A unit of HRT Participacoes em Petroleo SA, Rio de Janeiro, has spudded the 1-HRT-11-AM exploratory well on the Cajazeira prospect on the SOL-T-172 block in Brazil’s Solimoes basin.

TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Co. has begun shooting 9,191 km of 2D multiclient seismic offshore Sierra Leone.

Strata-X Energy Ltd., Golden, Colo., plans to drill a horizontal well in the Illinois basin to test for oil in an undisclosed dolomitic formation below the Devonian New Albany shale.

RWE Dea and EMPG, 50-50 partners in Becklingen gas field of Lower Saxony in north-central Germany, have completed and placed on production the Becklingen-Z2 well and have estimated the well’s ultimate recovery at 35 bcf.

Petromanas Energy Inc., Calgary, has continued to surmount drilling difficulties at its Shpirag-2 exploratory well on the Berati thrust belt in Albania.

Wintershall AG has made a gas discovery off Qatar on the Block 4 North exploration and production sharing agreement area signed in November 2008.

Genel Energy PLC has completed the acquisition of 75% of Mediterranean Oil & Gas PLC’s shareholding in Phoenicia Energy Co. Ltd., which owns exploration rights to Area 4 offshore southeast of Malta.

Greenfields Petroleum Corp., Houston, and other partners in Bahar Energy Ltd. have approved a 3D seismic survey for Gum Deniz oil field in Azerbaijan based on 2D seismic results and the start of the development drilling program.

Brazil’s ANP has extended for 4 years the second exploration period for 10 of the 21 blocks held by HRT Participacoes em Petroleo SA, Rio de Janeiro, in the southern and eastern Solimoes basin of Brazil.

Kulczyk Oil Ventures Inc., Calgary, said its 70% owned KUB-Gas LLC subsidiary has spudded the Olgovskoye-15 directional well in Ukraine.

Apco Oil & Gas International Inc., Tulsa, plans capital spending of $66 million in 2013 compared with outlays of $54.4 million last year.

TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Co. is to start two multiclient 3D seismic surveys in the Barents Sea offshore Norway.

The consortium led by Pardaliservices SA plans to spud Secoya-44, the first of five new production wells, in Libertador oil field in mid-March, said Canacol Energy Ltd., Calgary, which has a 25% working interest.

Petrominerales Ltd., Calgary, said it resumed production testing in January 2013 at its Tatama horizontal well in Colombia’s Llanos basin, where the company operates the Rio Ariari, Chiguiro Oeste, and Chiguiro Este blocks.