NORTH AMERICA Fuel Fix Alaska lawmaker wants coal plant without federal regulations A Republican senator says

s Alaska should ignore federal regulations and plan to build a large-scale coal-powered plant to generate electricity in the event of an energy crisis. Fuel Fix US now pumping 10 percent of the worlds crude Overall U.S. oil production averaged 7.84 million barrels a day in the fourth quarter of 2013, 10 percent of the world production, up from 9 percent at the end of 2012. Shale and other dense rock, newly accessible because of advancements in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, accounted for 3.22 million barrels of the U.S. daily average during the three months ending Dec. 31. Fuel Fix Memorial Production enters Eagle Ford in $173M deal Memorial Production Partners said it struck the deal for a stake in 800 net acres in Karnes County in South Texas, the most prolific oil-producing region in the shale play. The deal with Alta Mesa Holdings, announced this week, covers 117 wells that produce 1,650 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Eighty percent of that production is oil. Fuel Fix Lawmakers mull shaking up LNG export reviews Key senators are pressuring the Energy Department to abandon its 2012 plan for processing applications to broadly export natural gas, insisting that the two-year-old approach does not do enough to prioritize projects that have secured financing, signed up customers and are close to winning other needed permits. Fuel Fix Kinder Morgan announces $1 billion carbon dioxide expansion The company plans to build a 213-mile, 16-inch diameter pipeline from Apache County, Ariz. to Torrance County, N.M. that will transport carbon dioxide to be used for projects owned by Kinder Morgan and others in the Permian Basin. Company officials say the project will likely be in service by the third quarter of 2016, though its still awaiting regulato ry approvals. LATIN AMERICA YPF Plans to Sell $1 Billion of Bonds in Global Markets - Bloomberg YPF SA, Argentinas largest company, is planning to sell $1 billion of 10-year bonds in its biggest-ever debt sale. ASIA / PACIFIC Fuel Fix Total plans to drill for shale gas with Sinopec in China Total and Sinopec, as the Chinese refiner is known, will search for gas in the 4,000 square-kilometer (1,500 square mile) Xuancheng permit near Nanjing after carrying out two-dimensional seismic surveys in the five months through February, according to the Courbevoie, France-based explorers latest annual report. AFRICA Oil Explorer to Spend $100 Million on Congo Drilling Campaign - WSJ.com Congo-based oil explorer, Oil of DR Congo, is planning to spend at least $100 million to kick start the first drilling campaign on the Congolese side of Lake Albert next month, a company executive said Wednesday. Ghana in Financing Talks for Infrastructure Upgrades - WSJ.com Ghana is in talks with the Brazilian Development Bank and China Exim Bank to finance new port and railway upgrades, the finance minister said, a test of how easily Africa's fast-growing but increasingly debt-encumbered economies will find new lenders. Glencore Xstrata Eyes Shell's Nigeria Assets, BHP's Australian Nickel Project - WSJ.com Glencore Xstrata said Tuesday it will consider acquiring Royal Dutch Shell's Nigerian oil and BHP Billiton's Australian nickel assets. MIDDLE EAST Rosneft Said to Discuss Taking Stake in Exxon Kurdish Blocks - Bloomberg

Exxon Mobil Corp. is negotiating to bring OAO Rosneft into oil and gas licenses in Iraqs Kurdistan region, people familiar with the talks said. The talks show the largest U.S. and Russian oil companies forging ahead with a global alliance even as relations between the two governments stand at their lowest ebb since the end of the Cold War.

Iraq's Oil Output Surges to Highest Level in Over 30 Years - WSJ.com In its monthly oil report published Friday, the International Energy Agency said Iraq's oil output jumped by half a million barrels a day in February to average 3.6 million barrels a day. The country hasn't pumped that much oil since 1979, when Saddam Hussein rose to power.