BANGALORE (Reuters) – Caught in the ripples from the BP spill, small, pure play offshore oil and gas producers may need joint ventures for support, throwing up some bargain assets for majors like Petrobras, Chevron Corp and Exxon Mobil Corp.

While companies such as Anadarko and Plains Exploration have been able to move onshore, others like McMoRan and ATP Oil and Gas lack the scale to make such a sudden strategy shift.

They have little option but to stay put in the Gulf of Mexico, sit out the regulatory backlash against offshore deepwater drilling, and maybe seek venture partners to help bear rising costs and to hedge risk.

The Gulf contributed 30 percent of all U.S. crude output last year and is the main production base for ATP, McMoRan, W&T Offshore and Stone Energy.

“Some U.S. Gulf specialists like McMoRan and Energy XXI are so entrenched (there) that as long as the regulatory environment doesn’t get very negative for them, they’re not expected to diversify onshore,” said Duane Grubert, an analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group.

StarMine valuation data, click r.reuters.com/zez84n

Faced with a squeeze on margins and little scope to adapt quickly, these firms and others like Cobalt International, are lobbying vigorously for less stringent drilling regulations than are currently anticipated.

BANGALORE (Reuters) – Caught in the ripples from the BP spill, small, pure play offshore oil and gas producers may need joint ventures for support, throwing up some bargain assets for majors like Petrobras, Chevron Corp and Exxon Mobil Corp.

While companies such as Anadarko and Plains Exploration have been able to move onshore, others like McMoRan and ATP Oil and Gas lack the scale to make such a sudden strategy shift.

They have little option but to stay put in the Gulf of Mexico, sit out the regulatory backlash against offshore deepwater drilling, and maybe seek venture partners to help bear rising costs and to hedge risk.

The Gulf contributed 30 percent of all U.S. crude output last year and is the main production base for ATP, McMoRan, W&T Offshore and Stone Energy.

“Some U.S. Gulf specialists like McMoRan and Energy XXI are so entrenched (there) that as long as the regulatory environment doesn’t get very negative for them, they’re not expected to diversify onshore,” said Duane Grubert, an analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group.

Faced with a squeeze on margins and little scope to adapt quickly, these firms and others like Cobalt International, are lobbying vigorously for less stringent drilling regulations than are currently anticipated.

“We spent a lot of time in Washington in July … educating Congressman, Senators…, but it’s going to take longer to get well permits and development permits than it has in the past,” ATP executives said on an earnings call last week.

BANGALORE (Reuters) – Nabors Industries Ltd(NBR.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the world’s largest land-rig contractor, agreed to buy oilfield services company Superior Well Services Inc(SWSI.O: Quote, Profile, Research) for about $735.6 million to boost its pressure pumping operations, a key requirement for shale drilling.

Oil services firms with the technological expertise in the drilling methods, including rock fracturing, required in shale hotspots like the Marcellus, Eagle Ford and the oil-rich Bakken in the U.S., offer larger firms the technology to tap the abundant resources in such unconventional plays.

Superior Well is the top independent player in the pressure pumping business, and gives Nabors control of over 430,000 hydraulic fracturing horsepower — crucial for horizontal drilling in shale plays. Pressure pumping deals with pumping a fluid down a well to improve production.

Superior Well also posted strong second-quarter results as revenue from its technical pumping services more than doubled, contributing about 92 percent of total revenue.

Nabors’ offer of $22.12 per Superior Well share is a premium of about 21 percent to Superior Well’s closing price Friday on Nasdaq. Including Superior Well’s debt of about $165 million, the deal is valued at about $900 million.

Shares of Superior Well were up 21 percent to a new 52-week high of $22.03, while Nabors’ stock was up more than 2 percent at $18.41 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Ever since the BP oil spill, which has hammered the shares of offshore firms, companies which have solely onshore operations have risen, with Superior Well’s stock jumping more than 36 percent in the last three months.

BANGALORE (Reuters) – Nabors Industries Ltd (NBR.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the world’s largest land-rig contractor, agreed to buy oilfield services company Superior Well Services Inc (SWSI.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for about $900 million to boost its pressure pumping capabilities, a key for shale drilling.

Oil services companies with expertise in the drilling methods required in shale hotspots like the Marcellus, Eagle Ford and the oil-rich Bakken in the U.S., offer larger firms the technology to tap the abundant resources in such unconventional plays.

