Table of Contents

International news for oil and gas professionals

The most widespread drought across the US in more than 50 years is calling attention to the volume of water that the oil and gas industry uses for hydraulic fracturing in shale plays, forcing drillers to pay higher prices and to seek alternate water sources.

Cenovus Energy Inc., Calgary, has provided updates on its Foster Creek, Christina Lake, Pelican Lake, Telephone Lake, and Narrows Lake oil sands and heavy oil projects in western Canada.

The pace of oil drilling could slow in the Bakken formation in North Dakota and also in the Eagle Ford shale in South Texas if US prices were to drop below $80/bbl for a sustained period, said Baker Hughes Inc.'s president and chief executive officer.

Diluted bitumen (dilbit) from Alberta's oil sands is so similar to heavy crude oils, which US pipelines have handled for years, that it is unlikely to pose corrosion problems, experts told a National Academies of Science panel on July 23.

In retrospect, it was inevitable. Claims made in Josh Fox's anti-fracing documentary "Gasland" were so dramatic and troubling that other filmmakers started to look into them.

Drilling activity has flattened in the US despite gyrations of crude oil and natural gas prices in an unusual pattern that challenges managers of the oil and gas producing industry.

The amount of sulfur recovered from global oil and gas operations is set to increase by the equivalent of 30% of current production during 2011-16, according to Uday Parekh of DEVCO, Tulsa.

CNOOC Ltd. will acquire Nexen Inc., Calgary, for $15.1 billion as China expands its holdings in worldwide exploration and production operations.

Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration & Production Co. will acquire a 49% equity interest in Talisman Energy Inc.'s UK North Sea business for $1.5 billion, retroactive to Jan. 1.

Comprehensive postwell studies indicate oil in place of 1 billion to 1.6 billion bbl, as much as four times earlier estimates, in the Middle and Basal Wealden formations at the Barryroe discovery in the North Celtic Sea basin offshore Ireland, said Providence Resources PLC.

Africa Oil Corp., Vancouver, BC, updated its progress on several farmout agreements in East Africa.