Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has signed into law regulation for high-volume hydraulic fracturing, the governor’s office said in a news release.

Petrominerales Corp., Calgary, will conduct long-term production tests at a multizone oil discovery on its 100% owned Casanare Este block in Colombia’s central Llanos basin.

Oryx Petroleum Corp., Calgary, has spudded the AAS-1 exploratory well on the Hawler license in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

A group led by GeoPark Holdings Ltd. has spudded an appraisal well after discovering a fourth oil field on the Llanos 34 block in Colombia and said it has identified several more prospects on the block.

A group led by a subsidiary of Origin Energy Ltd., Sydney, has spudded the 121-Ca Vol-1X wildcat on Block 121 in the Phu Khanh basin offshore central Vietnam.

A group led by Noble Energy Inc., Houston, said its second Gunflint appraisal well in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico confirmed an estimated gross resource of 65-90 million bbl of oil equivalent in the primary structure at 75th and 25th percentile probabilities, in line with the company’s expectations.

GlencoreXstrata PLC has completed taking a farmout in southern Chad from Caracal Energy Inc., Calgary, formerly Griffiths Energy International Inc.

Canacol Energy Ltd., Calgary, and ConocoPhillips have spudded the Oso Pardo-1 exploratory well to test the oil potential of the shallow conventional Tertiary Lisama sandstone reservoir and deeper naturally fractured shale and carbonate reservoirs in the Cretaceous La Luna and Simiti shales.

Platino Energy Corp., Calgary, has spudded the Coati-1 well, its first exploratory well on the Coati block in the southern Putumayo basin in Colombia.