Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane announced the award of nine new permits located in Commonwealth waters offshore Western Australia, Victoria, and the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands as part of round one of the Australian government’s 2013 Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release…
Repsol restarted drilling on the deepwater Welwitschia-1A well in Walvis Bay, offshore Namibia, on 4 June, according to partner Tower Resources. Repsol is operator of Namibia PEL0010, containing Welwitschia. Drilling on the first Welwitschia well…
Statoil terminated its contract with Diamond Offshore Drilling's mid-water semisubmersible the Ocean Vanguard eight months ahead of schedule, the Houston-based shipowner announced on 4 June 2014. Statoil's Communication Manager Ørjan…
The doors leading to the exhibit halls, where more than 1355 exhibitors were present. Images from SPE. Sarah Parker Musarra reviews the 2014 International Association of Drilling Contractors/…
PROD on a rare sunny day west of Shetlands. Photo from Benthic. Benthic's Alan Foley, discusses the company's seabed drilling and sampling system, the Portable Remotely Operated Drill (PROD)…
Australia-based Tangiers Petroleum says the Ralph Coffman jackup rig is on location offshore Morocco and close to spudding the Tao-1 well in the Tarfaya Offshore Block. The rig was loaded onto the heavy lift vessel MV Transshelf on the 25 May 2014…
Australia’s AWE Limited announced that drilling on the Oi-1 exploration well in the Tui area oil fields, located off New Zealand in the Taranaki Basin, commenced on 30 May with the semisubmersible Kan Tan IV. Oi-1 is located approximately…
Operator Genel Energy's Malta subsidiary Phoenicia Energy Co. announced on 30 May that the Noble Paul Romano deepwater semisubmersible drilling rig is moored on location and has commenced drilling Hagar Qim-1. The well is being drilled in 1476ft of water in Block 7 of Area 4 off Malta…
Nido Petroleum Ltd., on behalf of SC 63 joint venture partners state-owned Philippine National Oil Co. Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC) and Dragon Oil Ltd., announced that the Baragatan-1A well was spudded May 25. The wellsite is in Service Contract 63…
Drilling continues at Statoil's Martin prospect in Mississippi Canyon Block 718 with the Maersk Developer semisubmersible, in 850m (2789ft) water depth. Statoil plans to run a zero-offset vertical seismic profile (VSP) survey on or before 15 August 2014…
Noreco is in the process of completing drilling of the Verdande well 6608/10-16 (PL484) in the Norwegian Sea. The firm said hydrocarbon shows were found in two sections, but that well will be plugged and abandoned without further testing…
Seadrill has won a contract with Total Upstream Nigeria for use of its newbuild ultra-deepwater drillship West Jupiter (pictured), in support of the Egina ultra-deep offshore project in Nigeria. The contract is for five years and is worth about US$1…
Success of the Butch South West prospect, drilling on which has started, could prompt a new stand alone production facility in the North Sea, according to Faroe Petroleum. Drilling on the Centrica-operated Butch South West exploration well 8/10-6S…
Petroceltic International's Muridava-1 exploration well on the Muridava (EX-27) license in the Romanian Black Sea has been plugged and abandoned after failling to find commercial hydrocarbons. The well, spudded on April 11 and drilled to 2747m total depth…
Greenpeace activists who boarded the semisubmersible drilling rig Transocean Spitsbergen (pictured) 300km offshore Norway are now in the hands of Norwegian police, says Statoil. But, Greenpeace's ship, the Esperanza, has moved to the location where Statoil plans to drill…