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Gas Discovery News

24 Mar 2024

Esgian Week 12 Report: New Finds in Guyana, China and Norway

© bomboman / Adobe Stock

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…

20 Mar 2024

Petrobras Exec Says Gas Export Possible from Colombia Project

© passarut / Adobe Stock

A promising area off Colombia's coast where Brazil state-run Petrobras is drilling this year could justify a large project to supply natural gas to the Andean country and for exports, Petrobras' head of exploration and production said on Wednesday.As oil production in Brazil's prolific presalt region is set to plateau in coming years, Petrobras is expanding its horizons to new frontiers including the Equatorial Margin, Colombia and Africa.At Colombia's Tayrona block, Petrobras…

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…

10 Mar 2024

Esgian Week 10 Report: Additional Backlog Secured

© freddytb Foto / Adobe Stock

Esgian reports that offshore drilling contractors secured additional backlog in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Egypt, Nigeria, and Brazil and operators confirmed new discoveries in Indonesia, Côte d’Ivoire, and China in its Week 10 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.ContractsDiamond Offshore has executed a two-year contract extension with a subsidiary of bp in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico for the 12,000-ft drillship Ocean BlackHornet.Shelf Drilling’s 250-ft jackup Rig 141 has secured a two-year…

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).

29 May 2023

Cyprus Wants Shipping Corridor to Export Mediterranean Gas to Europe

Illustration only - Credit: aerial-drone
/AdobeStock

Cyprus wants to establish itself as a gateway from east Mediterranean gas resources to Europe via a shipping corridor of LNG carriers, its president said on Monday. Cyprus's new centrist government, which came to power in February, has cooled to the idea championed by its predecessors of an "EastMed" pipeline transferring gas to Europe.Instead, authorities now want to transport, via pipeline, natural gas from fields in the eastern Mediterranean to the island for use in domestic conventional power generation…

06 Oct 2022

Israel, Lebanon Closing in on Maritime Border Deal

Credit:timyee/AdobeStock

Lebanon and Israel are closer than ever to signing a deal demarcating their maritime border, opening the door to new oil and gas exploration, after years of U.S.-brokered negotiations.While limited in scope, the agreement is set to ease security and economic concerns in both countries, whose shared history is rife with hostility. The deal will only resolve a territorial dispute in the eastern tip of the Mediterranean sea and does not touch on their land borders, which are yet to be settled.Here are some details of the U.S.

05 Nov 2019

EGPC Leads Oil, Gas Discoveries in Q3 2019

Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) led globally among companies in the third quarter (Q3) 2019 in terms of the highest number of oil and gas discoveries, said GlobalData.Of the total 38 discoveries made worldwide, EGPC had four, all being onshore discoveries. Of these, three were conventional oil discoveries while the remaining was a conventional gas discovery, said a report from GlobalData.Soorya Tejomoortula, Oil and Gas Analyst at GlobalData, explained: “Of the three conventional oil discoveries made by EGPC in Q3 2019, two are in the Western Desert Basin and the remaining is in the Gulf of Suez Basin. This lone conventional gas discovery was made in the Nile Delta Basin.”“Aker BP…

29 Oct 2019

Orca-1 is Largest Gas Discovery of the Year

On 28 October 2019 oil giant BP announced a major gas discovery, Orca-1, exploration well in the BirAllah area off the coast of Mauritania.“The deepest and largest discovery so far this year, Rystad Energy estimates Orca-1 holds around 1.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) of recoverable resources,” says Palzor Shenga, a senior analyst on Rystad Energy’s upstream team.Offshore continues to dominate exploration in 2019, both in terms of the number of discoveries and the volume of resources unearthed. Boosted by the find, Mauritania now ties Guyana for the second most discovered volumes this year, trailing closely behind Russia with 1.5 billion boe.“This type of significant discovery…

26 Mar 2019

Reabold Signs Rig Contract for West Newton Well

UK-based Reabold Resources said Rathlin Energy UK Ltd has signed a rig contract for the onshore UK West Newton appraisal well.The appraisal well at West Newton will have two objectives. The first objective is to appraise the Kirkham Abbey Formation gas discovery which has a 72 per cent. chance of success and an NPV of $185m.The second objective of the well is to test a deeper Cadeby Formation reef flank oil prospect, considered by Rathlin to have an NPV of $850m and a 24 per cent. chance of success.In line with Reabold's investment strategy, West Newton, in a success case, offers a fast pathway to monetisation through its proximity to existing gas pipelines and infrastructure.In 2017…

