Exploration

A New South Wales legislative committee has rejected calls for a moratorium on coal seam gas exploration.

Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister, Hussain Shahristani, has addressed outside pressure to resolve the ongoing dispute between Baghdad and Kurdistan over a block on oil deliveries, by stating that it was an “internal matter.”

Shell has announced that it has agreed to buy Cove Energy for US$ 1.8 billion in order to access a portion of Eastern Africa’s vast gas reserves. Despite the bid, hopes of a bidding war remain.

The exploration company, Borders & Southern has announced a “significant” gas condensate discovery off the Southern coast of the Falklands.

The latest EIC Monitor quarterly report tracking new project announcements shows that the global energy industry has seen encouraging signs of growth in the first quarter of 2012.

WGP has returned to the high Arctic, entering into a recently announced turnkey contract with (SMG).

Exoma Energy has employed a second drilling rig to explore for CSG, shale and oil in the Galilee Basin.

A review by the Department of Energy & Climate Change has concluded it is safe for Cuadrilla Resources to continue fracking in the Bowland Basin, Lancashire.

Keppel Corp has signed a LOI for the construction of five semisubmersible rigs for Sete Brazil in a deal worth US$ 4.12 billion.

Wintershall has discovered 60 – 160 million bbls of recoverable oil in the Skarfjell prospect in the northeastern North Sea.

At a recent meeting, Vladimir Putin, unveiled a new set of rules for offshore development in Russian territory as well as long awaited tax breaks that look set to make formally economically unviable projects possible.

China National Offshore Oil Corp. has signed a production sharing agreement (PSC) with the Italian company Eni China B.V.

Kosmos Energy has signed three Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) with the Government of Mauritania for Blocks C8, C12, and C13 offshore Mauritania.

Karoon Gas Australia Ltd. has begun its Phase-2 Browse drilling campaign by spudding the Boreas-1 well. Five more wells will be drilled as part of the programme.

Anadarko has discovered 525 feet of natural gas pay at the Barquentine-4 well, further expanding the resources available for a potential LNG export hub in the area.