The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has earmarked an additional $59 million for the Corpus Christi Ship Channel Improvement Project (CIP) in South Texas in its fiscal year 2019 work plan, bringing total federal appropriations to $95 million. The CIP is to include dredging to expand the ship channel to 54 feet from 47 feet and widen it to 530 feet to accommodate larger vessels and allow for more efficient traffic flows. The Port of Corpus Christi also has a feasibility study underway to dredge to a depth of 75 feet, which would allow very large crude carriers to be fully loaded, allowing more U.S. oil to be exported.

The merger proposed between Permian Basin producers Diamondback Energy Inc. and Energen Corp. has been approved by each company’s stockholders. Diamondback is acquiring the Birmingham, AL-based operator in an all-stock transaction estimated at $9.2 billion. The merger, set to be completed by Friday (Nov. 29), is giving Midland, TX-based Diamondback a total of 390,000 net acres across the Midland and Delaware sub-basins of the Permian, an 85% increase from Diamondback’s 211,000 net acres at the end of June.