Zambia is set to award exploration licenses for 11 oil and gas blocks in the northwest, east, and west of the country, according to Maxwell Mwale, minister of mines and mineral development.
Ivanhoe Energy Inc. said its Asian subsidiary plans to acquire interest in a production-sharing agreement (PSA) held by PanAsian Petroleum Inc., which holds exploration and production rights to a large block in central Mongolia.
Devon Energy Corp. plans to accelerate drilling in its southern Haynesville shale play based upon results from a well in San Augustine County, Tex.
Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) says it has extended Marimba oil field to the north in the Campos basin off Brazil.
Carnarvon Petroleum Ltd., Perth, and its joint venture partner Pan Orient Energy Corp., Calgary, completed testing the BR-3D1 appraisal well in Bo Rang B oil field in Thailand and declared the field commercial.
BP PLC has confirmed a westward extension of deepwater Kaskida field in the Lower Tertiary trend of the Gulf of Mexico.
The US Minerals Management Service’s next Central Gulf of Mexico lease sale on Mar. 17, 2010, will include a shorter initial lease term for blocks in 400-1,600 m of water, US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said on Nov. 13.
Petroleo Brazileiro SA (Petrobras) reported that a new well drilled in the Tupi area of the Santos basin off Brazil further confirms reserves estimates of 5-8 billion boe of light oil and natural gas.
Whiting Oil & Gas Corp., Denver, let a contract to MicroSeismic Inc., Houston, for a buried array microseismic monitoring program in Sanish oil and gas field in the North Dakota portion of the Williston basin.
The first development well in BP PLC-operated NS377 oil field on the Shadwan Development Lease in Egypt’s Gulf of Suez cut 144 m of gross oil column in the Miocene Kareem formation.
Shell Exploration & Production France SAS acquired a 33% interest from Tullow Oil PLC in an exploration license off French Guiana, and Tullow said it expects to farm out more of its interest by the end of 2009.
GeoResources Inc., Houston, said the pace of activity in the Williston basin Bakken/Three Forks play is increasing in its joint venture with Slawson Exploration Co., private Wichita-based operator.
Norwood Resources Ltd., Vancouver, BC, drilled a sidetrack hole at the planned total depth of 7,000 ft at the San Bartolo-1X exploration well in western Nicaragua’s Sandino basin.
Estimated ultimate recovery of more than 100 million bbl of oil has been confirmed for OMV AG-operated Maari field and adjacent Manaia field in the offshore portion of New Zealand’s Taranaki basin, two of the field’s partners said.
Kea Petroleum Ltd., private New Zealand operator, has been awarded the PEP 51339 exploration permit just north of Auckland in the lightly explored Northland basin.
Reliance Industries Ltd., Mumbai, reported a Miocene oil discovery in the Cambay basin southwest of Ahmedabad, India, that Reliance said “is expected to open future potential within the block.”
Texalta Petroleum Ltd., Calgary, is spudding its fourth horizontal well at Wordsworth, Sask, to evaluate the eastern end of the Mississippian Alida oil reservoir found at a 2006 discovery well.
Addax Petroleum Corp. has spudded the Malanza-1X exploratory well in Block 4 of the Nigeria-Sao Tome Joint Development Zone in the Gulf of Guinea.
CNOOC Ltd. has spudded the Bogal-1 exploration well on Block 9 in the Anza basin in northwestern Kenya.
Cohort Energy Co., a subsidiary of J-W Operating Co., Dallas, and Caithness Petroleum Ltd., London, hold a 60-40% interest in 20,319 acres in the oil window of the Barnett shale play in the Fort Worth basin of North Texas.
