Exploration News

 

Rig scrapping at highest in 20 years

Nov 27, 2015

Over the past 14 months, 44 ultra deepwater floating rigs have been scrapped, amounting to more retirements than over the past 20 years combined.  The figures, presented by Seadrill in its third quarter results, serve to underline the continuing tough market conditions for offshore drillers…

Lundin abandons dry Malaysian well

Nov 26, 2015

Lundin Petroleum Selada-1 exploration well in Block PM308A, offshore Malaysia, has been plugged and abandoned after being found to be dry. The well was targeting hydrocarbons in Miocene aged sands about 14km to the south of the Bertam field operated by Lundin Malaysia…

Lundin spuds Barents Ørnen prospect

Nov 24, 2015

Lundin Petroleum has started drilling exploration well 7130/4-1 on the Ørnen (Eagle) prospect. Ørnen is in PL708, on the eastern parts of the Finnmark Platform in the southern Barents Sea. The reservoir is expected to consist of Upper Permian carbonates…

Rockhopper, Falkland Oil and Gas to merge

Nov 24, 2015

Rockhopper Exploration has agreed a deal to take over fellow Falklands explorer Falkland Oil and Gas (FOGL). The move will make the combined company the largest North Falkland Islands license and discovered resource holder with a material working interest in all key licenses in the area…

BG to take Aphrodite stake

Nov 23, 2015

BG Group secured 35% stake from Houston-based Noble Energy in Block 12 offshore Cyprus in a US$165 million farm out deal, which gives the UK deepwater and LNG focused company a piece of the Aphrodite natural gas discovery. Map of Cyprus…

KrisEnergy gets Rossukon approval

Nov 23, 2015

The Department of Mineral Fuels (DMF), the government agency responsible for Thailand’s upstream petroleum industry, granted approval to KrisEnergy for the production area application (PAA) for for an area containing the Rossukon oil discovery in the Gulf of Thailand…

Premier spuds latest Falklands target

Nov 23, 2015

Premier Oil has spudded its latest Falklands Islands exploration well. The 14/20-2  Isobel - 2 well in the North Falklands basin is a second attempt on the Isobel Deep area, after drilling in May hit oil shows in a suspected high pressure formation…

Small discovery for Statoil

Nov 20, 2015

Norway's Statoil has made a small discovery on its Tarvos exploration well in production license 120 in the northern part of the Norwegian North Sea. Well 34/8-16 S was drilled on the east flank of the Visund field, about 140 km northwest of Bergen…

Shell hits at Kaikias in GoM

Nov 19, 2015

Shell made a “major discovery” at its Kaikias well that could possibly surpass 100 MMboe, in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.  Map of the Mars-Ursa basin. From Shell. Kaikias is located about 60mi south of Louisiana…

Ophir Thai well fails

Nov 19, 2015

Ophir Energy’s G4/50-11 wildcat exploration well in the South Western Graben of the Gulf of Thailand failed to encounter a commercial discovery and will be plugged and abandoned.   The well targeted the Parichat Southwest prospect. The…

Halting R&D not an option

Nov 19, 2015

Technology transformation is happening at an increasingly fast pace, changing the way global companies operate, shaping innovations that drive down operational costs and creating efficiencies.  In the oil and gas sector, never more is such innovation needed…

Roc, CNOOC JV spud off China

Nov 17, 2015

The Roc Oil and CNOOC-led joint venture spudded the WZ 12-8W-A6P1 appraisal well, in Beibu Gulf, offshore China, according to parnter Horizon Oil. Map from Horizon Oil. The well is located in the Weizhou 12-8 fields area…

Statoil pulls plug on Alaska

Nov 17, 2015

Statoil is saying goodbye to Alaska exploration and has decided to exit its leases in the Chukchi Sea following recent results in nearby leases, in addition to finding the leases no longer competitive. Map of Alaskan leases Statoil is exiting…

BP's Bight exploration plan rejected

Nov 17, 2015

Australian regulators have rejected BP's environmental plan for the major's deepwater, four-well drilling plan in the Great Australian Bight. The National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) said…

Primeline spuds East China Sea well

Nov 17, 2015

Primeline Energy Holdings has started drilling operations on the LS30-3-1 well in the East China Sea. Following the plug and abandon operation of LS23-1-1 announced 28 October, Primeline’s contractor, China Oilfield Service Ltd. (COSL)…

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