McClendon's actions aren't uncommon across U.S. shale patch

The actions that resulted in former Chesapeake Energy Corp. chief Aubrey McClendon’s indictment aren’t uncommon across the shale patch, lawyers and analysts said. More »

U.S. drillers pull rigs for eleventh week as total count dips below 500

U.S. drillers pulled eight oil-directed rigs from the field this week as the total rig count dropped 500 for the first time since April 1999. The rig count has now fallen for 11 straight weeks. More »

Weatherford wins plug and abandonment award

Weatherford was named PandA Pioneer at the DecomWorld Awards 2016, held on Feb. 23 during the DecomWorld Decommissioning and Abandonment Summit in Houston. More »

Petrofac launches DECC-approved UK oil spill response course

LONDON -- Petrofac has launched a new online training course approved by the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to address oil spill preparedness. More »

McDermott wins offshore project in the Middle East

McDermott International has been awarded a large contract by an upstream oil and gas operator for an offshore project in the Middle East. More »

New civil antitrust claims filed against Chesapeake, SandRidge Energy

A class of oil and gas royalty owners has filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against Chesapeake Energy Corporation, SandRidge Energy and former SandRidge CEO Tom Ward. More »

Transocean sees rig glut dragging out offshore-drilling recovery

Offshore drillers struggling with plunging demand will start getting more work before they get more money, according to Transocean Ltd., the biggest rig company by market value. More »

Exxon Mobil joins race to export crude as U.S. oil glut swells

Exxon Mobil Corp. has become the first major U.S. oil company to ship American crude overseas, joining a band of independent traders that are trying to ease a glut at home after a 40-year export ban was lifted. More »

McClendon's American Energy says it will continue operations

American Energy Partners LP, the firm created by Aubrey McClendon, said it would continue its work despite its founder’s death in a car crash Wednesday. More »

Aubrey McClendon collected Chesapeake paychecks until his death

The late shale entrepreneur Aubrey McClendon was entitled to more than $56,000 a week in salary and bonuses from Chesapeake Energy Corp. up until his death Wednesday, even though he was fired by the natural gas giant almost three years ago. More »

Eni's Clean Sea technology to debut in Mediterranean, West Africa

Clean Sea, proprietary technology designed by Eni's research laboratories, will be used for the first time for marine environmental monitoring and offshore asset inspection in the Mediterranean region and West Africa. More »

Canadian Natural cuts 2016 budget as oil-price view darkens

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. lowered its 2016 capital budget about 22%, joining peers in clawing back investments as price assumptions fall in the worst oil rout in a generation. More »

LQT Industries wins multiple Gulf of Mexico refurbishment projects

LQT Industries, LLC has been awarded projects from five EandP companies in the Gulf of Mexico. More »

Production vessel arrives in Ghana for TEN startup: Tullow

Tullow Oil Plc, a British explorer focused on Africa, said an oil production and storage vessel has reached Ghana for the scheduled start of output at its newest field in July or August. More »

Santos completes sale of interest in Australia’s Kipper field

Santos has completed the sale of its non-operated interest in Kipper gas field, the Adelaide-based company said Wednesday. More »

CRS report highlights lack of detail on Obama’s proposed oil tax

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has released a new analysis by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Obama administration’s proposed tax on oil. The report outlines a list of significant unanswered questions and ambiguities in the proposal. More »

Det norske acquires Noreco’s Norwegian portfolio

Det norske oljeselskap has entered into an agreement with Noreco Norway to acquire Noreco’s Norwegian license portfolio, including a $5.2 million (NOK 45 million) cash balance. The effective date of the transaction is Jan. 1, 2016. More »

Lundin’s Maligan well hits gas offshore Malaysia

Lundin Malaysia, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lundin Petroleum, has completed the Maligan exploration well in Block SB307/SB308, offshore East Malaysia. More »

Xodus delivers ‘world first’ gas modeling for Australia Pacific LNG

Xodus Group has delivered a new integrated production modeling simulation suite for Origin to run complex scheduling scenarios for the Australia Pacific LNG project. More »

OPEC to meet non-members in Russia on March 20, Nigeria says

Key members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries intend to meet with other producers in Russia on March 20 to renew talks on an agreement to cap oil output, Nigeria’s petroleum minister said. More »

Yergin sees output freeze restoring balance to global oil market

Russia and Saudi Arabia’s agreement to cap oil output will help bring the market back into balance and trigger a rebound in prices in the second half of this year, said Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of energy consulting group IHS Inc. More »

Shale pioneer Aubrey McClendon killed in car crash, police say

OKLAHOMA CITY (Bloomberg) -- Aubrey McClendon was killed in a car crash in Oklahoma City Wednesday, police said. His death comes a day after he was charged with rigging bids for oil and natural gas leases. More »

Lukoil, Bashneft JV spuds first wildcat on prospect in Russia’s Nenets Autonomous District

Vostok NAO, a joint venture of Lukoil (50%) and Bashneft (50%), has begun drilling exploration well No.1 on the Yuzhno-Visovaya prospect in Severo-Yareyyaginsky Block in Russia’s Nenets Autonomous District. More »

