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Oil Discovery News

17 Mar 2024

Esgian Week 11 Report: New Discoveries in UK and Namibia

Source: COSL

Esgian reports that drilling contracts have been announced this week for operations in Brazil and the Philippines, and new discoveries have been confirmed in the UK and Namibia in its Week 11 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.ContractsCOSL Drilling has emerged as the winner for Petrobras' moored semisubmersible tender with the 4,600-ft Nanhai 8 (also known as Nan Hai Ba Hao).Noble has secured a high-dayrate drillship contract with Prime Energy in the Philippines.Drilling Activity and…

17 Dec 2023

Esgian: Rigs on the Move in Asia and Europe

Source: OMV

This week Esgian’s Week 50 Rig Analytics Market Roundup notes developments in the semisub sector including that Shell has decided to exercise its option on Stena Don in the North Sea but not on Deepsea Bollsta in Namibia. Meanwhile, a new contract for the Transocean Barents will see it operate in the Black Sea, and jackup Shelf Drilling Perseverance will move to Vietnam.ContractsShelf Drilling has secured a contract award for the 400ft Shelf Drilling Perseverance jackup rig with PetroVietnam Domestic Exploration Production Operating Company Limited (PVEP POC).

05 Jan 2023

Hess Signals Guyana's Seventh Oil Platform

(File photo: Hess Corp)

Hess Corp on Thursday said drilling results expected this month could add a seventh platform in Guyana, which would lift the nascent oil producing nation's output above the 1.2 million barrels of oil equivalent per day planned.The U.S. oil producer is part of the Exxon Mobil Corp-led consortium that controls all production in the tiny South American nation. The group has confirmed so far plans for six floating production vessels in the country, home to the world's largest offshore…

14 Oct 2021

VIDEO: Guyana-bound Prosperity FPSO Enters Drydock in Singapore

Prosperity FPSO hull (File Image: SBM Offshore)

The hull of the Prosperity FPSO has recently arrived from China where it was built to Singapore where Keppel will mate it with topside modules, after which the vessel will set sail for Guyana, to become the South American country's third FPSO in production.The FPSO hull arrived in Singapore in August, when SBM Offshore, the Dutch provider of FPSO units that will deliver the FPSO to end client ExxonMobil, said that drydocks activities would start the fourth quarter of 2021, with the installation of major structures that will support the Mooring and Subsea Risers.

28 Jul 2021

Guyana in Focus: ExxonMobil Finds More Oil; FPSO Appetite 'Huge'

U.S. oil major ExxonMobil has made another oil discovery at the prolific Stabroek offshore block in Guyana. This adds to around nine billion barrels of oil equivalent discovered over the past few years and paves way for future development.The discovery was made at Whiptail-1 well at the 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometers) offshore block. The well encountered 246 feet (75 meters) of net pay in high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs. The Whiptail discovery is located approximately 4 miles southeast of the Uaru-1 discovery that was announced in January 2020 and approximately 3 miles west of the Yellowtail field. Whiptail-1 is being drilled in 5…

01 Oct 2020

Guyana: ExxonMobil Sanctions $9B Payara Offshore Development

Prosperity FPSO Hull in China - Credit: Hess

U.S. oil major ExxonMobil has reached a final investment decision on a $9 billion offshore oil development project in Guyana, following the approval by the government.To remind, Reuters last Friday reported that Guyana was close to reaching a deal with Exxon to green-light the project "after the company committed to stricter environmental restrictions on gas flaring and wastewater."The project, called Payara, will target an estimated resource base of about 600 million oil-equivalent barrels.

03 Nov 2019

Kosmos Strikes Oil Off Equatorial Guinea

American upstream oil company founded and based in Dallas Kosmos Energy made an offshore oil discovery in Equatorial Guinea, Reuters reported quoting the Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons.The S-5 well was drilled at a total depth of 4,400 meters and encountered 39 meters of net oil play in the Santonian reservoir, in the offshore Rio Muni Basin, it said. “The discovery is a strong validation of our strategy to replace oil reserves by exploring the highly prospective oil basins like Rio Muni,” the nation’s Minister of Mines, Industry and Energy Gabriel Obiang said in the statement.According to the report, Lima’s ministry said the well was drilled at a depth of 4…

11 Sep 2018

Okea Weighs Its Options for Grevling Oil Discovery

Norwegian oil firm Okea is looking at four options to develop its North Sea North Sea Grevling oil discovery, which in turn could impact on the company's valuation in a deal with Thai investor Bangchak Corporation PCL (BCP), it said on Tuesday.BCP has agreed to invest 939 million Norwegian crowns ($112.25 million) in Okea to partly finance the company's 4.5 billion crowns acquisition of Royal Dutch Shell's stakes in the Draugen and Gjoea fields.Okea, which plans to list on the Oslo stock market in the next 12 months, said the deal between BCP and Okea's majority owner, private equity firm Seacrest Capital, values the Norwegian oil firm at 860 million Norwegian crowns.The valuation could fall, however, to 778 million crowns, or rise to 940 million, depending on whether or not the company is

