Fusco tabbed as Cheniere president, chief executive officer

Jack A. Fusco has been appointed by Cheniere Energy Inc. as its president and chief executive officer. He succeeds Neal A. Shear, who has served as Cheniere’s interim president and chief executive officer since December 2015. Source: News


ExxonMobil plans upgrading program at Australian refinery

ExxonMobil Corp. subsidiary Mobil Refining Australia Pty. Ltd. is planning a multimillion-dollar (Aus.) investment to execute projects to expand capacity and improve efficiency at its 80,000-b/d Altona refinery in Victoria, 13 km west of Melbourne. Source: News


Eni plans renewable energy near work sites

Eni SPA has begun a project to generate electricity from renewable sources near sites of its oil and gas operations, often on reclaimed land. Source: News


NOPSEMA rejects Wheatstone start-up plan

Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) has sent back Chevron Australia’s start-up and operations environment plan for the Wheatstone domestic gas-LNG project off Western Australia saying the plan is not sufficiently robust. Source: News


House members introduce bill to limit ethanol blend in gasoline

Four US House members—Bill Flores (R-Tex.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), and Jim Costa (D-Calif.)—introduced legislation that would limit ethanol blended into motor fuels at 9.7% of projected gasoline demand as determined by the US Energy Information Administration. Source: News


OMV lowers capex, finds drilling success on Romania’s Neptun Deep block

OMV AG reported in a May 11 conference call that its overall capital spending was down in this year’s first quarter compared with the same quarter in 2015. Spending for the first quarter was 34% lower than the same period in 2015. Upstream exploration expense was down 24% with a decrease of 13% in dollars […]


MARKET WATCH: NYMEX oil prices soar to 2016 high

Light, sweet crude prices gained more than $1.50/bbl on the New York market May 11, setting a new high settlement for 2016 at $46.23/bbl, which analysts attributed to a surprise drop in the estimated weekly crude oil inventory. Source: News


Madagascar: Pura Vida takes on 100% stake in offshore Ambilobe block

Citing a “challenging commercial landscape,” Sterling Energy PLC’s subsidiary Sterling Energy (UK) Ltd. announced its withdrawal from the Ambilobe block offshore Madagascar in April. The company also relinquished its operatorship, giving Pura Vida Energy 100% ownership of the block. Source: News