Empyrean signs PSC with CNOOC for block in South China Sea

Empyrean Energy PLC will conduct exploration activities on Block 29/11 in the Pearl River Mouth basin of the South China Sea as detailed in a production-sharing contract with China National Offshore Oil Corp. Source: News

Wintershall gets approval for Nova development

Wintershall Norge AS expects production to begin in 2021 from Nova field (formerly Skarfjell) in the northeastern North Sea, for which it received development and operation approval from the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. The field, 120 km northwest of Bergen, Norway, will be developed as a subsea tie-back connecting two templates to the Neptune […]

Inpex ships first condensate from Ichthys project

Japanese operator Inpex has made its maiden shipment of condensate from the $40-billion Ichthys LNG project in the Browse basin offshore Western Australia. The 350,000-bbl cargo was offloaded from the Ichthys Venturer floating production, storage, and offloading vessel moored 220 km off northwestern Australia. Source: News

Shell makes LNG Canada FID, Coastal GasLink pipeline advances

Shell Canada Energy has taken a final investment decision on its 14-million tonne/year liquefaction joint venture, LNG Canada, in Kitimat, BC, allowing work to begin immediately. TransCanada Corp. will build, own, and operate the 2.1-bcfd Coastal GasLink pipeline that will deliver gas to the plant. Source: News

Ineos signs PDH technology license

Ineos AG will use Lummus technology from McDermott for the propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit it plans to build with a gas cracker in northwestern Europe. Source: News

Marathon completes Andeavor acquisition

Marathon Petroleum Corp. closed on the acquisition of Andeavor to create the largest US refiner by capacity and one of the top five largest refiners globally. Along with Marathon’s six existing refineries in the US Gulf Coast and Midwest, the combined company would operate 16 US refineries with an overall throughput capacity of more than […]

New Indian blocks due $820 million outlay

Companies awarded 55 blocks in India’s first open-acreage licensing bid round collectively have committed to invest the equivalent of $820 million in exploration, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said at a contract-signing event in New Delhi. Source: News

NAFTA successor applauded, analyzed by API, other groups

The American Petroleum Institute and other leading US business organizations initially welcomed the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which the Trump administration said would improve terms for them under the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement it apparently would replace. Business groups also have begun to analyze USMCA to determine whether it preserves investment protections and other important […]