Exploration News


BG strikes Tanzanian gas

Jun 04, 2014

Ophir Energy announced that partner and operator BG Group made a new gas discovery in Block 1, located in the Mafia Deep basin off Tanzania. The Taachui-1 well’s net pay amounted to 155m, with estimates for the mean recoverable resource placed at 1Tcf…

TAO-1 spud nears

Jun 03, 2014

Australia-based Tangiers Petroleum says the Ralph Coffman jackup rig is on location offshore Morocco and close to spudding the Tao-1 well in the Tarfaya Offshore Block. The rig was loaded onto the heavy lift vessel MV Transshelf on the 25 May 2014…

AWE drills Oi exploration well

Jun 03, 2014

Australia’s AWE Limited announced that drilling on the Oi-1 exploration well in the Tui area oil fields, located off New Zealand in the Taranaki Basin, commenced on 30 May with the semisubmersible Kan Tan IV. Oi-1 is located approximately…

Statoil plans VSP at deepwater Miocene well

Jun 02, 2014

Drilling continues at Statoil's Martin prospect in Mississippi Canyon Block 718 with the Maersk Developer semisubmersible, in 850m (2789ft) water depth. Statoil plans to run a zero-offset vertical seismic profile (VSP) survey on or before 15 August 2014…

Global Deepwater Review: Strength in numbers

Jun 02, 2014

The Centennial J tanker will be converted by MODEC for Tullow's TEN field. Photo by: Tullow Oil Plc/Joseph Lynch. E&P companies will continue to invest in deepwater exploration and development…

Libya's NOC plans regional seismic

May 30, 2014

The National Oil Corp. (NOC), the national oil company of Libya, has signed an agreement with ION Geophysical Corp. and North Africa Geophysical Exploration Co. (NAGECO) to acquire 21,000km of 2D seismic data in Libya. Known as LibyaSPAN…

Prostar eyes North Sea acquisitions

May 29, 2014

UK-based explorer Trapoil has agreed a deal with private equity firm Prostar Capital, which could see Trapoil help Prostar sweep up undervalued North Sea assets.  According to Trapoil, Prostar’s management believes that there is considerable value in the North Sea…

Eni announces restructure

May 29, 2014

Eni has announced a restructure of its business into an “integrated operational structure”, under new business units.  The new units will be: exploration; development, operations and technology; upstream; downstream and industrial. These replace the E&P…

GDF announces Cepheus gas find

May 28, 2014

GDF Suez E&P UK has struck has on the UK southern North Sea (SNS) Cepheus 44/12a-6 exploration well. A gas column was found within the Permian Lower Leman sandstone, the primary reservoir target.   The well was spudded on 9 March 2014 and drilled to 12…

Pil discovery estimates grow

May 28, 2014

VNG Norge is to start a second sidetrack well to further assess potential at the Norwegian Sea Pil discovery after successful results were announced from an initial side-track appraisal well earlier this week.  The second side-track well…

Gargaa well, 3D off Morocco planned for Q4

May 27, 2014

Cairn Energy updated plans for drilling the Gargaa well off Morocco during its Annual General Meeting on 16 May. Cairn has established a position in both the Jurassic carbonate shelf and the emerging deep-water Mesozoic clastic exploration plays…

Cairn Energy loses top execs

May 27, 2014

In an interim management statement on 15 May, Cairn Energy plc announced that three executive directors would stand down, as part of the Company’s long term succession planning. Sir Bill Gammell, Founder and Chairman, Dr. Mike Watts, Deputy CEO…

Tullow's Gotama well disappoints

May 27, 2014

Exploration well 31/2-21S targeting the Gotama prospect, offshore Norway, did not encounter reservoir quality sandstones in the Upper Jurassic main target, says operator Tullow Oil. The well, in production license 550, encountered reservoir…

UK well services bright spot

May 26, 2014

UK offshore oil and gas industry optimism continues to decline amid rising operating costs and a decline in exploration activity.  But, despite the declining optimism, sentiment in the industry still remains positive, according to Oil & Gas UK’s Q1 2014 Business Sentiment Index…

Well costs hurt down under

May 26, 2014

The urgent need to address the global cost competitiveness of Australia’s oil and gas industry has been highlighted by a new analysis that shows fewer exploration wells are being drilled offshore despite significantly higher expenditure. An…

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