MARKET WATCH: NYMEX September crude oil drops below $45/bbl

Light, sweet crude oil prices for September delivery declined by $1/bbl on July 21 to settle at $44.75/bbl on the New York market. Analysts and traders blamed the price drop on concerns that ample US gasoline supplies might drag down oil demand. Source: News


Consortium to produce integrated stratigraphic framework offshore Ireland

Merlin Energy Resources Ltd. and its partners have secured a €1.9-million contract from Ireland’s Petroleum Infrastructure Program (PIP) to complete an integrated chronostratigraphic, biostratigraphic, and lithostratigraphic framework study of the country’s offshore sector. Source: News


BOEM releases draft EIS for possible Cook Inlet lease sale

The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management released a draft environmental impact statement for a potential oil and gas lease sale in Alaska’s Cook Inlet. The sale currently is scheduled for June 2017, the US Department of the Interior agency said. Source: News


ExxonMobil to acquire InterOil in deal valued at more than $2.5 billion

ExxonMobil Corp. has agreed to acquire all outstanding shares of InterOil Corp. for more than $2.5 billion. The deal is expected to close in September. Oil Search Ltd. in turn has withdrawn from its InterOil takeover attempt. An initial agreement between Oil Search and InterOil was announced in May. Source: News


BLM moves ahead with its first master leasing plan in Utah

The US Bureau of Land Management released its first final master leasing plan for acreage in Utah, covering nearly 785,000 acres of public land in Grand and San Juan counties, nearly a year after it originally was proposed. The plan included a final environmental impact statement and proposed resource management plan amendments, the BLM’s Canyon […]