HRT Participacoes em Petroleo SA, Rio de Janeiro, will sign a final contract in early June under which the Transocean Marianas semisubmersible will drill for the company offshore Namibia starting in late 2012.

SOCO International PLC plans to fly aerogravity and aeromagnetic surveys over part of Block V in eastern Congo (former Zaire) in June 2012.

HRT Oil & Gas drillstem tested subcommercial amounts of 41° gravity oil at the 1-HRT-6-AM well on Block SOL-T-170 in the Solimoes basin in northwestern Brazil.

Bangladesh, mainly a gas-producing country, has discovered indications of an oil pay zone in two Surma basin gas fields.

Iran has claimed to have made a discovery of as much as 10 billion bbl of oil offshore in the Caspian Sea, but few details have been disclosed.

Bill Barrett Corp., Denver, said the company has resumed exploratory drilling at its Yellow Jacket prospect in southwestern Colorado in the quarter ended Mar. 31.

Argentina’s Mendoza Province has awarded Wintershall Energia SA and Total Austral SA 50-50 interest in an exploration permit for the Area Ranquil Norte.

Poland has awarded San Leon Energy PLC the Praszka exploration concession in the southern Permian/SW Carboniferous basin.

Heritage Oil PLC said preparations are under way to drill a high-impact well in Area 7 in the Mediterranean offshore Malta.

Melrose Resources PLC and the Midia Resources SRL subsidiary of Sterling Resources Ltd., Calgary, will begin shooting 1,920 sq km of 3D seismic in the Black Sea off Romania in June, enough to cover the Muridava and Est Cobalcescu blocks, said Melrose.

The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change and the British Geological Survey have authorized TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Co. to release on line new and historical data for all land and offshore wells in the UK.

Petrolia Inc., Rimouski, Que., has been issued drilling permits for two wells in the Gaspe area of Quebec that target conventional prospects of the Bourque reef complex.

CAMAC Energy Inc., Houston, said it has signed production sharing contracts on two newly created deepwater blocks off Kenya in addition to two Lamu basin land blocks previously awarded.

Tethys Petroleum Ltd. said its Chegara Production Ltd. subsidiary signed a 25-year production enhancement contract that covers the Chegara group of fields in Uzbekistan.