Schlumberger resumes work at Rumaila field

Schlumberger is expected to resume operations at its Rumaila field in Iraq as the security situation improves.

"Schlumberger management is still on the ground and operations are expected to resume next week," Thamir Ghadhban, chairman of the advisory commission to Iraq's Council of Ministers, told Reuters.

The company was forced to suspend its operations in Rumaila and other oilfields in Basra province earlier this week after one of its security advisors sparked local revenge attacks by tearing up a banner of Shi'ite-revered martyr Imam Hussein and then shooting and injuring an Iraqi worker in the row afterwards.

The security advisor ended up in hospital with serious injuries, while Schlumberger offices were "smashed up" according to reports.

Construction crew blows up Chevron LPG pipeline

Evacuations took place in the small town of Milford, 50 miles south of Dallas, on Thursday after a construction crew reportedly drilled into a 10-inch LPG pipeline - causing an explosion and gas-fuelled inferno in an open field that billowed smoke into the surrounding areas.

Chevron operated the West Texas LPG pipeline and told Reuters that five workers were evacuated but no one was injured.

"The flow of product in the pipeline has been shut off and residual burn continues," Chevron reportedly said.

Shell's Chinese shale drilling campaign

Shell and Sinopec have finished drilling Liye-1, one of three planned exploration wells in a block overlapping the Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi provinces of east central China.

An unnamed Sinopec official told Reuters that the well was completed in August but was sealed after unsatisfactory fracking results.

Drilling of the second well, Engye-1, is reportedly underway.

The Wall Street Journal reported in September that about 30 wells were drilled in Shell's China shale project so far and it was "too early to determine success or failure".