21 Jun 2018

ExxonMobil, Hess Announce Oil Discovery Offshore Guyana

Stena Carron (Photo: Stena Drilling)

ExxonMobil and the Hess Corporation announced an eighth oil discovery offshore Guyana at the Longtail-1 well, creating the potential for additional resource development in the southeast area of the Stabroek Block. The companies said approximately 78 meters of high-quality, oil-bearing sandstone reservoir was encountered. The well was drilled to 5,504 meters depth in 1,940 meters of water by the Stena Carron drillship on May 25, 2018. The Longtail-1 well is located approximately 5 miles west of the Turbot-1 well and follows previous discoveries on the Stabroek Block at Liza…

18 Apr 2018

Eni has no plans to pull out of Rosneft deal after sanctions

Claudio Descalzi (Photo: Eni)

Italian oil major Eni has no plans to pull out of its joint venture with Russia's Rosneft despite escalating sanctions against Russia, the head of Eni said on Wednesday."We certainly have not pulled out, we're working with them," CEO Claudio Descalzi said on the sidelines of a conference.Eni, one of Europe's biggest importers of Russian gas, extended a cooperation agreement with Rosneft last year to explore the Russian Barents Sea and the Black Sea, and to consider further opportunities together.But after the United States imposed major new sanctions against Russia earlier this month, speculat

12 Mar 2018

US States Slow Trump Offshore Oil Drilling Expansion Plan

© Georg Lehnerer / Adobe Stock

The Trump administration's plan to broadly expand drilling in U.S. offshore waters is moving slowly due to opposition from coastal states and indifference from oil companies that have turned their focus to other opportunities. The administration hopes encouraging U.S. energy development outside of shale oilfields will further its goal of "energy dominance." But existing Obama administration lease rules remain in place through 2022 unless the new rules gain approval. The Department of the Interior this year proposed opening vast new acreage in the U.S. outer continental shelf to drilling.

31 Jan 2018

Shell Makes Big Deepwater Oil Discovery in Gulf of Mexico

Oil major Royal Dutch Shell said its U.S. unit had made one of its biggest oil discoveries in the past decade in the Whale deepwater well in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The Whale is operated by Shell and co-owned by U.S. oil giant Chevron Corp. "Evaluation of the discovery was ongoing, and appraisal drilling is underway to further delineate the discovery and define development options," Shell Offshore Inc said in a statement without giving figures. Shell has three Gulf of Mexico deepwater projects under construction -- Appomattox, Kaikias and Coulomb Phase 2. It has added more than one billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) resources in the last decade in the Gulf of Mexico.

31 Jan 2018

Total Announces Major Deepwater Oil Discovery in US Gulf

French oil and energy group Total said on Wednesday that it had made a significant oil discovery at the Ballymore prospect in the deep offshore in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, its largest discovery in the area. "This major discovery gives us access to large oil resources and follow on potential in the emerging Norphlet play," Arnaud Breuillac, Total's president for exploration and production, said in a statement. "While already deemed commercially viable, we will work together on the appraisal of this discovery and a cost-effective scheme to ensure a rapid, low breakeven development," he added. An assessment of the resource estimate was ongoing, the company said, adding that the discovery will bolster Total's new exploration strategy put in place since 2015.

05 Jan 2018

ExxonMobil Announces Oil Discovery Offshore Guyana

(Photo: ExxonMobil)

Exxon Mobil Corporation announced its sixth oil discovery offshore Guyana since 2015, following positive results from its Ranger-1 exploration well. The Ranger-1 well discovery adds to previous discoveries at Liza, Payara, Snoek, Liza Deep and Turbot, which are estimated to total more than 3.2 billion recoverable oil-equivalent barrels. ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Ltd. began drilling the Ranger-1 well on November 5, 2017 and encountered approximately 70 meters of high-quality, oil-bearing carbonate reservoir.

07 Dec 2017

Aker to Design Johan Castberg FPSO Accommodations

Johan Castberg  (Photo: Aker Solutions)

Aker Solutions won a contract from Sembcorp Marine to design the living quarters for the Johan Castberg development's floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO). The work scope includes detailed design engineering of the living quarters and technical specifications for the equipment and supplies required for Sembcorp to construct the accommodation unit for the Statoil-operated development. Johan Castberg is the largest oil discovery in the Norwegian Barents Sea.

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.

