Offshore Blocks News

Esgian reports shifts in demand in its Week 13 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.Report overview:ContractsADES has received a Letter of Intent (LOI) from PTTEP Energy Development Company Limited for an 18-month jackup drilling contract in the Gulf of Thailand. Operations are expected to begin in the second half of 2024, with an unspecified jackup.Drilling Activity and DiscoveriesThe Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) has granted Aker BP a drilling permit for an exploration well in…

Esgian reports fresh finds confirmed in Guyana, China and Norway in its Week 12 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.Report Outline:ContractsDolphin Drilling has announced the award of a $154 million drilling contract from India's exploration and production company, Oil India Limited (Oil India), to the 6,000-ft semisub Blackford Dolphin.Malaysian offshore drilling firm Velesto confirmed Friday it had recently secured long-term contract extensions for three of its jackup rigs with Petronas Carigali…

Esgian's last roundup of the year for the Week 52 puts spotlight on new developments for Dolphin Drilling semisub, Seadrill drillships, as well as Shell’s plans for Australia and ONGC’s new tender for jackups in India.ContractsDolphin Drilling has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with an undisclosed operator for the 1,500-ft semisubmersible Borgland Dolphin to undertake a 500-day drilling campaign in the UK. The drilling campaign is planned to begin directly after the firm part of the contract period with EnQuest, which was announced in late November 2023.

ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods on Saturday rejected the International Energy Agency's recent claim that using wide-scale carbon capture to fight climate change was an implausible "illusion", saying the same could be said about electric vehicles and solar energy."There is no solution set out there today that is at the scale to solve the problem," Woods told Reuters on the sidelines of the COP28 climate summit in Dubai."So, you could say that about carbon capture today, you could say that about electric vehicles, about wind, about solar.

Exxon Mobil Corp on Wednesday bid for offshore blocks to store carbon dioxide underground during a government oil and gas lease sale in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, while rivals Chevron Corp and BP Plc targeted areas for production.The largest U.S. oil company has been selling oil production blocks in the U.S. Gulf since 2018 as it shifts to more lucrative fields elsewhere. And yet, it bought dozens of blocks in the past couple of years in the same basin with a new purpose: burying carbon dioxide instead of pumping oil.The government oil license auction generated $264 million in high bids…

Chevron Corporation and Japan's Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) have signed an agreement to study the feasibility of transporting liquefied carbon dioxide from Singapore to permanent storage locations offshore Australia. Chevron New Energies International Pte. Ltd, the U.S. oil major's subsidiary, and MOL will explore the technical and commercial feasibility of initially transporting up to 2.5 million tonnes per annum of liquefied carbon dioxide by 2030, Chevron said in a statement on Thursday.It is the latest foray by Chevron…

For the poor, small South American country of Guyana, there's no time like the present when it comes to reaping the rewards of its offshore oil jackpot.With sky-high oil prices, a transition to renewable energy on the horizon, and 750,000 citizens desperate for better lives, Guyana is putting its foot on the gas to exploit its vast oil reserves, even if that means sacrificing some longer-term gains.Already locked into contracts with oil firms that have been criticized for being too one-sided…

Deepwater acreage will continue to attract significant company interest through 2020, said a report.According to GlobalData, a significant portion of the acreage available in Q1 2020 is located in either deep or ultra-deep water, up from the previous quarter.In Q1 2020, approximately 60% of the acreage available in licensing rounds either open or scheduled to close in the quarter is located in deep or ultra-deep water, revealed the report: ‘Q1 2020 Global Bid Round Outlook – Increase in Deepwater Acreage Offered in Q1 2020’.Toya Latham, Upstream Oil & Gas Analyst at GlobalData, said: “With the increase in deepwater exploration drilling in 2019 and the largest discoveries of last year also mostly located in deepwater settings…

ION Geophysical Corporation, a provider of geoscience technology, services, and solutions for the oil and gas industry, has entered into a multi-client agreement with Colombia’s National Hydrocarbon Agency (ANH), granting rights to reprocess existing data and acquire new 2D and 3D multi-client programs offshore Colombia’s Caribbean coast.In February, the ANH announced a series of reforms to encourage investment in exploration and production, such as a permanent license round and a more attractive tax regime, to boost declining production and increase reserves.The data is intended to enable better understanding of hydrocarbon potential…

Qatar Petroleum (QP) signed an agreement with Italy’s Eni SpA to acquire a 35% stake in three offshore oil Fields in Mexico.The agreement cover the Amoca, Mizton, and Tecoalli offshore oil fields, which lie in Area 1 in Mexico’s Campeche Bay, said a press statement from the Arab country's government-owned energy company.The agreement is subject to customary regulatory approvals by the government of Mexico. Following such approval, both Eni and Qatar Petroleum will jointly hold 100% interest in the Area 1 production sharing contract.Commenting on this agreement, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Minister of State for Energy Affairs, President & CEO of Qatar Petroleum…

Offshore oil driller Transocean Ltd said on Tuesday it would buy peer Ocean Rig UDW Inc in a $2.7 billion cash-and-stock deal, its second major acquisition this year as the company bets on a recovery in the offshore sector.The acquisition signals new optimism for offshore drillers, which were hit hard by the steep plunge in oil prices from 2014. Offshore projects, which are more costly than onshore work and take years to develop, became less attractive after oil prices fell to below $30 a barrel in 2016.Global crude prices have since recovered to above $70, renewing producer interest in offshore basins around the world, including Brazil and the U.S.

International oil firms including Norway's Statoil, U.S.

