The US Environmental Protection Agency has said Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s Kulluk conical drilling unit and the Noble Discoverer drillship, under contract to the Anglo-Dutch multinational firm, violated numerous conditions of air-quality permits while drilling off Alaska during 2012.

China's National Energy Administration has approved a revised development plan for second-phase development of Penglai 19-3 and Penglai 25-6 oil fields in northern Bohai Bay.

The US drilling rig count fell by 1 unit during the week ended Jan. 11, with the total number of rotary rigs reaching 1,761, Baker Hughes Inc. reported. This compares with 1,987 rigs working in the comparable week last year.

Apache Corp., Houston, said it has partnered with Halliburton and Schlumberger to find ways to use natural gas to power hydraulic fracturing, one of the most energy-intensive processes employed by the industry.

Topsides detailed engineering design for Statoil’s Mariner heavy oil field development in the North Sea will be performed by CB&I, Houston, under a $250 million contract let by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. Ltd.

Alberta Oilsands Inc., Calgary, has responded to the last request from Alberta officials for supplementary information in its application for a pilot project to produce bitumen with solvent-steam injection at its Clearwater acreage in northeastern Alberta.

Cavalier Energy Inc. has received an independent assessment of its Hoole oil sands leases in Alberta indicating probable reserves of 93 million bbl of recoverable bitumen in sections for which it is seeking approval for in situ development (OGJ Online, Dec. 17, 2012).

Southern Pacific Resources Corp. said rail shipments have begun of diluted bitumen (dilbit) produced at its STP-McKay thermal oil sands project in Alberta to a terminal in Mississippi as production at the project ramps up (OGJ Online, Oct. 11, 2012).

Statoil and partners have submitted plans for development of deepwater Aasta Hansteen natural gas and condensate field offshore Norway and for an affiliated pipeline that will make further exploration and development possible in the northern Norwegian Sea (OGJ Online, July 13, 2012).

The US Department of the Interior has launched an expedited, high-level assessment of the 2012 offshore drilling program in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, Interior Sec. Ken Salazar announced. The assessment, which will take 60 days, will review activities and identify challenges and lessons learned, he said.

The Kulluk, a conical drilling unit, was safely towed to a harbor on Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska where it will undergo a thorough safety assessment before resuming its journey to its winter harbor in Seattle for repairs and maintenance, said Royal Dutch Shell PLC.

The Illinois State Geological Survey in Champaign, Ill., is preparing to release data related to source rocks and potential source rocks in Illinois that could be of value in developing exploration and development strategies.

Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) reports a recent audit found numerous nonconformities of the Seadrill Group’s West Hercules ultradeepwater semisubmersible drilling rig.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC and the US Coast Guard attached a towing line to the grounded Kullek, a conical drilling unit, and planned to move it away from the southeast shore of Sitkalidak Island, Alas., when weather permits.