US House members ask Zinke to expand OCS leasing

The US House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) and 119 other House members, all but one of whom are Republicans, asked Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke to increase US Outer Continental Shelf areas available for oil and gas leasing in the next 5-year management program. Source: News


Six-person committee takes control of YPF after Darre resigns

Ricardo Darre has resigned as chief executive officer of Argentina’s YPF SA citing personal reasons. His position will be replaced by a committee consisting of six executives at the company. Source: News


Oil sands, oil supply

Anyone hoping for a return to normalcy in the oil market, to the security of cyclicality, to the assurance that low prices must rise again, should remember two words: oil sands. Source: News


PetroChina lets contracts for alkylation units at four refineries

PetroChina Co. Ltd.—the publicly listed arm of state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC)—has let contracts to CB&I, Houston, for delivery of grassroots alkylation units to four of the operator’s Chinese refineries. Source: News


Burgos or bust

With conventional gas production declining in Mexico’s Burgos basin, the country has opened the area for private investment to develop the region’s shale resources. Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) will spend $51 million in the Burgos basin in 2017, down from 2012 when the state-owned company invested $657 million. Source: News


MARKET WATCH: Anxious crude oil traders track Harvey, some refineries closed

Light, sweet crude oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose modestly but still settled below $48/bbl on Aug. 25 as market participants awaited news on Hurricane Harvey, which pounded Texas later that day and continues to cause massive flooding in Houston. Source: News


BSEE: Evacuations, shut-ins continue ahead of Hurricane Harvey making landfall

Oil and gas operators in the US Gulf of Mexico continued evacuation efforts from offshore platforms and rigs to clear a path for Hurricane Harvey, which continued to strengthen Aug. 25 and was expected to make landfall along the Texas coast as a Category 3 storm. Source: News