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Canacol Energy Ltd., Calgary, and ConocoPhillips have spudded the Oso Pardo-1 exploratory well to test the oil potential of the shallow conventional Tertiary Lisama sandstone reservoir and deeper naturally fractured shale and carbonate reservoirs in the Cretaceous La Luna and Simiti shales.

Platino Energy Corp., Calgary, has spudded the Coati-1 well, its first exploratory well on the Coati block in the southern Putumayo basin in Colombia.

The National Energy Board of Canada responded to pipeline releases of crude oil in Ontario on June 11 and in British Columbia on June 13.

The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has decided to award 20 production licenses in the Barents Sea and four in the Norwegian Sea in its 22nd licensing round (OGJ Online, May 1, 2012).

Surge Energy Inc. agreed to buy a tight oil asset in southern Saskatchewan from Cenovus Energy Inc. of Calgary for $240 million, with closing expected by mid-July, subject to normal closing conditions.

The US drilling rig count gained back 6 units during the week ended June 14, seesawing back to a total of 1,771 rotary rigs working, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

The US and State of Arkansas filed a joint civil lawsuit in federal court against two ExxonMobil Corp. subsidiaries stemming from a Mar. 29 rupture of their Pegasus pipeline that leaked heavy crude oil into a Mayflower, Ark., neighborhood and nearby waterways.

Oil prices continued rising June 13 with front-month crude up 0.8% in the New York futures market among positive economic indicators.

A tentative agreement has been reached between Ukraine officials and Chevron Corp. regarding exploration for shale natural gas in Oleska field in western Ukraine, Energy Minister Eduard Stavytsky told reporters in Kiev on June 13.

BG Group has completed the sale of its 64.12% interest in Gujarat Gas Co. Ltd., a nongovernment gas distribution company in India, to Gujarat State Petroleum Corp. (OGJ Online, Oct. 3, 2012).

Two workers were killed and another injured on the Danish North Sea L5A gas platform operated by GDF Suez SA, the company comfirmed.

The US Bureau of Land Management opened a new public comment period for its proposed revisions to its commercial oil shale regulations. Comments will be accepted until July 15, it said.

Oil and gas prices rebounded moderately June 12 largely due to a weaker dollar, but broader markets fell with the Dow Jones Industrial Average marking “its worst losing streak of the year.”

Statoil ASA will have the first piece of subsea compression equipment to be used in developing the Asgard natural gas basin off Norway leave port for the site on June 17, with the manifold module following shortly thereafter.

Ensco PLC announced plans to add another newbuild drillship to its fleet to help fulfill customer demand for deepwater vessels in the Gulf of Mexico, West Africa, and elsewhere.

Lee M. Tillman, most recently vice-president of engineering for ExxonMobil Development Co., has been named president and chief executive officer of Marathon Oil Corp., succeeding Clarence P. Cazalot Jr.

A Foster Wheeler AG subsidiary has signed cooperation agreements with Clariant International AG and Wison Engineering Ltd. covering construction in China of a pilot plant to demonstrate its substitute natural gas technology.

Centrica PLC bought a 25% interest in a license for the Bowland basin shale project in Lancashire, UK, from Cuadrilla Resources Ltd. and AJ Lucas for $62.6 million. Centrica owns British Gas.

Williams Cos. Inc., Tulsa, reported an explosion occurred within its Geismar, La., olefins plant in Louisiana at 8:37 a.m. CST June 13.

Statoil ASA has gauged good oil rates on the west side of Johan Sverdrup field in the North Sea offshore Norway but said the latest appraisal wellbore also “reduces the possibility for upside potential in the basement section in the Johan Sverdrup area.”

The US recorded the largest single-year increase in oil production in 2012, according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy. The review, released June 12, was the company’s 62nd annual report.

Wood Group is looking to acquire a Canadian company as a way to expand its own production services network (PSN) brownfield group there.

A unit of Statoil ASA and PetroFrontier Corp., Calgary, agreed to amend a mid-2012 farmout under which Statoil Australia Oil & Gas AS will become operator of an exploratory joint venture aimed at shale formations on 14 million acres in the southern Georgina basin in Australia’s Northern Territory.

Substantial US tight oil resources could reshape global energy geopolitics, three experts suggested at a Bipartisan Policy Center conference on the subject. But the changes could be subtler and more gradual than some people think, they added.