Provincial opposition to expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline in British Columbia has taken an official step with a proposal to restrict transport of diluted bitumen.

Shell Offshore Inc. has added to its Paleogene exploration success in the Perdido area in the deepwater US Gulf of Mexico with a discovery in its Whale well. The well encountered 1,400 net ft of oil-bearing pay, Shell said.

PJSC UkrGasVydobuvannya has let a contract to Honeywell UOP to provide hydrotreating catalyst for production of ultralow-sulfur diesel fuel at its Shebelynka gas, condensate, and oil processing department’s 500,000 tonne/year processing plant at Andreyevka in eastern Ukraine’s Kharkov region.

 

Light, sweet crude oil for March delivery on the New York market tumbled to settle below $65/bbl on Jan. 30 as US production inches closer to historic levels.

Engineering researchers have developed a prototype of a high-performance flexible lithium-ion battery that demonstrates -- concurrently -- both good flexibility and high energy density. The battery is shaped like the human spine and allows remarkable flexibility, high energy density, and stable voltage no matter how it is flexed or twisted. The device could help advance applications for wearable electronics.

US President Donald Trump asked Congress in his 2018 State of the Union address to generate legislation that will produce at least $1.5 trillion to rebuild crumbling US infrastructure. “Any bill must also streamline the permitting and approval process, getting it down to no more than 2 years, and perhaps even one,” Trump added during the Jan. 30 speech.

Following its successful 13-well drilling campaign last summer, Wintershall Holding GMBH is expanding production in the western part of Germany’s largest existing onshore oil field. The wells are connected to the Cretaceous Bentheim sandstone, which lies at a depth of 700-900 m. To date, the operator has invested a total €30 million.

Engineers have invented a '4-D printing' method for a smart gel that could lead to the development of 'living' structures in human organs and tissues, soft robots and targeted drug delivery.