After weeks of increases, US crude oil inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, decreased by 2.6 million bbl for the week ended Mar. 16 vs. the previous week, the US Energy Information Administration said. Source: News

HighPoint Resources Corp. is the name of the company formed through combination of Bill Barrett Corp. and Fifth Creek Energy Co.  Source: News

A group led by ConocoPhillips has received regulatory approval from Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) for its proposal to develop the Barossa gas-condensate field in retention lease NT/RL5 in the eastern Timor Sea 300 km north of Darwin. Source: News

Tellurian subsidiary Permian Global Access Pipeline LLC (PGAP), Houston, is holding a nonbinding open season to secure prospective shippers for a proposed 42-in. interstate natural gas pipeline connecting the Permian basin in Texas to Southwest Louisiana. Source: News

Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. has let a contract to Petrofac Ltd. to provide engineering, procurement, and construction services for a unit to be added as part of HPCL’s previously announced program to expand and modernize its 8.3 million-tonne/year Vishakhapatnam (Visakh) refinery in Andhra Pradesh on India’s southeastern coast.   Source: News

Electric power accounts for most energy investment planned in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) during the next 5 years as oil and gas spending recovers in the region’s major oil-producing countries. Source: News

Susan Dio has been named chairman and president of BP Americas Inc. She has worked for BP for 33 years, most recently as chief executive of BP Shipping. A chemical engineer, Dio has worked in the US, UK, and Australia.  Source: News

Alexander Golovanev has been appointed general director of Lukoil-Komi, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lukoil Oil Co. He previously was first deputy general director—chief engineer of Lukoil-Western Siberia.  Source: News