OMV is to invest in an offshore exploration block west of Madagascar. OMV will acquire a 40% stake in the Grand Prix block from Niko Resources (Niko). OMV will farm-in to the area for the planned drilling of an exploration well. OMV will…
Petroceltic International has launched drilling campaigns offshore Romania and in Kurdistan. The Romanian campaign, in the Black Sea, started with the spudding of the Cobalcescu South exploration well using the GSP Prometeu jack-up drill rig…
Scandinavia’s oil and gas industry, focused on Norway and Denmark, is expecting a resurgence. Espen Erlingsen looks at trends in the sector. The North Sea is characterized by large, producing platforms with declining production. To stop the falling production in the North Sea…
The Danish offshore is a mature oil and gas province with 40 years of production, but the Danish Energy Agency’s latest annual report,* says that the country is expected to remain a net exporter of oil through 2020, while gas production is…
Alaska states Arctic needs Alaska’s Lt. Governor Mead Treadwell stated the case for the state’s needs at the Ice-Diminished Arctic Conference in Washington, D.C. He emphasized the need for safety, security, and economic development in the region…
ENI and Venezuela’s state oil company has agreed to create a new joint venture to exploit the Perla field condensate reserves, estimated at 170MM bbls. PDVSA will hold 60% in the new venture, with ENI holding the remaining 40%. ENI is co-operator of Cardón IV…
East Africa-focused oil and gas exploration company Aminex is to be led by the founders of private Maldova-focused exploration firm Canyon Oil and Gas. Canyon's co-founders Jay Bhattacherjee and Philip Thompson will become Aminex’s chief executive and chief operating officer…
Latest drilling on the Pweza-2 discovery offshore Tanzania has confirmed resource estimates, according to partner Ophir Energy. Appraisal drilling was completed on Pweza-2 in Block 4, 2km to the south of the Pweza-1 discovery, using the DeepSea Metro 1 drillship…
Rosneft and ExxonMobil have commenced the contractor selection process for design and engineering work at its proposed LNG project in the Russian Far East, Rosneft announced. In 2013-2014 Rosneft and ExxonMobil plan to complete design work…
Indian energy firm ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) has agreed to buy a 10% stake in the Rovuma Area 1 block, offshore Mozambique, from Anadarko, for US$ 2,640 million. Area 1 covers about 2.6 million acres in the deepwater Rovuma Basin and…
Reliance Industries (RIL) and BP have made a second deepwater gas condensate discovery in the Cauvery basin offshore India. The discovery, named D-56, was made in well CYIIID5-S1 on Block CY-DWN-2001/2, in 1743m water depth, 62km off the coast…
Höegh LNG has signed a contract with an Asia based national oil company to conduct pre-front-end engineering design (FEED) engineering work for an offshore floating LNG facility (FLNG) with a two million-tonne per annum production capacity…
Upstream oil and gas investment on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) reached a record £13.5 billion this year, according to a new study. But, despite the high spending, production efficiency continues to be an issue in the North Sea, says Oil & Gas UK’s 2013 Economic Report…
Technip has joined forces with South African energy and chemicals firm Sasol to offer front-end engineering services on future Sasol gas-to-liquids (GTL) projects. The new alliance will also enable Technip to be part of the execution of GTL projects with Sasol…
Vince Cable, MP, secretary of state for business, innovation and skills (BIS) is to speak at SPE Offshore Europe 2013 at one of the conference’s keynote sessions. The session, The technology imperative – collaborating today to realise the next 50 years of North Sea potential…