Privately owned Cuadrilla has drilled what it says is the UK’s second horizontal shale-gas well on its prospect at Preston New Road, Lancashire, UK. The well penetrated the Carboniferous Upper Bowland shale at about 2,100 m with a 750-m lateral. Source: News

ConocoPhillips has let a 13-well contract to Transocean for the Transocean 712 semisubmersible drilling rig in the UK North Sea. Separately, Chevron Corp. signed an 11-well contract for Transocean’s GSF Development Driller I ultradeepwater semisubmersible drilling rig for work offshore Australia. Source: News

Marathon Petroleum Corp. has renewed and expanded a long-term contract with Praxair Inc. for supply of hydrogen to Marathon’s 571,000-b/d Galveston Bay refinery in Texas City, Tex. Source: News

Meridian Energy Group has let a contract to SEH Design|Build—a subsidiary of Short Elliott Hendrickson—to deliver site, civil design, and construction services for Meridian’s recently approved grassroots 49,500-b/sd high-conversion Davis refinery to be built in Billings County in the heart of southwestern North Dakota’s Bakken shale region. Source: News

Gazprom will take measures to prevent melting of permafrost as it develops giant Kharasaveyskoye gas-and-condensate field on the Yamal Peninsula in arctic Russia. Full-scale development will start next year, according to Gazprom officials meeting in Bovanenkovo in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area. Source: News

The Brent crude oil contract for September delivery plunged by nearly $3.50/bbl on the London market July 16 while light, sweet crude oil prices dipped nearly $3/bbl to the lowest level in 3 weeks on the New York market. Source: News