The Bulgarian Ministry of Energy awarded Shell E&P a permit for deepwater exploration of oil and natural gas in Blocks 1-14 Silistar in the Black Sea, according to Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova. Image from Shell…
Three majors are vying for the same block offshore Mozambique in Mozambique's fifth licensing round, according to the round application details released by the country's National Petroleum Institute (INP) today. It reveals that ExxonMobil…
Northern Petroleum announced that the environmental impact assessments (EIA) for its three remaining exploration permit applications in the southern Adriatic have been approved. These approvals are in addition to the two EIA approvals for exploration permit applications announced on 10 June 2015…
Wellesley Petroleum Holdings, a new exploration company focused exclusively on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS), announced that Chris Elliott has been appointed as CEO. Elliott’s last role was exploration manager UK and Norway for Cairn Energy…
Young Okunna, GlobalData's upstream analyst covering Sub-Saharan Africa reported that the current downturn in oil prices has not slowed down in the region. Although several firms have cut back on their global exploration budgets, the region continues to attract activity…
Australia's Woodside Energy has signed production sharing contracts (PSCs) for offshore blocks AD-2, AD-5, A-4 and A-7, offshore Myanmar, paving the way for the company to start exploration work in the basin. The Blocks were awarded to the company in the 2013 Myanmar Offshore Bid Round…
Statoil is expanding its presence offshore Indonesia with a new awarded exploration license in which the company will operate and own 100%. The new license, the Aru Trough I, covers an area of about 8300sq km and is located near Statoil’s…
Effective 1 February 2015, INPEX will have two new changes in general managers. Toru Akutsu, currently the general manager of the exploration & exploitation unit domestic project division, will become the project general manager of the domestic project division…
Norway's Ministry of Petroleum has welcomed interest in its latest Awards in Pre-defined Areas licensing round, despite the expection that future discoveries in the area will be smaller than in the past. Stakes in some 54 new production…
Five companies have been awarded licenses covering 10 exploration blocks in the Adriatic Sea in Croatia's first licensing round. The round had offered 29 blocks in the eastern Adriatic Sea covering a total of 36,822sq km. Bids were received from six companies for 15 exploration areas…
Eni and Galp Energia’s subsidiary Petrogal finalized a farm in agreement for Eni to acquire operatorship and 70% stake in three permits off Portugal. Map of Galp Energia Portugal blocks. From Galp Energia…
New Zealand has awarded 15 new exploration permits, on- and offshore, through its 2014 Block Offer, containing some AU$110 million committed exploration spending, Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges announced today (9 December). Of the 15 permits offered…
At the PETEX 2014 conference in London on 18 November, Oil & Gas UK announced the kick-off of two projects aimed at stimulating exploration on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) and appealed for further industry participation in the 21st Century…
A bid to boost exploration rates in the UK North Sea has seen the launch of two new initiatives, including a move to re-assess the potential of the central North Sea. The first is an industry-wide review, led by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC)…
Tullow Oil's Tapendar-1 exploration well in the C-10 license, offshore Mauritania, has not encountered hydrocarbons and the well is being plugged and abandoned. Tapendar-1 is the second exploration well in Tullow’s Mauritania exploration campaign…