Exploration News


Lundin's Vollgrav South a duster

Oct 17, 2014

Lundin's Vollgrav South exploration well 33/12-10 S in production license 631 in the northern North Sea has been plugged and abandoned after it was found to be dry. The well was drilled about 150km west of Florø, between the Statfjord and Gullfaks fields…

Woodside adds Cameroon stake

Oct 16, 2014

Perth, Australia-based Woodside Petroleum will farm into 30% of the Tilapia production sharing contract offshore Cameroon, the company announced on 14 October. The company signed an agreement with Tilapia partners Noble Energy and Glencore for the block…

KD consortium wins Eni FLNG FEED

Oct 16, 2014

Eni East Africa SpA awarded the KD consortium, consisting of KBR Inc. and Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), a contract for a front end engineering design (FEED) for a floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility for…

Karoon set to begin Santos campaign

Oct 16, 2014

Australia’s Karoon Gas is planning to begin its drilling campaign the second week of November when the company will drill two to four appraisal and exploration wells off Brazil. The Olinda Star. From Karoon…

SOCO to test Gabon find

Oct 16, 2014

SOCO International says its subsidiary SOCO EPC is planning to perform a well test on the Lidongo X Marine 101 well in the Marine XI Block offshore the Republic of Congo, west Africa. The well encountered oil in a clastics sequence in…

Deepwater cost challenges and opportunities

Oct 14, 2014

Deepwater exploration offers one of the few attractive places for today's international oil companies, but costs will need to be curbed to make it work, senior executives said in Aberdeen today (14 October). Total's…

Eni increases Vietnamese acreage

Oct 14, 2014

Italian explorer Eni picked up two new exploration assets offshore Vietnam from state-owned oil company PetroVietnam, the company announced on 13 October 2014. Eni’s CEO Claudio Descalzi (pictured) and PetroVietnam president DO Van Hau…

Gobi-1 spudded off Indonesia

Oct 13, 2014

Lundin Petroleum began drilling at the Gobi-1 wildcat exploration well in the Gurita production sharing contract (PSC) offshore Indonesia. Map of Gurita PSC. From Nido.   Gobi-1 is located in the West Natuna basin in the Natuna Sea…

Uncertainty hampers North Sea activity

Oct 10, 2014

Uncertainty, high costs and low exploration rates are continuing to hamper the North Sea, according to a report published today (10 October).  Business advisory firm Deloitte’s Petroleum Services Group’s report says that exploration rates remain low…

Statoil makes gas discovery near Johan Castberg

Oct 10, 2014

Statoil Petroleum has made a gas discovery in wildcat well 7220/2-1 on the Isfjell prospect in production licence 714. The well, the first in PL714, was drilled in about 429m water depth, using the Transocean Spitsbergen semisubmersible drilling rig (pictured)…

Perenco's Gabon well non-commercial

Oct 10, 2014

Perenco, Tullow Oil’s partner in the Arouwe block offshore Gabon, has said the Sputnik-1 well, targeting a pre-salt structure in Gabon’s offshore Arouwe block, made a non-commercial discovery. But, according to Tullow, the pre-salt well's results are encouraging…

Noble, Ezra finalize GoM subsea contracts

Oct 09, 2014

Noble Energy and Singapore-based Ezra Holdings’ subsea division EMAS AMC, finalized three subsea tieback contracts worth approximately US$300 million. Image from Ezra. The scope of work includes engineering…

GlobalData: Liberia bid round sparks interest

Oct 09, 2014

Liberia’s current invitation-only bidding round has ignited interest among international oil companies, due to the country’s considerable hydrocarbon potential and favorable fiscal terms. However, the Ebola virus outbreak and Liberia’s poor infrastructure will pose challenges to the round…

The Bahamas looking at new Petroleum Act

Oct 09, 2014

The Minister of the Environment and Housing announced that a new Petroleum Act and a suite of regulations to guide and govern oil exploration in The Bahamas has been completed and is now to be placed before the House. Map from Bahamas Petroleum…

Aragon water wet, says MPX

Oct 09, 2014

MPX North Sea's exploration well 9/14a-15a on the Aragon prospect in the North Sea is to be plugged and abandoned after the reservoir was found to be water bearing.  Drilling and open hole logging operations were completed on the well…

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