Murphy Oil Corp. said Thursday it has increased its quarterly cash dividend by eight percent to $0.325 a share, resulting in an annualized rate of $1.3 per share for 2025, even as adjusted net profit fell 56.66 percent year-on-year to $50.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2024. Previously the Houston, Texas-based oil and gas exploration and production firm kept is quarterly dividend at $0.3 per share ($1.2 per share annualized). In 2024 Murphy set a policy of allocating at least half of adjusted free cash flow to shareholder returns, mainly through buybacks. Adjusted earnings per share for the October-December 2024 period was $0.35. The figure missed the $0.56 average of brokerage analysts’ projections compiled by Zacks, as total output and oil production, as well as oil prices, dropped year-on-year. Murphy Oil closed lower at $27.47 on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, from the previous close of $29.18. Before adjustments, Murphy Oil’s net income landed at $50.34 million, compared to $116.29 million for the fourth quarter of 2023. It recognized $28.4 million in asset impairments for the fourth quarter of 2024. Murphy Oil produced about 175,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), including 85,000 bpd of oil. In the fourth quarter of 2023 total production was around 185,000 boepd while oil production was 94,000 bpd. Production in the fourth quarter of 2024 took a hit from unplanned downtime across several assets, lower performance from a completion design in the Eagle Ford shale and a delay in a Green Canyon well in the Gulf of Mexico. Crude oil and condensate prices declined across its countries of operation, including the United States and Canada. U.S. onshore averaged $70.44 per barrel, while U.S. offshore averaged $69.92. Natural gas liquids prices climbed in both Canada and the U.S. Meanwhile U.S. onshore

Graeme Wood has joined Aberdeen-based offshore energy consultancy Sheret Energy Offshore as its executive chairman. Wood previously held senior positions with companies such as Technip, AKER QSERV, Vroon, Bibby Offshore, Rever Offshore and Caledonian Maritime Assets. His appointment comes with a new strategic investment in the company, with Wood becoming a 50% shareholder. This strategic partnership reflects a shared vision for the company’s growth and innovation in the offshore energy market. Over the next 12 months, Sheret Energy Offshore CEO and founder David Sheret and Wood will co-invest a six-figure sum into the business, with plans to create up to 10 new jobs in 2025. This investment will also support the development of a software service tailored to the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) sector, further expanding the company’s footprint and offerings. Looking ahead, the company is also preparing for a significant equity raise in 2026 to drive further expansion. Wood said: “David’s entrepreneurial drive and bold vision for the company resonate deeply with me. Together, we aim to build a market-leading business that not only delivers exceptional value to its clients but also fosters innovation and sustainable growth. “I look forward to playing an active role in shaping the leadership team, supporting operational delivery, and contributing to the company’s long-term success.” © PAOfgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley Photo credit: PA Wire Jonathan Brearley has been reappointed as CEO of Ofgem, with his tenure to run from 1 February 2025 until 31 January 2030. Energy secretary Ed Miliband also extended the terms of two non-executive directors, Myriam Madden until 31 March 2025, and Barry Panayi to 16 March 2027. Brearley was appointed as an executive member of the Ofgem board in 2018 before becoming its CEO on 3 February 2020. This follows his previous appointment as executive director for systems and

An arcane Ofgem decision is bearing fruit. The regulator’s move to carve out space for demand-side response in the UK market has triggered a significant £1 billion investment from French energy technology company Voltalis. Demand-side response is often overlooked as a tool to drive decarbonisation. But the reality, according to Voltalis’ CEO Pierre Bivas, is that technology can drive energy savings to balance the grid and bring down prices. UK industry minister Sarah Jones, speaking at an event in London on Wednesday, said demand-side response is the “sweet spot” between two of the eight growth clusters the government seeks to “turbocharge”. Voltalis’ demand-flexibility technology links green energy and AI digital technologies, she said. “We have to grasp the new technologies of the future and that has to be at the forefront of everything we do if we’re going to transform the economy in the way that voters have told us we must do,” she said. “Freeing up that demand at those peak periods of time, using digital technology and AI to do that is exactly where we want to be.” © Supplied by VoltalisPicture shows; Industry minister Sarah Jones. Royal Society of Arts. Supplied by Voltalis Date; 29/01/2025 Tackling fluctuations Demand flexibility can also help combat so-called dunkelflaute, the German term for the absence of wind or sun. It can reduce customers’ energy consumption during periods of low generation. “There needs to be a way to balance supply and demand when renewable generation fluctuates,” Bivas said at Voltalis’ UK launch event at the Royal Society of Arts in London. When energy is scarce and expensive, he said, it “will often be necessary to reduce or delay part of electricity demand until times when solar and wind generation is abundant and cheap”. Bivas quoted the National Energy System Operator (NESO) as

