Raffles Energy SRL and Zeta Petroleum PLC will study the feasibility of hooking up two commercial gas discovery wells this year on the 2,403 sq km Suceava concession in northern Romania.

The latest appraisal well in Johan Sverdrup field in the North Sea offshore Norway has encountered excellent reservoir and confirmed the deep oil-water contact, said a unit of Lundin Petroleum AB, Stockholm.

PRD Energy Inc., Calgary, said its Germany unit has been provisionally awarded the 200,000-acre Uelzen exploration license in Lower Saxony north of Hannover, Germany, subject to review by various municipal and state authorities.

Chevron Corp.’s Moroccan subsidiary has signed reconnaissance agreements with Morocco’s Onhym covering three frontier deepwater areas offshore in the Atlantic.

EastSiberian PLC, formerly PetroKamchatka PLC, has applied to relinquish the Tigilskaya exploration license in Kamchatka, Russia, and will focus on proven oil basins elsewhere in Russia.

Buccaneer Energy Ltd., Sydney, said the Kenai Loop-4 well on the east side of Alaska’s Cook Inlet tested gas to surface at 3 MMcfd on a 12/64-in. choke with 3,365 psi flowing tubing pressure. No water was detected, and gas was flared.

Apache Corp.’s New Zealand affiliate has informed TAG Oil Ltd., Vancouver, BC, that it will elect not to undertake the Phase 2 program under the East Coast basin farmout dated Sept. 1, 2011.

AmRich LLC, private Santa Maria, Calif., operator, has closed a farmout from Underground Energy Corp., Santa Barbara, Calif., under which AmRich will earn as much as a 75% working interest from Underground and its joint operating partners’ interest in 1,063 gross acres of the central southern part of the Zaca field extension project in Santa Barbara County, Calif.

Gran Tierra Energy Inc., Calgary, said a horizontal well in the Neuquen basin of Argentina is flowing light oil naturally from the Lower Cretaceous Loma Montosa tight reservoir after a multistage frac job.

TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Co., through its wholly-owned subsidiary Arcis Seismic Solutions, has begun shooting a 180 sq km 3D multiclient onshore survey at Ille Lake, between Sylvan Lake and Drayton Valley, in the deep basin of Central Alberta, Canada.

The US Geological Survey has let a contract to Bell Geospace to assist in a comprehensive, high-resolution airborne survey to assess minerals and water potential in northeastern Iowa and southeastern Minnesota.

Petromanas Energy Inc., Calgary, will plug its Juban-1 wildcat in northern Albania at a total depth of 1,716 m after a logging program indicated negligible hydrocarbons.

Miller Energy Resources Inc., Huntsville, Tenn., said its first horizontal well in the Mississippian Fort Pay lime formation in Tennessee exposed 2,300 ft of pay section.

Gran Tierra Energy Inc., Calgary, plans to spud the Bretana Norte 95-2-1XD exploratory well on Block 95 in Peru’s Maranon basin this month.