Ten wells are active in the UK sector - five exploration and five appraisals - all mobile-based. A flurry of activity at the end March/early April saw the number of spuds rise to 13 wells - eight exploration and five appraisals as well as one exploration and three appraisal sidetracks. One exploration re-spud and two exploration re-entries are also recorded.
Eni has notched up a further success at its so-called West Hub project with its ninth oil find on block 15/06, offshore deepwater Angola.
US super-major Chevron has notched up its 20th gas discovery offshore Western Australia since mid-2009 with its oddly British sounding Kentish Knock South-1 exploration well in the Carnarvon Basin's Exmouth Plateau area.
Wintershall has made an oil discovery on exploration licence F17a in the Dutch sector of the North Sea about 120km north of Den Helder in some 44m water depth.
Though Tullow Oil has encountered hydrocarbons with its Okure-1 exploration probe drilled on the Deepwater Tano Block offshore Ghana to a total depth of 4,511m (14,800ft), the drill-bit encountered low net to gross oil-bearing reservoir in a secondary objective, having penetrated non-reservoir quality formations at the main objective levels below the so-called "TEN cluster".
Hess has struck oil with its Pecan-1 exploration well drilled on the Deepwater Tano/Cape Three Points licence offshore Ghana.
The super-drillship Stena Carron continues to grind away at the South Uist deepwater (1,300m) exploration well.
Momentum is building in the Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea with a fresh and potentially commercial condensate discovery and approvals granted for two further exploration wells.
Tullow Oil has started drilling a second exploration well onshore northwestern Kenya on block 13T as a follow-up to its Ngamia-1 well drilled in the Turkana region block 10BB about 30km east of this wellsite.
Chariot has reported a disappointing exploration well offshore Namibia, while an appraisal drilled by Kosmos on Ghana's West Cape Three Points block has failed to produce commercially viable results.
Genel Energy, whose CEO is Tony Hayward, has concluded the drilling and initial testing of the Ber Bahr-1 exploration well on the Kurdistan Iraq Ber Bahr block.The well was drilled to a total depth of 3,933m (12,904ft) in the Chia Zairi formation and has been completed and tested.
Heavy oil explorer Xcite said yesterday it had agreed a deal for use of a shuttle tanker to store and take away oil from its North Sea Bentley field.
Apache, operator of block L8 offshore Kenya, has secured the use of the deepwater drillship Deepsea Metro 1 to drill an exploration well on the block during Q3 this year.
Premier Oil said today it would plug and abandon its Bluebell prospect in the central North Sea after reaching total depth.
ExxonMobil's two shale wells drilled in Poland's Podlasie and Lublin Basins have failed to flow commercial volumes of gas.The two wells, Siennica-1 which was drilled to a total depth of 3,847m (12,622ft) on the Minsk Mazowiecki block in the Podlasie Basin, and the Krupe-1 ... 3,807m (12,49 ft) -Chelm block in the Lublin Basin, were completed with hydraulic fracturing late last year. Gas was found but neither well achieved significant output on test.
Repsol has encountered oil in the deepest well drilled to date offshore Brazil, according to the Brazilian government's petroleum regulator ANP. The agency said the discovery well - l 1REPF12DRJS - was drilled to a total depth of 7,132m (23,400ft) in waters 2,789m deep, on Campos Basin block C-M-539. It said that the well has not yet been declared commercially viable and will require further work and analysis. Repsol said only that traces of oil were encountered.
The Saipem semi-submersible drilling rig Scarabeo 9 has passed inspection by the US authorities and should have spudded its first (and maiden) exploration well in Cuban waters by the time this edition of Energy appears.
Semi-state operator Petrobras has made another discovery in Brazil's Santos Basin with its exploration well 4-BRSA-946C-SPS, drilled on block BM-S-8.
North Falkland Basin oil and gas company Desire Petroleum said yesterday that drilling had begun on the Dawn/Jacinta well.
ANADARKO has apparently made an oil discovery offshore Mozambique with an exploration well drilled into the Ironclad Prospect, which is located on the same block as the recent Windjammer gas discovery. It was in February that the US independent made a gas discovery with its Windjammer probe. Early estimates place reserves in the 4-10trillion cu ft range.
ANADARKO Petroleum has made what is says is a major discovery with its Lucius exploration well drilled in the ultra-deepwater sector of the US Gulf of Mexico in Keathley Canyon Block 875.
WHILE most new drilling tonnage is built in East Asia, the US continues to build, too. The first of four $200million Rowan EXL Super 116E jack-up drilling rigs has just kissed the water for the first time at the Keppel AmFELS Yard in Brownsville, Texas.
BP CONTINUES its stunning run of discoveries on Angola's ultra-deepwater block 31 with Leda, the 17th find to date. The latest lies in the north-central part of the concession, some 415km north-west of Luanda and 12km south-west of the Marte field.
Chevron North Sea said yesterday that drilling operations had begun on an exploration well west of Shetland.
ITALIAN energy giant Eni has reported a new oil discovery in the Timor Sea in the jointly administered area held by Timor Leste and Australia. Eni said the exploration well, Kitan-1, was drilled in block JPDA06-105, some 500km off the Australian coast, to a total depth of 3,568m (11,707ft) and encountered a "significant" column of hydrocarbons.