21 Feb 2019

Oi: Tracking 50 Years of Ocean Innovation

Marine Technology Reporter published a supplement to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Oceanology International. Photo: MTR

As Oceanology International celebrates its 50th Anniversary, Marine Technology Reporter explores half a century of subsea technology development and discovery. Oceanology International Americas runs February 25-27, 2019 in San Diego.When Oceanology launched in 1969 in the seaside resort of Brighton the world was a very different place. For a start, Brighton was home to the mods and rockers, who would square off against each other on the town’s elegant seafront. The British currency included shillings and ha’ pennies and man had yet to step foot on the moon.More crucially…

19 Dec 2018

Senex Energy Gemba Tests Successful

Australian energy company Senex Energy has successfully tested a gas exploration well in the Cooper Basin in South Australia.According to the Brisbane-based company The Gemba-1 well flowed 227,000 cubic metres (8 mcf) of gas per day over a period of a week."Senex Energy has successfully completed the initial flow test of the Gemba-1 gas exploration well in the Cooper Basin, with stabilised flow rates of approximately eight million standard cubic feet per day, plus associated liquids," said a stock exchange annoucement.Senex Managing Director and CEO Ian Davies said: “Senex is delivering on its strategy to become a material supplier of gas to the east coast market, and this Cooper Basin gas discovery adds another potential supply source from our growing portfolio.

10 Oct 2018

Chevron becomes first oil major to exit Norway

© Marius Dobilas / Adobe Stock

U.S. oil firm Chevron will become the first oil major to formally exit the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) as it transfers its last stake in an exploration license, according to a government letter.Oil majors, including Exxon Mobil, BP and Shell, have scaled down their presence in Norway by selling or merging their assets in the mature region to focus on new growth opportunities elsewhere.Chevron is also seeking to sell assets in the British North Sea in order to focus on growing U.S.

24 Sep 2018

Total Makes Major Offshore UK Gas Discovery

(Image: Total)

French oil and energy group Total said on Monday it had made a major gas discovery on the Glendronach prospect, located off the coast of the Shetland islands in the North Sea.Total said preliminary tests on the new gas discovery confirmed good reservoir quality, permeability and well production deliverability, with recoverable resources estimated at about one trillion cubic feet (1 tcf).It said Glendronach, located near its Edradour field, will be tied back to the existing infrastructure…

08 Jun 2018

New Oil Discovered in the North Sea

Map Lille Prinsen discovery (Photo: Equinor)

Equinor and partners Lundin and Spirit Energy have struck oil in the PL 167 licence at the Utsira High in the North Sea.The discovery is currently estimated to contain 15-35 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent.“We are very pleased to announce the first Equinor discovery,” said Nicholas Ashton, Equinor’s senior vice president, Exploration, Norway & UK.“This is a good discovery which we expect will be commercial. In addition, the results from the drilling indicate an upside potential in this discovery…

27 Mar 2018

Production Floaters Orders Are on the Rebound

© sadagus/Adobe Stock

Fifteen production floaters were contracted in 2017 – 11 FPSOs, two production semis, a wellhead TLP and an FLNG – and the number of deep water projects in the near-term planning queue indicates production floater orders are set to accelerate. This is a big change from 2016 when orders for new units totally dried up and the deepwater future looked pretty bleak. Here’s a round-up of contracts awarded last year and in January 2018. Tempera FPSO - Keppel in January 2017 received a contract from Dixstone Holdings…

12 Feb 2018

High Seas Standoff: Cyprus Says Turkey Blocks Drill Ship

Cyprus on Sunday accused the Turkish military of obstructing a ship contracted by Italian oil company Eni from approaching an area to explore for natural gas, highlighting tensions over offshore resources in the east Mediterranean. A spokesman for Eni said on Sunday the Saipem 12000 drill ship had been heading from a location southwest of Cyprus towards an area southeast of the island on Friday when it was stopped by Turkish military ships and told not to continue because of military activities in the destination area. Turkey, which does not have diplomatic relations with Cyprus, claims that certain areas in Cyprus's offshore maritime zone, known as an EEZ, fall into the jurisdiction of Turkey or that of Turkish Cypriots.

