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Oil Find News

28 Nov 2017

Statoil to Drill 5-6 Wells in Arctic Barents Sea in 2018

© Ivan Kurmyshov / Adobe Stock

Norway's Statoil will continue to drill for oil in the Arctic Barents Sea next year even though its 2017 campaign was mostly disappointing, the company's head of exploration told Reuters on Tuesday. Statoil plans to drill between 25 and 30 wells in Norwegian waters in 2018, of which five or six are expected in the Barents and the rest will be split between the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea, which are both located further south. "We have tested a lot of potential there (in 2017)…

21 Jun 2017

Faroe Islands Looks to Restart Hunt for Oil and Gas

Oil companies are interested in restarting the hunt for oil and gas in the scarcely explored seas off the Faroe Islands neighbouring the more mature UK North Sea, the head of the Faroese Geological Survey said. No economically viable discoveries have been made on the Faroese shelf but the tiny nation hopes to entice energy firms to restart exploration as it shows them new geological data in London on Wednesday. "Oil firms have in many ways shown interest. We are having meetings, they buy data from us, visit us on the Faroe Islands ... So there is an interest and they are looking at the possibilities," survey director Niels Christian Nolsoe said.

10 Feb 2016

Aker Joins Johan Sverdrup Phase 2 Study

Aker Solutions will deliver a concept study on a new processing platform for future phases of the Statoil-operated Johan Sverdrup North Sea field, Norway's largest oil find in three decades. The study includes design solutions for a tie-in of the platform and future satellites to the field center that is being developed in the project's first phase. The work will be carried out by Aker Solutions in Oslo and Stavanger and will be delivered in the summer. "Johan Sverdrup is of major importance to Norway's oil industry and we're very pleased to expand our involvement through work on future phases," said Valborg Lundegaard, head of engineering at Aker Solutions. The study is being carried out under the framework engineering agreement awarded to Aker Solutions for Johan Sverdrup in 2013.

11 Nov 2014

Cairn Makes Second Senegal Find

Cairn has made a discovery of high quality oil in the second well in the Senegal exploration programme. The SNE-1 well is located in 1,100 metres (m) water depth and approximately 100 kilometres (km) offshore in the Sangomar Offshore block with a target depth of ~3,000 m and targeting the Shelf Edge Prospect. Intermediate logging of the SNE-1 well has confirmed hydrocarbons in the Cretaceous clastics objective which is of similar age to oil bearing sands found approximately 24 km away in FAN-1. As operator, Cairn has now issued Notices of Discovery for the SNE-1 well and FAN-1 well to the Government of Senegal on behalf of the Joint Venture. Further evaluation of this zone is continuing. The deeper target of karstified and fractured Lower Cretaceous shelf carbonates is yet to be reached.

18 Sep 2014

RWE Dea Awarded Two New Concessions in Egypt

In the International Bid Round 2013, RWE Dea has been awarded two new offshore concessions with operatorship by the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC). The concessions are located in the Gulf of Suez, where the company is producing oil as operator for more than 30 years. Dea will become operator of two new concessions in the Gulf of Suez. Dea will hold a share of 100% of the East Ras Fanar Offshore and 50% of the Northwest El Amal concession, with Edison International SpA holding the remaining 50%. “We are very pleased with the result of the latest Bid Round, as both new concessions provide a valuable addition to our balanced oil and gas license portfolio in Egypt,” says Maximilian Fellner, General Manager RWE Dea Egypt.

27 Apr 2014

Kashagan Output May Not Start Till 2016

Output at Kazakhstan's huge Kashagan oilfield may not start until 2016, the Financial Times said on Sunday, citing Kazakhstan's minister for economy and budget planning. Erbolat Dossayev told the FT he hoped production could be restarted late next year. "But if not, we will wait until 2016," the FT cited him as saying in an interview. Production at the offshore deposit, the world's biggest oil find in 35 years, started in September but was halted in early October after the detection of gas leaks in the $50 billion project's pipeline network. Earlier this month French major Total said no oil production was to be expected from Kashagan this year and it was not likely to yield much next year either.

11 Apr 2014

Shell drops Norwegian subsea gas project

Royal Dutch Shell has dropped one of Norway's biggest and most innovative industrial projects due to rising costs and complexity, dealing a blow to a technology that some hope could revolutionise offshore production. Shell said on Friday it would postpone a project to provide subsea compression at the North Sea's Ormen Lange, the second-biggest Norwegian gas field, despite the objections of a key license partner. The decision will not be re-evaluated for several years, until new technology and reservoir information become available, Shell said. Costs have soared in Norway's vast offshore oil sector over the past decade, and oil firms are cancelling or delaying major developments to save on costs and earn more cash for dividends.

