Total UK Ltd. said 5 days of close monitoring confirms the success of a May 15 top kill operation on the leaking G4 natural gas well on the Elgin complex, 240 km from Aberdeen in the UK North Sea.

Repsol SA has declared a dry hole at its deepwater exploratory well in the Gulf of Mexico north of Cuba, press reports indicated May 18.

There were a total of 1,986 oil and gas drilling rigs working in the US this week, up by 12 units from last week. The rig count for the week ended May 18 was up by 156 rigs compared with the same period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. ordered a $655 million ultradeepwater drillship from Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. with delivery scheduled for fourth-quarter 2014.

US oil and gas drilling activity this week rose by 9 units to reach 1,974 total rigs working. The rig count for the week ended May 11 was up by 144 rigs compared with the same period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

Repsol SA continues drilling Cuba’s first offshore oil well as some US government agencies, oil and gas organizations, and environmental groups press to ease restrictions that would keep US companies from responding if the well blows out and sets off a spill, experts at a Center for International Policy seminar said.

CGX Energy Inc., Toronto, found water-bearing sandstones with hydrocarbon shows in the Eagle-1 wildcat on its 100% owned Corentyne Petroleum Prospecting License offshore Guyana.

Chevron Corp. said the Pacific Santa Ana, a deepwater drillship built with the capacity to perform dual gradient drilling (DGD), has arrived in the Gulf of Mexico to work for Chevron under a 5-year contract with a subsidiary of Pacific Drilling SA.

US oil and gas drilling activity this week increase by 20 units to reach 1,965 total rigs working. The rig count for the week ended May 4 was up by 129 rigs compared with the same period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

Lundin Norway AS has signed a letter of intent with Kvaerner Stord AS serving as an engineering, procurement, and construction contract covering topside installations for a steel platform on Edvard Grieg oil and gas field, previously called Luno, offshore Norway.

The Leviathan-1 well has become the Levant basin’s deepest known penetration at a total depth of 21,400 ft, where Noble Energy Inc. halted drilling due to high pressure and mechanical limits of the wellbore design.

US oil and gas drilling activity this week declined by 27 units to reach 1,945 total rigs working. The rig count for the week ended Apr. 27 was up by 127 rigs compared with the same period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

Lukoil has started drilling production wells and building the central processing facility at supergiant West Qurna-2 oil field in Iraq, where it targets production of 500,000 b/d by 2013-14 (OGJ Online, Mar. 22, 2012).