US supermajor ExxonMobil said it is planning to restart exploration drilling at its giant Cepu Block in Indonesia, despite rumours that it is looking to divest its interest, in a bid to find new reserves. Cepu, which holds the Banyu Urip project, one of Southeast Asia’s biggest oil developments, is Indonesia’s largest oil producing block.
Natural declines and underinvestment in new exploration has left Philippine oil and gas production in freefall posing significant risks to future energy security. The risk is particularly acute given how reliant the Southeast Asian nation is on oil and gas for power generation, industrial processes and transportation, warn analysts at Fitch Solutions. But interest from investors has been rekindled.
Rig owner Awilco said today that a number of positive signs pointed to more drilling work and higher contract values in the North Sea.
Aquadrill Offshore’s ultra-deep water drill ship West Capella is favoured to win the single-well contract for Repsol’s much-anticipated Rencong-1X wildcat in the North Sumatra basin offshore Indonesia.
POSCO International will start exploration offshore Peninsular Malaysia after winning the rights to the 4,738 sq km shallow-water Block PM524 as the South Korean company seeks to expand its footprint outside of Myanmar in the Southeast Asia region.
Deep-water drilling activities are bouncing back in Southeast Asia following a lacklustre 2020 with overall spending expected to rise 51% this year to $504 million and almost back to 2019 levels, estimates from Rystad Energy show.
Shell has snapped up new exploration acreage in Malaysia offshore the state of Sarawak in a move that underscores the supermajor’s commitment to country’s upstream sector.
Westwood Global Energy reports that as of June 28 there were two appraisal wells active in the UK. Completions to date in 2021 are one appraisal well at 22/26d-3 Glengorm South and two exploration wells at 22/6c-B4Z Bacchus South and 16/2a-6 Tiger Lily.
Westwood Global Energy reports that there were two exploration and one appraisal wells active as of July 28. Key wells in July include frontier play tests at Stovegolvet and Stangnestind, both of which completed. A total of 17 exploration wells have completed to date in 2021, from which seven commercial discoveries have been made giving a 41% commercial success rate to date.
Earlier this month Murphy Oil joined a long list of explorers, which includes BP, Equinor, Chevron, Karoon Energy, Bight Petroleum, and their joint venture partners, that have now exited and passed over the opportunity to unlock the Great Australian Bight.
A consortium of PGS, TGS and WesternGeco have secured funding for a 6,400 sq km multi-client 3D seismic survey starting in October in the Sarawak basin offshore Malaysia.
East Timor could pocket just over $600 million if the Buffalo-10 exploration well, due to be drilled late October, is successful. The operator, Australia’s Carnarvon Petroleum, as well as UK partner Advance Energy, said yesterday that they have secured a jack-up drilling rig for the probe at the historic Buffalo field offshore East Timor.
Norwegian energy giant Equinor has become the first company to start drilling an exploration well on the UK Continental Shelf this year.
Eni will work with Indonesian upstream regulator SKKMigas to process and interpret seismic data owned by Indonesia using the Italian major’s proprietary technologies and facilities.
Bidding is now open for some 80,000 square kilometres of new offshore exploration acreage covering six basins in Australia as the government hopes to rejuvenate lacklustre activity and improve energy security.
Longboat Energy intends to raise £35 million via a share placement to help pay for its spot on an exploration campaign off Norway.
PGNiG has acquired a 25% interest in the Musakhel Block in central Pakistan, which the Polish state oil and gas producer estimates holds 16 billion cubic metres of gas resources.
Thailand’s PTT Exploration & Production (PTTEP) and Malaysia’s Petronas have made a second gas discovery in the shallow waters of Balingian province off the Malaysian state of Sarawak.
A landmark International Energy Agency (IEA) roadmap says no new oil and gas fields should be developed – beyond those already sanctioned -- if the global energy sector is to achieve net-zero emissions by mid-century.
The sinking of Velesto Energy’s NAGA (dragon) 7 jack-up rig offshore Malaysia has prompted investment firm CGS-CIMB to upgrade the drilling company as the closed-door investigation into the accident continues.
Westwood Global Energy reports that as of April 27 there was one appraisal well active in the UK, operations on which were in the process of completing. To date, one exploration well has completed in 2021.
Oil and gas firms can expect “plenty of potential demand” for production from future discoveries made towards the end of the decade.
Rig contractor Awilco said today it would drill an exploration well in the UK North Sea for Ithaca Energy.
Shell and partner Deltic Energy have confirmed plans to drill the “high-impact” Pensacola prospect in the UK southern North Sea.
Equinor has announced the biggest discovery so far this year on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS).