Energy reform in Mexico means a new era of partnerships, foreign direct investment, and future success stories in the country, write Edward H. Warner and Daniela Suarez de los Santos of Kean Miller in a new article.

The recent announcement of a $900 million transaction to send U.S. natural gas to central Mexico represents the first large scale infrastructure investment in Mexico since its energy sector was opened to foreign investors in 2013. is only the beginning.

On its website, the firm says, “The questions to consider are: what are the opportunities, what are the challenges, and how can U.S. companies make this groundbreaking change work for them?”

Read the article.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling provides states a greater role in regulating the energy sector, reports Cozen O’Connor.

“In ONEOK, the Court held that states can regulate activities that affect both wholesale and retail transactions to the extent that the regulations do not conflict with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) regulations. In so doing, wide swaths of conduct continue to be subject to both state energy regulations and generally applicable state laws,” wrote Jonathan M. Grossman and Thomas Ingalls. “While the ruling ensures retail customers a remedy for business practices that are proscribed by state law, it may also subject conduct otherwise permitted by FERC to civil liability if that conduct affects retail transactions. This decision may also hold implications for similar regulatory regimes, such as the Federal Power Act (FPA).”

The decision upheld a lower court decision that allowed a greater role for state courts in regulating the energy sectorfinding that state laws may apply to conduct that affects both wholesale and retail transactions provided those laws do not conflict with FERC regulations. The Court rejected a bid by FERC and natural gas wholesalers to exempt from all state regulation activities that affect both types of sales, the report says.

Read the report.

Growing concern from lawmakers and increasing press on the relative lack of historic IRS attention on large partnerships is driving a shift toward an increased number of partnership-level audits with potential dramatic changes in partnership procedure on the horizon.

In a free on-demand webinar from Latham & Watkins, Washington, D.C. partners Miriam Fisher and Brian McManus and Houston partner Tim Fenn address the growing discussion around the increase in large partnership audit activity.

This presentation provides an overview of the key issues and legal considerations associated with an increase in such audits and how they are likely to affect the energy sector, the firm says on its website.

Watch the on-demand webinar.

Deloitte will present a Dbriefs webcast on strategies and potential paths forward for oil and gas companies across the value chain, including upstream, oilfield services, midstream, and downstream, in a challenging investment environment.

The free webinar will be Tuesday, April 28, at 2 p.m. Eastern time.

After driving a period of record capital inflows and spending, growing supplies from shale oil fields have led to a new investment environment for crude oil and natural gas companies, Deloitte says on its website. This environment is low-priced for exploration and production companies globally and short-cycled for shale-focused exploration and production companies.

The webinar will cover the recent record capital growth in the oil and gas sector, and today’s situation of capital disturbance that threatens the profitability and sustainability of many oil and gas companies.

Register for the webinar.

Borrowing base reductions seem a certainty for many oil and gas producers, says a new white paper published by Haynes and Boone.

“While E&P companies continue to cut CAPEX and reduce overhead to conserve cash and look for ways to stretch their borrowing bases, many companies will opt for divesting non-core assets to pay down debt and improve liquidity, in order to survive until commodity prices improve.” the authors write. “The press is full of reports of investors on the sidelines eagerly evaluating opportunities to acquire oil and gas assets at the lower end of the price cycle. Buyers looking to take advantage of this opportunity may be able to save millions of dollars up front with a well-designed title due diligence plan in place prior to starting their transaction process. And, after acquiring the assets, the new owners will find fewer surprises down the road.”

Read the white paper.

Aconex has posted a free webinar discussing the finer points of process management in energy industry projects.

The provider says participants will see IIR’s outlook for the oil land gas industry, hear how Fluor manages key processes on complex projects, and get a brief look at how Aconex can put you in control.

Chris Perkins, Interface Manager at Fluor, discusses improving productivity and accountability on selected projects. Jared R. Rastegar, System Consultant with Aconex, discusses handling critical processes such as interface management and design reviews. And Jesus Davis, VP of Oil & Gas Research at IIR, gives an overview of market conditions and trends in the Oil & Gas sector worldwide.

Watch the on-demand webinar.

Platts presents a free on-demand webinar discusses the role the Gulf Coast of the United States plays in supplying refine petroleum products to the world.

The U.S. Gulf Coast has become the world’s factory floor for refined products. The region has many of the most complex refineries in the world, Platt’s says on its website. They are able to feed off cheap crude from the shale revolution. And they can spit out massive amounts of clean products onto an immense system of pipelines and ports. The result is quick product movement to far-flung parts of the world at competitive costs.

The webinar covers:

• ULSD is king of the barrel in the US
• U.S. becoming net exporter of gasoline
• LPG, naphtha and more heading offshore
• Domestic demand, too, as U.S. product pipelines max out

Watch the on-demand webinar.

The Bureau of Land Management at the U.S. Department of the Interior has issued a final rule governing drilling and hydraulic fracturing on federal and tribal lands, reports Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.

Updating 25-yearold regulations that did not address fracking in detail, BLM established requirements for fracking requests, well integrity, disclosure of chemicals and storage of recovered fluids, write Sarah A.W. Fitts and Stuart Hammer.

.While the requirements only apply to public lands, some states may use them in formulating their own fracking regulations.

Read the white paper.

The U.S. Department of Labor recently announced the results of a 2014 enforcement initiative that focused on the oil and gas industry in New Mexico and west Texas, an effort that recovered more than $1.3 million owed to some 1,300 employees as a result of this investigation.

On its website, Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease said this is not the first DOL foray into wage-and-hour practices within the oil and gas industry. In December 2014, the DOL announced that employers engaged in natural gas extraction in the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania and West Virginia agreed to pay $4,498,547 in back wages to 5,310 employees.

Read the story.

A white paper published by ICF International examines how different oil price scenarios will have varied implications, strategies, and opportunities for producers, midstream developers, and investors. Key discussion topics include oil and gas prices and strategic implications and opportunities for the oil, natural gas, and NGL sectors.

ICF manager Dr. Ananth Chikkatur wrote the paper.

“Recent declines in oil prices have halted several production and midstream investments and have increased the risks for new projects, ICF says on its website. “However, opportunities always exist for those with an eye to the longer term. Reduced oil prices can help increase efficiency and ‘cut the fat’ across the industry. Savvy companies are focused on identifying new opportunities and making the most out of the assets they own.”

Read the white paper.

An increase in U.S. domestic crude oil and natural gas production coupled with transportation infrastructure limitations have resulted in supply and demand imbalances across the country and increased market price volatilities, reports a white paper posted by Oil & Gas Financial Journal and sponsored by Opportune.

As a result of the imbalances and volatilities, energy companies continue to enter into OTC and exchange traded energy derivative instruments to manage commodity price risk.

“While these energy derivatives can be effective economic hedges, they do present management with challenges springing from the complex rules that dictate how they should be recorded in financial statements,” the report says.

The article discusses the complex accounting rules for these instruments as well as the accounting challenges specific to the energy industry.

Read the white paper.

Cyber threats to oil and gas production — both cyber espionage campaigns and damaging cyber-attacks — are increasing, according to a white paper published by Oil and Gas IQ.

“Securing workforce and supply chain access to your data is a vital component of your defense against these cyber threats,” the paper says. “A robust Vendor Management System (VMS) can help protect your data and provide visibility into who has access to both your physical and intellectual property at all times.”

The white paper covers:

* Why your non-employee workforce data should be independently audited and certified

* Why single-tenant architecture keeps your data more secure

* Why the physical location of your data centre matters

* Why you should know your VMS provider’s disaster contingency plans

Read the white paper.

A free on-demand webinar from the UC Davis Policy Institute for Energy, Environment, and the Economy compares the carbon intensity of natural gas and diesel long haul trucks.

On its website, the Institute says the webinar also explores the contribution of different assumptions, such as methane leakage, engine efficiency and natural gas storage — to the well-to-wheels carbon intensity of natural gas trucks.

Additionally, the webinar examines how to calculate the break-even methane leakage for natural gas trucks and the extent to which renewable natural gas can improve the climate performance of NGV trucks.

Watch the on-demand webinar.

The need for innovation in the oil and gas sector has been recognised throughout the industry. Faced with lower commodity prices, increasingly difficult geographical locations, and the search for unconventional energy sources, maximizing productivity through investments in R&D is central to ongoing profitability and commercial success, according to a new article posted by Herbert Smith Freehills LLP.

“Service and equipment providers have traditionally been leading innovators in the sector and are investing increasing amounts in R&D. For example, in 2013 alone, Halliburton invested US$588 million in R&D, an increase of more than $100 million on its 2012 investment,” writes the authors of the piece, writes Rebekah  Gay, Benjamin Cameron and Camille Sullivan. “For the leaders in the field, this expenditure corresponds to large patent portfolios, with companies such as Schlumberger and Baker Hughes being in the top 100 patent filers in the US.”

Oil and gas companies themselves, however, have been slower to recognize the value of innovation and intellectual property, she writes.

Read the article.

In 2015’s climate of low oil prices and lean capex budgets, teams have come up against a hefty challenge: maintain company revenues with fewer wells in operation, says P2 Energy Solutions in its introduction to an on-demand webinar. This test can only be passed when production for these fewer wells is increased and held at the highest level possible. Production-impeding issues of any kind, therefore, need to be pinpointed and corrected quickly.

Grant Eggleton, P2 Vice President of Production Operations Solutions, addresses the importance of exception-based surveillance processes, which pinpoint production anomalies and alert teams to these issues in near real time.

Watch the on-demand webinar.

In an online interview, Latham & Watkins partner Mitchell Seider outlines some of the many significant legal issues associated with restructuring of distressed exploration and production (E&P) companies and their lenders.

Seider is a partner in Latham’s New York office and global Co-chair of the Restructuring, Insolvency & Workouts Practice. He focuses his practice on business reorganizations and financial restructurings and regularly represents secured lenders, bond holders, creditors’ committees and debtors in chapter 11 cases and workouts, according to the firm’s website.

He discusses such topics as termination of oil and gas leases for non-production, liability for the costs of well plugging and abandonment, oil and gas contractor liens, and treatment of interests in oil and gas production.

Read the interview.

Strategy& experts examine in a white paper the impact $50 oil is currently having on spending within the oil and gas products and services space.

The rapid deflation in the price of crude oil from the 2014 highs of US$100+ to current levels near $50 represents a +50% drop in less than a year, the company says on its website.” This has had a dramatic impact on the industry’s confidence and its 2015 spend programs. Reductions of 20% to 30% in capital spend are expected across the industry value chain. Though many companies and fields remain profitable at $50 prices, the free cash flow and access to capital the industry enjoyed just eight months ago have dried up.”

Strategy& is a part of the PwC network.

A free on-demand webinar offered by P2Energy Solutions shows how you can uncover hidden opportunities through reserves visualizations and get the most out of the current market.

Low oil prices have upstream oil and gas companies scrambling to remain profitable in the face of shutdowns and restructurings, the company says on its website. Deciding what to develop, acquire, or divest in volatile market conditions is a challenge. Shrewd companies, however, are identifying opportunities through sound insight enabled by modern business intelligence tools.

The 25-minute webinar covers:

• Gaining a deeper understanding of analysis techniques
• Maximizing value while minimizing costs
• Identifying the best drilling opportunities

Watch the on-demand webinar.

The University of California at Davis Policy Institute for Energy, Environment, and the Economy has posted a complimentary webinar on role of natural gas on trucking in the United States, presenting new research by the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies.

Presenters are Amy Myers Jaffe and Rosa Dominguez-Faus.

Discussion focuses on the feasibility that natural gas could be utilized to provide fuel cost savings, geographic supply diversity and environmental benefits for the U.S. heavy-duty trucking sector and explore whether natural gas can enable a transition to lower carbon transport fuels. The webinar includes a presentation and opportunity to ask questions.

Watch the on-demand webinar.