Petrel Resources has been awarded Frontier Exploration Licenses (FEL) 3/14 and 4/14 in the Irish Atlantic Porcupine basin. The acreage licensed collectively covers about 1050sq km or 75% of the 1400sq km previously held under Licensing Options 11/4 and 11/6…
Sir Bill Gammell, the founder and now non-executive chairman of Edinburgh-based exploration firm Cairn Energy, has announced he is to retire on May 15, at the company's AGM. Sir Bill founded Cairn and was appointed to the board as chief executive on its initial listing in 1988…
Pura Vida Energy says a rig share agreement has been signed for the drilling of two wells in the Mazagan permit offshore Morocco by the Atwood Achiever deepwater Drillship. The Atwood Achiever is contracted to Kosmos Energy under a long term hire arrangement…
Statoil and co-venturer ExxonMobil have carried out a successful first drill stem test on their Tanzania Block 2 offshore discovery Zafarani-2. The data acquired will help reduce technical uncertainties in a possible future Tanzania offshore and LNG development…
Det norske oljeselskap is to plug and abandon its exploration well on the Langlitinden prospect after getting disappointing results. The well was the first well in Barents Sea production license 659. The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) said the well…
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has issued a drilling permit to Tullow Oil Norge for well 31/2-21 S, cf. Section 8 of the Resource Management Regulations. Well 31/2-21 S will be drilled from the Borgland Dolphin drilling facility in position 60° 58'16…
Partners on the Standard Exploration Licence (SEL) 1/11, offshore Ireland,containing the Barryroe oil field, have been granted an extension to the license. The partners Providence Resources (operator with 80% WI) and Lansdowne Oil & Gas…
The Solberg prospect, operated by Germany's Wintershall (35% equity), is 4km northeast of the Tyrihans field and 8km southeast of UK-based explorer Faroe Petroleum’s Maria discovery (2010). Drilling is being carried out using the…
Norwegian exploration firm Rocksource has announced plans to consolidate all its operations to its Bergen head office. As a result of the move, which was decided after a strategic review, the company’s Chief Financial Officer, since it was founded in 2004…
Drilling operations will begin in 2H 2014 on two wells in the giant Libra field off Brazil following approval of the field’s 2014 working and investment plan. The Brazilian national Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras), along with Pré-Sal Petróleo S…
FMC Technologies Inc. announced today that it signed a 3-year contract with Pemex Exploration and Production to manufacture and supply surface wellheads to support drilling and well maintenance programs in the Gulf of Mexico. The award…
The UK Government has opened the country's 28th offshore oil and gas exploration licensing round, amid concerns about a slow-down in the basin. Wood Mackenzie’s annual review of UK upstream oil and gas said capital investment continued to increase…
Iceland’s National Energy Authority, Orkustofnun, granted a license for the Dreki area to CNOOC Iceland ehf, Eykon Energy ehf, and Petoro Iceland AS in the third and final round for the region. CNOOC Iceland, subsidiary of CNOOC International ltd…
The Pakistani government has announced a new petroleum policy, attracting investment of about US$2.02 billion for oil and gas exploration in the country during the last three years. The policy projects incentives including: better gas price…
Croatia’s government is planning to publish tenders for oil and gas exploration in the central and southern Adriatic Sea in Q2 this year. The announcement followed the completion of a 2D multiclient seismic acquisition survey offshore…