Tweeting the year's top news

Nov. 18, 2013
Nearly about this time last year, this space contained a list of the top 10 OGJ Online stories—based on page views and average time spent on story pages—for 2012.

Nearly about this time last year, this space contained a list of the top 10 OGJ Online stories—based on page views and average time spent on story pages—for 2012 (OGJ, Dec. 17, 2012, p. 18). This year, since OGJ has made great strides expanding its reach through social media channels such as Twitter, this editor thought it would be interesting to compile a similar list, but with a slight twist.

This year's list, which draws on online news stories published between Nov. 1, 2012, and Oct. 31, 2013, contains the top 10 most-viewed articles via promotion on Twitter. Like last year's list, this year's grouping contained stories about US politics, the rapidly developing US unconventional oil and gas plays, and various companies' strategies for oil and gas operations. Unlike last year, however, which contained primarily US-based headlines, this year's top-tweeted stories contained internationally focused content.

The list

That said, the top 10 most viewed online articles via Twitter promotion, in reverse order, are as follows:

10. ExxonMobil outlines 5-year, $190 billion E&D plan (Mar. 7, 2013). ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson told investment analysts in New York that the supermajor planned to more than double its exploration acreage in a range of proved and emerging locations, such as Russia.

9. Barclays: US drilling activity continues to rise (July 25, 2013). According to Barclay's Drilling Permit Monthly July 2013, onshore drilling permits for the US 30 states that Barclays monitors increased 4% in June, following a 2.7% increase in May and a 7.9% decrease in April, with Utah, Texas, and Kansas seeing the largest changes in permit activity.

8. Statoil acquires central Marcellus acreage for $590 million (Dec. 19, 2012). Statoil ASA acquired 70,000 operated net acres in the central Marcellus shale in Ohio and West Virginia for $590 million from three US private companies. Statoil entered the Marcellus in 2008 through a partnership with Chesapeake Energy Corp.

7. Continental nearly doubles Bakken reserves (Jan. 23, 2013). Continental Resources Inc., Oklahoma City, the top producer and leaseholder in the Williston basin Bakken play, said it increased its yearend 2012 proved reserves 54% to 785 million boe, 72% oil. With the 2012 increase, Continental said, it has grown its proved reserves 45%/year since the end of 2009.

6. Barclays: Saudi Arabia refocusing Aramco's strategy (Sept. 6, 2013). Saudi Arabia—with domestic oil use trimming exports and threatening the kingdom's trade position—reported it was refocusing the strategy of its national oil company Saudi Aramco, according to Barclays analyst James C. West.

5. Shell appoints downstream director (Sept. 12, 2013). Royal Dutch Shell PLC has appointed John Abbott as downstream director. Abbott succeeded Ben van Beurden, who will become CEO, effective Jan. 1, 2014.

4. IHS CERAWeek: Energy industry entering transformation period, speakers say (Mar. 5, 2013). IHS CERAWeek speakers generally agreed the energy industry was entering a transformation period that likely would reshape traditional oil and gas supply-demand scenarios worldwide.

3. Fire ignites on evacuated jack up rig in Gulf of Mexico (July 24, 2013). A natural gas leak from an offshore well ignited a fire late on July 23 that spread to the Hercules 265 jack up rig while the rig was working for Walter Oil & Gas Corp. about 55 miles off Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. The fire followed a well-control incident hours earlier. No one was on board the jack up when the fire ignited.

2. Oil, gas industry groups respond to Obama's reelection (Nov. 7, 2012). Leading US oil and natural gas trade associations said they were looking forward to working with a second Barack Obama administration after the president won reelection on Nov. 6.

1. URTeC: Wolfcamp play dwarfs Bakken, Eagle Ford (Aug. 12, 2013). "The Spraberry Wolfcamp could possibly become the largest oil and gas discovery in the world," said Pioneer Natural Resources Co. CEO Scott Sheffield while speaking Aug. 12 at the Unconventional Resources Technology Conference in Denver.

More to come

An intriguing point about this year's list is that even though a majority of OGJ's Twitter audience—about 70%—lies outside North America, the majority of the most-viewed articles are focused on the US. Nevertheless, there's no doubt that these and other topics will continue to generate reader interest in the year to come.