Halliburton Company (HAL), Nuverra Environmental Solutions Inc (NES): 2 Huge Recent Developments for Oil and Natural Gas

However, having additional pipeline capacity come online, when combined with all the crude oil hitting the rails, has caused the spread between globally traded Brent and U.S. benchmarked WTI to shrink to less than a dollar this week. This trend has hit refiners such as Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) hard. This past quarter the company reported an operating income drop of 42% over last year’s totals, as its margins were affected by higher oil prices. On the other hand, oil producers such as Bakken-focused Continental Resources, Inc. (NYSE:CLR) are poised to thrive this quarter, as the company can now get more for every barrel of oil it produces. That’s one reason investors had bid its shares up an all-time high this week. The company could potentially produce a blowout quarter when it reports on Aug 7.

Final Foolish thoughts
One thing is quite clear: Fracking is here to stay, and with it increased oil and gas production. With oil prices high, this is creating quite the profit potential for investors. Unfortunately, too many investors may miss out.

The article 2 Huge Recent Developments for Oil and Natural Gas originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Matt DiLallo owns shares of Nuverra Environmental Solutions. The Motley Fool recommends Halliburton, owns shares of Nuverra Environmental Solutions, and has options on Nuverra Environmental Solutions.

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