22 Nov 2016

Statoil Buys into Brazil’s Santos Basin

Statoil completes acquisition and takes over operatorship of Brazilian offshore licence BM-S-8     Statoil and Petrobras have completed their previously announced transaction, whereby Statoil has acquired Petrobras’ 66 percent operated interest of the BM-S-8 offshore license in Brazil’s Santos basin.   BM-S-8 contains a substantial part of the Carcará pre-salt oil discovery.   On the completion of the transaction, Statoil has paid Petrobras $1.25 billion, half of the total consideration. The remainder will be paid at the passage of certain future milestones, mainly relating to the future unitization of Carcará.

27 Aug 2015

CNOOC Profits Nosedives, Eyes South China Sea

Cnooc Ltd., China’s biggest offshore oil and gas explorer, posted a 56 percent decline in profit for the first half of this year. Net income dropped to 14.73 billion yuan ($2.3 billion), or 0.33 yuan a share, from 33.59 billion yuan, or 0.75 yuan, a year earlier, the Beijing-based explorer said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange Wednesday. That exceeded the 13.9-billion yuan average of three analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Despite profit fall, the company kept its dividend payout the same as the year-earlier level. Planned capital expenditure reduction by about 30 billion yuan this year and first-half savings of 12 billion yuan on an oil production tax helped offset lower cash inflows due to lower oil prices.

31 Jul 2015

Shell Moves Ahead in Arctic with Exploratory Well

Shell Oil's icebreaker MSV Fennica weaved through nine remaining protesters hanging from the St. Johns Bridge and made its way toward the Pacific Ocean. Authorities have removed protesters dangling from a bridge and in kayaks in Oregon, allowing an icebreaker to get through and head toward the Arctic, The Associated Press reported. Demonstrators had been trying to stop the Fennica from leaving Portland, Oregon, and heading for an oil drilling operation, the AP reported. The ship had tried to leave earlier Thursday, but was forced to turn around by the protesters dangling from the bridge. "The Fennica is now safely on its way to Alaska…

28 Jul 2015

Statoil 2Q 2015 Earnings Slip

Statoil delivered Adjusted earnings of NOK 22.4 billion and adjusted earnings after tax of NOK 7.2 billion in the second quarter. Statoil reported Net income in accordance with IFRS of NOK 10.1 billion, including gains from divestments. "In the second quarter, Statoil delivered encouraging operational performance with good production growth and high regularity, whilst continuing to reduce cost. Our financial results were characterised by gains from divestments and lower prices. Also in the second quarter, we report a close to neutral free cash flow after dividend and proceeds", says president and CEO of Statoil ASA, Eldar Sætre. Adjusted earnings were NOK 22.4 billion in the second quarter compared to NOK 32.3 billion in the same period in 2014.

09 Apr 2015

Statoil Reports GoM Oil Discovery

The Maersk Developer drilling rig. (Photo: Jonathan Bachman - AP - Statoil)

Statoil has made an oil discovery in its Miocene Yeti prospect located in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM), the company announced today. “The Yeti discovery expands the proven sub-salt Miocene play further south and west of the Big Foot field,” said Jez Averty, Statoil’s senior vice president, exploration for North America. The Yeti discovery was made in Walker Ridge (WR) block 160, which is located approximately 15 kilometers south of the Big Foot field, and 11 kilometers from the Cascade field. All of the blocks making up Yeti were accessed by the current owners in recent years.

23 May 2015

Mobil Says Oil Discovery off Guyana is 'Significant'

Unlike almost all its neighbors, Guyana isn’t an oil producer yet. But the energy giant Exxon Mobil recently announced it had discovered “significant” oil off the coast. The discovery could put Guyana on oil and gas Map and the country could become a player in the oil marketplace. However, it will take months to ascertain the size and commercial potential of this discovery. And there could be issues, as the waters also claimed by Venezuela as part of a long-running border dispute between the South American countries. But oil discovery offshore Guyana is the most exciting thing happening in terms of Latin America exploration right now. On Tuesday, Exxon Mobil Corporation announced a significant oil discovery on the Stabroek Block, located approximately 120 miles offshore Guyana.

08 Jun 2015

Guyana-Venezuela Border Spat Flares after Exxon Find

Guyana's new government on Monday attacked a decree by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro which it said seeks to annex Guyanese maritime space in the wake of an oil discovery. The dispute between the South American neighbors goes back to the early 19th Century and has resurged after an offshore oil discovery by ExxonMobil Corp last month. The decree creates a theoretical new "defense" zone offshore that would, in Venezuela's eyes, leave the former British colony with no direct access to the Atlantic. "Guyana rejects this illegality which seeks to undermine our development through the exploitation of our natural resources offshore," added the statement.