**U.S. crude oil production is expected to fall by 990,000 bbl/d this year to 11.26 million bbl/d, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Aug. 11, a steeper decline than its forecast last month for a decline of 600,000 bbl/d.The agency also expects U.S. petroleum and other liquid fuel consumption to drop 2 million bbl/d to 18.46 million bbl/d in 2020, a slightly smaller decline than its previous forecast for a drop of 2.12 million bbl/d.
** Sydney, Australia-based Empire Energy Group Ltd. said Aug. 11 it has executed a rig services contract with Schlumberger to drill the Carpentaria-1 well in Northern Territory’s onshore Beetaloo Basin. Plans are for the rig—Schlumberger Land Rig 183—to drill to a depth of about 2,900 m, allowing Empire to evaluate the targeted Velkerri Shale and Kyalla Shale, the company said in a news release.
** Saudi Aramco’s marketing and refining subsidiary Motiva Enterprises confirms on Tuesday that it plans to lay off about 10% of its total workforce by September 1st at Port Arthur, Texas.
** Chevron Corp’s $5 billion offer to acquire Noble Energy emerged after the U.S. oil major first proposed taking a stake of at least 50% in Noble’s Eastern Mediterranean natural-gas fields, a proxy filing on Tuesday showed. If consummated, the all-stock merger will boost Chevron’s U.S. shale oil holdings and give it vast natural gas assets off the coast of Israel.
** A shipping joint venture between Venezuela and China has fallen apart in the wake of U.S. sanctions, resulting in the South American nation losing three supertankers at a time when foreign shippers are reluctant to carry its oil, court documents show.
** Occidental Petroleum expects oil and gas output to dip in the second half of the year and will not boost production until it “significantly” reduces debt, Chief Executive Vicki Hollub said on Tuesday. The company has been struggling with debt taken on during its $38 billion acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum last year, an ill-timed bet on oil prices rising.
** Senate Democrats and the chamber’s two independents have seen enough from President Donald Trump’s pick to serve as permanent director of the Bureau of Land Management ― all 47 of them have signaled that they will vote against confirming William Perry Pendley. In a Tuesday letter, the entire Senate Democratic caucus, which includes the independents, slammed Pendley and urged Trump to pick a new nominee.
** U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil said on Tuesday it has signed an agreement with Global Clean Energy to buy 2.5 million barrels of renewable diesel per year for five years to help reduce its carbon footprint.
** NGL Energy Partners LP (announced that it will participate in the Citi 2020 One-on-One Midstream/Energy Infrastructure Virtual Conference on 13, 2020. Members of NGL’s management team will be participating in a series of virtual meetings with members of the investment community.
** Marathon Petroleum Corp. is poised to claim a $1.1 billion tax refund thanks to the coronavirus stimulus law enacted in March.
** A powerful storm that went through Iowa this week caused the emergency shutdown of a nuclear plant near Cedar Rapids.
** Mariner East pipeline construction spills 10,000 gallons of drilling mud into a Pennsylvania lake, causing environmental officials to shut down two drilling sites.
** Duke Energy is preparing to argue before North Carolina regulators that it needs an $8-9 billion return on coal ash cleanup or its finances and credit will be at risk.
** Chevron Corporation announced a contribution of $1 million to the Lebanese Red Cross, in support of relief efforts under way to help those impacted by the devastating explosions that struck the Port of Beirut last week.