TAG Oil Ltd., Vancouver, BC, said its Ngapaeruru-1 exploratory well on PEP 38349 in New Zealand’s East Coast basin had excellent mud gas shows at 1,140-1,295 m and that preliminary gas ratio analysis indicates a predominantly wet gas/oil signature.

Sinopec Group’s Addax Petroleum Cameroon Ltd. unit has let a contract to Atwood Oceanics Inc. for the Atwood Aurora jack up to drill offshore Cameroon.

WesternZagros Resources Ltd., Calgary, has completed satellite topography mapping of the 1,780 sq km Garmian block in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Buccaneer Energy Ltd., Sydney, has spudded the Cosmo-1 well in 80 ft of water in Cook Inlet 30 miles northwest of Homer, Alaska.

Joint Oil, the Tunisia-Libya offshore authority, has approved a farmout by Sonde Resources Corp., Calgary, of the Joint Oil block in the Mediterranean off the two countries to Viking Exploration & Production Tunisia Ltd., a private company.

Magnum Hunter Resources Corp., Houston, has taken delivery of a robotic drilling rig, the fifth rig in its fleet, that it expects to spud a Utica shale well in southeastern Ohio on June 1.

Condor Petroleum Inc., Calgary, received regulatory approval for a completion and testing program of KN-E-201 oil discovery on the 2,610 sq km Zharkamys territory in the Precaspian basin in Kazakhstan.

A group led by Mitra Energy Ltd. has spudded the 46/07-ND-1X exploratory well in less than 70 m of water on 3,281 sq km Block 46/07 on the northeastern margin of the Malay-Tho Chu basin offshore southernmost Viet Nam.

Eni Vietnam BV has secured the Ensco 107 jack up to drill the Cua Lo prospect on Block 105 in the Song Hong basin shelf offshore Viet Nam and west-southwest of China's Hainan Island, said Neon Energy Ltd., Perth.

An undisclosed international integrated oil and gas company has signed a letter of intent to take a farmout of part of ERHC Energy Inc.’s in Block 11A onshore Kenya.

Aera Energy LLC has drilled the Aera-Mortgage 881D-15 well in Kings County, Calif., in the San Joaquin basin to a final vertical depth of 15,362 ft and run electric logs.

The Spanish Council of Ministers awarded two new onshore exploration licenses to San Leon Energy PLC’s wholly owned subsidiary, Frontera Energy, targeting both unconventional and conventional resources.

A group operated by Valiant Causeway Ltd. will drill the first well on the Handcross Prospect in the West of Shetland area offshore the UK this autumn with the Stena Drilling Carron drillship.

Kulczyk Oil Ventures Inc., Calgary, said its AED Southeast Asia Ltd. subsidiary is rigging up to drill the Lukut Updip-1 well on the onshore portion of 1,123 sq km Block L in Brunei.