Light, sweet crude oil gained on Dec. 12, settling just under $58/bbl on the New York market while Brent crude oil jumped more than a $1 for a second consecutive day to settle well above $64/bbl. Source: News

Ineos has shut its 575,000-b/d Forties crude oil pipeline system. Last week during a routine inspection, Ineos contractors discovered a hairline crack in an onshore portion of the Forties system at Red Moss near Netherley, roughly 10 miles southwest of Aberdeen. Source: News

Kazakhstan Petrochemical Industries Inc. LLP (KPII) has approved CB&I, Houston, to proceed with project management services for a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit and polypropylene plant to be added as part of KPII’s previously delayed, long-planned project to build a gas processing complex in Kazakhstan’s western Atyrau region. Source: News

Ultra Petroleum Corp. has produced 1.1 bcf of natural gas equivalent in 30 days from its Warbonnet 9-23-A-1H well, which the operator successfully completed in late October on the East Flank of Wyoming’s Pinedale anticline. Source: News

ExxonMobil Corp. is now assessing potential commerciality at its Avestruz-1 well on Block EG-06 160 km offshore Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. The operator drilled the oil discovery in October but has not released any production data. Source: News