The light, sweet crude oil price for the December contract dropped modestly to settle below $45/bbl on Nov. 3 while market participants continued to increasingly doubt that Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will be able to reach a deal to cut production. Source: News

Attock Refinery Ltd. (ARL) has expanded a captive power plant as part of an ongoing $251-million upgrading project under way at the operator’s 43,000-b/d refinery at Morgah, northeast of Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Source: News

Royal Dutch Shell PLC and its partners Pavilion Energy Pte. Ltd. and Ophir Energy PLC have commenced a two-well drilling program in Blocks 1 and 4 offshore Tanzania in the Mafia Deep basin. The Noble Globe Trotter 2 is drilling both wells in 2,300 m of water. Source: News

Federal agencies that regulate oil and gas activity should not rush to impose new requirements before the Obama administration leaves office, two American Petroleum Institute officials said one week before the Nov. 8 elections. Source: News

Oil production in Ghana, growth of which slowed this year because of technical problems at giant offshore Jubilee field, will reach 350,000 b/d in 2018, predict researchers at the French investment management firm Natixis. Source: News

An earthquake of 4.5 magnitude was reported Nov. 1 about 9 miles southeast of Pawnee, Okla., said the Oklahoma Corporation Commission Oil & Gas Division. Source: News

Sinopec Ltd. reported that Fuling shale gas field in southwestern China produced a cumulative 3.76 billion cu m of gas from January to September. The 107% increase in production was accompanied by additional processing capacity of 5.5-6.5 bcm, the company said. In 2014, Sinopec announced plans to bring production capacity to 10 bcm/year by 2017. […]

Oil and gas lease sales in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, the central and western Gulf of Mexico, and parts of the eastern gulf should remain in the 2017-22 US Outer Continental Shelf management plan, three national groups representing businesses, manufacturers, and energy consumers jointly said in a Nov. 3 letter to US President Barack […]

The UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) has experienced sustained production efficiency (PE) compared with 2012 statistics, which marked a PE low point, the Oil and Gas Authority said in a report, UKCS Production Efficiency, that analyzed 2015 statistics. Source: News

Two federal officials said that their agencies would like to see higher quality methane emission measurements developed to produce better data. This would help them develop more effective and workable regulations, they explained on Nov. 2 in separate remarks during the Gas Technology Institute’s 2016 Methane Emissions Conference in Alexandria, Va. Source: News