Total and Socar, the national oil company of Azerbaijan, signed an agreement establishing the contractual and commercial terms for a first phase of production of the Absheron gas and condensate field, located in the Caspian Sea. The development…
US offshore drilling contractor Rowan Companies and Saudi Aramco have signed a deal to create a new offshore rig outfit. The new organization will be a 50/50 joint venture (JV) which will own, operate, and manage offshore drilling rigs in Saudi Arabia…
After forming its own offshore-focused offshoot this January, Colombian state oil company Ecopetrol noted in its Q3 conference call that it intends to stabilize its production with a more 'aggressive' exploration drilling program slated for 2017…
Sirius Petroleum entered into a financed drilling contract with COSL Drilling Pan-Pacific Ltd. (COSL), for the provision of a high specification jackup rig that will be utilized to drill a multi well campaign as part of its shallow water development strategy in Nigeria at the Ororo project…
Israel's Minister of Energy has opened the country's first offshore bid round covering 24 areas in the Levant Basin, with some located close to existing major gas discoveries. The discovery of giant gas fields in the Levant Basin, offshore…
IKM Cleandrill has been awarded a three-year frame agreement with AkerBP for riserless closed loop mud recovery services. The initial operations under this contract will be production well drilling on the Alvheim development from the Transocean Arctic semisubmersible rig…
Carnarvon has updated resource estimates for the Roc, Phoenix, and Phoenix South areas in the WA-435-P and WA-437-P permits, offshore Australia. “Our resource estimates are based on the successful drilling results to date and a foundation…
Petrobras completed the first well in the Santos Basin’s Libra pre-salt field last week, with the anticipation of starting production next year, connected to the Pioneiro de Libra floating production and storage offloading (FPSO) unit. The West Carina…
Statoil has confirmed to the Oil and Gas Authority that it will drill a well on the Verbier prospect in the North Sea, in summer 2017, according to partner Jersey Oil & Gas. Jersey says the prospect, which is in production license 2170…
Coretrax, an engineered servicing company for wellbore clean up and abandonment, has radically expanded its Middle East presence by moving its Saudi Arabian operations into a 130,000sq ft facility in Dammam. 'We’ve worked hard to get…
Tullow Oil is moving to get its Jubilee project offshore Ghana on track by year-end, as it firms up plans to divest all of its Norwegian assets by 1H 2017. Image from Tullow. “We…
UK-based basement explorer Hurricane Energy has spudded its latest well West of Shetland. The firm, which recently completed the successful Lancaster 7 appraisal spudded the Lincoln well on 8 November, the firm said. The Lincoln well…
Wintershall has spudded its first offshore well for the Shuwaihat project, off Abu Dhabi. Image from Wintershall. The Shuwaihat field is situated in the western region of Abu Dhabi…
Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) has granted Statoil consent to use the Scarabeo 5 semisubmersible rig for well activities on the Njord field, in the Norwegian Sea. Statoil is the operator at Njord, around 130km north of Kristiansund…
The 2016 development drilling program offshore southern Vietnam on the Te Giac Trang (TGT) Field of Block 16-1 has commenced, announced SOCO. The infill wells, TGT-27P and TGT-28P, will be batch drilled with the first well spudded on…