Members on an Australian Senate Inquiry have mostly supported oil and gas activities in the Great Australian Bight, subject to robust regulatory standards, says the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA). The…
Canadian explorer Husky Energy has signed a production sharing contract (PSC) for a new exploration block offshore China. Block 16/25 is in the Pearl River Mouth Basin, about 150km southeast of Hong Kong. Husky expects to drill two exploration wells on the shallow water block during 2018…
Kosmos Energy started the second phase of its multi-well exploration drilling program offshore Mauritania and Senegal. The Atwood Achiever drillship is now on location offshore Senegal in the Cayar Offshore Profond block and has started…
Offshore Ireland focused Providence Resources has been approved to move into the second phase of exploration on Frontier Exploration License (FEL) 2/14, containing the Druid and Drombeg prospects. FEL 2/14 is in about 2250m water depth…
Norwegian oil firm Statoil has set out its plans to drill around 30 exploration wells, in up to 11 countries on five continents, as operator and partner, in 2017 - an increase of around 30% compared to 2016. More than half of the wells will be drilled on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS)…
Providence Resources is putting a tender for a rig contract for the 2017 Druid drilling program in the southern Porcupine Basin in FEL 2/14, off the south west coast of Ireland. It is expected that the rig contract will be signed during Q4 2016 to facilitate summer 2017 drilling…
The latest Australian petroleum exploration spending data is 'an urgent wake-up call for governments and industry,' the country's oil industry body has warned. Dr Malcolm Roberts, CEO of the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration…
Anadarko Petroleum has appointed two of its executives as its new executive vice president of operations, and executive vice president, international and deepwater exploration. Hollek. Image from Anadarko…
The first exploration wells on new Barents Sea acreage, which has been opened to the industry for the first time, could be in place as early as next year, targeting billion barrels of oil equivalent prospects. Three new licenses in areas…
This year, the deepwater drilling record could be broken not just once, but twice, breaking the last record, set back in 2013. Elaine Maslin takes a look. Total’s Raya-1 well is due to be drilled offshore Uruguay using Maersk Oil’s ultra…
Kosmos Energy Sao Tome and Principe (Kosmos) has gained operatorship of Block 5 and 12, offshore West Africa in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe (STP), as part of a farm-in (65%) agreement with Equator Exploration…
BP Canada is putting its Nova Scotia exploration drilling activity on the back burner until 2018, as it waits out the economic slump the entire industry has been enduring. Map of BP's Scotian basin exploration drilling project…
Statoil has reached a deal with Austria's OMV to acquire a 30% interest in an exploration permit offshore New Zealand, increasing the Norwegian oil major's interests in the region. Petroleum Exploration Permit (PEP) 57073 covers 9800sq km in the East Coast Basin…
Statoil has completed a farm-in transaction with ExxonMobil, acquiring a 35% interest in the ER 12/3/154 Tugela South Exploration Right offshore South Africa. The remaining interests are held by operator ExxonMobil (40%) and co-venturer Impact Africa (25%)…
Primeline Energy Holdings Inc. has announced that China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) has agreed to extend the exploration period under the petroleum contract for Block 33/07 to facilitate Primeline’s exploration drilling program in the East China Sea…