Exploration

An overview of the North American natural gas industry

The Norwegian energy ministry has awarded Wintershall Norge ASA working interests in four new exploration licenses in the current licensing round, APA 2009. They comprise two new licenses in the Norwegian North Sea, one license in the Norwegian Sea and one license in the Barents Sea for the BASF subsidiary.

In my last column of 2009, I ended on a positive note cautiously claiming that all sectors across the energy supply chain were beginning to see signs of a recovery. Let’s take a look at some of the sectors in more detail.

Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee has announced the opening of bidding for six new petroleum exploration blocks across the Reinga Basin off the northwest coast of New Zealand.

After 30 years as Fairfield Industries, the seismic data acquisition and technology company has officially changed its name to FairfieldNodal. According to the company the new name was chosen because it better reflects its expertise across the full spectrum of nodal technology.

EXCO Resources, Inc. confirmed that its Marcellus Shale exploration and production activities, including drilling, are proceeding as planned with no interruption of its 2010 business goals.

An overview of recent developments in carbon capture and storage

DNV has recently established the Greater China Offshore Committee. Mr Zhou Shouwei, Vice General Manager of CNOOC and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, accepted DNV’s invitation to be the Chairman of the committee.

Geotrace has completed of one of the world’s largest onboard data processing projects for BP’s Sirt Basin concession off the coast of Libya.

Devon Energy Corp. has announced a pre-salt oil discovery in the Campos Basin, offshore Brazil. This initial exploratory well was drilled to a total depth of 16 240 ft and encountered approximately 240 ft of oil column.

Shell have been awarded a technical co-operation permit for a one-year study to investigate the hydrocarbon potential in parts of central South Africa.

Total has announced the discovery of hydrocarbons in the southern portion of the Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL) 223, offshore Southeastern Nigeria.

Chevron Corp. has announced an additional natural gas discovery in the Carnarvon Basin offshore Western Australia.

Major downstream investments have been announced by Petrolera Argentina, Husky Energy and Ecopetrol.

Exxon Mobil makes agreement with XTO Energy to enhance its position in the development of unconventional gas and oil resources.