Rocksource Spins Bit at Phoenix Prospect

- Rocksource Spins Bit at Phoenix Prospect

Thursday, September 08, 2011
Rocksource ASA

Rocksource announced that the drilling rig Borgland Dolphin has commenced drilling on the Phoenix prospect in PL 559 in the Norwegian Sea.

The PL 559 partnership consists of Rocksource (Operator and 60 percent working interest), VNG (30 percent) and Skagen44 (10 percent).

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Centrica Spins Bit at N. Sea Butch Prospect

- Centrica Spins Bit at N. Sea Butch Prospect

Monday, August 15, 2011
Faroe Petroleum plc

Faroe Petroleum announced that drilling has commenced on the Butch prospect (Faroe 15%) located in the Norwegian North Sea.

The Butch prospect (block 8/10) is situated in the Norwegian North Sea, some seven kilometers east of the Ula field, 10 kilometers north east of the Tambar field and some 20 kilometers north of the Gyda field. The prospect is a stratigraphic pinch-out trap resting on the side of a salt dome and the primary target is the upper Jurassic Ula Formation which is the producing reservoir in the Ula, Tambar and Gyda fields.

The drilling operation, to be undertaken by Centrica as operator using the Maersk Guardian drilling rig, is expected to be completed in 4Q 2011.

Licenses PL405 and 405BS containing the Butch prospect were awarded to the Company in the APA 2006 licensing round. The other equity holders in these licenses are Centrica 40% (operator), Suncor ASA 30%, Spring Energy Norway AS 15%. In March 2009 the Company assigned a 15% interest in these licenses to Spring Energy in return for a partial carry on the well.

Graham Stewart, Chief Executive of Faroe Petroleum, commented, "We are pleased to announce the spudding of the first of our three near term Norwegian exploration wells, part of our fully funded drilling program. The Butch prospect offers an exciting opportunity to test a good prospect in the Jurassic Ula Formation, which has proved so successful in the nearby Ula, Tambar and Gyda fields .

"Elsewhere in our portfolio, drilling is also ongoing on the Fulla prospect West of Shetland, which is our first operated well, and for which results are expected to be announced later this month."

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Bowleven Spins Bit Offshore Cameroon

- Bowleven Spins Bit Offshore Cameroon

Thursday, August 11, 2011
BowLeven plc

Bowleven has commenced on the Sapele-3 well, Douala Basin, offshore Cameroon, with the Sapphire Driller jackup rig.

The Sapele-3 well, located around sixteen kilometres North West of the Sapele-1 location, is targeting the Tertiary interval and is to be drilled to an estimated target depth of circa 3,550 meters in water depths of around 30 meters.

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Salamander Spins Bit Offshore Vietnam

- Salamander Spins Bit Offshore Vietnam

Wednesday, August 03, 2011
Salamander Energy plc

Salamander announced the spud of the Cat Ba-1X ("101-CB-1X") exploration well in Block 101-100/04, offshore northern Vietnam.

The 101-CB-1X well will be drilled to a depth of approximately 1,900 meters. The primary objective is a Palaeozoic carbonate, (buried hill) structure with secondary objectives in the overlying Tertiary clastic section. The mean gross pre-drill estimate of prospective recoverable resource is approximately 100 MMbo. The well will be drilled by the Aquamarine Driller jack-up rig in a water depth of 49 meters. It is expected to take approximately 25 days to complete on a dry hole basis.

Salamander holds a 30% operated interest in Block 101-100/04, subject to final government approval of the farm-out of 20% interest to JX-Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corporation announced in May 2011.

James Menzies, Chief Executive of Salamander, said, "The Cat Ba prospect is an analogue to the neighboring Ham Rong Oil field that was declared commercial in 2010, both located in the Hai Phong sub-basin. We have reduced our financial exposure to the 101-CB-1X well through farm down, but remain highly leveraged to the upside in the event of success."

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Encore Energy Spins Off Operating Co in Tx.

- Encore Energy Spins Off Operating Co in Tx.

Tuesday, August 02, 2011
Encore Energy Inc.

Encore Energy announced plans to form an operating company in Texas.

Encore Energy, Inc., through a wholly owned subsidiary, has plans to form an operating company to supervise its drilling, completion and other future field activities in Texas.

"The purpose of this company is to work directly with contractors and oilfield service companies to supervise our future projects in Central East Texas," said Steve Stengell, Encore's President and CEO. Mr. Stengell and the other members of Encore's management team have previously served as an operator in both Texas and Oklahoma and have made several horizontal oil and natural gas discoveries in Central East Texas over the last several years.

