the global economy, and of OPEC’s demise, the COVID-19 pandemic has placed Middle East producers at the heart of the drive to prevent the health crisis becoming a global economic catastrophe, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Equinor will report its business in the US as a separate operating segment within Exploration and Production International going forward. With this Equinor will provide the same financial information for our business in the US as for the reporting segments.

There are no hard numbers yet to illustrate the extent to which the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the oil and gas industry’s digitization. However, a Rystad Energy analysis of service companies’ earnings calls reveals a clear growth in cost-saving remote work technologies.

Equinor ASA has divested its financial shareholding in Lundin Energy AB, comprising around 14 million shares and corresponding to its 4.88% percent of the shares and votes, at a total sale price of approximately SEK 3.3 billion.

Commercial and industrial demand for natural gas is declining as most countries around the world impose lockdowns to limit the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. Rystad Energy estimates global natural gas demand to fall by almost 2% this year as a result of the lower activity.

Shell Gas B.V., a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc, announces that all conditions for its Final Investment Decision (FID) on a new LNG processing unit at Nigeria LNG (NLNG) have now been met.

Earnings of major international oil and gas producing companies have suffered in the first quarter of 2020 resulting from weaker product demand and lower realized oil and gas prices. Despite a depressed outlook for 2020, big oil remains committed to dividend payments as shareholders are prioritized, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Some good news: The global imbalance between oil supply and demand, which has built to 26.4 million barrels per day (bpd) in April due to the Covid-19 pandemic, is set to halve to 13.6 million bpd in May and fall further to just 6.1 million bpd, according to a Rystad Energy analysis.