Although the start to 2017 saw wavering optimism from U.S. oil and gas, healthier corporate balance sheets, improved well economics, and capital continuing to flow into the sector, are setting the stage for more expansion opportunities beyond just a few select shale plays in 2018, Houston-based investment bank GulfStar Group said in its Capital Perspectives: Oil and Gas Outlook 2018. “Entering 2018, numerous metrics point to a broadening in the opportunity spectrum, though the most economic basins retain a substantial head start,” Bryan Frederickson and Eric Swanson say in GulfStar’s 2018 outlook. U.S. shale producers have dramatically cut costs and optimized efficiencies in operations, and now many publicly traded firms cite an oil price of $50 per barrel as adequate to cover capital expenditures and dividends with cash flows, the investment bank said. Mergers and acquisition (M&A) activity has been strong in 2017, with the deal count high, but […]