Exploration ///
Apache is officially calling it quits on a highly publicized but disappointing shale discovery in West Texas after vehemently defending the play’s prospects for about three years.
The EU asset freezes and travel bans on two people, whom the bloc plans to identify later on Thursday, make good on its months-long vow to counter Turkey’s oil and natural-gas exploration in waters that are part of the exclusive economic zone of member country Cyprus.
The energy-focused private equity firm Kimmeridge Energy Management is looking for a U.S. shale producer to target for an overhaul, saying the sector has become “uninvestable.”
Shell is pushing ahead on its massive deep-water drilling plan in Mexico, even as it doesn’t foresee production starting under the current government.
Exxon Mobil fell to a 15-year low on Monday just over a week before CEO Darren Woods is scheduled to present the oil explorer’s long-term strategic plan to investors and analysts.
Equinor ASA has dropped plans for oil drilling deep in the ocean off Australia’s south coast following a sustained campaign from environmentalists who said the project posed too big a risk to the marine ecosystem.
William (Bill) Head, Contributing Editor
2020—Had enough yet?
The new wide-azimuth datasets will provide a better understanding of the structural complexity of the transition between the Central Basin Platform and surrounding basins to enhance industry drilling efforts.
Tullow Oil will reduce its headcount in Kenya by about 40% as part of a company-wide restructuring following poor performances at its Africa and Guyana operations.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi made what could be the world’s largest natural gas discovery since 2005 as the two biggest sheikhdoms in the United Arab Emirates aim to push the country to energy self-sufficiency.
Guyana vigorously defended its oil contract with ExxonMobil after the deal was criticized by human-rights group Global Witness just a month before the country holds a general election.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi made what could be the world’s largest natural gas discovery since 2005 as the two biggest sheikhdoms in the United Arab Emirates aim to push the country to energy self sufficiency.
Equinor and its partner Shell have completed a joint acquisition of the 49% interest held by Schlumberger in the Bandurria Sur onshore block in Argentina’s Neuquén province. The consideration for each partner for their 24.5% interest is USD 177.5 million.
Mexico’s government-owned oil company just laid claim to most of the country’s biggest private discovery, putting it on a collision course with the U.S. firm that made the find five years ago.
The first-ever licensing round comprises 12 blocks in the MSGBC basin, offshore Senegal. Companies will be able to submit bids over the coming six months, with final applications delivered to the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy at the latest by Friday, July 31st, 2020.
ExxonMobil has increased its estimated recoverable resource base in Guyana to more than 8 billion oil equivalent barrels and made a further oil discovery northeast of the producing Liza field at the Uaru exploration well, the 16th discovery on the Stabroek Block.
Western Europe’s biggest oil and gas producer just witnessed its final investment boom, according to Norway’s largest bank.
William (Bill) Head, Contributing Editor
Let’s talk mud
Oil production in Angola has slumped by a third in the past decade to less than 1.4 million barrels a day, reflecting years of underinvestment in new projects.
Turkey will issue new exploration licenses in the eastern Mediterranean now that it’s set a maritime border with Libya, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday, a step liable to exacerbate strains with Greece and the European Union.