Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. energy company, agreed to pay as much as $349 million to join Beach Energy Ltd. in a natural gas exploration campaign in central Australia in its first shale investment in the country.  More »

While the debate continues over whether the United States will approve a proposed oil conduit from Canada to the Gulf Coast, the segment from Cushing, Okla., to the Texas Gulf Coast is halfway toward completion and could be transporting oil by the end of the year.  More »

A gas installation in Algeria that was the site of a terrorist attack last month that left 37 hostages dead partially resumed production Sunday, as the head of the state-owned energy company said he would request armed personnel for energy plants to help prevent future assaults on sites that can be hundreds of miles from the nearest city.  More »

BP’s own statements, and analyses prepared by people it hired, may make it difficult to defend itself against billions of dollars more in penalties related to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. As a civil trial is set to get under way in federal court Monday in New Orleans over a web of litigation related to the disaster, the U.S. government believes it has an ace in the hole – the British oil giant itself.  More »

No one in Karnes County, Texas have grasped the implications of Conoco-Phillips’ secretive decision to drill a deep, expensive well into the mysterious formation known as the Eagle Ford Shale.  More »

The U.S. Justice Department and several Gulf of Mexcio states have prepared a last minute offer to BP to resolve civil claims related to the 2010 Gulf of the Mexico oil spill as a trial over the disaster nears, according to people briefed on the talks.  More »

A 1,000-acre rail yard is in the works just south of San Antonio — part of a South Texas railroad boom that’s followed the surging oil and gas activity in the Eagle Ford Shale region.  More »

A panelist at a Houston energy forum said creating a safety management mindset among oil workers is the best way to make deep-water drilling safer.  More »

A Brazilian federal court has dismissed criminal charges filed last year against Chevron Corp., driller Transocean Ltd. and several of their executives in connection with a 2011 oil spill off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.  More »

Partners plan a crude oil rail terminal linking distant U.S. oil fields with the Greens Port Industrial Park on the Houston Ship Channel.  More »

A top House Republican on Thursday urged President Barack Obama to replace the temporary government watchdog tasked with probing actions by the Interior Department, after accusing her of being soft on the same administration officials she was courting for the permanent job.  More »

Houston’s Linn Energy has inked a deal to buy Denever-based Berry Petroleum for about $2.5 billion. In the all-stock deal, Linn will expand its presence in the Permian Basin, East Texas, California and the Rockies as well as pick up a new core area in the Uinta Basin. Berry’s reserves are about 75 percent oil.  More »