Realism with energy and climate change has lifted its battered head in, of all places, the administration of US President Barack Obama.

Geeta Thakorlal has been appointed president of offshore engineering consultancy Intecsea effective immediately.  

Denmon Sigler has joined Baker & McKenzie as a partner specializing in US and international energy and resource transactions.

Thanks to another rise in oil-directed units, the US drilling rig count barely held on to its recent upward momentum during the week ended July 29. The modest increase comes during a week in which many US exploration and production firms outlined second-half drilling plans in second-quarter earnings reports.

LyondellBasell has reached final investment decision to build a grassroots high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plant at the US Gulf Coast.

DNO, Oslo, has proposed to acquire Gulf Keystone Ltd., Bermuda, for $300 million in cash and shares. Both companies produce oil in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

Spain’s Repsol SA reported adjusted net income in the second quarter of €345 million compared with €312 million in the same quarter in 2015. Allowing for inventory and nonrecurring income, net income was €205 million vs. €292 million.

Halcon Resources Corp., Houston, has filed voluntary petitions under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code to pursue a prepackaged plan of reorganization in which the firm would eliminate $1.8 billion in long-term debt and reduce annual interest expense by more than $200 million.

Statoil ASA has agreed to buy the 66% operated interest in the BM-S-8 offshore license in Brazil’s Santos basin held by Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) for $2.5 billion.

The US Office of Natural Resources Revenue will update its civil penalties on Aug. 1 for the first time since May 1999, the US Department of the Interior agency reported. Legislation, legal decisions, and recommendations from oversight entities drove the need to modernize and improve its civil penalty authority, it said.