Despite reductions in exploration spend, work goes on. Elaine Maslin speaks with Wood Mackenzie’s Andrew Latham to find out where explorers will aim their drillbits this year. Stena DrillMAX. Photo from Stena Drilling…
Egypt’s Oil Ministry has signed three oil and gas exploration agreements in the Mediterranean Sea worth an estimated US$220 million, according to news reports. Image from Eni. The deals are with supermajor BP…
Delek Group completed its deal with Dana Petroleum to gain 13.18% of Faroe Petroleum, expanding the Israeli firm’s North Sea footprint, and making it the majority holder in Faroe. Map of Faroe assets…
Statoil has received consent from Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) to drill exploration well 6507/3-12 on the Mim prospect in the Norwegian Sea. Statoil is the operator for production licence 159B in block 6507/3 in the Norwegian Sea west of Sandnessjøen…
Eni signed two new concession agreements for the North El Hammad and North Ras El Esh, in the shallow waters in Egyptian Mediterranean Sea, as a result of the EGAS 2015 international bid round. Eni is the operator of the North El Hammad block with 37…
Aker BP is considering development options for its Langfjellet discovery in the Norwegian North Sea after completing three appraisal wells on the field, according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD). The discovery, initially estimated at 24-74 MMboe…
Total and Petrobras have agreed to work together on exploration and upstream technology, which will see Total become a partner on two pre-salt licenses in the Santos Basin. Image from Total. The licenses are the BMS-11 license…
The government of Cyprus has selected companies, which include ExxonMobil, Eni, and Total, to negotiate exploration drilling terms for three blocks in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of Cyprus. Image of the 3rd licensing round map…
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has granted Lundin Norway a drilling permit for wellbore 7120/1-5, to be drilled from the Leiv Eiriksson drilling facility. The drilling program for wellbore 7120/1-5 relates to the drilling of an appraisal well in production license 492…
Eni Norge is planning to drill a well on the Bone-Bignorna prospects in production licence 716 in the Barents Sea. Well 7318/12-11, in blocks 7318/11 and 7318/12, is about 320km north-west of Hammerfest in about 418m water depth…
ExxonMobil's deepwater Mesurado-1 exploration well offshore Liberia, West Africa, is being plugged and abandoned after finding no hydrocarbons. Drilling started on the well, Exxon's first in the country, in Block LB-13, 50mi offshore Liberia in 2500m water depth…
US deepwater player Anadarko has completed a deal to buy Freeport-McMoRan Oil & Gas deepwater Gulf of Mexico assets and announced two new Gulf of Mexico finds: Warrior and Phobos. Anadarko said the two finds highlighted the value of its…
California's governor Jerry Brown has urged US President Barack Obama to permanently withdraw waters off his state from new offshore oil and gas leasing and 'guarantee that future oil and gas drilling' is prohibited. Brown had sucessfully…
As OE takes a look back on the year that was 2016, our website's most popular stories pretty much tell everything you need to know. It has been a depressing year for the industry with too many job cut announcements, rigs and vessel stacked (or sold)…
A new study by Wood Mackenzie on what to expect from global oil and gas exploration in the year ahead, Global Exploration: What to look for in 2017, shows that exploration should return to profitability in 2017, after five years of only single-digit returns…