Connacher Oil & Gas Ltd., Calgary, which last month disclosed a strategic review following key management changes, has delayed the planned expansion of its Alberta oil sands production project and named an interim chief executive officer (OGJ Online, Jan. 20, 2012).

Statoil has let a contract to Technip for work on what it calls the world’s first subsea natural gas compression facility, to be installed in Asgard area in the Norwegian Sea.

MOEX Offshore LLC agreed to pay $90 million to settle its liability in the Macondo deepwater well incident and spill in 2010, the US Department of Justice, Coast Guard, and Environmental Protection Agency jointly announced on Feb. 17.

An Anadarko Petroleum Corp. group has encountered hydrocarbons at the Jupiter-1 exploratory well on Block SL-07B-11 offshore Sierra Leone.

Chevron Nigeria Ltd. said a contractor started drilling a relief well to seal the Funiwa 1A natural gas well, which caught on fire Jan. 16 about 6 miles offshore Nigeria in 40 ft of water.

Another budget proposal, another presidential thumb in the eye of the oil and gas industry.

Forest Oil Corp. said it has amassed a combined 114,500 net acres in the West Texas Wolfbone and Wolfcamp shale plays that it said provides a “concentrated geographic footprint in the Delaware and Midland basins” that exposes the company to numerous vertical and horizontal oil objectives.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. has filed regulatory applications for expansion of its Kirby in situ oil sands project in the southern Athabasca region of Alberta.

US oil and gas drilling activity this week increased by 5 units to 1,994 total rigs working. The rig count for the week ended Feb. 17 was up by 281 rigs from the comparable period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

Statoil has let a contract to Aker Solutions for six subsea trees and a tool package for the oil section of giant Troll oil and gas field in the northern North Sea offshore Norway (OGJ Online, Sept. 21, 2011).

Apache Corp. has completed five of six initial vertical exploratory tests as oil producers in the Canyon Wash play in the northern Texas Panhandle and has leased or purchased 96,000 net acres in the 200 sq mile Bivins Ranch.

Horizon Oil Ltd., Sydney, said its board approved the final investment decision to develop a condensate recovery project at Stanley field in western Papua New Guinea subject to receiving debt financing on satisfactory terms.

Enhanced Oil Resources Inc., Houston, has permitted five horizontal 20-acre infill wells in its 4,800-acre Milnesand San Andres Unit in Roosevelt County, NM, where 40-acre development is estimated to have recovered 14% of original oil in place.

Tengizchevroil LLP expects to begin front-end engineering and design (FEED) this year on a 250,000-300,000 b/d expansion of crude oil production capacity at supergiant Tengiz field in Kazakhstan, reports 50% partner Chevron Corp.