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, 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 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…
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 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…
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…
Mozambique will announce their fifth licensing round later this month in London. A total of 15 blocks at a total acreage of 76,800sq km will included in the competitive bidding round for hydrocarbon exploration that include areas offshore Rovuma…
Colombian national oil company Ecopetrol awarded Ross Offshore AS a well management contract in the Caribbean. The contractconsists of total well management of Molusco 1 in RC-9, area hired with the Colombian national oil agency ANH by Ecopetrol and ONGC…
CNOOC Ltd. began drilling the WZ12-10-2 well, the second and last of the two-well project in the Beibu Gulf Block 22/12, offshore China. Beibu map. From Horizon Oil. The exploration well is located 1…
Australia-based Sunbird Energy has agreed a deal to raise more than AUD$25 million to help advance its Ibhubesi Gas Project offshore South Africa. The deal involves Pan-African investment company Vandasia Investments acquiring 43.9% interest…
UK-based Cairn Energy and its Senegalese partners have made an oil discovery, which has the potential to be a “significant standalone development”, on the deepwater FAN-1 well. The well, drilled using the semisubmersible Cajun Express…
Technology is there for companies to use and take advantage of, but is it being used as much as it could be to gain insight into operations. Gregory Hale takes a look. With the digital oilfield…
Faroe Petroleum has made its first move into the Irish offshore by picking up three new, two-year Licensing Options (14/1, 14/2 and 14/3) on the southern margin of the North Celtic Sea basin. A work program, agreed with Irish authorities…
Centrica Energy's Norwegian outfit has started drilling on the Ivory prospect in production license 528 in the Norwegian Sea, according to partners Rocksource and Atlantic Petroleum, Exploration well 6707/10-3 S is being drilled using the West Navigator drillship…
N. Foster Mellen analyzes West African transactional activity and drilling rig data, which indicates a promising future for the region. Continuing strong upstream transaction activity in West Africa bodes well for the oil and gas industry…