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The US drilling rig count was down 7 units during the week ended May 24, reaching a total of 1,762 rotary rigs working, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

The recent decline in oil prices slowed to a trickle in volatile trading May 23 ahead of the extended Memorial Day holiday weekend that marks the start of the summer driving season in the US.

Approval of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline project should be based on its merits, and not linked to higher taxes or more regulations, John A. Barrasso (Wyo.), John Hoeven (ND) and 22 other US Senate Republicans said in a May 23 letter to US President Barack Obama.

FracFocus, the online registry of chemicals and other hydraulic fracturing ingredients, will become easier to use when its new version goes into operation on June 1, a witness said during the US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s final natural gas forum.

Rosneft and a subsidiary of Petroleo de Venezuela SA have signed an agreement to form a joint venture to develop heavy oil resources in Venezuela’s Orinoco belt.

Reliance Industries Ltd. and partners plan an appraisal program with a view to developing a deepwater natural gas and condensate discovery on the controversial KG-D6 Block offshore eastern India.

InterOil Corp. and its joint venture partner, Pacific LNG Group, are talking with ExxonMobil Papua New Guinea Ltd. regarding development of Elk and Antelope gas-condensate fields.

Statoil has agreed to acquire a 12% working interest in 5,549-sq-km Block 6 offshore Tanzania from Petrobras Tanzania Ltd., the operator.

Increased flexibility for operators remains an open question in a revised proposal for federal regulation of hydraulic fracturing, according to a May 23 legal update by Roger W. Patrick of the law firm Mayer Brown.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC has let a subsea equipment contract to FMC Technologies Inc. in a move to continue development of Stones oil and gas field in the Gulf of Mexico.

Gazprom Neft has conducted what it says is the first hydraulic fracturing ever on Russia’s Yamal Pensinsula at geologically complex Novoport oil and gas condensate field.

Lundin Petroleum AS, Stockholm, is plugging its 7/4-3 exploratory well on PL495 in the North Sea offshore Norway as a dry hole (OGJ Online, Apr. 5, 2013).

Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Co. (ADMA-OPCO) has awarded Technip, Paris, a lump-sum turnkey contract for engineering, procurement, construction, precommissioning, commissioning, and start-up assistance for flare modifications and revamp on Das Island.

Caballo Energy LLC, Tulsa, has started up a 60-MMcfd gas processing plant near Carmen, Okla., in Alfalfa County, bringing Caballo’s total processing capacity in the region to about 100 MMcfd (OGJ Online, Sept. 18, 2012).

Total plans a €1 billion modernization of its Antwerp, Belgium, refining and petrochemical complex that will include new upgrading capacity at the 338,000-b/cd refinery.

BASF Total Petrochemicals LLC (BTP) has completed a revamp of its steam cracker in Port Arthur, Tex., enabling the 1-million-tonne/year facility to process ethane, supply of which is increasing from US shale plays.

Pacific NorthWest LNG Ltd. has awarded the front-end engineering and design contract for the 12-million tonne/year project to three contractors: Bechtel, KBR/JGC joint venture, and Technip/Samsung Engineering/China Huanqiu joint venture.

Depressurization in a pioneering test flow of methane from hydrates offshore Japan earlier this year involved a specially designed electric submersible pump system able to separate methane from water and move them to the drillship through separate production strings (OGJ Online, Mar. 12, 2013).

PetroBakken Energy Ltd., Calgary, has received shareholder approval for a name change, effective immediately, to Lightstream Resources. Ltd.

Crude prices continued falling but at a faster pace May 22, down 2% in the New York futures market on disappointing inventories, a stronger dollar, and lackluster progress in the US economy.

Virginia’s two US senators, Democrats Mark R. Warner and Timothy M. Kaine, introduced legislation that would revise the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s 2012-17 Outer Continental Shelf program by restoring to the schedule a lease sale off the state’s coast.

Noble Energy Inc. and partners have added to a series of natural gas discoveries in deep water offshore Israel.

The US House approved Rep. Lee Terry’s (R-Neb.) bill to bypass the White House and congressionally authorize construction of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline’s northern segment by 241 to 175 votes on May 22.

European officials and industry leaders have taken steps toward reviving energy-market reform and setting long-term targets for renewable energy.