Australia's Woodside Energy has agreed to acquire 65% interest in a joint development area off Senegal and Guinea-Bissau. The deal, with UK minnow Impact Oil & Gas, covers the production sharing contract (PSC) and associated joint operating agreement on the AGC Profond block…
Statoil has reached a deal with Austria's OMV to acquire a 30% interest in an exploration permit offshore New Zealand, increasing the Norwegian oil major's interests in the region. Petroleum Exploration Permit (PEP) 57073 covers 9800sq km in the East Coast Basin…
Drilling contractor Ocean Rig CEO George Economou has warned that a recovery for the oil and gas industry might not come until 2018, at the earliest. Economou's comments were made as the Greece-based firm announced its second rig cancellation in the space of days…
New African Global Energy and Tower Resources have decided to drop their deep-water frontier acreage offshore offshore South Africa, but will be seeking a third partner for another exploration block. The firms were partners on the SW Orange Basin Technical Co-operation Permit (TCP)…
Byron Energy mobilized the Hercules 205 jackup drilling rig to the SM 6 #2 well location in the Gulf of Mexico last week, and expects to spud the well this week. Hercules 205. Image from Hercules Offshore…
Dana Petroleum has successfully completed the drilling of the Lille John-2 appraisal well and side-track on the Lille John oil field in license 12/06 in the Danish North Sea last week. Map from Dana Petroleum…
Focus on the small South American country of Uruguay is set to sharpen after Statoil took a further stake in the country's deep offshore acreage. Statoil, which earlier this month announced it would be a partner with Total on the first deep water exploration well offshore Uruguay…
Australia's Woodside Energy has announced a second gas discovery offshore Myanmar just weeks after announcing its first in the newly opened country. Following the discovery, the firm is set to shoot more seismic over its acreage offshore Myanmar…
Despite posting an increase in profits, Danish drilling firm Maersk Drilling has warned that there's a need for a different cost level in the offshore drilling industry. The firm posted US$751 million profits for 2015, up from $478 million in 2014…
London-based explorer SOCO has started drilling the Baobab Marine-1 (BABM-1) well on the Mer Profonde Sud Block, in the Lower Congo Basin, offshore Congo. The BABM-1 well, to be drilled on the RR Prospect, is targeting stacked early Miocene…
Major oil price volatility, collapsing valuations and a growing mountain of debt left 80% of Britain’s oil and gas companies floundering in the red at the end of 2015, warns Begbies Traynor, a UK-based independent insolvency firm. According…
The SNE oil field offshore Senegal contains more oil than initially estimated, according to a new report commissioned by field partner FAR Ltd. FAR's previous estimates for so-called 2C contingent resources in the Cairn Energy operated field were 330 MMbbl…
Faroe Petroleum’s exploration drilling program for the year will see the UK-based explorer begin drilling at its operated Brasse prospect in the North Sea this summer using the Transocean Arctic rig. Map of Oseberg…
Australia and New Zealand hold vast petroleum potential, much of which remains undeveloped. Audrey Raj sets out the detail. Samples of oil from various New Zealand discoveries. Photo from TAG Oil…
Swedish oil exploration and production firm Lundin Petroleum has dropped its capital spending budget 26% compared to 2016, but still expects a positive year as production at Edvard Grieg ramps up. Lundin's exploration spending will drop 64% compared to 2015…