Chesapeake Energy shares skyrocketed 26.6% on Thursday, the most in two years, after board member Archie Dunham announced the purchase additional shares of the company. According to the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Director bought 2.1 million shares of the company worth $4 million on December 21, 2018.With this purchase he nearly doubled his position in the company to more than 1% in this month. “Since I’m in for long term, when I get the opportunity to buy when the whole market drops like it did over the last 10 days, I decided I would be foolish not to take advantage of it,” the Director said to Bloomberg in a telephonic interview. Registering its highest gain since April 2016, the company end the day at $2.19 per share after rising nearly 27%. Amidst a transition phase, in terms of shifting focus from gas to oil production, shares of the company tumbled by ~25% since November end after being hit by the oil rout.

Falling in tandem with the equities market, oil prices hit their lowest levels in nearly 18 months to trade at $42.53/bbl. Despite the production deal struck earlier in December between the OPEC and Russia, investors are increasingly seeking shelter in apparently safe-haven assets such as gold and government debt at the cost of risker ones like oil and stocks.crude futures ended Monday's session at $42.53 after falling 6.7% or $3.06, its lowest closing price since June 2017 and close to 2017’s lowest level of $42.05.

In a recently released 2019 budget, Hess Corporation (HES) has revealed that the company is planning to significantly increase spending compared to 2018's levels.Making itself an outlier compared to its exploration and production peers, Hess reiterated that its increased investment will pay big dividends down the road. Hess also revealed that it plans to invest $2.9 billion in capex during 2019, nearly 40% higher than the $2.1 billion it spent in both 2017 and 2018.

Oil prices fell on Friday to their lowest levels in more than a year, deepening a rapid seven-week sell-off that has plunged crude futures deep into a bear market. READ MORE...

A fresh burst of arctic air around the Midwestern United States helped U.S. natural gas futures surge more than 11% on Wednesday. With the forecast of snow showers continuing over the next several weeks, coupled with an indication that stockpiles may simultaneously plunge, Nymex natural gas prices increased by 11.2% to stand at $4.74/MMBtu. Although production has increased in this year, further increased demand since the beginning of November has kept inventories well below normal.With an unusually cold start to the winter season, analysts expect supply to be constrained for the entire peak heating season considering the low levels of inventory, which in turn can make prices go up further. With the potential for natural gas shortages at the end of the season, several gas-focused companies like Antero Resources (AR, +2.91%), Gulfport Energy Corporation (GPOR, +3.40%), EQT Corporation (EQT, +2.14%) and Cabot Oil & Gas (COG, +2.64%) were some of the top gainers in Wedn

Brent crude futures, which tanked by ~6% on Friday, increased by $1.71 or 2.9% on Monday to stand at $60.51 a barrel.U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures, which sank nearly 7.7% on Friday, rose by $1.28 or 2.5% to stand at $51.70 a barrel. Although the gains partly made up for Friday’s losses, oil and gas analysts are of the opinion that uncertainty over global economic growth limited gains and they are concerned whether oil can hold on to the $60 mark, considering broad market weakness. With the International Energy Agency already revising their initial estimate for the demand growth rate from 1.5 million barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day in just three months, analysts aren’t expecting any sustainable long-term oil price gain.   

Snapping four days of gains, oil prices plummeted again on Tuesday and crude futures also fell to fresh session lows, as the U.S. President in an official statement announced that the United States stands by Saudi Arabia. Brent crude fell by $4.72 or 7.1% to stand at $62.07 a barrel while the international benchmark for oil prices hit a fresh eight-month low on Tuesday.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) plunged by $4.18 or 7.3% to stand at $53.02, thus hitting its lowest level going back to October 2017. Crude futures and equities fell in tandem during this broad market sell-off, just like last month.

Following in the footsteps of Chevron (CVX, $115.72), the American multinational energy company ConocoPhilips revealed its plans to sell the remaining of its North Sea assets, Bloomberg reports.Endeavor, in recent times, has become an attractive prospect in the Permian Basin, owing to its position in Texas and New Mexico.

Saudi Arabia plans to reduce oil supply to world markets by 0.5 million barrels per day in December, its energy minister said on Sunday, as the OPEC power faces uncertain prospects in its attempts to persuade other producers to agree a coordinated output cut. Khalid al-Falih told reporters that Saudi Aramcos customer crude oil nominations would fall by 500,000 bpd in December versus November due to seasonal lower demand.The cut represents a reduction in global oil supply of about 0.5 percent. READ MORE...

