Despite high drilling rates on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, discovery rates have been low and investment fell 16% in 2015, according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD). Fifty-six exploration wells were spudded, with just…
Malaysia's Mitra Energy gained approval from the Prime Minister of Vietnam of the Reserve Assessment Reports for the Nam Du (Block 46/07 PSC) and U Minh (Block 51 PSC) fields, off Vietnam. Image from Mitra Energy…
Ophir Energy has appointed Dr John Bell to the position of director – Asia and Dr Oliver Quinn to the position of director – Africa and Global New Ventures. Both Bell and Quinn start their new roles with immediate effect, reporting directly to COO Dr Bill Higgs…
German explorer Wintershall has started drilling on the Kvalross exploration well 7224/2-1 in license PL611, in the Norwegian Barents Sea. Kvalross is to the south of OMV’s significant Wisting and Hanssen oil discoveries. The well…
Lundin Petroleum subsidiary Lundin Malaysia has completed the Imbok-1 exploration well offshore East Malaysia. The well, located in Block SB307/308 encountered minor oil shows and was plugged and abandoned. The well was targeting hydrocarbons in Miocene aged sands…
Norway, Cyrpus based rig operator Songa Offshore suffered a BOP equipment failure on one of its new Cat D semisubmersible drilling rigs as it was readying to start operations for Statoil. The Songa Endurance started drilling operations…
Premier Oil has confirmed its Isobel Deep oil discovery offshore the Falklands, as well as an additional discovery in the same well. The well, which was a re-drill of the 14/20-1 Isobel Deep well, hit 27m of net pay, with no oil water contact or gas…
A year on since the oil price collapse and the effects are making themselves felt across Northwest Europe, particularly in the UK and Norwegian sectors. The count of exploration and appraisal well spuds in the UK is an all-time low…
Lundin Petroleum has started drilling the Bambazon exploration well in Block SB307/SB308, offshore East Malaysia. The Bambazon prospect is in shallow water and lies to the north of a major producing field in offshore East Malaysia. The well will target hydrocarbons in Miocene aged sands…
Kongsberg Oil & Gas Technologies has been awarded a 3-year contract by Wintershall for provision of its hosted SiteCom real-time data aggregation and visualization solution for well construction. All real-time, planned and historical…
Restrictions on offshore exploration in Italian waters have been reintroduced, according to UK-based explorer Rockhopper Exploration. The firm says the Italian Parliament has approved its 2016 Budget Law, which reintroduces restrictions…
Quadrant Energy encountered condensate rich gas from at least three hydrocarbon columns at the Roc-1 well, offshore Western Australia. Map of Roc-1, courtesy of Carnarvon. Roc…
Woodside Energy has made a gas discovery offshore Myanmar giving hope to the string of majors who entered the country following its emergence from sanction driven isolation. Woodside made the discovery on the Shwe Yee Htun-1 exploration well in Block A-6 in the Rakhine Basin…
UK based independent Cairn Energy has successfully tested its SNE-2 appraisal well offshore Senegal. The firm performed drilling, coring, logging and drill-stem testing (DST), as part of its latest, minimum three-well exploration campaign offshore Senegal…
With many assets now more than 25 years old, asset integrity is a daily concern on the UK Continental Shelf. Is the industry keeping up? Elaine Maslin reports. Rope access is used to get to areas usually out of reach…