Contracts terminated for two Gulf of Mexico drillships

Freeport-McMoRan Oil & Gas LLC (FMOG) and its parent company Freeport-McMoRan Inc. have agreed with drilling contractor Noble Corp. PLC to cancel contracts for the Noble Sam Croft and Noble Tom Madden drillships. Source: News


AWE rejects takeover bid from Lone Star Fund

AWE Ltd., Sydney, has rejected an unsolicited $421-million (Aus.) takeover proposal from global private equity group Lone Star Fund. Source: News


ExxonMobil restarts Torrance refinery

ExxonMobil Corp. has restarted the fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) at its 155,000-b/d refinery in Torrance, Calif., after more than a year following a Feb. 15, 2015, explosion and ensuing fire shuttered the unit. Source: News


EIA: US crude inventories drop 3.4 million bbl

US commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell 3.4 million bbl from the previous week’s average, according to the US Energy Information Administration’s latest Petroleum Status Report. Source: News