03 Mar 2014

Norway Confirms Small Arctic Oil Find

Norwegian oil explorer Det norske made a small oil discovery in the Arctic Barents Sea with a gross oil column of about 30 metres and much poorer reservoir quality than expected, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said on Monday. Det norske earlier said it found some oil in the prospect but initial volumes did not justify development. Det norske operates the licence and holds a 20 percent stake. Other shareholders include Sweden's Lundin Petroleum (20 percent), Tullow (15 percent), Rocksource (5 percent), Norwegian state holding firm Petoro (30 percent) and Atlantic Petroleum (10 percent).

02 Jan 2014

Gas and Oil Discoveries in the Askja Prospects

Operator Statoil has together with PL272 partners made a gas discovery in the Askja West prospect and an oil discovery in the Askja East prospect in the North Sea. The exploration wells  30/11-9 S and 30/11-9 A, drilled by the drilling rig Ocean Vanguard, are located between the Oseberg and Frigg fields and about 13 km southeast of the Statoil-operated Krafla/Krafla West discoveries. Main wellbore 30/11-9 S tested the Askja West prospect and proved a net gas column of 90 metres in Late and Middle Jurassic rocks.

02 Jul 2012

Significant Gas and Condensate Discovery in the North Sea

The jack-up rig Maersk Gallant. (Photo: Ole Jørgen Bratland / Statoil)

Statoil has made a significant gas and condensate discovery in the King Lear prospect in the southern part of the Norwegian North Sea along with its partner Total E&P Norge. Exploration well 2/4-21 drilled by the jack-up rig Maersk Gallant in production licences 146 and 333, has proven a 48-metre gas/condensate column in the main bore 2/4-21 and an additional 70-metre gas/condensate column in the side-track 2/4-21A. Statoil estimates the total volumes in King Lear to be between 70 and 200 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent (o.e.).

09 Sep 2011

Shell Confirms Deepwater Oil Find Off French Guiana

As part of the Tullow-operated joint venture, Shell today confirms an oil discovery in the Guyane Maritime permit approximately 150-kilometers offshore French Guiana. The GM-ES-1 well is being drilled in a water depth of over 2,000 meters and to date has drilled to a depth of 5,711 meters. The well has encountered over 70-meters of net oil pay in two objectives. The joint venture plans to drill ahead to the planned target depth. “We are pleased with the preliminary results of this first ever deepwater well offshore French Guiana,” said Dave Lawrence, Shell's executive vice president Exploration and Commercial. “We are early in the evaluation, but the initial results are encouraging for this new play.

23 Jun 2009

Another North Sea Oil Find

A small oil discovery has been made by StatoilHydro in the Titan prospect directly east of northern Visund in the Tampen area of the Norwegian North Sea. Made by exploration wells 34/8-13 A and 34/8-13 S, this strike is estimated to contain 5.6-12.5 million recoverable barrels of oil equivalent. A tie-in to Visund will be assessed. Intended to prove petroleum in the Brent group, the discovery wells were drilled in a structurally complex area. While 13 A found a small oil column in Upper Jurassic sands, the underlying Brent group proved to be an aquifer. Well 13 S, drilled 2.7 kilometres to the south-east, found oil in the Brent group. The wells were drilled from Scarabeo 5, which has moved to PL 199 for a workover of production well 6406/2-S-4 H.

15 Jan 2009

Oil Find Close to Norne

A number of discoveries close to the Norne field have been phased in. The Dompap find could help to make Norne even more robust and enhance oil production from the area. (Photo: Knud Helge Robberstad)

An oil discovery just north of the Norne field in the Norwegian Sea will be considered for development with the Norne production and storage ship. A well on the North Sea Verona prospect is dry. Drilling of an exploration well on the Dompap prospect off the coast of Nordland county has been completed after proving oil. A sidetrack drilled to establish the oil/water contact in this discovery is also in the process of completion. The Dompap strike represents StatoilHydro’s first oil find in 2009, and the preliminary estimate for recoverable reserves is 25-50 million barrels.

08 Feb 2001

Kashagan Operator Pick To Come Soon

Kazakhstan's first deputy prime minister expects OKIOC, a consortium exploring the giant offshore Kashagan oil deposit, to appoint a project operator within two weeks. Kashagan is seen as potentially the largest oil find in the world in the last 30 years, and could make the vast Central Asian nation of 15 million a leading world oil producer within the next 20 years. But development of the field is still years away, and the nine-member Offshore Kazakhstan International Oil Company (OKIOC) has yet to name an operator for the project. First Deputy Prime Minister Danial Akhmetov said he saw some progress on issue. "I believe the decision on the operator can be expected within the next 15 days," he said.

