Multilateral meetings between Cuba and the US are becoming more frequent, although they often fly under the radar. Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Relations, CubaMinRex, recently hosted a delegation from the US-based Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)…
Tehran’s leadership has promised a new, attractive investment model for oil contracts by September, to woo Western business back into Iran. The pledge was made at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, yesterday. According to the Financial Times…
The Pakistani government has announced a new petroleum policy, attracting investment of about US$2.02 billion for oil and gas exploration in the country during the last three years. The policy projects incentives including: better gas price…
Ecuador, the smallest oil-producing affiliate of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is the fifth-largest oil producer in South America, and has the third-largest oil reserves in the region, after Venezuela and Brazil…
The Government of AbuDhabi has extended the concession for the Upper Zakum oil field,offshore Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) to 2041. The extension adds more than 15 years to the previous term. Upper Zakum is being jointly developed by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC)…
Chinese oil firm CNOOC says it is planning to invest RMB 105 billion (US$17.35 billion) to 120 billion ($19.82 billion) on projects during 2014. Nexen Inc, bought by CNOOC in early 2013, will account for about 19% of the spending. Overall…
Norway's DNO International AS has completed a farm-in by its wholly-owned subsidiary DNO Tunisia AS to the Sfax Offshore Exploration Permit and the Ras El Besh Concession in the Republic of Tunisia. The agreement, with Eurogas International Inc…
Following BP’s September announcement that it was canceling its massive Mad Dog contract, the supermajor is now working with partners Chevron Corp. and BHP Billiton Petroleum to develop Phase 2. BP is reportedly entering topsides pre…
Wintershall is to begin evaluating development options for the Skarfjell discovery, after a second appraisal well on the field exceeded expectations. Options could includea tie back to the Gjøa platform, or another facility, or as a standalone development…
Wood Mackenzie’s annual review of Norway's upstream oil and gas industry concludes that the sector showed no signs of slowing down in 2013.The review cites high levels of development spend, asset deals, exploration activity, and a record NKr 176 billion (US$30 billion) capital investment…
CAMAC Energy Inc. has signed a letter of intent (LOI) on the terms and conditions of a long-term agreement for the use of the Armada Perdana floating, production, storage, and offloading system (FPSO) as part of its further development of the Oyo field offshore Nigeria…
VAALCO Energy Inc. has said construction work on two production platforms for the additional development of the Etame Marin block offshore Gabon is continuing on schedule. One platform is due to be installed in the Etame field, and the…
Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) will invest US$9 billion to bring into production several oil and gas discoveries in the Krishna-Godavari basin off India’s east coast. The investment is expected to be complete by 2017-2018.The company has made 11 discoveries in Block KG-DWN-98/2…
A floating production (FPSO) vessel moored over the Bualuang oil field in the Gulf of Thailand damaged a production riser after drifting off station in bad weather. The Rubicon Vantage FPSO drifted into the exclusion zone designed to protect the production infrastructure…
North Sea oil and the constitutional debate in Scotland and the UK The possibility of Scotland becoming an independent country is currently attracting much interest, and not just locally, but in the rest of the UK and elsewhere as a referendum on the issue…