Natural gas production will begin this year from the Kirinskoye gas and condensate field under the Sakhalin III project, Gazprom announced. It said that for the first time in Russia's history subsea production systems will be used to produce natural gas…
Statoil and SOCAR signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to jointly explore and develop the Zafar-Mashal structures in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea. The MoU defines the framework within which the companies will explore the opportunities…
ONGC Videsh Ltd. finalized a US$1 billion purchase of Hess Corp.'s 2.72% stake in the Azeri, Chirag, and Guneshli fields (ACG), and Hess' 2.36% stake in the associated Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline. The deal is worth an estimated US$884 million after tax net proceeds…
The Kenyan Government has confirmed a 60% expansion of FAR Ltd.’s L6 exploration permit off Kenya. This previously relinquished acreage increases the total permit area to 5,010sq km. The company has identified a number of play types and prospects in the L6 permit…
HRT’s wholly-owned subsidiary HRT Walvis Petroleum Ltd., spud the Wingat-1 (2212A/07) exploration well offshore the Republic of Namibia. The Wingat-1 well, which targets the Wingat Prospect inside Petroleum Exploration License 23, is located…
Production from the Tamar field offshore Israel started in April. The field is estimated to hold nine trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and is being developed by a group that includes Noble Energy, Delek Drilling, Avner Oil Exploration and Isramco Negev 2…
Total entered two production sharing contracts with the Republic of Cyprus for blocks 10 and 11 as part of the country’s second offshore exploration licensing round. The licenses, southwest of Cyprus, extend over 2572 sq km and 2958 sq km…
Ocean Installer won a contract from Shell UK for umbilical installation at the Bittern field, blocks 29/1a & 1b in the UK sector of the central North Sea, 200km east of Aberdeen. The company will install two new static umbilicals of 20.7km and 1…
Det Norske Oljeselskap ASA received authorization to develop its two North Sea fields, Ivar Aasen and Gina Krog, on the Norwegian shelf. The Ivar Aasen field , which Det Norske operates with 35% interest, is estimated to contain 150 mmboe and its development is one of the largest on the NCS…
UK explorer Premier Oil is in the process of choosing FPSOs for both its Catcher (UK Blk 28/9) and Bream (Norway Blk 17/12) North Sea development projects. Concept select for Catcher was agreed in December and development approval is expected to the sought once tendering is complete…
PetroJunín, a joint venture formed between PDVSA (60%) and Eni (40%), achieved first oil from the Junín-5 heavy oil field, located in the Faja del Orinoco, off Venezuela. The block is located around 550 km southeast of Caracas and covers an area of approximately 425 sq km…
Neftegaz America Shelf LP (Neftegaz), an indirect independent subsidiary of Rosneft, acquired 30% interest in 20 ExxonMobil exploration blocks in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM). ExxonMobil remains operator with 70%. The blocks are about 111…
The US Department of Energy granted Pangea LNG (North America) Holdings, long-term, multi-contract authorization to export up to 8 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG to free trade agreement nations from its south Texas LNG Project…
Chevron encountered more than 400ft of net oil pay at its deepwater Coronado well No. 1 in the US Gulf of Mexico. Coronado comprises Walker Ridge Block 98. The No. 1 well is located approximately 190 miles off the Louisiana coast in 6,127ft of water…
Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 227, held in this past March in New Orleans, drew US$1.2 billion in high bids for tracts spanning the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Statoil was the highest bidder on 15 leases, while Apache acquired nine shallow water and five deepwater leases.