In a release sent to Rigzone by the Enverus team recently, the company’s subsidiary, Enverus Intelligence Research (EIR), revealed that 2024 “closed with $105 billion in U.S. upstream deals” adding that this was “the third highest total tracked by Enverus”. EIR noted in the release that last year “trailed only behind a record-setting $192 billion in 2023 and just under the $108 billion booked in 2014”. It added, however, that “activity tumbled in the back half of the year with $9.6 billion of upstream M&A recorded in 4Q24, the fourth consecutive decline in quarterly value”. “Deal value and volume continued to drop in the final quarter of 2024 from its peak at the end of 2023 as buyers grappled with fewer M&A targets to pursue,” Andrew Dittmar, principal analyst at EIR, said in the release. “There are also quite a few larger E&Ps working to integrate their previous deals before returning to market to acquire more,” he added. “Increased volatility in oil prices may have also deterred some buyers, while there is rising enthusiasm for gas and gas-weighted assets to feed burgeoning demand from LNG and data centers,” Dittmar continued. In the release, EIR stated that the value of gas-focused M&A increased four times in 2024 compared to 2023, “rising above $20 billion for the first time since 2016”. The company noted that the Haynesville is a key area of interest for buyers but added that companies also added assets in other areas like Appalachia. EIR also said in the release that international buyers “are coming back to U.S. shale assets after being discouraged by poor returns a decade ago” and stated that majors might now turn their attention to gas deals. EIR highlighted in the release that the latter “have been more recently focused on adding oil inventory”. Looking

Exxon Mobil Corp. beat earnings estimates as strong production growth cushioned the drop in oil prices and refining margins, easing investor concerns about an increase in capital spending.  Adjusted fourth-quarter earnings of $1.67 a share exceeded the consensus forecast by 12 cents. The beat comes just weeks after many analysts lowered expectations based on weaker-than-expected preliminary performance figures. European rival Shell Plc’s disclosed adjusted net income that was well below forecasts on Thursday.  Exxon surprised investors last month by raising capital spending to more than $30 billion annually over the next five years as Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods expands production to levels not seen since the 1970s.  Woods has argued that new oil projects in Guyana and the Permian Basin, along with liquefied natural gas investments, have such high margins that they will drive Exxon’s breakeven oil price down to just $30 a barrel by the end of the decade, ensuring profitability however the energy transition pans out.  The international Brent crude benchmark averaged roughly $74 a barrel during the fourth quarter, down 11% from a year earlier. The slide pressured the biggest oil companies’ capacity to fund shareholder-friendly outlays such as dividends.  Exxon generated $36 billion of free cash in 2024 and handed nearly all of it to shareholders in the form of buybacks and dividends, making it the sixth highest cash distributor in the S&P 500 Index. The company intends to buy back $20 billion of shares annually through 2026. “We’re seeing higher and higher production but that production is coming at lower cost of supply, higher profit barrels,” Chief Financial Officer Kathy Mikells said in an interview. “It’s important to remember that all barrels are not created equal and ours are very advantaged.” Exxon posted net income excluding certain items of $7.4 billion, according to a release Friday, down from

Chevron Corp. raised dividends by 5% even as profit underperformed expectations amid shrinking crude prices and fuel-making margins.  Adjusted fourth-quarter earnings were $2.06 a share, a nickel below the average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey. The miss came a day after competitor Shell Plc also disclosed disappointing end-of-year profits. Despite the weak result, Chief Executive Officer Mike Wirth is betting the start-up of the giant Tengiz project in Kazakhstan and renewed capital-spending restraint will improve finances amid global supply-and-demand uncertainty. “We’re building from strength to strength and have $10 billion of additional free cash flow growth through the end of 2026,” Wirth said in an interview. New projects in Kazakhstan and the newly-named Gulf of America will drive the increase, he said. There are signs his plan is working. Chevron shares are up almost 8% this year, dwarfing the 1.9% advance of arch rival Exxon. Output from the Tengiz project, which is operated and 50% owned by Chevron, will ramp up to 1 million barrels a day later this year.  Brent crude averaged about $74 a barrel in the fourth quarter, down 11% from a year earlier, putting pressure on the industry’s ability to fund hefty shareholder payouts without resorting to debt. Refining margins also contracted.  Chevron generated $4.4 billion in free cash flow during the quarter, short of the roughly $7.5 billion doled out in the form of dividends and buybacks. Wirth has previously noted his preference for repurchasing shares through the commodity-price cycle, even if it means increasing debt.  The company will lower capital spending this year for the first time since the pandemic. The move signals an effort to harvest cash flow from the Permian Basin while slowing growth. That’s in contrast to Exxon Mobil Corp., which is increasing outlays as it pursues long-term growth.  Chevron shares