Exploration News


Maria jumps in resources

Dec 18, 2014

Germany’s Wintershall increased the recoverable resources for its Norwegian Sea Maria field by 40MMboe. The Maria field. From Wintershall.   The field is now expected to reach 180MMboe recoverable resources…

Eni enters Portuguese deep offshore

Dec 18, 2014

Eni and Galp Energia’s subsidiary Petrogal finalized a farm in agreement for Eni to acquire operatorship and 70% stake in three permits off Portugal. Map of Galp Energia Portugal blocks. From Galp Energia…

Det norske green lighted for Ivar Aasen exploration

Dec 18, 2014

Det norske oljeselskap ASA (Det norske) received consent from the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) of Norway for exploration drilling on the three appraisal wells in Ivar Aasen field in the North Sea. Illustration of Ivar Aasen…

Woodside farms-in offshore Nova Scotia

Dec 18, 2014

Woodside advises that it has finalized an agreement with BP to farm in to offshore blocks in the Scotian basin, off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. BP accepted Woodside’s offer to acquire a 20% participating interest in exploration licenses 2431…

Chevron cancels Beaufort plans

Dec 18, 2014

Chevron has said it is canceling plans to drill for oil in the Beaufort Sea in Canada's Arctic because of economic uncertainty in the industry as oil prices fall. Beaufort Sea map. From Chevron.   The…

Bahamas to assess petroleum act

Dec 18, 2014

Oil exploration in the Bahamas has taken a step forward after a new Petroleum Act and regulations to guide and govern oil exploration in was placed before the Parliament of The Bahamas. The draft legislation is now likely to go through…

ExxonMobil gets two Cote d'Ivoire blocks

Dec 17, 2014

ExxonMobil signed a production sharing agreement (PSA) with the Cote d'Ivoire governmentfor two ultra deepwater blocks in the Gulf of Guinea. The PSA is for the Blocks CI-602 and CI-603 located in the southern Ivory Coast.  CI-602 covers 3874sq km and CI-603 covers 5543sq km…

Freeport targets 1.4-3bn Morocco prize

Dec 17, 2014

Freeport-McMoRan Oil & Gas and partner Pura Vida Energy are planning to drill an up to US$136 million well offshore Morocco targeting 'well over' 1.4-3 billion barrels total gross mean resources. The well, Mazagan-1 (MX-1), which contains the Ouanoukrim prospect…

SKF, Vantage improve drillship reliability

Dec 16, 2014

SKF USA and Vantage Drilling combined resources to improve the reliability of the Vantage Titanium Explorer and Platinum Explorer drill ship fleet. Titanium Explorer. From Vantage.   These…

Largest offshore Newfoundland bid accepted

Dec 16, 2014

Newfoundland and Labrador’s latest exploration licensing round has resulted in a $559 million bid led by ExxonMobil – the largest bid in the province’s history for a single parcel.  ExxonMobil bid as part of a consortium with Canada’s…

Eni completes Congo production test

Dec 15, 2014

The production test for Eni’s Minsala Marine 1 NFW exploration prospect, in shallow waters offshore Congo is complete. Map from Eni.   Minsala Marine 1 NFW, located in the Marine XII block…

CAMAC acquiring 3D seismic off Gambia

Dec 15, 2014

CAMAC Energy Gambia awarded Polarcus a contract to acquire a 3D seismic survey offshore Gambia, West Africa. The Cajun Express. From FAR.   The surveys will cover approximately 1504sq…

Mexico opens Round 1 bidding

Dec 12, 2014

Mexico has opened bidding for oil exploration rights in 14 areas of the Gulf of Mexico to domestic and international companies after upstream oil regulator, Comision Nacional de Hidrobarburos (CNH), this week approved rules for the first part of Bid Round 1…

EPSI makes bid for Rocksource

Dec 11, 2014

Private equity back exploration outfit EPSI has made a NOK6/share offer for the remaining shares of Norwegian exploration firm Rocksource, valuing the firm at US$82 million.  EPSI, a HitecVision VII investment, initially increased its holding in Rocksource to 33…

CNOOC, KUFPEC sign three PSCs

Dec 10, 2014

China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) and Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Co. (KUFPEC) signed three production sharing contracts (PSC) for Blocks 52/22, 52/26, and 63/13 located in the Yinggehai basin, in the South China Sea. According to the terms of the PSCs…

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