ExxonMobil Upstream Research Co. has award the first license for a patented steam injection system in use in the Cold Lake oil sands project in Alberta to Baker Hughes.

Petroecuador has awarded a joint venture led by Tecpetrol International SA an incremental production contract covering Libertador and Atacapi mature fields in northern Ecuador.

A rig is expected to arrive in February to drill development wells in Lagia oil field on the Sinai Peninsula side of Egypt’s Gulf of Suez in preparation for a cyclic steamflood pilot.

Statoil ASA has let a contract to Reservoir Exploration Technology ASA, Oslo, for an ocean bottom seismic survey over Kvitebjorn field in the North Sea off Norway.

San Leon Energy PLC said it has established connectivity between the two test wells in its Tarfaya oil shale project in coastal southern Morocco.

Tethys Oil AB, Stockholm, has agreed with Odin Energi AS to acquire interests in Lithuanian oil companies UAB Minijos Nafta and UAB LL Investicos.

Statoil said the Norwegian Continental Shelf, where it made the world’s largest 2011 oil discovery at Aldous, will remain the company’s backbone for years.