NEWS | Russia's Rosneft Signs Deal to Buy into India's Essar Oil | Rigzone

NEWS  |  Russia's Rosneft Signs Deal to Buy into India's Essar Oil  |  Rigzone: "Russia's top oil producer Rosneft has taken a significant step towards expanding its global reach by signing a preliminary deal to acquire up to 49 percent in Essar Oil Ltd, India's second biggest private refiner. Rosneft had initially said it would buy into Essar's Vadinar refinery. But a company spokesman clarified on Thursday the deal included Rosneft entering into Essar Oil's charter capital, echoing a statement from the Indian firm. The companies have signed a non-binding term sheet for Rosneft to buy an equity stake of up to 49 percent in Essar Oil, the Indian company said in a statement on Thursday. Rosneft, the world's top listed oil producer, has long sought to increase its exposure to the global markets but its efforts have been hampered by Western sanctions over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis. The deal with Essar from India, a country Russia has close ties with since the Soviet era, was announced as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Vladimir Putin on the fringes of a summit of emerging nations."

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Statoil awards production chemicals contract to Baker Hughes

Statoil awards production chemicals contract to Baker Hughes: "Statoil Petroleum has awarded Baker Hughes an eight-year contract to design and supply production chemicals to the offshore Norne field and the deepwater Aasta Hansteen field in the Norwegian Sea. Work is anticipated to begin in July 2015, and the contract also includes an extension option of four years."

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This Is How "Sugarless" Sweeteners Trick Your Tongue

This Is How "Sugarless" Sweeteners Trick Your Tongue: "Take a sip of licorice tea and you’ll notice a strange lingering sweetness, as if someone secretly added sugar to your cup. This is due to glycyrrhizin, a sweetener which was used well before stevia entered the commercial market, but which works a similar way. People crave sweetness. Supposedly this is because we crave calories, but sweetness is an indication, not a guarantee. There are molecules that give us the sweetness of sugar, but without the calories. Lately, a lack of calories is considered more valuable than a surplus, and “sugarless” sweeteners have come on to the market. The most popular of them, stevia, come from the plant Stevia rebaudiana. It’s not, technically, sugarless. Stevia is a glycoside. A glycoside contains a sugar molecule, but it’s bound to another molecular structure, usually a hydroxy compound. Glycosides are often incredibly sweet when compared to plain old sucrose. A little glycoside goes a long way."

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NEWS | Shell Goes Ahead with Giant Gulf of Mexico Field After Cost Cuts | Rigzone

NEWS  |  Shell Goes Ahead with Giant Gulf of Mexico Field After Cost Cuts  |  Rigzone: "Royal Dutch Shell has given the green light for the development of its largest platform in the Gulf of Mexico after making steep cost cuts which made the deep water project economical despite low oil prices. The decision to pour billions of dollars into the Appomattox project comes as companies have scrapped around $200 billion of mega-projects in the wake of the sharp decline in oil prices over the past year. Shell has operated in the Gulf of Mexico for over 60 years. The region contributes about 17 percent of total U.S. crude oil production according to the Energy Information Administration and was the location in 2010 of the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, involving BP's Deepwater Horizon well. Shell's investment decision shows the energy giant's bet on deep water as it seeks to finalise by early 2016 the $70 billion acquisition of Britain's BG Group, which holds large stakes in Brazil's offshore oil production. The project, some 80 miles (130 km) off the coast of Louisiana, is expected to start production by the end of this decade and reach peak output of around 175,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day, Shell said on Wednesday. Shell, which operates 7 platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, said it had reduced the project's cost by 20 percent through design improvement and lower contractor and supplies costs, bringing its breakeven price to around $55 per barrel of oil equivalent."

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Summit ESP launches Sentry Well Surveillance and Optimization Service

Summit ESP launches Sentry Well Surveillance and Optimization Service: "Summit ESP has launched its Sentry Well Surveillance service, a real time electrical submersible pump and optimization service. Summit ESP Sentry is a holistic approach to well surveillance backed with 24/7/365 monitoring services designed to increase production, improve ESP run life and reduce downtime and labor expenses. Sentry collects data from artificial lift operations and then provides clients critical information necessary to optimize production and minimize field down time. Summit ESP's Sentry surveillance team of petroleum engineers continuously monitor clients production on a 24-hours-per-day, 365-days-per year basis from the company's monitoring center. Surveillance engineers have access to a complete 360° view of every well's operational information, downhole equipment, application design and field service history. This allows the engineers to analyze and understand each well's operational conditions and identify when there is an issue. Some popular service features of Sentry include: Full remote control ESP set point capabilities, reducing nonproductive time and significantly minimizing the need to call out service technicians to the well location. Custom and recalibrated alarms for all operating parameters, allowing clients to be notified of parameters that are the most important to their production operation. Intensive monitoring for startup and all wells <90 days runtime, during the critical initial new well production time frame. Wells >90 days runtime assessed multiple times per day, assuring production rates are maintained and optimized. Surveillance engineers performing performance analyses with flow rate modeling to ensure optimal production. Summit's Sentry platform is designed to support multiple SCADA systems that store key operating parameters in a centralized database for remote monitoring, analysis and control."

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BP pays record $18.7 billion to settle Macondo claims

BP pays record $18.7 billion to settle Macondo claims: "BP Plc will pay a record $18.7 billion to resolve claims by the U.S. and five states along the Gulf of Mexico related to the 2010 oil spill. The payments will be spaced out over as long as 18 years. A record $5.5 billion will cover federal penalties under the Clean Water Act, topping the previous high of $1 billion. Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Texas will also receive payouts for harm done in the worst offshore spill in U.S. history."

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SMBC Funny: Chem-Trails!

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal:

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