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.