09 Jun 2016

BP, Eni Make Gas Discovery off Egyptian Coast

Energy majors BP and Eni on Thursday announced a significant natural gas discovery off the Egyptian coast. The discovery is in the Baltim southwest exploration prospect in the East Nile Delta. It is 10 km north of the Nooros gas field which was discovered in July last year and has a production rate of 65,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, the companies said. Italy's Eni, through its subsidiary IEOC, holds a 50 percent stake in the licence of Baltim South and BP holds the other 50 percent. The new discovery "further confirms the significant potential of the so called Great Nooros Area, which is now estimated to hold 70-80 billion cubic metres of gas in place," Eni said in a statement. BP said that appraisal activities will be required to understand its full resource potential.

17 May 2016

Papua New Guinea Bullish on LNG Potential

A new wave of investments in Papua New Guinea’s energy sector could see some $19 billion of projects launched in the coming years, boosting the country’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) output and providing employment to thousands. France's Total S.A. is progressing work on the Papua LNG Project in Petroleum Retention License (PRL) 15, Papua New Guinea (PNG) and construction of the development is expected to commence in 2018, creating employment for up to 10,000 persons, the firm said Friday when announcing financial results for the first quarter of 2016 (1Q 2016) ending March 31. The petroleum retention license (PRL) 15 joint venture, which is developing the Elk-Antelope gas discovery as the Papua LNG project, is nearing the final stages of the Elk Antelope appraisal program.

09 Apr 2015

UK Summons Argentine Ambassador over Falklands' Comments

Britain said on Thursday it had summoned the Argentine ambassador to explain the latest war of words over the disputed Falkland Islands which included a threat to prosecute British energy firms operating in the area. Last week, Premier Oil Plc and Falkland Oil and Gas Ltd said they had made an oil and gas discovery at a well off the south Atlantic islands, the first in a nine-month drilling campaign. Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez called the announcement "almost provocative", and Argentine officials warned they were planning legal action against oil firms operating near the Falklands, which lie 300 miles off the Argentine coast and 8,000 miles from Britain.

08 Apr 2015

Gas Discovery at Pyxis-1

Woodside advises that the Pyxis-1 exploration well in production licence WA-34-L has intersected approximately 18.5 metres of net gas within the Jurassic sandstone target. The well reached a total depth of 3347 metres. Wireline logging has confirmed the discovery through the recovery of gas samples to surface and establishment of a gas pressure gradient. Pyxis-1 is located in Production Licence WA-34-L, within Western Australia’s Dampier Sub-Basin and is located approximately 15 km north of Woodside’s producing Pluto Gas Field infrastructure. Woodside Burrup Pty. Ltd. is the operator and 90% equity owner of WA-34-L. Kansai Electric Power Australia Pty. Ltd. and Tokyo Gas Pluto Pty. Ltd. each hold 5% equity.

27 Nov 2014

Drillsearch Discovers Gas at Varanus South-1

Drillsearch Energy Limited announced a new wet gas discovery on the Western Cooper Wet Gas Fairway of the Cooper Basin. The Varanus South-1 well in PEL 513 (Drillsearch 40% and Santos 60% and Operator) is the first well to be drilled by Santos and Drillsearch under the joint venture between the companies announced in July 2013. Varanus South-1 was drilled to a total depth of 3,154 metres as a near-field exploration well. Drillsearch’s preliminary interpretation of wireline logs has confirmed an aggregate best estimate of 18 metres of net gas pay over a gross interval of 365 metres in the Patchawarra Formation and an additional 9 metres of net hydrocarbon pay over a gross interval of 37 metres in the Tirrawarra Formation, which was considered a secondary target.

14 Oct 2014

Lundin Petroleum Hits More Oil, Shares Surge

Norwegian Arctic discovery could be game changer; Lundin Petroleum shares rise 7 percent. Noreco, Det Norske shares also rise on news. Swedish oil firm Lundin Petroleum has made a big oil and gas discovery in the Norwegian Arctic, sending its shares more than 7 percent higher and raising hopes that more oil could be found in the remote region. Lundin Petroleum's find in the Alta prospect contains between 125 and 400 million barrels of oil equivalent, including 85 to 310 million barrels of oil, near Statoil's Snoehvit field and Lundin's own Gohta find, the firm said in a statement on Tuesday. The discovery raises hopes that more oil could be found in a region where only a handful of oil fields have been discovered after several decades, and none have started production.