Crude oil benchmarks traded moderately lower on Jan. 13, ending a 2-day rally driven by some major producers cutting production, especially Saudi Arabia. Light, sweet crude prices settled above $52/bbl on the New York market while Brent crude settled above $53 on the London market. Source: News
PHMSA issues final rule aimed at improving liquids pipeline safety
The US Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration completed one of its top priority rulemakings for 2016 as Administrator Marie Therese Dominguez signed long-awaited safety requirements for onshore hazardous materials pipelines. The final rule makes critical safety improvements, PHMSA said. An American Petroleum Institute official said it still falls short of what is needed. […]
ConocoPhillips Alaska makes oil discovery in NPR-A
ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. reported making an oil discovery in the Greater Mooses Tooth (GMT) Unit in the northeast section of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). Source: News
Gasolinazo protests destabilize Mexico amid energy reform
Market liberalization’s difficult part is pummeling Mexico. Source: News
WPX grabs more Delaware basin acreage in $775-million deal
WPX Energy Inc., Tulsa, has agreed to acquire 18,100 net acres in Reeves, Loving, Ward, and Winkler counties in Texas from private equity backed firms Panther Energy Co. II LLC and Carrier Energy Partners LLC for $775 million in cash. Source: News
API official lists policy areas for upcoming confirmation hearings
US senators considering nominees to lead the US Departments of the Interior and Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency should ask about ways policies can be improved to create jobs, benefit consumers, and improve the general economy and domestic energy security, an American Petroleum Institute official said days before scheduled hearings. Source: News
Aramco lets contract for Ras Tanura refinery
Saudi Aramco has let a turnkey contract to Tecnicas Reunidas SA, Madrid, to provide engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning (EPCC) on two packages of a clean-fuels project at Aramco’s 550,000-b/d Ras Tanura refinery in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, along the Persian Gulf. Source: News
BHI: US rig count posts first decline in 2 months
The US drilling rig count dropped by 6 to 659 active units during the week ended Jan. 13, marking its first decrease since Nov. 11, 2016, and largest since the drilling rebound began at the beginning of June, according to Baker Hughes Inc. data. Source: News
Norman becomes UK energy minister
Jesse Norman has been named UK parliamentary undersecretary of state, minister for industry and energy, a position that includes regulation of oil and natural gas. Source: News
Malaysia’s Petronas lets technology contract for RAPID
PRPC Polymers Sdn. Bhd., a subsidiary of Petroleum Nasional Bhd.’s (Petronas) majority-owned Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd., has let a contract to LyondellBasell Industries NV to deliver polyethylene process technology for a grassroots unit at Petronas’s refinery and petrochemical integrated development (RAPID) project at the Pengerang integrated complex (PIC) in southeastern Johor, Malaysia. Source: News