Thailand’s PTTEP has contracted Nobel Corp.’s Tom Prosser jack up drilling rig for use on a production well in Montara oil field in the Timor Sea. Source: News

PJSC Lukoil is seeking to develop an improved reservoir model of the Mishrif formation in West Qurna-2 field in Iraq. The company said it has applied innovative technologies for examination of core samples for improved understanding of reservoir porosity and permeability. In turn, that should lead to better efficiency in the field’s development. Source: News

CB&I, Houston, has confirmed a previously announced contract award from Total SA’s Houston-based subsidiary Total Petrochemicals & Refining USA Inc. (TPRI) to provide engineering, procurement, and construction services for a 1 million-tonne/year ethane cracker to be built at TPRI’s refining and petrochemical manufacturing site in Port Arthur, Tex. Source: News

US President Donald J. Trump signed H.J. Res 44, effectively overturning the US Bureau of Land Management’s Planning 2.0 rule. “[It] took control of land-use decisions away from states and local decision makers and gave it to Washington, and that’s not good,” the president said in a Mar. 27 White House ceremony where he signed […]

Saudi Aramco Pres. and Chief Executive Officer Amin H. Nasser welcomed a Mar. 27 tax cut that he said would bring his company’s tax burden “in line with international benchmarks.” In a move seen as preparation for an initial public offering of 5% of the company as early as next year, the government lowered Aramco’s […]

PT Medco Daya Sentosa, a subsidiary of PT Medco Energi Internasional TBK, Jakarta, is acquiring all the remaining shares of Inpex Natuna Ltd., which owns 35% in South Natuna Sea Block B offshore Indonesia. Source: News

India’s government has signed contracts for 31 areas awarded in the Discovered Small Fields (DSF) Bid Round 2016. Twenty-three are onshore and eight offshore. Source: News