"Horizontal drilling activity in Central East Texas remains very strong," added Stengell.

Encore is a proud member of the IPAA Independent Petroleum Association of America, Society of Petroleum Engineers and NFIB National Federation of Independent Businesses.

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Lundin Spins Bit Offshore Malaysia

- Lundin Spins Bit Offshore Malaysia

Thursday, July 14, 2011
Lundin Petroleum AB

Lundin has commenced the drilling of the Cempulut prospect located in Block SB303, offshore Sabah in East Malaysia.

The main objective of the well is to test a large shallow late Miocene carbonate reef with a crestal seismic amplitude anomaly.

The planned total depth is 1,031 meters subsea and the well will be drilled using the jack-up drilling rig Offshore Courageous. The well is expected to take approximately 30 days.

Lundin Petroleum holds 75 percent interest in SB303 through its subsidiary Lundin Malaysia BV. Lundin Malaysia BV operates 6 Blocks in Malaysia, namely PM308A, PM308B, PM307, SB303, SB307 and SB308.

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Faroe Spins Bit at Fulla Well

- Faroe Spins Bit at Fulla Well

Thursday, July 07, 2011
Faroe Petroleum plc

Faroe announced that drilling operations have commenced on the Fulla exploration prospect (Faroe Petroleum 50%), located in the west of Shetland area of the Atlantic margin.

This west of Shetlands well, located to the north east of the producing Clair oil field, is targeting potentially oil-bearing Devonian Clair reservoir sands at a depth of 2,100 meters. Faroe is operator of the well which is being drilled by the WilPhoenix semisubmersible drilling rig under contract with Awilco Drilling in a water depth of 120 meters. Operations are expected to be completed well within the summer weather period.

UK License P.1161 contains both the Freya oil discovery and the nearby Fulla exploration prospect. The Freya discovery was drilled by Mobil in 1980 and encountered 140 meters of oil-bearing Devonian Clair reservoir sands. Similarly to a number of the Clair appraisal wells, a valid surface oil sample was not obtained in the Freya discovery well. Since Freya was drilled, horizontal well drilling on the Clair oil field has led to a very successful extended well test in 1997 which in turn led to development sanction. The BP operated Clair field is under phased development and has been on production since 2005, having to date produced in excess of 75 million barrels of oil with current rates at approximately 40,000 barrels per day.

The Fulla exploration prospect is located in the same Clair reservoir sands at a depth of approximately 2,100 meters and is situated along the same structural trend to the north east of both Clair and Freya, thereby de-risking the prospectivity of the target.

The objectives of the Fulla exploration well are to prove a significant column of oil-bearing Devonian Clair reservoir sands on the Fulla structure and, in that event, to obtain an oil sample using advanced wire-line technology. If these objectives are met, uncertainties related to a possible Freya and Fulla combined development project will be significantly reduced.

In December 2010 Faroe farmed out a 50% interest in License P.1161 to Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited (COPL) on promoted terms, such that COPL will pay 60% of estimated well costs for the Fulla well.

Graham Stewart, Chief Executive of Faroe Petroleum plc, commented, "We are delighted to be drilling the Fulla prospect, as operator. Should the Fulla drilling operations be successful, this will present an excellent opportunity when combined with the already defined Freya discovery to prove up sufficient resources for a significant standalone field development.

"The next exploration wells scheduled after Fulla are all located on our Norwegian acreage and are the Butch well followed by the T-Rex and Kalvklumpen prospects, which are expected to spud in 3Q and 4Q. Faroe's ongoing multi-well exploration drilling program will carry on through 2011 and beyond as we push forward to test our substantial northern seas portfolio of over 40 significant licenses."

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E. On Spins Bit at Breiflabb Prospect

- E. On Spins Bit at Breiflabb Prospect

Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Rocksource ASA

Rocksource announced that the drilling rig Borgland Dolphin has commenced drilling on the Breiflabb prospect in PL 416 in the Norwegian part of the North Sea.

The PL 416 partnership consists of E.ON Ruhrgas (Operator and 50 percent working interest), Det norske oljeselskap (15 percent) and Rocksource (35 percent).

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Chevron Spins Bit in GOM

- Chevron Spins Bit in GOM

Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Maersk Oil

Maersk Oil is participating in a new deepwater well in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico after operator Chevron received a drilling permit from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE).