16 Nov 2007

BP Finds Major Gas Field

According to a Bloomberg report, BP Plc discovered a gas deposit in the Caspian Sea that may double production from the largest natural gas development in Azerbaijan. BP shares rose 2.8 percent, the most in a month, in London trading after the company announcement. With the latest discovery, the field may be able to pump enough gas to supply Belgium and Luxembourg together. BP and partners including StatoilHydro ASA plan to spend $4.2b on the site's first stage, which started pumping fuel to Turkey in July, easing Europe's dependence on supplies from Russia's OAO Gazprom. The announcement is the second ``major'' discovery within a week after Petroleo Brasileiro SA said an offshore field could be Brazil's biggest ever oil find.

05 Oct 2006

Exxon Mobil Plans to Drill Wells in Indonesia

Exxon Mobil plans to drill three exploratory wells in an Indonesian offshore oil block over the next three years, a company official said on Wednesday. Exxon Mobil signed an oil contract with the Indonesian government last month 2,062 sq mile of the offshore Surumana block in the Makassar Straits. The government had said that in the case of Surumana, any oil find would be split 65:35 percent between government and contractor. Meanwhile, any gas find would be split 60:40 percent. Officials say Indonesia still has around 4.1 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and about 4.5 billion barrels in potential reserves. Currently Exxon Mobil has several oil and gas working areas in Indonesia, including in Cepu block on Java island.

25 Jul 2006

Cuba Drills off Florida Coast

The Washington Times recently reported that Cuba is drilling for oil 60 miles off the coast of Florida with help from China, Canada and Spain even as Congress struggles to end years of deadlock over drilling for what could be a treasure trove of offshore oil and gas. Republicans in Congress have tried repeatedly in the past decade to open up the outer continental shelf to exploration, and Florida's waters hold some of the most promising prospects for major energy finds. Their efforts have been frustrated by opposition from Florida, California and environmental-minded legislators from both parties. Florida's powerful tourism and booming real estate industries fear that oil spills could cost them business.

07 Aug 2001

Petrotin Moves Ahead With Offshore Exploration Joint Venture

Venezuela has given the state-owned Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago, also known as Petrotrin, approval to enter a joint venture to explore an offshore oil field near the maritime border of the South American nation with Trinidad. Petrotrin reportedly would take a 50 percent interest in the Gulf of Paria East block, a stake that was previously held by Enron Corp., the Number one U.S. natural gas and electricity marketer. No financial details of the deal were immediately available. A test well at the block produced 3,000 barrels a day of oil in February. Its Venezuelan operator Inelectra had said it would seek a partner with the financial muscle to help develop the field.

28 Sep 1999

Iran Makes $100 B Oil Find, Majors Compete For Big Deals

Iran has reportedly made its biggest oil find in 30 years, a giant 26 billion barrel field discovered just as the country is attempting to revive exploration activities. The oilfield in the prolific southwest Khuzestan province has the potential to produce up to 400,000 bpd, officials said. Iran's potential for big discoveries is one of the incentives now driving major Western oil firms competing to grab big deals. Companies are vying for more than 40 projects, although progress is slow, bogged down by red tape and some domestic opposition from conservative factions. So far Iran has only awarded a handful of projects to foreign companies in offshore projects that are politically less sensitive.

01 Oct 1999

Iran Makes $100 B Oil Find, Major Companies Compete For Big Deals

Iran announced its biggest oil find in 30 years last week, a 26-billion barrel field discovered just as the country drives to revive exploration activities and foreign firms compete for big deals. Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said the oilfield in the prolific southwest Khuzestan province has the potential to produce up to 400,000 bpd. He said that development on the field, which is close to the Iraqi border, will start by the end of March 2001 and could earn revenues of some $100 billion given current estimates of recoverable reserves. The massive discovery by the National Iranian Oil Company comes under renewed Iranian efforts to rejuvenate exploration activities in a country with the world's second largest natural gas reserves and fifth biggest oil reserves.

30 Dec 1999

Early Signs Point To Major Australian Oil Find

Early exploration work off the east coast of Australia may lead to a major new oil and gas discovery, according to Australian geologists. About 100 large sedimentary domes were discovered buried under the seabed in the Fairway Basin, the Australian Geological Survey Organization (AGSO) said. Such domes are a key component of many petroleum fields and have led to major exploration success in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere, according to officials.

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