Vaalco Energy Inc. has resumed production from its Avouma 2-H well on the Avouma platform offshore Gabon, and the Houston independent continues to monitor its electric submersible pumps (ESP). Source: News

Sydney-based Origin Energy Ltd.’s wholly owned Halladale and Speculant natural gas fields in the offshore Otway basin of Victoria have been brought on stream. Source: News

Indorama Ventures Olefins LLC (IVO), a subsidiary of Thailand’s Indorama Ventures Public Co. Ltd. (IVL), Bangkok, has secured approvals from US regulators to proceed with its plan to renovate and restart a dormant ethane cracker in Westlake, La., just west of Lake Charles in Calcasieu Parish. Source: News

US commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, increased 2.3 million bbl during the week ended Aug. 26 compared with the previous week, according to the US Energy Information Administration’s Petroleum Status Report. Source: News

Light, sweet crude oil prices fell to settle under $47/bbl on the New York market Aug. 30 while front-month Brent crude oil prices also fell modestly to hover around $48/bbl on what analysts call uncertainty about a proposed production freeze by major producers. Source: News

Statoil ASA plans to step up exploration efforts in several parts of the Barents Sea in 2017-18. The Blamann (PL849) prospect in the Goliat area, Koigen Central in PL718 on Stappen High, and the Korpfjell prospect in PL859 each hold promise for future exploration, the firm says. Source: News

State-run Petronas has awarded Bell Geospace together with Onyx Engineering a contract to acquire 198,900 sq km of airborne 3D full tensor gradiometry (FTG) and magnetic surveys offshore Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak, and Sabah. Source: News