The Indian Oil Ministry has ordered ONGC, RIL and Shell to pay the government’s share of $3.8b from PMT fields. The decision has come after a UK court rejected challenges to the arbitration award. The liability is to be shared by the companies as 40% for ONGC, and 30% each for Shell and RIL, in proportion to their interests in the oil and gas fields in the Arabian Sea.

Equinor (formerly Statoil) has bagged nine new licenses for the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) in the offshore licensing round. The licenses are given out by the Oil and Gas Authority, UK and are spread all across the UK shelf. The award contains one commitment well on the prospect Lifjellet in the Jæren High area. The Norwegian energy giant is all set to undertake three well exploration campaigns, this autumn.

HPCL's CMD Mukesh K. Surana has stated that HPCL is looking towards acquiring MRPL by the end of the financial year 2018-19. A lot of synergies will arise from this merger for both HPCL and MRPL, all the while boosting HPCLs refining capacity and adding more products to its output. HPCL was acquired by ONGC earlier this year for Rs. 36,915 crores.

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has reported a 40% surge in its fourth-quarter profit, owing to higher refinery margin and inventory gains. IOCs total income rose during the quarter by 10 per cent to Rs 136,980 crore from Rs 124,405 crore in the corresponding quarter, as stated in its Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) filing. This comes against the backdrop of diesel and petrol prices reaching all-time highs in the international market.

Oil prices have skyrocketed to $80/barrel amidst all the political drama and now, $100/barrel doesn’t look like a distant future. A number of reasons which can be attributed to this sudden spike are as follows - the US pulling out of the nuclear deal, re-introduction of sanctions, the Venezuelan economic crisis and the OPEC-led pact to cut supplies. We are looking at a bull case scenario for oil.

Kenya is looking forward to the start-up of small scale exports of crude from its fields in Turkana, in June. Production had been held up until now over a difference over production sharing amounts with the county and local government. Kenyan President has stated that they have an understanding that can list Kenya into major oil exporting countries.

BP has postponed drilling of a fresh well in the Rhum field, owing to probable US sanctions. The BP-operated field is partially owned by an Iranian state-owned oil company, which has put BP in front of the firing line. The companies said that the deal might move ahead but will need a diplomatic "workaround" which can only be revived once the full scope of the US sanctions plans are understood.

Desperate to find a way around US sanctions, Venezuela is keen on doing the oil business with India in rupees. Venezuelan ambassador to India, Augusto Montiel said that the US sanctions have hampered oil production in Venezuela and criticized them for "interfering" in its personal affairs. If Venezuela starts accepting payments in Indian rupees, the country will in turn use them to trade for Indian food products and medicine.

Santos, today, rejected Harbour’s final “take it or leave it” $10.8b bid for company’s final takeover, and henceforth, terminated all discussions. Harbour made a final offer for Santos this week after a sheer rise in global crude oil prices. The company indicated that Harbour’s offer did not represent it’s true worth and accepting their bid was not in the best of its interests.

Magellan Midstream Partners(MMP) are aiming to increase the capacity of the western leg of its Texas refined products pipeline system to around 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) from its current capacity of 100,000 bpd. The expanded capacity will allow MMP to connect to ExxonMobil Pipeline’s terminal in Wink, Texas. This expansion will also help meet the increasing demand for refined petroleum products in West Texas and New Mexico.

Moody’s Investors Service has stated that ONGC and OIL might have to share the fuel subsidy burden amidst elevating oil prices. These companies used to bear the fuel subsidy burden for around 13 years, until 2015. However, the report also indicated that subsidy sharing will be manageable for both the companies. ONGC and OIL will have to endure a shortfall of Rs 9,000-28,000 crore in subsidy, entirely, or in part.

TechnipFMC and L&T Hydrocrabon Engineering (LTHE) has been awarded an EPCC contract by Hindustan Urvarak and Rasayan Limited (HURL), a JV of three Indian PSUs, for establishing two fertilizer plants of ammonia and urea at Barauni (Bihar) and Sindri (Jharkhand). The plants will be based on world-renowned ammonia technology of Haldor Topsoe, Denmark and urea technology of Saipem, Italy and will be executed on Lump Sum Turn Key (LSTK) basis.

Maersk, Denmark's shipping giant, is all set to wind down its operations in Iran, in response to the US pulling out of the nuclear deal. The re-introduction of sanctions on Iran by US is probable, following a wind-down period for companies to get their affairs in the country in order. Maersk currently serves customers in the Iranian market via a feeder service, utilizing third-party vessels from Jebel Ali, Dubai.

Owing to stability issues in drilling operations, Kosmos Energy Ltd has decided to respud its Anapai-1 well, offshore Suriname. The well design has been altered to address the shallow borehole stability issues and drilling should take 50-60 days. The Anapai drilling venture has already seen a US $20 million investment from Kosmos Energy Ltd, where the company has a 33.3% stake alongside Chevron which owns 50%.

Offering a bid of US $10.8b, US centered Harbour Energy has made its final move to claim Santos Ltd, today. Harbour's offer has raised twice in a time span of five days If Santos Ltd comes into an agreement with this bid amount, Harbour will end up with stakes in LNG in the Asia-Pacific region, where demands are high.

Petrol and Diesel prices scaled up new highs when they turned to Rs 84.40 and Rs 72.21, respectively, in Mumbai. According to the price notification issued by state-owned oil corporations Petrol price today increased by 33 paisa/litre in the country - the highest since the daily price revision went effective in June 2017, and diesel by 26 paisa.

If sources were to be believed, the Chinese Oil & Gas giant CNPC is in negotiation to buy Total's share of the Iranian South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf. The French-owned Total SA recently announced that it will have to pull out of the project amidst possible US sanctions. Total and CNPC have been jointly working on the South Pars field since 2017.

CNPC subsidiary, Petrochina, is increasing its natural gas supplies to meet customer demand. This increment is being carried out in both domestic fields as well as in imports. Reportedly, Chinese oil and gas producer has raised gas supplies by 14 percent from April 2017. PetroChina lifted production in the beginning of this year at major domestic fields by more than 2 percent to around 30.5 billion cubic metres.