Futures Markets
Crude prices retreat on profit-taking
Crude oil prices fell on Thursday after Wednesday’s major increases as investors took profits.
The declines were helped by an announcement from ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) that a refinery fire in Texas had caused no interruptions in production and by gains in the US dollar against both the euro and the pound.
Near the close of floor trade [...]
Lundin starts operations on broom development
Lundin Petroleum AB (Lundin Petroleum) commences the operations on development well 2/5-25 on the Broom Field in Block 2/5, production licence P242, on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS).
Well 2/5-25 will be drilled as a sidetrack of one of the three existing production wells on the West Heather structure and tied-back to the existing Heather [...]
Endeavour reports first gas from Njord Field
Endeavour International Corporation says that production has commenced from the Njord gas export project in the Norwegian Sea. The completion will add approximately 900 barrels of oil equivalent to the company’s daily production and is incremental to oil production from the field which will continue.
Endeavour holds a 2.5 percent working interest in the field which [...]
PGNiG acquires exploration interest in Denmark
PGNiG signed an assignment agreement for 40 percent interest in an exploration and production licence in Denmark held by Willumsen Exploration Consultants ApS.
This means that the Company will start exploration activity in prospective areas of Denmark, as well as the cooperation with Danish companies Odin Energi A/S and Nordsofonden.
According to experts, the licence offers good [...]
Crude, distillates inventories decline in US
Crude oil prices rose significantly on Wednesday after the US Energy Information Administration reported that inventories of crude oil were 700,000 barrels lower last week, against an expected rise of 100,000 barrels, although stockpiles at the key Cushing, Oklahoma depot increased by 1.4 million barrels during the week.
Distillates stockpiles, which had been expected to rise [...]
Petronas signs key agreements with Uzbekistan
Petronas has signed three key agreements in Uzbekistan, boosting its presence and strengthening its business portfolio in the country.
Through its wholly-owned subsidiary PCOSB, Petronas signed the Agreement on Activities and Main Principles for Baisun Block Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) and an Exploration Agreement for the Surkhanski Block with the Government of Uzbekistan. Both blocks are [...]
Gran Tierra drills Costayaco-2 in Columbia
Gran Tierra Energy Inc. has initiated drilling Costayaco-2 in the Chaza Block, located in the Putumayo Basin of southern Colombia.
Costayaco-2 is the first of two delineation wells that will be drilled in the Costayaco field. Drilling is anticipated to take approximately one month with completion and testing operations to follow. The second delineation well, Costayaco-3, [...]
GP Energy to drill second well in Argentina
Gold Point Energy reported today that drilling operations on the Lomas de Guayacán x-1 well of the Martinez del Tineo Oeste Prospect are underway. The Lomas de Guayacán x-1 well is the second of two exploratory wells to be drilled on the Capricorn License in Salta Province of Northern Argentina. Results of the Lomas de [...]
WTI ends back above $90 per barrel
Crude oil prices rose on Tuesday, ending back above the $90 per barrel level after declining in recent days.
Prices were sent higher by news that freezing weather in the US Midwest had forced the closure of several crude oil pipelines in the region, some of which serve the key depot at Cushing, Oklahoma.
Also tending to [...]
Rosneft awards contract to Halliburton
Rosneft-YNG has awarded Halliburton’s Completion and Production Division a multimillion-dollar contract for the provision of hydraulic fracturing services for 317 oil wells in Russia’s Priobskoye Field in 2008. Located in Western Siberia on the banks of the Ob River, the field comprises 5,446 square kilometers (3,384 square miles.
This area is environmentally sensitive and Rosneft will [...]
Clough wins pipelay contract in Thailand
Clough Limited announces that its Thailand operation has been awarded a US$22m contract for the transportation, installation and commissioning of two 26km subsea pipelines in the Ca Ngu Vang (CNV) Field, located in Block 9-2, approximately 130km south east of Vung Tau, southern Vietnam.
The Ca Ngu Vang Field is operated by Hoan Vu Joint [...]
Verenex reports fifth discovery in Libya
Verenex Energy confirms its fifth oil discovery D1-47/02 in Area 47 in the Ghadames Basin in Libya. The D1-47/02 new field wildcat exploration well was drilled to a depth of 9,720 feet with the Ensign Rig 28 and was tested at a maximum flow rate of 7,742 barrels of oil per day (”bopd”) (gross) confirming [...]
Crude prices drop on declines in demand
Crude oil prices were lower in Monday after it seemed that demand for oil and gasoline in the United States was falling just as OPEC began to raise production in practice if not as a policy measure.
Several factors worked to limit declines, however, including the news that fog had closed some waterways in Texas that [...]
Melrose updates Bulgaria operation
Melrose Resources plc provides an update on its operational activities in Bulgaria.
On 6 December 2007, the Bulgarian Government announced that it has granted Melrose exploration rights to Block Galata, an exploration concession which surrounds the Melrose operated Galata producing gas field. Following the formalisation of the concession award, the Company expects to reduce its [...]
StatoilHydro spuds dry well in the Barents Sea
StatoilHydro ASA has concluded drilling of wildcat well 7120/8-4.
The well was drilled on the Askeladd Beta prospect in block 7120/8 about 6 kilometres south-west of the Snøhvit field and 150 kilometres north-west of Hammerfest. The purpose of the well was to prove hydrocarbons in Jurassic sandstones as additional resources for a potential expansion [...]
Tower begins 2D seismic in Uganda
Tower Resources plc commences an approximately 300 kilometer 2-D seismic exploration programme in Exploration Area 5 (“EA 5”) in Uganda.
The seismic will be shot by IMC Geophysics International Limited over a sedimentary sequence with prospective structures in the Albertine Graben system that was identified by a regional gravity survey. The data is expected to be [...]
Crude drops on gains in gasoline, distillates inventories
Crude oil prices were lower on Friday after Thursday’s significant rise as analysts decided that the gains in gasoline and distillates inventories in the US that the Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday showed that supplies are not tightening as had been anticipated.
The increases in the week ending 30 November left distillates 0.6 percent above [...]
ATP starts production at Wenlock
ATP Oil & Gas Corporation announces first production from its Wenlock W1 well in Block 49/12a of the Southern Gas Basin of the U.K. North Sea. The company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, ATP Oil & Gas (U.K.) Limited, is the operator and owns a 100% working interest. The well tested at a rate of 58 MMcf/d, the [...]
Aminex provides update on Kiliwani-1 well
Aminex PLC provides an update on the Kiliwani-1 well on the Nyuni / East Songo-Songo licence offshore Tanzania.
A 12-1/4” directional pilot hole has now been drilled to 1,322 metres measured depth (1,147 metres true vertical depth) and the hole is currently being opened from 12-1/4” to 17-1/2” at a depth of 590 metres [...]
Tethys Oil updates operations in Oman
A comprehensive programme of flow tests and collection of gas and oil samples has been conducted in the Jebel Aswad well on Block 15 onshore Oman. A higher condensate gas ratio (up to 25% higher) was measured during this test. The data confirm the production results obtained in June earlier this year. Pressure gauges have [...]