Mississippi has reduced the severance tax on hydrocarbons produced from horizontal wells and the sales tax paid on electricity for oil and gas produced via carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery.

Bankers Petroleum Ltd., Calgary, has begun injectivity testing at the first pilot polymer flood location in Patos-Marinza field in Albania.

Suncor Energy Inc., Calgary, has scrapped plans for the Voyageur upgrader project near Fort McMurray, Alta., and has acquired partner Total E&P Canada Ltd.’s interest for $515 million.

South Oil Co. of Iraq (SOC) has selected CH2M Hill of Denver to provide project management consultancy services in a project that will provide water to be injected into the oil fields of southern Iraq for enhanced oil recovery.

The government of Alberta and Swan Hills Synfuels have agreed to cancel an agreement under which the province was to have helped fund a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project.

Sunshine Oilsands Ltd., Calgary, has approved a budget for 2013 that includes the drilling of 16 well-pairs at its West Ells project and preliminary work at its Thickwood and Legend Lake areas, all in the Athabasca oil sands region of Alberta and targeted for development with steam-assisted gravity drainage.

Denbury Resources Inc. agreed to acquire producing property interests in the Cedar Creek anticline of Montana and North Dakota from a wholly owned subsidiary of ConocoPhillips for $1.05 billion cash.

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).