-Today marks the 65th birthday of hydraulic fracturing. An article on API’s Energy Tomorrow blog tells the story of the first commercial use of fracking, conducted by Halliburton in Stephens County, Okla., and Archer County, Texas, on March 17, 1949. While fracking has reached “retirement” age, it shows no sign of slowing down, perhaps contributing more than half a trillion dollars to the U.S. GDP by 2025, according to IHS.
-Imperial Oil agreed to sell certain Western Canada assets to Whitecap Resources for CAN$855 million. The assets are located in British Columbia and Alberta and produced approximately 15,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day last year.
-Shell on Saturday reported a 6,300-gallon crude oil spill at its Puget Sound refinery in Anacortes, Wash. A Shell spokeswoman said the spill, which was caused by a hose burst, was confined to the site.
-Meanwhile, ExxonMobil reported to Arkansas authorities it had completed a cleanup of soil contaminated when its Pegasus pipeline ruptured and spilled oil last March.
-Howard J. Thill will retire as Marathon Oil’s vice president of corporate, government and investor relations April 1. Company Executive Vice President and CFO J.R. Sult will head up investor relations for Marathon effective immediately. Marathon’s corporate and government relations functions will be consolidated into a new division called Corporate Communications, led by Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary Sylvia J. Kerrigan.
Photo: Joshua Doubek
