Jul 30, 2012 - ExxonMobil has encountered additional hydrocarbons in its third well offshore Da Nang, Vietnam. The well 118-CVX-3X, on the Ca Voi Xanh field, was drilled by the Seadrill West Aquarius (UDW semisub). The well has been plugged, and the rig has left the site.

Jul 30, 2012 - Chariot Oil & Gas has commenced exploratory drilling on the Nimrod prospect offshore Namibia. The company said that the well is the second in its four-to-five well drilling program in the region. The well is being drilled by the Ocean Rig Poseidon (UDW drillship). The firm has previously reported that Nimrod is estimated to contain around 4.9 billion barrels of potential gross mean prospective resources. The drilling location is around 50 miles (80 kilometers) offshore Namibia in 1,180 feet (360 meters) of water and has an estimated total drilling depth of approximately 11,000 feet (3,353 meters). Drilling and logging operations are expected to take approximately 60 days.

Jul 30, 2012 - Ithaca Energy is moving forward with development on the Stella and Harrier fields by awarding Technip a contract to carry out all subsea engineering work in the Greater Stella Area. The EPIC (engineering, procurement, installation and construction) contract includes the detailed design and pipelay of a 20-mile (32-kilometer), 10-inch oil export pipeline and a 38-mile (61-kilometer), 10-inch gas export pipeline to the fields' production platform, along with various other subsea work. The contract is scheduled to be completed in the second half of 2013. The Greater Stella Area development is located on the UK Continental Shelf around 175 miles (282 kilometers) east-southeast of Aberdeen, Scotland, in a depth of approximately 300 feet (91 meters).

Jul 30, 2012 - China National Petroleum has pulled out of developing Phase 11 of Iran's offshore South Pars gas field, reported Dow Jones newswires. The firm, which had delayed the project for more than 1,130 days, has already withdrawn all of its workers from the southern Iranian port city of Assaluyeh, the onshore part of South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf, Mehr said, citing information from the oil ministry.

Jul 30, 2012 - Chevron announced that its subsidiary will proceed with the development of the Lianzi field located in a unitized offshore zone between the Republic of Congo and the Republic of Angola. Located 65 miles (105 kilometers) offshore in approximately 3,000 feet (900 meters) of water, the Lianzi field will be developed via a subsea tie-back to the existing Benguela Belize Lobito Tomboco (BBLT) platform located in Angola Block 14. The $2 billion development will include a subsea production system and a 27-mile (43-kilometer) electrically heated flowline to transport the oil from the field to the BBLT platform. First oil is expected in 2015. Once completed, the project is expected to produce a maximum of 46,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Chevron Overseas Congo Limited is operator of the Lianzi field and has a 31.25% interest, along with Total (36.75%), ENI (10%), Sonangol (10%), SNPC (the Republic of Congo National Oil Company 7.5%), and GALP (4.5%).

Jul 27, 2012 - Statoil has commenced exploratory drilling on well 16/2-12 targeting the Geitungen structure. The main objective of well 16/2-12 is to prove the presence of oil-bearing Jurassic sandstones similar to the Johan Sverdrup discovery. The planned total depth of the well is 6,759 feet (2,060 meters) and will be drilled by the Ocean Vanguard (mid-water semisub). Drilling should take about 40 days.

Jul 27, 2012 - Lundin Petroleum has completed the Tiga Papan-5 well in Blocks SB307 and SB308 offshore Sabah, Malaysia. The Tiga Papan-5 well targeted an un-appraised fault block of mid-Miocene aged sands at the Tiga Papan unit, which was successfully tested in 1982 by the Tiga Papan 1 well. The well penetrated the target reservoir interval but proved to be water-bearing. The well will be plugged and abandoned as a dry hole. Offshore Courageous (350' ILC) jackup will now move to drill the Barangan prospect located in Block SB303.

Jul 26, 2012 - Rialto Energy spud the Gazelle-P4 development well using the GSF Monitor (350' ILC) jackup. Gazelle-P4 is testing the oil potential of the UC-2 and UC-4 oil reservoirs as well as the gas potential of the UC-3, UC-5, LC-1 and LC-2 gas reservoirs discovered by the IVCO-12 and IVCO-21 wells. The Gazelle-P4 well is expected to take approximately 45 days.

Jul 26, 2012 - Alcatel-Lucent together with the Technip Samsung Consortium (TSC) is set to provide an advanced communications system for Shell’s new Prelude FLNG facility. The system will enhance the safety and efficiency of operations and provide entertainment and communications services for crew members on the facility, 124 miles (200 kilometers) off Western Australia. The communications system will include operations, safety, and entertainment systems such as: trunk and marine radio communications; air communications radar recorder (black box); beacons; local and wide area networks; voice over IP; closed circuit TV; public address alarm systems; distress and safety systems; GPS; weather monitoring; and search and rescue transponders.

Jul 25, 2012 - Providence Resources confirms that estimates of the size of its Barryroe find in the Celtic Sea offshore Ireland have been upgraded. The company reported that its oil in place estimates for Barryroe were now 1,043 million barrels of oil on a P50 basis and up to 1,612 million barrels on a P10 basis. On July 6, oil analysts at Liberum Capital speculated that Barryroe could contain around one billion barrels of oil in place and more than 160 million barrels of recoverable oil. After Providence's announcement, the London-based investment bank upgraded its estimate of recoverable reserves to 200 million barrels. Providence said that after the successful drilling and testing of the Barryroe 48/24-10z well in March, it has now completed a series of comprehensive post-well studies in order to update the in-place volumetric resource estimate for the Barryroe discovery.

Jul 25, 2012 - Lundin spud its fifth appraisal well on the Johan Sverdrup discovery in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. The 16/2-13 well is situated about 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) northeast of the discovery well that was found in 2010. The main objective is to determine the top reservoir, reservoir quality and thickness, as well as oil-water contact in this part of the field. The planned total depth of the well is 7,050 feet (2,148 meters) and drilling operations are being conducted by the Transocean Arctic (mid-water semisub). Drilling should take about 45 days.

Jul 25, 2012 - Statoil has received consent from the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway to use West Elara (490' ILC) jackup at the Valemon field. The consent relates to the hook-up of West Elara to the jacket, drilling and installation of 30-inch conductors in the planned first 12 wells and drilling well B-20 for injection of drill cuttings and mud in the Utsira formation. The planned start-up date is July 15, 2012.

Jul 25, 2012 - Fluke Engenharia has received a contract from Subsea 7 to fabricate 27 suction piles for use in the Guara-Lula field, which is part of the pre-salt cluster in the Santos basin offshore Brazil. Fluke Engenharia will manufacture the products at its Macae facilities and will deliver them over the course of 2012.

Jul 25, 2012 - Murphy announced plans to appraise its Diamond discovery at Lloyd Ridge Block 370 in the Gulf of Mexico. Diamond is estimated to contain between 400 billion and 500 billion cubic feet of gas, according to Murphy Chief Executive Claiborne Deming. Depending on the results, Murphy will either keep the rig on site for appraisal drilling or move it to a third prospect, Emerald. Located in Lloyd Ridge Block 317, the Emerald prospect potentially has 150 Bcf of gas in recoverable reserves.

Jul 25, 2012 - Deep Gulf Energy reported that the Winter discovery, which was drilled in June 2009, is temporarily abandoned as various development options are under consideration. The discovery is in close proximity to the DGE operated GB 339 Sargent well that is tied-back to the GB 72 fixed platform.