Drilling contractor Transocean Ltd on Wednesday expressed optimism about a recovery in offshore drilling activity this year, despite reporting its third quarterly loss in a row. Companies that provide services and equipment for oil and gas exploration and production, among the worst hit by the 2014 oil price downturn, have grown optimistic about the future as oil prices recently have bounced back. In recent quarters, companies that focus on providing services to onshore shale producers have posted the biggest gains…

Major oil producers pushed up high bids at a Gulf of Mexico offshore auction to $121 million on Wednesday, a nearly seven-fold increase from a year ago, as their return to deep water exploration gained momentum. This compared with $18 million in high bids at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM) Outer Continental Shelf auction last summer. Winners will be announced after a 90-day review. Some producers have signaled that they expect Gulf of Mexico projects to become more profitable now that they have trimmed operations to adapt to low oil prices.

Offshore energy platforms a potential target; Israel accepting bids on 24 new exploration blocks. Israel is boosting spending on its navy to better protect offshore oil and gas deposits and secure a large maritime zone that abuts that of its neighbour and enemy, Lebanon. The navy asked in 2013 for an increase in its budget of $700 million to build up its systems and $100 million annually to maintain them, though the defence ministry declines to say how much it has since received. The increase was tied to the need to defend the oil and gas development, and the current spending comes as Israel begins accepting bids from companies that want to explore 24 offshore blocks in the eastern Mediterranean that adjoin the vast Leviathan deposit.

Greece will conclude the evaluation of deep-sea oil and gas exploration bids in the coming weeks and will name the preferred bidders soon after, its energy minister said on Friday, as the country seeks to tap into its limited oil reserves. Plunging crude oil prices have cut spending on oil projects around the world but cash-strapped Greece is pushing ahead with investment in the industry in a bid to reduce dependence on oil imports and boost public finances. "We are evaluating three bids made by oil companies whose financial strength, experience and infrastructure ensure they are in a position to successfully perform gas and oil exploration and production," Energy Minister Panos Skourletis said.

The Irish government said on Thursday it had awarded oil and gas licences to companies including oil majors Eni, Exxon and Statoil , allowing them to explore for hydrocarbons off the coast of Ireland. The energy ministry has awarded 14 new licences as a first phase of a tender for offshore blocks that gives companies access to new exploration areas for two years, it said. The round attracted 43 applications. "This is by far the largest number of applications received in any licensing round held in the Irish offshore," said Joe McHugh, Ireland's minister for communications, energy and natural resources, in a statement. Oil prices have fallen around 70 percent since a peak in mid-2014 and many large oil companies…

Angolan state oil company Sonangol said it would buy oil and gas producer Cobalt International Energy Inc's 40 percent stake in two oil blocks offshore Angola for $1.75 billion.   Cobalt operates three blocks covering 3.4 million acres off the Angolan coast.     (Reporting by Anannya Pramanick; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

Oil explorer Cairn Energy  has dropped plans to drill near Spanish holiday island Ibiza, the company said, as it wants to focus on developing potentially huge reserves offshore Senegal. Cairn was set to carry out seismic testing on four offshore blocks in the Gulf of Valencia but has now decided its money will be better spent in Senegal where it said its oilfields could hold more than a billion barrels of oil. "Cairn has informed the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce that it intends to withdraw from four exploration permits in the Gulf of Valencia," a spokesman said. The company will maintain other projects in Spain, including applications for new licences offshore the Gulf of Lion and the Bay of Biscay, he added.

Greece said on Tuesday it had received three bids for deep sea oil and gas drilling in western Greece and south of the island of Crete.   The bidders were not disclosed. The names of the bidders, and areas over which they had expressed an interest would be released after tender documents are unsealed, the Energy Ministry said.   Greece last year invited investors to bid for test drilling in 20 offshore blocks stretching over more than 200,000 square kilometers in the Ionian Sea and South of Crete.   The new left-wing government in March extended the deadline for the submission of bids by two months to July 14 in an effort to attract more interest in the tender.     (Reporting By Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Michele Kambas)

Senegal's state owned hydrocarbon firm Petrosen is set to sign a $400 million "farm-in" agreement with Kosmos Energy and Timis Corp regarding its Cayar and St. Louis offshore blocks, a draft document seen by Reuters on Saturday showed. According to the document, Kosmos has committed to drill two exploration wells up to a total value of $240 million. It will then drill a third well, or alternatively a first appraisal well, to a value of another $120 million. Reporting by Diadie Ba

Kosmos Energy is set to sign a $400 million "farm-in" agreement with Senegal's state-owned hydrocarbon firm Petrosen and Timis Corp to take a 60 percent stake in the Cayar and St. Louis offshore blocks that they operate, a draft Petrosen document seen by Reuters on Saturday showed. According to the document, Kosmos has committed to drill two exploration wells up to a total value of $240 million. It will then drill a third well, or alternatively a first appraisal well, to a value of another $120 million. Under the terms of the agreement, Kosmos will have a 60 percent stake in the blocks, Timis Corp 30 percent, and Petrosen 10 percent, the draft document said.

Schlumberger announced today the availability of its multiclient seismic survey offshore Mozambique. The Schlumberger multiclient seismic data offered in collaboration with the National Petroleum Institute of Mozambique (INP) includes reprocessed 2D lines and newly acquired seismic data, and provides detailed imaging of the subsurface. “The recent discoveries and regional appraisals in the area indicate significant frontier exploration potential,” said Maurice Nessim, president, PetroTechnical Services, Schlumberger. More than 110,000 km of exclusive 2D seismic data—the most extensive data library of offshore Mozambique—are available for licensing…