Statoil is bringing the Transocean Spitsbergen semisubmersible back to the waters to drill a wildcat well in the Snedrid Nord prospect, after gaining consent from the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA). Transocean Spitsbergen…
ConocoPhillips has started drilling on the third well in its Barossa area exploration campaign, Barossa-4, in the Bonaparte basin, offshore Australia's Northern Territory. The latest well follows the Barossa-3 appraisal well…
China’s CIMC Raffles completed its first Arctic-operable semisubmersible for client North Sea Rigs at its Yantai yard, the company announced on 19 January. CIMC Raffles designed the semisub together with Global Maritime. The North Dragon…
BPZ Energy spudded a new well in the Albacora development well, offshore Peru. Map of Block Z-1. From BPZ. Well A-22D was spudded on 10 January due to positive results from Albacora well A-27D…
Faroe Exploration is planning four exploration wells offshore Norway in 2015 - Shango, Pil, Blister and Kvalross. Shango, operated by Total (Faroe 20%), is in the Norwegian North Sea on the northern part of the prolific Utsira High. The…
Maersk Drilling's Maersk Interceptor harsh environment jackup drilling rig has started production well drilling on Det norske oljeselskap's Ivar Aasen development in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. The drilling campaign will last…
Origin Energy says the Speculant-1 exploration well in the Otway basin, offshore Victoria, Australia, is to be suspended while development options are assessed. The well, which encountered 'potentially commercial quanitities of gas' in the primary Waarre formation reservoirs target…
The US Gulf of Mexico deepwater Madison well has been plugged and abandoned after failing to find commercial hydrocarbons. Operator Noble Energy drilled the well to a total depth of 16,850ft, in 7149ft water depth, on Mississippi Canyon 479…
Lundin Petroleum has started drilling exploration well 26/10-1 on the Zulu prospect in production license (PL) 674BS, 100km west of Stavanger in the North Sea. Zulu is about 30 km northeast of the Johan Sverdrup discovery. The main objective…
Italian explorer Eni obtained a three-year extension for block 15/06, offshore Angola, the company announced on 19 January. Image from Eni. The license lies approximately 350km northwest of Luanda and 130km east of Soyo town…
Companies in the deepwater drilling market have lost more than half of their value over the last year; Transocean, Seadrill, ENSCO and Diamond Offshore are currently priced 56% lower on average compared to January 2014 in line with the decrease in oil prices…
Det norske is planning a US$238 million development for the Viper-Kobra fields near Alvheim in production license (PL) 203, in the central North Sea, off Norway. Map of Alvheim field. From Det norske…
Spain’s Repsol is flying the coop on the Sandia exploration well off the Canary Islands after the find proved to be very thin, with non-exploitable layers. The Rowan Renaissance. From Rowan. Sandia is located in the Atlantic Ocean…
Noreco has reduced its ownership in license 9/95 on the Danish continental shelf from 20.1% to 16% by transferring the balance to Nordsøfonden, the Danish State’s oil and gas company. Drilling of the exploration well 9/95 Xana started…
Mubadala Petroleum’s US$300 million Manora oil development is now producing from five wells in the northern Gulf of Thailand. The Atwood Orca jackup. From Atwood. The Manora oil field is located within the G1/48 concession…