Oil

Gazprom Neft has approved the continued study of shale oil reserves at the Bazheno-Abalaksky complex of the Palyanovskaya zone at the Krasnoleninskoye field in western Siberia, which is being developed by Gazpromneft-Khantos.

U.S. growth in natural gas for transportation and the switch to natural gas from oil-based fuels by petrochemical companies are two big reasons that domestic oil demand isn’t growing, according to an analyst with Raymond James & Associates Inc.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said China is projected to pass the United States and become the world’s largest net importer of oil — on a monthly basis by October, and on an annual basis by 2014.

In the six years spanning 2007 through 2012, total U.S. private sector employment increased by more than one million jobs, or about 1%. However, over the same period, the oil and gas industry — segmented into drilling, extraction and support segments — increased by more than 162,000 jobs, which equates to a 40% increase,” according to a new study from the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

U.S. oil and natural gas mergers and acquisition activity (M&A) plunged in the second quarter from the first three months of 2012, with divestitures driving activity, according to PwC US.

TransCanada Corp. moved Thursday to calm a hornets’ nest of protest among its natural gas customers in Ontario, Quebec and the northeastern United States by making a formal promise to maintain service continuity.