Exploration

2018 stands already as the best year for global oil and gas exploration since 2015. Guyana, Russia and the United States top the list with major discoveries.

Sercel has been awarded a contract by BGP to supply land seismic equipment for a large onshore 3D seismic survey in the Middle East. The contract includes 100 000 Sercel 508XT channels equipped with strings of 12 SG-10 geophones.

Total and the Ministry of Petroleum, Energy and Mines of Mauritania have signed an agreement awarding Total two new exploration and production contracts for Blocks C15 and C31 deep offshore Mauritania.

The company has invited NGOs, who wish to do so, to visit its installations to understand the precautionary measures taken on its drilling rig.

Eni Oman BV in partnership with Oman Oil Company Exploration and Production has awarded Shearwater GeoServices a seismic survey in Block 52, offshore Oman.

Vår Energi is the largest independent exploration and production company on the Norwegian continental shelf, with a net production rate of more than 170 000 boe/d in 2018.

The company has announced that drilling at Indico-1 well on the CPO-5 block has reached target depth of 10 604 ft measured depth and has encountered the targeted Lower Sands of the Une formation.

Afoxé discovery is a further confirmation of the oil exploration potential still held in southern part of Block 15/06, previously considered mainly gas prone.

Leading ROV and hydrographic survey company, Rovco, has been awarded further funding to develop the next stage of its integrated live 3D vision and artificial intelligence (AI) survey technology.

The Paus Biru-1 exploration well has resulted in a gas discovery.

The Cassidy prospect sits within the PL405 Oda licence and is being drilled back-to-back with the production wells on the Oda structure.

The first exploration well on Orinduik is to be drilled in late May - early June 2019, on the Jethro-Lobe prospect.

The programme spans shallow water and deepwater wells in several regions requiring a combination of jack-ups, semi-submersibles, and drillships.

During this period OMV will continue to benefit from onsite access to CGG’s subsurface imaging and reservoir characterisation expertise and technology.

The Petroleum Safety Authority has granted the company consent to drill on the Bøyla field.