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1. Argentine Supreme Court rules in favor of Chevron

   By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

   Tuesday, Jun 04 2013 09:02 PM

   BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Argentina's Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended a freeze on the Argentine assets of Chevron Corp. that had been ordered late last year following a suit by the winners of a $19 billion environmental judgment in Ecuador.

   The high court accepted the appeal by the company and one of its subsidiaries against the November ruling by Argentine judge Adrian Elkuj freezing the assets.

   "The appealing parties have not participated in the case against Chevron Corporation (in Ecuador) and are legally distinct units," the court said in its ruling.

   An Ecuadorean court ordered Chevron Corp. to pay $19 billion for oil contamination caused by Texaco Corp. in the Amazon rainforest between 1972 and 1990. Chevron bought Texaco in...

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2. Water board may end waiver to better protect groundwater

   Concerned that local oil companies may be dumping contaminated fluids into unlined ponds, regional water officials are considering tightening their scrutiny of the industry's waste disposal practices. A manager with the Central Valley...

3. Oil conference to explore complexities of Monterey Shale

   An oil conference returning to Bakersfield next week promises to share insights into recent efforts to tap the Monterey Shale and other geological formations attracting industry interest to the southern Central Valley. The...
4. 

   State oil regulators propose 30-day notice on frack jobs

   State regulators at work on California's first "fracking" rules said Thursday they may require oil companies to provide 30 days' notice before hydraulically fracturing a production well -- triple the amount of time originally proposed last...
5. 

   Judge faults government's 'abusive' tactics against Chevron in Elk Hills lawsuit

   A federal judge has ruled that the U.S. Department of Energy owes Chevron Corp. unspecified damages in a years-old contract dispute over $37 billion in petroleum deposits at the prolific Elk Hills oil field in northwestern Kern County. A...

6. Oil industry: BLM prevents job creation in Calif.

   SAN FRANCISCO -- Leading oil industry groups said Thursday federal land managers are blocking new energy development and job creation by postponing all oil and gas lease auctions on prime public lands in California until October. Officials...
7. 

   BLM postpones oil, gas lease auctions in Calif.

   SAN FRANCISCO -- Federal land managers have postponed all oil and gas lease auctions in California until October, citing budget problems and low staffing as well as the toll of environmental litigation. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management...

9. Irani is out as chairman of Occidental Petroleum

   LOS ANGELES -- The chairman of Occidental Petroleum Corp., who drew criticism over his compensation as CEO, is out. Ray R. Irani will step down and be replaced by a former diplomat, Occidental announced Friday after its annual meeting....

10. Lawsuit accuses Chevron of underpaying royalties

    A lawsuit filed last month accuses Chevron of fraudulently underpaying oil royalties to a family trust based in San Luis Obispo County. If the suit achieves the class-action status it seeks, it could extend to royalty owners in Kern and...

11. County oil plan may duck land use conflict

    The county's plan to overhaul local oil project reviews might sidestep the contentious issue of mineral versus surface rights, Kern's top planner said Tuesday. County Planning Director Lorelei Oviatt told members and guests of the Water...

12. Oil industry sits back at fracking workshop

    For a while it looked like the oil industry was just going to sit there and take it from the environmentalists. And for several hours in Bakersfield Wednesday, that's exactly what happened. Representatives of the Sierra Club and the Center...
13. 

    Aera-Starrh lawsuit goes to jury

    A Kern County jury began deliberating Friday whether one of the area's biggest oil producers should have to pay punitive damages for polluting a local nut grower's groundwater. Farmer Fred Starrh's lawsuit against Bakersfield-based Aera...

14. Fracking skeptics get technical on draft rules

    California's "fracking" debate has taken a turn for the technical. Although there's still no resolution on the politically charged question of whether oil companies should have to disclose what chemicals they use in the technique also known...