Fred Olsen Energy has formally declared that construction contract for a newbuild semisubmersible rig which was originally destined for development drilling at the Chevron-operated Rosebank oil development in the UK West Shetlands region has been cancelled…
Drilling on the Spanish Point area offshore Ireland is now scheduled for 2017, according to partner Providence Resources, which is now looking to farm-out some of its 58% interest in the license. Spanish Point, in Frontier License 2/04 and 4/08…
Hibiscus Petroleum's wholly-owned subsidiary Carnarvon Hibiscus (CHPL) has commenced drilling operations at its Sea Lion-1 exploration well, off the coast of the state of Victoria, in southeast Australia. Not to be confused with Premier Oil's Sea Lion project offshore the Falkland Islands…
Lundin Petroleum's Malaysian subsidiary, Lundin Malaysia, has made a small gas discovery with the Mengkuang-1 exploration well in license PM307, offshore Malaysia. Lundin announced the well had been spud in early October, and the operation…
Europa Oil & Gas CEO Hugh Mackay says now is a perfect chance to drill on the firm’s offshore Irish prospects thanks to rig rates being at their lowest in a decade. The CEO, whose firm is targeting 1.5 billion boe, unrisked, in three…
Centrica Energy has started drilling a new well from the York gas field in the southern North Sea, offshore England, after nearly £80million of investment. The new well, the fourth at York, will tap an additional 20 Bcf of gas and extend the life of the field out to 2020…
The joint venture of Zarubezhneft and Petrovietnam Vietsovpetro made a commercial discovery of the Sturgeon field offshore Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Map of Block 09-3/12 (the greyed area)…
China’s CNOOC discovered a mid-sized oilfield at the Caofeidian 6-4 oil structure, offshore China. Bohai map. From CNOOC. The Caofeidian 6-4 structure is located in the western…
The Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (CNSOPB) granted Shell Canada the approval to begin its Shelburne Basin Venture Exploration Drilling Project, offshore Nova Scotia. The Stena IceMAX…
UK-based Ophir Energy commenced its two-well drilling campaign in the Gulf of Thailand with the spudding of the G4/50-10 exploration well on the Soy Siam prospect. Image: Offshore Thailand / Ophir…
Following the fate of the global oil industry, the short-term outlook for the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) market is set to be sluggish – but long-term these machines will play a key role in deepwater development and the technology they use is set for a leap forward…
No hydrocarbon show at the ROC Oil-operated block 09/05 in the Bohai Bay basin in China, says joint venture partner AWE Ltd. The well, QK12-3-1D, which is now preparing for abandonment, is the second of the two planned exploration wells in the block…
CGG GeoSoftware has announced new releases to its application suites: Jason 9.0, Hampson-Russell 10.0 and Insight Earth 3.0. Jason 9.0 has a new anisotropic inversion tool for analyzing anisotropy for effective well design and optimum production…
The US Department of the Interior announced it will cancel two planned Arctic offshore lease sales under the US government’s current five-year plan for 2012-2017 due to Shell’s failed Arctic campaign and current market conditions, which left…
MEO Australia’s exploration portfolio will be getting thinner next year, as the company announced it will drop out of three Australian blocks in the next six months due to high risks and minimal potential. Map of Beehive…