Drilling & production

China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) is in discussion with the government of Ecuador regarding possible involvement in a refinery development.

A tanker owned by FAL Oil, a company under scrutiny by Washington for its ties to Iran, has been seized by authorities in Singapore due to unpaid debts.

The Brazilian National Oil Agency (ANP) said that it had no objections to Chevron submitting its proposal to resume drilling at the Frade oilfield, which was the site of an oil spill in November 2011.

GE has signed a 22 year maintenance contract to maintain Gorgon LNG’s compressor trains and power generation units.

Ecopetrol and PanAtlantic have agreed a deal for Ecopetrol to purchase a 30% stake in three offshore oil and gas fields.

According to Nigerian regulators, Shell should be fined US$ 5 billion for environmental damage caused by an oil spill last year.

Technip was awarded a contract by Marathon Oil Norge AS for on-going expansion of the subsea drill centres at Kneler B and Volund located in the Alvheim area in the North Sea.

Solid Energy has completed its purchase of the assets of Pike River Coal Ltd with the final US$ 5 million tranche of the US$ 7.5 million purchase price now paid.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) has released a study on the competition between coal, natural gas and petroleum used for electricity generation, which estimates what economists refer to as the elasticity of substitution among the fuels.

Aker Solutions has been awarded a contract by Technip to supply a Mono Ethylene Glycol (MEG) reclamation plant for the Ichthys LNG Project in Australia. The contract value is approximately NOK 485 million.

Wärtsilä is to supply 21 engines to a 384 MW natural gas power plant in Azerbaijan. The natural gas to power the plant will be domestically produced.

Black & Veatch provide liquefaction technology to EXMAR FSRU.

Aker Solutions has signed a contract with McDermott, the main EPCI contractor for the Ichthys gas-condensate field development subsea umbilical, riser, flowline (SURF) project, for INPEX in Australia. The contract value is approximately NOK 440 million.

Browse LNG receives conditional environmental approval to proceed, Woodside Petroleum are on course to make a final investment decision in 2013.

Total has increased its stake in the Ichthys LNG project to 30%.