Privately held Rockliff Energy II LLC, Houston, has agreed to buy the East Texas and North Louisiana properties of Samson Resources II LLC, Tulsa, for $525 million. Source: News

US commercial crude oil inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, decreased 1.5 million bbl for the week ended July 28 compared with the previous week, the US Energy Information Administration estimated. Source: News

Permico Energia LLC, Houston, plans to build a 510-mile, 24-in. OD NGL pipeline to ship West Texas Permian basin production to a newbuild 300,000-b/d fractionator near Corpus Christi, Tex. Source: News

Sydney-based AWE Ltd. has finally received approval from the Indonesian government for the sale of its 42.5% interest in the Lengo gas project in the Bulu production-sharing contract in the East Java Sea. Source: News

New York Atty. Gen. Eric T. Schneiderman (D) and 15 other states’ attorneys general sued the US Environmental Protection Agency for delaying implementation of new federal ground-level ozone emissions controls. Source: News

Malaysia’s Petronas said shallow-water Block 6 in the Gulf of Mexico’s Salina basin has been awarded to a 50-50 partnership with Colombia’s Ecopetrol. Source: News

Cox Oil Offshore LLC, Dallas, cited high-pressure, high-temperature potential of interests it has expanded around Tiger Shoal oil and gas field offshore Louisiana. Source: News

US crude oil prices fell about $1/bbl to settle below $50/bbl on Aug. 1 pending the release of weekly oil and product inventory reports from the US Energy Information Administration and the American Petroleum Institute. Source: News