San Leon Energy PLC agreed to buy Talisman Energy Inc.’s share of a shale gas joint venture in Poland. Talisman is the second international major oil company to withdraw from Poland, following a decision last year by ExxonMobil Corp. to exit Poland after early results failed to produce commercial wells.

Canada’s minister of natural resources has warned officials of the European Union against “discriminatory treatment” of fuels made from products of Canadian oil sands.

TAG Oil Ltd., Vancouver, BC, has spudded an exploratory well that targets the Paleocene Waipawa black shale and Paleocene-Cretaceous Whangai source rock formations in New Zealand’s East Coast basin.

Genie Energy Ltd., Newark, NJ, said its Mongolian subsidiary signed an exclusive agreement to explore and evaluate the commercial potential of oil shale resources on 34,470 sq km in central Mongolia.

Turkey’s General Directorate of Petroleum Affairs has awarded a 100% working interest in the Banarli License 5104 in the Thrace basin to Valeura Energy Inc., Calgary.

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

Colombia’s state Ecopetrol SA disclosed that its Venus-2 exploratory well in San Martin municipality of Meta Province had proved the presence of crude oil.

Prospects for new bitumen upgraders in Alberta have soured since the global recession of 2008, notes a study published by IHS on the same day plans were reported cancelled for a large project near Fort McMurray (OGJ Online, Mar. 27, 2013).

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.

Gulfport Energy Corp., Oklahoma City, expects delineation drilling in the May River area of northern Alberta by Grizzly Oil Sands ULC to lead to filing of applications for thermal recovery of bitumen.

The Chinese government approved a production-sharing contract for Royal Dutch Shell PLC and China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) to develop China’s shale gas reserves, Shell Chief Executive Peter Voser said in Beijing Mar. 26.

The UK government continues working toward offering tax breaks to encourage shale gas exploration and production, and the proposed measures could make onshore shale exploration more attractive to oil and gas companies already operating offshore UK, a Deloitte spokesman said.

China faces significant geologic, development, transportation, and bureaucratic challenges if it expects to fully exploit its shale gas resources, even though they’re probably greater than those in the US, an IHS CERA expert said.

Cuadrilla Resources Ltd. plans to delay plans to start hydraulic fracturing in a Bowland basin shale project in Lancashire, UK, until 2014 to give the company time to get an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for some exploration wells, Cuadrilla Chief Executive Francis Egan said.