Oklahoma City Police say Aubrey McClendon dead

OKLAHOMA CITY (Bloomberg) -- Aubrey McClendon, the shale pioneer who co-founded Chesapeake Energy Corp., was reported dead by Oklahoma police. More »

Oil and Gas UK, EEEGR agree to closer working relationship

Oil and Gas UK and East of England Energy Group (EEEGR) have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) with the aim of developing a closer relationship, which better serves and promotes the interests of the organisations’ members and the UK oil and gas industry in general, while recognizing the independent and autonomous authorities of each entity. More »

Exxon Mobil reduces output target amid prolonged spending cuts

Exxon Mobil Corp. scaled back its production target and said spending on capital projects will continue to drop through the end of next year as the rout in oil and natural gas markets curbs cash flow. More »

Wintershall comes up dry northwest of Arenaria gas discovery in Barents Sea

Wintershall Norge, operator of production license 611, is in the process of completing the drilling of wildcat well 7224/2-1. The well is dry. More »

Total EandP UK selects Asset Guardian Solutions software

LIVINGSTON, Scotland -- Asset Guardian Solutions Ltd., which specializes in protecting companies’ process control software assets, announced that Total EandP UK has selected its software management platform Asset Guardian. More »

Oil drops from eight-week high as U.S. crude stockpiles expand

Oil declined from the highest closing level in eight weeks in New York after a surge in U.S. crude stockpiles compounded a global glut. More »

Dana Gas starts production from Zora gas field in the U.A.E.

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Total drills dry well northeast of North Sea’s Garantiana discovery

Total EandP Norge, operator of production license 554, is in the process of completing the drilling of wildcat well 34/6-4. The well is dry. More »

Subsea 7 awarded contract offshore UK

Subsea 7 has secured a sizeable extension to the existing contract by BP Exploration Operating Company Ltd., for the provision of Subsea Construction, Inspection, Repair and Maintenance (IRM) services in the North Sea. More »

Statoil wins six licensing options offshore Ireland

Statoil Exploration (Ireland) Ltd. has been awarded six Licensing Options in Ireland’s 2015 Atlantic Margin Licensing Round. More »

Cyberhawk completes offshore ROAV inspection in North America

Cyberhawk Innovations has completed an offshore remotely operated aerial vehicle (ROAV) inspection in North America for one of the world’s largest oil and gas supermajors. More »

Saudi Arabia faces new oil titan if it wins shale battle

Even if Saudi Arabia wins its struggle with U.S. shale producers over market share, it will face a new billion-barrel adversary. More »

Battered U.S. oil firms raise most in equity sales since `99

Wall Street investors are throwing a lifeline to the embattled U.S. energy sector. U.S. oil and gas companies from Marathon Oil Corp. to Weatherford International Plc have announced plans to raise about $9.2 billion in new equity, the most year-to-date since at least 1999, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. More »

Former Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon indicted over lease bid rigging

Aubrey K. McClendon has been charged by a federal grand jury with conspiring to rig bids for the purchase of oil and natural gas leases in northwest Oklahoma, the Department of Justice announced today. More »

Australia’s Origin Energy signs LNG supply deal with China’s ENN

Origin Energy Ltd. has signed a non-binding heads of agreement with ENN LNG Trading Company Ltd. for the supply of 500,000 tonnes of LNG per year for a period of five years. By mutual agreement, the parties have the ability to extend the supply period by an additional five years. More »

Noble Corp. jackup damaged in shipyard incident

Noble Corp.’s newbuild jackup, the Noble Lloyd Noble, was damaged following the collapse of a shipyard crane boom operating near the rig, the company said Tuesday. More »

SNC-Lavalin wins $800-million EPC project in the Middle East

SNC-Lavalin has been awarded a significant oil and gas contract in the Middle East with an approximate value of $800 million. More »

Anadarko to sell $3 billion in assets this year

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. rose after announcing plans to sell $3 billion in assets this year while cutting spending on new wells and other projects by almost 50% as the oil and natural gas producer weathers the crude market collapse. More »

Schlumberger introduces AxeBlade ridged diamond element bit

Smith Bits, a Schlumberger company, announced today the release of the AxeBlade ridged diamond element bit, which incorporates new-geometry Axe ridged diamond elements across the bit face. More »

JDR wins IWOCS contract from Aker Solutions

JDR, a UK-based supplier of subsea umbilicals and power cables to the offshore energy industry, has been awarded a contract for intervention, workover and control systems (IWOCS) by the subsea division of Aker Solutions. More »

Petronas may cut 1,000 jobs as oil slump prompts reorganization

Petroliam Nasional Bhd., Malaysia’s state oil company, announced management changes and plans to cut workers as it seeks to trim operating costs to cope with the worst price slump in a generation. More »

Live QRA view transforms offshore risk metrics into operational improvements

Offshore operators need access to quantitative risk analyses (QRA) to support daily operational decisions. If the data is not presented clearly and intuitively, the operator may not take important information into account, causing uncertainties and unqualified decisions. More »

