Comstock, USG form Haynesville joint development venture

Comstock Resources Inc., Frisco, Tex., and USG Properties Haynesville LLC have agreed to jointly develop certain acreage recently acquired by USG that’s prospective for the Haynesville shale in Louisiana and Texas. Source: News


Maersk Oil’s Danish business to cut up to 160 jobs

The Danish business unit of Maersk Oil, a wholly owned subsidiary of AP Moller-Maersk AS of Copenhagen, expects to reduce up to 160 positions over the coming months in an effort to simplify the organization. Source: News


Cisarik elected chairman of Texas Pipeline Association

James A. Cisarik, Enterprise Products Holdings LLC’s senior vice-president of government affairs and public relations, has been elected chairman of the Texas Pipeline Association (TPA). Source: News


DNO makes oil discovery in Kurdistan’s Peshkabir field

DNO ASA reported that it has discovered oil in the Cretaceous horizon in the southern flank of Peshkabir field with the Peshkabir-2 well, currently being drilled in Iraq’s Kurdistan region. Source: News


DOE issues notice of sale from SPR sites

The US Department of Energy formally announced that it will sell as much as 8 million bbl of sweet crude oil from three Strategic Petroleum Reserve storage sites at competitive prices. Source: News


Australia, Timor Leste scrap Timor Gap oil and gas treaty

Australia and Timor Leste have jointly announced an agreement to abandon the temporary treaty that regulates maritime boundaries in the Timor Sea and has given rise to a long-running dispute over sharing revenues from oil and gas. Source: News


Martinez named as Venezuela’s minister of petroleum

Nelson Martinez has been named Venezuela’s minister of petroleum, according to Petroleos de Venezuela SA. He succeeds Eulogio Del Pino, who was named petroleum minister in 2015 in addition to serving as president of PDVSA. Del Pino has been president since 2014 and retains that role. Source: News


MARKET WATCH: NYMEX, Brent oil prices plunge more than $2/bbl

The light, sweet crude oil contract for February delivery fell more than $2/bbl on the New York market Jan. 9 as did the Brent crude oil contract price for March delivery on the London market. It was the largest daily loss for the US and Brent benchmarks in about 3 weeks. Source: News


Douglass joins Baker Botts’ London office as partner

James Douglass, who specializes in the development and financing of energy and infrastructure projects, has joined Baker Botts LLP’s London office as a partner. Source: News


Barclays: Global E&P spending expected up 7% in 2017

Following an unprecedented 2 years of double-digit declines, global exploration and production spending is expected to increase 7% in 2017, according to Barclays’ latest E&P spending survey. Source: News