Kuwait Oil Co. (KOC) has let a contract to Black & Veatch Corp. (BV), Overland Park, Kan., to provide technology licensing and related services for sulfur recovery units (SRU) and acid gas removal units (AGRU) to support natural gas processing activities at KOC’s Jurassic field in northern Kuwait. Source: News

Rosneft PJSC has agreed to acquire 30% participating interest in the Shourouk concession and its supergiant Zohr gas field offshore Egypt from Eni SPA for $1.575 billion. Source: News

The US light, sweet crude oil futures contract for January delivery gained somewhat to settle at $51.50/bbl on the New York market Dec. 9. Oil prices held generally steady before the Dec. 10 meeting between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC countries to discuss production levels. Source: News

Lotte Chemical Corp., Seoul, is planning to raise ethylene production by 200,000 tonnes/year at its Yeosu petrochemical complex in the South Korean province of Jeollanam-do. Source: News

Agreement by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut production tests several elements of an oil market inclined toward abundance. Source: News

Climate change is making North American Arctic waters more accessible than many people realize, two speakers agreed at a Dec. 5 Johns Hopkins University School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS) discussion. Source: News

President-elect Donald J. Trump’s incoming administration almost certainly will get a dramatically different world energy assessment than President-elect Barack Obama’s did 8 years earlier, the US Department of State’s special envoy for energy resources expects. Source: News