Futures Markets
Eni and Gazprom deal for the South Stream Project
Eni and Gazprom signed in Moscow a further agreement related the South Stream project, in which the parties agreed to use a joint special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the commissioning of the marketing and technical feasibility studies of the project.
The new structure will be governed by a shareholders agreement. The two partners, after months of [...]
Granby reports farm in to UKCS Block 211/22a NW
Granby Oil and Gas plc, the oil and gas exploration and production company with interests in the UK North Sea and onshore Europe, has executed a Farm-In Agreement to participate with a 10% interest in UK North Sea Licence P.201 Block 211/22a NW, which contains the Kerloch oil discovery.
The field was discovered in 1976 by [...]
CNOOC hits 10 new discoveries offshore China
CNOOC Limited has obtained 10 new oil and gas discoveries offshore China. Within those 10 discoveries, 9 of them were founded independently.
In the first half of 2007, benefiting from in-depth exploration research and intensive offshore exploration operations, the company made 6 independent oil and gas discoveries: Bozhong28-2 East, Bozhong26-3, Jinzhou25-1, Weizhou11-7, Weizhou11-8, and Weizhou6-1South. [...]
Total wins exploration license in Chile
France based oil company, Total has been awarded the Otway exploration license it applied for under the 2007 Exploration Licensing Round of the Chile’s Minister of Mine.
Total will have a 100% interest in Otway Block. Covering an area of 5,965 square kilometres, this block is located in the foothills domain of the Magallanes Basin, immediately [...]
Eni gas production from three new GoM fields
Eni has started production from three new gas fields located in the eastern Gulf of Mexico (GoM) deepwater, approximately 290 kilometers southeast of New Orleans. The three fields, which are among the GoM assets acquired earlier this year from Dominion, are “San Jacinto” (in block DC 618), “Spiderman” (DC 620) and “Q” (MC 961).
The [...]
Serica updates Indonesian operations
Serica Energy plc announces that the Global Santa Fe 136 jack-up drilling rig has completed its current operations and is now being prepared for mobilisation to Serica’s Biliton PSC in the Java Sea, Indonesia, where it will drill two exploration wells.
It is expected that the first well, the Batara Ismaya North #1, will be spudded [...]
WTI breaches $99 per barrel before declining
The price of crude oil in New York hit a new record at $99.29 per barrel in early trade on Wednesday, but prices dropped after the weekly US inventory report from the Energy Information Administration showed that crude oil and distillates stockpiles fell but gasoline inventories were up a bit.
In the week ending 16 November, [...]
ExxonMobil signs exploration agreement in Libya
Exxon Mobil Corporation’s subsidiary, ExxonMobil Libya Limited, signed a heads of agreement to execute an Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement (EPSA) with Libya’s National Oil Corporation to initiate exploration activity offshore Libya in the Sirte Basin.
The agreement includes four blocks located in Contract Area 21, approximately 110 miles off the Libyan coast. The contract [...]
PA Resources acquires assets in Congo
PA Resources AB has signed an agreement with Murphy West Africa Ltd, part of Murphy Oil Corporation, to acquire a 35 percent share in the Mer Profond Sud Exploration Permit and a 35 percent share in the Azurite field, which includes the ongoing Azurite field development project.
The acquisition adds significant reserves and resources to PA [...]
Emerald updates Khurbet East No.3 well
Emerald Energy Plc provides the update on activities in Block 26, Syria. The drilling of the Khurbet East No.3 well has commenced using the MB-3 rig. Khurbet East No.3 is located approximately 0.9 kilometres southwest of the Khurbet East No.1 discovery well and 1.2 kilometres south of the Khurbet East No.2 appraisal well and will [...]
Nymex heating oil hits record high
The price of heating oil hit a new record high in New York on Tuesday as January contracts added 8 cents to $2.70 per gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Besides supporting gains in crude oil prices, heating oil prices usually reflect the price of other distillates such as kerosene, jet fuel and diesel.
West Texas [...]
BHP Billiton first oil production from Stybarrow
BHP Billiton has announced first oil production from its operated Stybarrow project offshore north west Australia. The Stybarrow project involves a nine well subsea development and a Floating Production Storage and Offtake (FPSO) facility, the Stybarrow Venture with capacity of approximately 80,000 barrels of oil a day.
At a water depth of approximately 825 metres, the [...]
BP starts from production Mango field
BP announces that natural gas production from the Mango field, offshore Trinidad, began on the evening of November 17, 2007. The field, in the South East Galeota Block, was first discovered in 1971 and further appraised in 2000.
The Mango field is 35 miles south east of Galeota Point in water depths of some 235 feet [...]
Venture successfully tests Grouse appraisal well
Venture Production plc, the Aberdeen based UK independent oil and gas production company, has successfully drilled and tested well 21/19-12z to appraise the Grouse oil field. Grouse is located in Block 21/19 within the Greater Kittiwake Area (’GKA’), a central North Sea production hub operated and 50% owned by Venture.
Grouse was first discovered in 1981 [...]
Crude ends higher after OPEC meeting
After trading lower for most of the session, West Texas Intermediate crude January contracts gained 80 cents to $94.64 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Monday after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries refrained from boosting production after a weekend meeting in Saudi Arabia.
However, possible production hikes for the first quarter of [...]
Total makes new discovery in Congo
Total announces a new oil discovery in the ultra-deep offshore Mer Très Profonde Sud (MTPS) block, which lies approximately 185 kilometres offshore the Republic of the Congo in a water depth of 2,120 metres.
Drilled to a total depth of 4,110 metres, the Persée Nord Est Marine-1 discovery well found six oil reservoir levels in the [...]
Nautical provides result of Kraken appraisal well
Nautical Petroleum, the developer of heavy oil interests in the UK and Europe, provides the results of the 9/2b- 2 Kraken appraisal well drilled by Nautical and its partners.
The well 9/2b- 2 was drilled to a depth of 4378 ft subsea, 2.7 kilometres north of the 9/2- 1 Kraken discovery well and encountered oil-bearing Palaeocene [...]
Aker Kvaerner wins new contracts in China
Aker Kvaerner takes further strides into the Chinese market by signing two deals with China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). One contract is for the delivery of a complete marine drilling riser system and associated equipment, while the other is for delivery of mooring equipment to a new deepwater semi submersible drilling unit.
The marine drilling [...]
Crude prices gain on supply worries
The price of crude oil was higher on Friday as investors figure that US inventories aren’t as abundant as Thursday’s Energy Information Administration made them seem.
Details of the report show that most of the buildup in stockpiles were on the West Coast of the US and isolated from the rest of the nation.
In addition, OPEC [...]
Cabot announces Horizontal drilling success
Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation announces additional horizontal drilling success at its County Line project in east Texas, along with news on horizontal drilling from its shale program in West Virginia.
Cabot continues to expand the County Line James field with another successful completion, the Timberstar Redditt #2 (working interest 100%), which was recently completed [...]