Light, sweet crude oil prices for March delivery managed to climb modestly to close at $30.77/bbl Feb. 18 in a volatile trading week on the New York market. The gain came after a weekly government report showed another increase in US crude oil supplies. Source: News

Russia’s general economy is withstanding depressed global crude oil prices now despite its heavy reliance on crude exports because the government adopted different financial policies in 2008, a Yale University International Security Studies official told a Washington, DC, audience. Source: News

Sunoco Logistics Partners LP, Philadelphia, has let a construction management contract to Fluor Corp., Irving, Tex., for the Mariner East 2 natural gas liquids pipeline project. Source: News

The North American natural gas resource continues to expand as breakeven development costs fall, reports IHS. Source: News

Victoria Oil & Gas (VOG) has increased its Logbaba natural gas production operations, adding 75% interest in the adjacent 1,235-sq km Matanda block in Cameroon. North Matanda field is estimated to hold in-place reserves of 1.8 tcf of gas and 136 million bbl of condensate, the company said. Source: News

Kosmos Energy Ltd., Dallas, reported that it was informed by Tullow Oil PLC, operator of the Jubilee unit offshore Ghana, of a change to operating procedures on the Jubilee field floating production, storage, and offloading vessel. Oil production and natural gas exports from the area are continuing as normal, however. Source: News

OMV AG will deemphasize growth of oil and gas production under a new strategy that safeguards cash flow, focuses a restructured downstream oil business on utilization efficiency, and restructures downstream gas operations. Source: News

Light, sweet crude oil prices for March delivery gained more than $1/bbl on the New York market to settle above $30/bbl after Iran Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh called a production freeze pact struck by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Venezuela, and Russia a “first step” toward stabilizing the market. Source: News

External corrosion under the insulation caused the May 15, 2015, rupture of a Plains All American crude oil pipeline in California, the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said in a preliminary report from its ongoing investigation of the incident. Source: News

Phillips 66 Partners LP has agreed to acquire 25% controlling interest in Phillips 66 Sweeny Frac LLC, owner of the newly constructed Sweeny Fractionator One and Clemens Caverns storage facility, from Phillips 66 Co. for $236 million. The deal is expected to close in early March. Source: News