BP and the US federal government are at odds over how much oil was actually spilled into the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the Deepwater Horizon incident in 2010: BP says 2.45 million barrels, the US government says 4.2 MM bbl. “Clean Water Act fines…range from a maximum of $1,100 for every barrel spilled through simple negligence to as much as $4,300 a barrel if a company is found to have been grossly negligent.” So that 1.75 MM bbl they’re arguing over could equate to over $7 bln in fines, out of a possible $18 bln in total. [New York Times]

Shell is planning to sell off its Eagle Ford shale assets, having grouped them in among “assets that do not meet our global targets for materiality and scale”. The Eagle Ford frequently features among what companies and analysts consider the US’ most promising onshore liquids plays. [Fuel Fix]

This Quartz article gets kudos for headline alone: “Nukes and oil trading: Yes. Golf courses and porn: no. More on Shanghai’s ‘Free Trade Zone‘”. In this free trade zone, “oil, natural gas, coal, oil shale, oil sands and any exploration projects are only allowed as a joint venture with a Chinese company”. There are also plans to establish an international crude oil futures trading platform. [Quartz]