Superior Well is the top independent player in the pressure pumping business, and gives Nabors control of over 430,000 hydraulic fracturing horsepower, crucial for horizontal drilling in shale plays. Pressure pumping deals with pumping a fluid down a well to improve production.

Nabors’ offer of $22.12 per Superior Well share is a premium of about 21 percent to Superior Well’s closing price Friday on Nasdaq.

Shares of Superior Well were up 21 percent to a new 52-week high of $22.03 in morning trade, while Nabors’ stock was up about one percent at $18.11 on the New York Stock Exchange.

“Superior Well Services’ broad U.S. presence complements that of both our U.S. land drilling and well-servicing operations and augments our expansion into areas such as the Marcellus shale region,” Gene Isenberg, chief executive of Nabors, said in a statement.

The Marcellus shale is one of the top unconventional gas producing regions in the continental United States, attracting parties as diverse as international oil and gas companies to private-equity firms like KKR KKR.UL.

BANGALORE, Aug 3 (Reuters) – U.S. Gulf of Mexico-focused oil and natural gas company W&T Offshore Inc’s (WTI.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) quarterly results beat estimates on higher prices, and the company tightened its full-year production outlook.

W&T Offshore, which had about 1.4 million gross acres in the U.S. Gulf as of last year, said its plan for a deepwater well has been postponed due to regulatory uncertainties in the aftermath of the oil spill in April.

Shares of the Houston-based company, which rose 8 percent to a high of $10.14 in early morning trade, pared some of its gains to trade at $9.79 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company said on a conference call it was pursuing onshore activities in a bid to balance its portfolio, but will nevertheless remain pretty active in the Gulf of Mexico, where it mainly operates in the shallow waters.

“Despite the oil spill and related impact on oil and gas projects in the Gulf of Mexico, W&T continues to run its operations on a relatively normal basis,” Chief Executive Tracy Krohn said in a statement.

Even as the deepwater drilling moratorium in the U.S. Gulf continues till November, the company expects to produce 75 billion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent (bcfe) to 90 bcfe. It had earlier forecast 70.3 bcfe to 95.1 bcfe.

For the third quarter, the company expects to produce 17.4 bcfe to 21.3 bcfe.

BANGALORE, July 28 (Reuters) – Power companies see demand generated by favorable weather and an economic recovery continuing even as top players Southern Co (SO.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Dominion Resources Inc (D.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) posted estimate-topping quarterly results.

An improving economy and a colder winter had powered first-quarter earnings at many utilities. The latest quarter’s earnings were helped by the hotter-than-expected summer.

Both Southern Co and Dominion Resources shared their optimism on the weather and the economy, with Dominion Resources raising the bottom end of its full-year earnings profit forecast. [ID:nN28156298]

Atlantic Equities analyst Nathan Judge said demand recovery was obvious for Dominion, but the profit outlook was conservative.

“We continue to see positive economic trends, particularly among our industrial and manufacturing customers,” Southern Co CEO David Ratcliffe, who will retire this December, said in a statement. [ID:nSGE66R0HD]

Oppenheimer analyst Shelby Tucker said retail sales at Southern Co were stronger than expected while weather played a key role in driving up Dominion Resources’ output in Virginia.

Tucker said that since the first quarter of 2010, Dominion had added both residential, commercial, and government customers while marginally losing industrial customers.

BANGALORE, July 27 (Reuters) – Patriot Coal Corp (PCX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) posted a quarterly loss and cut its full-year sales volume view on heightened regulatory scrutiny following a number of mine casualties this year in the United States.

Shares of the company were down 10 percent at $12.33 in Tuesday afternoon trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

Closures and several shut downs at two of Patriot Coal’s mines through the year have raised concerns over the miner’s ability to increase production of steelmaking coal, a key for the company. [ID:nSGE65L0KJ]

Regulators have tightened the noose on coal miners after a spate of accidents at Peabody Energy (BTU.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Massey Energy Co (MEE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)’s operations.

“The company expects a heightened level of regulatory oversight will continue through the balance of the year, resulting in lower production and increased cost per ton in both operating segments,” Patriot Coal said in a statement.

BMO Capital Markets analyst Meredith Bandy said that though the company’s comment on increased regulatory scrutiny was pulling the shares down, she was more worried about the outlook on the cost per ton.

For its Appalachia segment, Patriot expects cost per ton to rise to the range of $56.00 to $59.00 for the remainder of 2010. Cost per ton totaled $56.69 in the second quarter.