Following some repair work, Enbridge has been able to provide partial service to customers of its BC Pipeline.However, it has asked its retail customers to conserve throughout the winter as the lines are expected to operate at only ~55% of its operating pressure, even though a majority of the repairs are reportedly complete. BC Pipeline comprises of two parallel lines, one 36-in.

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (CHK) shares plunged by -23.4% in October, as per data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The sell-off was largely fueled by the surprising decision and the subsequent announcement by CHK to buy Wildhorse Resource Development (WRD, $22.80) for nearly $4 billion, for a combination of cash and stock. As per the company, the deal is expected to help bolster its presence in the oil-rich Eagle Ford Shale along with the opportunity to double its production capacity by 2020.It is also expected to help accelerate the execution of CHK's deleveraging plan.

Undergoing a whole-scale transition under CEO Doug Lawler, Chesapeake Energy surprised the investor community by reporting third quarter earnings a day early and also with the announcement of the acquisition of WildHorse Resource Development Corp (WRD, $21.29), in a deal valued at ~$4 billion. Reporting a 58% y-o-y increase in its adjusted EPS at $0.19 cents a share, Chesapeake registered only a 12% y-o-y decrease in its production costs.The average daily oil production of the company saw a 13% y-o-y increase while the cashflow from operations stood at $504 million, up 52% on a y-o-y basis.

Continental Resources (CLR) kick started the shale earnings week in an exciting way, by nicely beating analysts’ estimates. Analysts expected CLR to record earnings growth of 800% to 81 cents per share with revenue growth of 66.7% to $1.21 billion.In reality, however, CLR reported an EPS of 90 cents per share with revenue growth by 76% to $1.28 billion.

The last week of October will likely be extremely busy for shale earnings, as at least 10 energy stocks are scheduled to report their Q3 earning results. The first three to report after market close on Monday are Continental Resources (CLR, $50.18), Diamondback Energy (FANG, 107.71) and Viper Energy Partners (VNOM, $35.06). Although the share price of CLR fell in Monday’s trading, as the crude oil futures sell-off continued, analysts are betting big on CLR.EOG Resources (EOG, $102.04) and Parsley Energy (PE, $23.09) to report on Thursday.

Oil prices hit a nearly four-year high at the start of October 2018, as demand rose and as U.S. sanctions resulted in declining Iranian crude exports. However, the last two weeks have seen the oil market undergoing an incredible reversal in price movement, despite the backdrop of looming U.S. sanctions on Iran, OPEC's third-largest crude producer, and rising tensions between Washington and Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter. U.S.crude prices declined by ~11% from peak to trough while Brent Crude was down more than 9%.

Owing to early season demand across U.S., the November price of natural gas rose by more than by 8.1 cents to $3.242/MMBtu, and spot gas rose by 17 cents to $3.135/MMBtu at the start of the week. With the early season unanticipated cold snap expected to persist throughout October, demand for natural gas is expected rise further.An inventory shortage could put upward pressure on prices if supply and demand become imbalanced as a result. For now, the unexpected surge in demand saw many gas-oriented energy companies post strong gains early in the week, and these companies could bear watching as winter approaches. Range Resources Corporation (RRC, $17.65), Southwestern Energy Co. (SWN, $5.60) and Chesapeake Energy Corporation (CHK, $4.60) were some of the top gainers, rising by +5.3%, +4.9% and +3.4% respectively.

Although Murphy Oil will run the operations with 80% stake in the JV, both companies would contribute all their currently producing assets to the venture.According to the deal, Petrobras will earn another $150 million if certain price and output limits are exceeded within a set time frame. For Murphy Oil, this deal not only helps them enhance total production capability by nearly 41,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, it also helps in boosting the company’s margin.

By boosting its payout three times in less than two years, ConocoPhillips is all set to emerge as a viable income growth option for investors in the space.  Between 2001 to 2012, ConocoPhillips pushed its yield to well above 4%, which was more than double what the S&P 500 offered at that time.However, with the oil supply glut and the subsequent market downturn in 2016, the company aggressively slashed its payout to preserve cash. Today, with the markets improving with production cuts and increased signs of tighter balance between supply and demand, companies like ConocoPhillips and its peers are making it a priority to reward investors.

Southwestern Energy Co.’s shares surged +4.8% in pre-market trading on Tuesday, following news of the energy company’s deal to sell its Fayetteville Shale E&P and related assets for $1.87 billion in cash to Flywheel Energy LLC.The deal is expected to close in December. What’s more, Southwestern announced that it will spend upto $200 million in share buybacks and invest up to $600 million to develop its Appalachia assets.