"Oil Companies Sit on Hands at Auction for Leases"

"HOUSTON — With oil prices collapsing and companies in retrenchment, a federal auction in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday attracted the lowest interest from producers since 1986.

It was the clearest sign yet that the fortunes of oil companies are skidding so fast that they now need to cut back on plans for production well into the future.

The auction, for drilling leases, attracted a scant $22.7 million in sales from five companies, but energy analysts said that came as no surprise on a day when the American oil benchmark price plummeted by more than 4 percent. For the first time since the recession, it is approaching the symbolic $40-a-barrel level. Last summer, it was above $100 a barrel."

Clifford Krauss reports for the New York Times August 19, 2015.

SEE ALSO:

"Oil Prices Drop to Fresh Six-Year Lows" (Wall Street Journal)

"Woe, Canada: Ramifications of Oil Sands Slump Are Economic and Political" (InsideClimate News)

"OPEC's ‘Fragile Five’ Face Rising Cost in the Fight for Oil Market Share" (Bloomberg)

"Hedge Funds Resume Flight From Oil as Prices Sink to 6-Year Lows" (Bloomberg)

"The Commodity Currency Plunge Is Making the Oil Crash Even Worse" (Bloomberg)

"Feds Lower Projections for Crude Oil Prices" (The Hill)

"Greens: End Federal Fossil Fuel Production To Cut Emissions" (The Hill)