Westwood Energy has released its 2018 State of Exploration Report, the ninth edition of the definitive report covering global conventional oil and gas exploration. Key conclusions from the report are: • Exploration drilling activity in 2017 was little changed compared to 2016 but performance was strong with discovered volumes more than double that of 2016, overall commercial success rates rising to a record high of 47% and record low finding
LEADING PNG oil and gas company Oil Search Ltd believes a proposed three LNG train expansion and development will be ready to enter FEED in the second half of this year. Oil Search’s managing director, Peter Botten, told a company meeting today that the various partners in the PNG LNG and Papua LNG ventures had now agreed on the three train concept. The be constructed in the PNG LNG plant
EXXON Mobil Corporation has announced today its seventh oil discovery offshore Guyana, following drilling at the Pacora-1 exploration well. The company encountered approximately 20 m of high-quality, oil-bearing sandstone reservoir. The well was safely drilled to 5,597m depth in 2,067m of water. “This latest discovery further increases our confidence in developing this key area of the Stabroek Block,” said Steve Greenlee, president of ExxonMobil Exploration Company. “Pacora will be developed
CGG GeoConsulting and the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) have announced the discovery of two independent live oil seeps from different parts of the island of Jamaica. This significant find marks the first documented occurrence of ‘live’, or flowing, oil from onshore Jamaica and will be of particular interest to oil explorationists focused on Central America and the Caribbean. The oil seeps were found during fieldwork for a recently completed
ExxonMobil has announced plans to triple total daily production to more than 600,000 oil-equivalent barrels by 2025 from its operations in the Permian Basin in West Texas and New Mexico. Tight oil production from the Delaware and Midland basins will increase five-fold in the same period. The company said recent changes in the U.S. corporate tax rate create an environment for increased future capital investments, including ExxonMobil’s plan to spend
Industry confidence has increased much faster than the oil price, as two-thirds of senior professionals globally plan to maintain or increase capital spending in 2018. 36% expect to increase investment in R&D and innovation – the highest level recorded in four years. Efficiency remains a priority, however, as half of professionals forecast increased cost control. Senior oil and gas sector professionals expect a step change in the industry’s capex, opex
DRILLING success in Papua New Guinea has helped ExxonMobil to be named 2017 Explorer of the Year by the World Oil and Gas Council. “This award is recognition of ExxonMobil’s successful efforts to strengthen our portfolio by accessing and discovering the highest quality resources,” said Steve Greenlee, president of ExxonMobil Exploration Company. “This recognition would not be possible without the dedication of our employees and their daily commitment to safety
Australia’s Pancontinental Oil & Gas NL’s confidence that it is onto a major gas play in the US has grown following further assessment of results from the recently completed Tulainyo 2-7 gas appraisal well. Pancontinental CEO John Begg said evaluation of the well data has given the company increased confidence that a large section of interest is gas saturated and sandstone reservoirs of sufficient quality to support commercial scale flows
Australia’s Po Valley Energy Limited has reported positive log results from the drilling of its Podere Maiar 1dir (PMI) well in the Selva Gas Field in northern Italy’s Podere Gallina licence area. It will now be completed as a production well. PM1 was successfully drilled to a total depth of 1,330 metres in the Pliocene ahead of schedule and on budget. Downhole log results from Schlumberger confirm a gross gas
OPEC and a group of non-OPEC supporters led by Russia, have agreed to extend current oil production levels through to the end of 2018. The agreement to continue to restrict crude oil output was widely expected, although the decision to maintain it for a full 12 months as opposed to the previous nine month periods was a small surprise. Leading energy analyst firm Wood Mackenzie said the decisions met their