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

Billions of barrels of oil that could increase domestic supply, help reduce imports, and improve US energy security may be potentially recoverable from residual oil zones, according to initial findings from a study supported by the US Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy.

A group led by CC Energy Development SAL has spudded a wildcat 6 km east of Saiwan East heavy oil field on Block 4 in eastern Oman on a prospect similar to the field.

The Energy Resources Conservation Board of Alberta has conditionally approved Shell Canada Ltd.’s application for the Quest carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at the Scotford Upgrader north of Edmonton.

Brazil’s Petrobras has disclosed an offshore heavy oil discovery in the Espirito Santo basin 64 km southwest of Golfinho field.

GeoPark Holdings Ltd. said it participated in three discoveries in the Llanos basin in Colombia.

Total SA has become operator of the deepwater Xerelete concession in the Campos basin offshore Brazil, where the Xerelete heavy oil discovery was drilled in 2001.

NCT Energy Group CA Colombia will apply for extended production test authority for the Flami-1 discovery well on the Llanos 27 block in Colombia, said partner Santa Maria Petroleum Inc., Toronto.

Hydraulic fracturing, properly managed and regulated, can be conducted in the UK without threatening groundwater or creating risks of serious earthquakes, according to a joint study by two British research groups.

Nexen Inc. has begun production from the 12th pad at its Long Lake oil sands project and steaming of the 13th pad, saying it is adjusting work to quality of the complex resource in the southern Athabasca region of Alberta (OGJ Online, Apr. 16, 2012).