Hess Signals Guyana's Seventh Oil Platform
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…
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…
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.
First Successful Flow Test from East of Oman in 30 Years
Masirah Oil Limited announced the testflow rates of the previously announced discovery at the second exploration well in Block 50 Oman, were very encouraging. The exploration well was drilled to its final depth into the Cambrian formation. The key objectives of the exploration well were to prove the presence of movable hydrocarbons and a working petroleum system within the block. Several zones in the well show evidence of hydrocarbon presence. During a 48-hour test, hydrocarbons were flowed to the surface and the well achieved light oil flow rate of up to 3000 stock tank barrels per day (stb/d) with no water production. This is the first offshore oil discovery in the east of Oman after more than 30 years of exploration activities.
Brazil’s Offshore Oil Reserves Larger Than Expected
Brazil's oil giant Petrobras announced that its recent offshore oil discovery in Brazil contains between 5-8 billion barrels of recoverable oil. Petrobras made the statement after attending the World Energy Congress. Last week, Petrobras said the Tupi Field, some 280 km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, may hold the equivalent of billions of barrels of oil, which is trapped below a thick layer of salt. The Petrobras president reportedly said production on the Tupi Field could begin in 2010 or 2011 as the company aims to increase overall production to 4.5 million barrels a day of oil and gas equivalent by 2015. [Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com]
Oil Discovery in Brazil
A huge offshore oil discovery could raise Brazil's petroleum reserves by a whopping 40 percent and boost this country into the ranks of the world's major exporters, officials said according to an AP report. The government-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, said the new "ultra-deep" Tupi field could hold as much as 8 billion barrels of recoverable light crude, sending Petrobras shares soaring and prompting predictions that Brazil could join the world's "top 10" oil producers. Petrobras says the Tupi field, off Brazil's southeastern Atlantic coast, has between 5 billion and 8 billion barrels -- equivalent to 40 percent of all the oil ever discovered in Brazil.
Elf Makes Second Gulf Of Mexico Discovery
French oil company Elf Aquitaine has announced its U.S. oil and gas subsidiary Elf Exploration Inc. made its second deep offshore oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico this year. Elf officials said workers made the find at the Matterhorn well in the Mississippi Canyon Block 243, in which Elf Exploration Inc. has a 100 percent working interest. A Global Marine Celtic Sea semi-submersible vessel had drilled the well to a depth of 8,165 ft. and found 370 gross ft. of oil reservoirs in two zones, officials added. "Production tests showed a daily flow rate of 6,640 barrels of good quality oil as well as associated gas." The Matterhorn discovery follows Elf's March find at the Anconcagua prospect in Mississippi Canyon Block 305.
