Corporate week in brief: US Independents eyeing higher budgets for 2018

Last week's Q2 results confirmed that cost inflation is back in the US tight oil sector. Our peer group of 20 US Independents raised their full-year capital budgets by a weighted average of 9% relative to initial guidance. But the picture is more nuanced than simple cost inflation. Operators are also feeling more optimistic at US$70/bbl oil and some are raising drilling activity. We look at which companies have raised budgets and what this means for production growth. Read more on this and the following stories: • INPEX signals yet another delay to Ichthys LNG • Yamal LNG delivers Train 2 ahead of expectations • Rosneft posts stellar financial results in Q2 • Apache and Occidental reduce midstream exposure • ExxonMobil and Eni are looking for oil in Mozambique