The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Energy Projects Office (EPO) has issued a draft guidance called Guidance for Horizontal Directional Drill (HDD) Monitoring, Inadvertent Return Response, and Contingency Plans. The guidance is intended to help industry professionals improve the quality and consistency of their HDD plans and, as a result, make FERC’s environmental review more efficient and effective, EPO said.

A Harris Poll survey commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute found that a majority of US voters are concerned about the Trump administration’s plans to permit the year-round sale of gasoline with a 15% ethanol blend, API said on Oct. 29. The study was conducted by telephone of 1,001 registered voters across the country on Oct. 12-16 with a +/-3.1% sampling error, it said.

Faroe Petroleum Norge AS has been granted a drilling permit by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate for well 31/7-3 S in production license 740 in the Norwegian Sea. The well will be drilled about 10 km south of Brage field using Transocean Ltd.’s Transocean Arctic semisubmersible drilling rig after it concludes drilling wildcat well 30/6-30 for Faroe Petroleum in PL 825.

TechnipFMC PLC has confirmed details of its scope of work on an earlier awarded let by the Egyptian government for implementation of the expansion at state-owned Middle East Oil Refinery Co.’s (Midor) 115,000-b/d refinery in El Amreya Free Zone, Alexandria, Egypt.

Matt Fox will become executive vice-president and COO of ConocoPhillips following the retirement of Al Hirshberg as executive vice-president, production, drilling, and projects, on Jan. 1, 2019. Fox currently serves as executive vice-president, strategy, exploration, and technology.

Brent crude oil for December delivery fell more than $1 to settle under $76/bbl on the London market on Oct. 30 while light, sweet crude oil prices for December delivery fell modestly to settle under $67/bbl in New York.

Canada has tightened the noose with which it’s choking itself. The Liberal government of Justin Trudeau on Oct. 23 kept his promise to regulate provinces not meeting federal standards for sacrificial response to climate change.