Westlake Chemical Corp., Houston, has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Axiall Corp., Atlanta, in a deal that, once completed, would form the third-largest chloralkali producer and second-largest polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producer in North America. Source: News

BP Norge AS and Det norske oljeselskap ASA have agreed to merge through a share-and-cash transaction into an independent exploration and production company with more than 120,000 boe/d of production offshore Norway. Source: News

Antero Resources Corp., Denver, has agreed to acquire 55,000 net acres of undeveloped Marcellus shale leasehold, including deep rights on 41,000 net acres prospective for the underlying dry Utica, and 14 MMcfed of net production from Southwestern Energy Co., Houston, for $450 million. Source: News

Alon USA Partners LP is working to restart units at its 73,000 b/sd refinery at Big Spring, Tex., near Midland after a power outage forced an unscheduled shutdown of the plant in late May. Source: News

One month after massive wildfires forced evacuations in northern Alberta, oil companies are slowly resuming operations. Source: News

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said a wildcat drilled in the North Sea by Statoil Petroleum AS found natural gas and condensate with a preliminary estimate of 1-3 million cu m of gas equivalent recoverable. Source: News

The Mancos shale of the Piceance basin in Colorado holds mean undiscovered, technically recoverable resources of 66 tcf of shale natural gas, 74 million bbl of shale oil, and 45 million bbl of NGLs, according to an updated assessment by the US Geological Survey. Source: News

Saipem has appointed Giulio Bozzini as chief financial and strategy officer. Currently head of planning and control at Eni SPA, Bozzini previously worked in numerous managerial roles for Saipem SPA. Source: News