Petrobras and its partners have achieved first oil from the mega pre-salt development Libra, the operator announced today (27 November). Libra is in the ultra-deep waters of the Santos Basin, 180km offshore Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The…
Statoil has confirmed a three-year extension to its contract with Archer for platform drilling management services on the Peregrino A and B platforms offshore Brazil. The extension awarded is the second of the two options included in the original four year contract which commenced in 2009…
Spectrum reported on 14 November that its multi-client 2D seismic survey covering the Austral and Malvinas basins offshore southern Argentina has commenced through the authorization of the Ministry of Energy and Minerals. The expected survey size is around 14…
Africa Oil Corp. (AOC) and Eco (Atlantic) Oil and Gas are forming a strategic partnership for exploration in West Africa and Guyana. Under the terms of an investment agreement, AOC has agreed to acquire a 19.77% shareholding in Eco through the purchase…
Baron Oil is to relinquish Block Z-34, which has been in Force Majeure since 2014, offshore Peru. In such a situation, the Z-34 partners are entitled to exercise their right to relinquish Block Z-34 and to request that a $3.6 million work program guarantee bond be released…
Brazil’s National Energy Policy Council has approved acreage to be offered in the 15thRound of Bids for Exploration, scheduled for 29 March, 2018, of the 15th Round of Bids for Exploratory Blocks, and the 4th Round of Bids for production sharing on 7 June 2018…
Petrobras and BP have signed a letter of intent (LOI) to jointly identify and evaluate business opportunities involving assets or ventures in Brazil and elsewhere, which include cooperation on upstream, LNG and downstream, with the purpose of developing a potential strategic alliance…
Brazil held its 2nd and 3rd production sharing rounds concerning pre-salt areas today (27 October) where Shell and Petrobras were early winners. Shell will participate in three blocks, and operate two, while Petrobras will serve as operator for three blocks…
ExxonMobil will join Statoil as a partner offshore Brazil, buying half of Statoil's interest in block BM-S-8, which contains part of the pre-salt Carcará oil field, for US$1.3 billion. The pair have also teamed up for a pre-salt licensing…
Tullow Oil's latest 'ambitious wildcat' well offshore Suriname, south America, has failed to make a commercial discovery. The Araku-1 exploration was drilled to a total depth of 2685m and penetrated the objectives of the Araku prospect…
MODEC has signed a contract for supply, charter, and operations of a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel with Brazil's Petrobras on 13 October 2017. The firm charter period of the contract is 21 years. The FPSO will be deployed at the Sépia field operated by Petrobras…
BP Trinidad and Tobago (bpTT) has awarded a new contract and contract extension for two Rowan jackup rigs for drilling programs offshore Trinidad and Tobago. Jackup Rowan EXL II has been awarded a one-year, five-well drilling program scheduled to begin in the 1Q 2018…
FairfieldNodal has begun a project to acquire and process high-resolution 3D marine seismic for the Libra consortium led by Petrobras, Total, Shell, China National Petroleum Corp., and CNOOC. The Libra project, FairfieldNodal’s first such project offshore Brazil…
Anadarko Petroleum has signed an exploration agreement with the government of Peru to explore 4.7 million acres across three deepwater blocks in the Trujillo Basin offshore Peru. The exploration phase of the agreement is a typical multi-year…
Spectrum Geoscience has started the Ceara Basin 2D multi-client seismic survey in the Equatorial Margins of northern offshore Brazil. The area contains sectors of the 15th licensing round, which is expected to close in Q2 2018. Data is being acquired with a 12…