GDF Suez SA of France agreed to ship 2.6 million tons of liquefied natural gas to state-owned oil and gas company China National Offshore Oil Corp. for four years starting from 2013.

European independent Petroplus Holdings AG said strike actions by workers at its Petit Couronne refinery in France have prompted the shutdown of operations at the facility, according to an October 14 company statement.

In an October 13 announcement from Cal/OSHA's Process Safety Management (PSM) Unit, PSM has completed investigations at all of California's refineries in the aftermath of the deadly explosion in April at the Tesoro Refinery in Washington State.

Barnes: "It appears expectations for commodity prices going forward for oil and gas liquids will shape data for public companies, drilling activity, and acquisitions and divestiture activity."

Enduring Resources agreed to sell 97,000 net acres in the Eagle Ford shale to a 50/50 joint venture between Talisman Energy Inc. and Statoil for US$1.325 billion.

Dutch chemical research services provider Avantium, which spun off from Shell in 2000 to develop furan-based biofuels and biomaterials, has begun construction of a pilot plant at its Chemelot site in Geleen, the Netherlands, to convert carbohydrates into furanic building blocks.

French oil major Total SA said strikes by its workers over a pension reform plan is forcing the company to shut down operations at all six of its refineries in France – half the total number in the country.

W. R. Grace & Co. announced October 14 plans to increase its manufacturing capacity for silica gel at its existing facilities in Kuantan, Malaysia and Sorocaba, Brazil.

Employing carbon dioxide (CO2) for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) could yield 3 billion more barrels in the North Sea oil fields, according to a new study by Durham University (UK).