Oil & gas news

ExxonMobil has announced the successful completion of the first two extended reach wells at the Odoptu field offshore eastern Russia, employing one of the world's most powerful land based rigs. ExxonMobil subsidiary Exxon Neftegas Ltd (ENL) is operator on behalf of the five company international Sakhalin-1 Consortium.

Total and ConocoPhillips have announced the sanction of the Surmont Phase 2 SAGD (steam assisted gravity drainage) development in Canada. The project will increase Surmont’s production capacity from 27 000 - 11 000 bbls of bitumen per day.

The Ministry of Oil of the Republic of Iraq, Shell and Petronas have signed a 20 year contract to provide technical assistance in the development of the Majnoon oilfield.

Cirrus Energy Corp. has announced an operational update regarding ongoing activities in its wholly owned subsidiary, Cirrus Energy Nederland BV in The Netherlands. The company’s 2010 drilling programme is expected to include a total of four to five wells.

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.

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.

An overview of recent developments in carbon capture and storage

GAIL India’s profits are up; the company invests heavily in pipelines in the next three years

Statoil has tested the world’s first rotary steerable liner while drilling system, which was jointly developed by Statoil and Baker Hughes Inc.

InterOil Corp. has announced that drill stem test (DST) 2 at the Antelope-2 well in Papua New Guinea showed a 15% increase in condensate to gas ratio (CGR) in comparison to DST 1.