Husky starts steam operations at Edam East heavy oil project

Husky Energy has started steam operations at the Edam East heavy oil thermal project in Saskatchewan, the first of three new thermal projects coming online this year. More »

Statoil starts drilling production wells at Johan Sverdrup

The Deepsea Atlantic semisubmersible started the first of 35 wells to be drilled as part of the first phase of the Johan Sverdrup field development on Tuesday, the field's operator, Statoil, said. More »

Oil gains as OPEC crude production drop counters China slowdown

Oil climbed from the highest close in more than seven weeks as investors overlooked deteriorating Chinese manufacturing amid the first monthly decline in OPEC production since November. More »

Marathon seeks $1.3 billion in stock sale to weather oil price rout

Marathon Oil Corp. joins a slew of U.S. producers selling shares to shore up their finances as they endure the worst market rout in a generation. More »

Oil collapse will force all producers to cap volumes, says U.A.E.

The oil-price collapse will compel all producers to freeze output and no early OPEC meeting can take place without such a move, the United Arab Emirates’ energy minister said. More »

Vallourec secures profitable growth through rationalization project

Vallourec has announced major strategic initiatives aimed at transforming its operational set-up, improving its competitiveness and reinforcing its financial strength, in an effort to secure long-term profitable growth and sustained shareholder value creation. More »

Tier 1, Delphian Ballistics partner to bring TriStim perforating technology to Western Canada

Tier 1 Energy Solutions has entered into an exclusive partnership with Delphian Ballistics Inc. Led by Stuart McLeod, Paul Lynch and Serena Arif, Delphian Ballistics has an absolute focus on improving well productivity by building a better perforating system. More »

Tier 1, Delphian Ballistics partner to bring TriStim perforating technology to Western Canada

Tier 1 Energy Solutions has entered into an exclusive partnership with Delphian Ballistics Inc. Led by Stuart McLeod, Paul Lynch and Serena Arif, Delphian Ballistics has an absolute focus on improving well productivity by building a better perforating system. More »

Exxon said to be planning $12-billion bond sale to build war chest

Exxon Mobil Corp., the oil giant at risk of losing its top-notch credit rating, is planning to raise $12 billion in its biggest bond offering as it seeks funds for future acquisitions and other business opportunities. More »

Oil rises as Saudis to work with producers to stabilize market

Crude advanced as Saudi Arabia said it would work with other producers to curb market fluctuations and as China’s central bank stepped up efforts to support the economy. More »

Standardization key enabler for safe and cost-effective pipeline innovation, says DNV GL

HØVIK, Norway -- Growing global energy demand and requirements for additional pipeline capacity are driving the pipeline segment. However, pipeline related innovation is prioritized by only 4% of senior oil and gas professionals, according to research by DNV GL. More »

Saudi to stable oil market as China adds economic support

Crude advanced as Saudi Arabia said it would work with other producers to curb market fluctuations and as China’s central bank stepped up efforts to support the economy. More »

New offshore legislation comes into effect in Canada

The Honourable Jim Carr, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, announced that new measures to strengthen environmental protection and safety in Canada’s offshore came into effect on Feb. 26, 2016. More »

Sound Energy signs MOU for Badile rig in Italy

Sound Energy has announced signature of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the rig meant for the forthcoming Badile exploration well. More »

Woodside appoints non-executive director

The Board of Woodside has appointed Ann Pickard as a non-executive director, effective Feb. 29, 2016. More »

MEO Australia advances exploration program in Cuba

MEO Australia Limited has announced it has executed a Private Placement Agreement (PPA) with London listed Leni Gas Cuba Limited to raise $1.4 million, with funds to be used to advance MEO’s exploration program on the company’s newly awarded 2,380 km2 onshore oil block, Block 9 in Cuba. More »

Petronas plans to raise debt after posting quarterly loss

Petroliam Nasional Bhd., Malaysia’s state oil company, said it may need to raise debt and use its cash reserves for capital expenditure and to fulfill dividend payments to the government as it foresees another challenging year. More »

Bullish oil bets rise as hedge funds see supply tightening

Talk of an output freeze by OPEC and Russia along with falling U.S. production spurred money managers to bet oil is ready for a rebound. More »

WTI heads for longest run of monthly losses in a year

U.S. crude futures slipped, heading for their longest run of monthly losses in a year as a further pullback in drilling failed to allay speculation that markets will remain oversupplied. More »

Harkand wins Apache North Sea subsea installation campaign

Inspection, repair, maintenance (IRM) and light construction company Harkand has been chosen to deliver installation workto support Apache with its existing drilling campaign in Nevis South field in the North Sea. More »

Genel drops by a record after slashing Kurdistan’s Taq Taq reserves

Genel Energy Plc, a UK oil producer operating in Iraq’s Kurdish region, fell by a record in London trading after cutting the reserves estimate for its largest field by almost half. More »

Iran sells South Pars condensate to Hanwha in challenge to Qatar

Iran sold a light hydrocarbon liquid pumped from its South Pars fields to South Korea’s Hanwha Total Petrochemicals Ltd., as the removal of sanctions help it challenge producers of similar supplies, such as Qatar. More »