Energy Explorer News

Naval vessels and aircraft scoured the waters off India's west coast late on Wednesday after the most powerful cyclone in more than two decades battered the region, sinking an oilfield accommodation barge and killing 26 aboard, authorities said.Cyclone Tauktae unleashed waves of up to 25 feet (7.6 meters) offshore before it hit the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat over the past two days, leaving a trail of destruction that killed 62 others, authorities said.Naval ships and aircraft…

A blast caused by a fire on a ship under repair at India's Cochin Shipyard Ltd killed five people on Tuesday, and injured around 11, a company spokeswoman said, prompting the government to call for a quick enquiry. The spokeswoman said smoke hampered rescue operations initially and that an investigation would be launched soon. The ship belongs to the country's top energy explorer, Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd, she added. An ONGC official said the ship was undergoing maintenance at state-run Cochin Shipyard on the country's southwest coast. The blast took place inside the water tank, said M.P. Dinesh, a senior police official in the southern state of Kerala where the shipyard is located.

India will sell part of the government's stake in some state-run companies in the next two to three months, Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram said on Saturday, without naming any company. The government has set a target of $10.5 billion from asset sales during the current fiscal year to March 2015 to help plug its deficit. The finance ministry this week short-listed banks to manage share sales in top energy explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp and hydroelectric power generator NHPC Ltd, according to sources with direct knowledge. (Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh; Writing by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

ExxonMobil's $19 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Papua New Guinea, which is shipping its first cargo, is set to dramatically transform one of Asia-Pacific's most unstable countries, for better or for worse. The LNG venture, which is expected to produce more than 9 trillion cubic feet of gas over 30 years, is the largest private investment in the South Pacific nation's history. ExxonMobil is relying on projects like this one for much-needed production growth, while the Papua New Guinea government hopes it might double its $15 billion dollar economy, now slightly larger than Botswana's. But sharing the spoils of resource projects has previously torn apart a country that is seen as one of the most corrupt in the world…

According to a June 8 report from Bloomberg, China National Offshore Oil Corp., the country’s biggest offshore energy explorer, may delay the startup of its first deepwater rig until 2011 because of a safety review after BP Plc’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The rig to be deployed in the South China Sea may not turn operational until the first quarter. (Source: Bloomberg)

According to a March 19 report from The Wall Street Journal, India approved oil exploration contracts for Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC), the nation’s biggest energy explorer, and BHP Billiton Ltd as it sought to cut dependence on imports. The South Asian nation approved the award of 33 blocks, home minister P. Chidambaram told reporters in New Delhi after a cabinet meeting. (Source: The Wall Street Journal)