The permit marks the restart of the drilling campaigns Maersk Oil has been a part of in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico after deepwater activities were suspended last year as a consequence of the Deepwater Horizon accident.

"We are very pleased that this permit has been issued as it will allow us to move forward with appraisal activities on the exciting Buckskin prospect," said Bruce Laws, President at Maersk Oil in the U.S.

"The U.S. Gulf of Mexico remains a world class region for exploration and production and we look forward to continuing our work there with our partners."

The Buckskin appraisal well is located in the Keathley Canyon in Block 785, offshore Louisiana, at water depth of 6,540 feet. It is being drilled 8 kilometers from the discovery well that encountered oil in 2008 with drillship Discoverer Deep Seas.

Drilling began on May 16, 2011 and the planned total depth is 29,400 feet. Drilling will last some 136 days.

Chevron is operator of Buckskin, holding a 55% interest with Maersk Oil (20%), Repsol (12.5%) and Samson (12.5%) as co-owners.

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Spatial Energy Spins Off European Subsidiary

- Spatial Energy Spins Off European Subsidiary

Monday, May 23, 2011
Spatial Energy

Spatial Energy announced the opening of a European subsidiary. Spatial Energy made the announcement at the 2011 EAGE (European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers) Conference & Exhibition in Vienna, Austria.

Chris Carlston, co-founder and Vice President of Sales for Spatial Energy in Boulder, Colorado, USA, has accepted the new position of Managing Director, Spatial Energy GmbH, which will be based in Vienna. Spatial Energy GmbH is the fourth global office opened since the parent company's founding in 2005.

With increased interest in oil and gas exploration and production, including activity in Africa, as well as in shale gas plays in Eastern and Western Europe, Spatial Energy made the strategic decision to focus on building and strengthening relationships with key EAME energy companies. By establishing an office in Vienna with one of its key principal executives, the company is able to provide dedicated sales and support for customers and partners in key markets throughout the Western and Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East (EAME).

"Long term customer relations and service are a critical part of our success. As our customers expand their operations globally, a subsidiary in Europe is our logical next step," said Bud Pope, President, Spatial Energy. "We see Europe and Africa as strong growth markets where the concept of enterprise imagery hosting and management is catching on fast. We're dedicated to ensuring that our current and future clients can rely on our remote sensing expertise no matter where their business takes them."

Carlston stated, "More and more, oil and gas companies are beginning to understand the value of integrating disparate spatial data sets and making them more accessible throughout their organizations. They also place a high value on service and support, which is the hallmark of our company. I look forward to serving the EAME market with the leading enterprise imagery and data management services to the Energy sector. With our global remote sensing applications and analytical offerings, and now with the opening of the Vienna office, I'll be able to provide our global customers with the consistent, personal attention they deserve."

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Lundin Spins Bit at Avaldsnes Appraisal

Lundin Spins Bit at Avaldsnes Appraisal

Monday, May 16, 2011
Lundin Petroleum AB

Lundin announced that drilling of the first appraisal well 16/3-4 on the Avaldsnes discovery located in PL501, in the North Sea sector of the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS), has commenced.

The main objective of the well 16/3-4 is to delineate the Avaldsnes discovery made in 2010 with estimated recoverable resources between 100– 400 million barrels of oil in PL501. The target is to confirm the presence of late Jurassic sand approximately 5 km southeast of the Avaldsnes discovery well 16/2-6. The planned total depth is approximately 2,000 meters below mean sea level and the well will be drilled using the semi-submersible drilling rig Bredford Dolphin. Drilling is expected to take approximately 45 days. The second appraisal well, 16/2-7, will spud directly following the completion of well 16/3-4 using the same rig.

Lundin Petroleum is the operator of PL501 with 40 percent interest. Partners are Statoil Petroleum ASA with 40 percent and Mærsk Oil Norway AS with 20 percent.

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Harvest Natural Spins Bit Offshore Gabon

Harvest Natural Spins Bit Offshore Gabon

Friday, April 29, 201
Harvest Natural Resources Inc.

Harvest Natural Resources announced the commencement of drilling operations on the Ruche Marin-A exploration well located in the offshore waters of Gabon, West Africa. This exploration well will be drilled utilizing the Transocean Sedneth 701 semi-submersible drilling unit.

The Ruche Marin-A well will be drilled in a water depth of 380 feet to test multiple stacked pre-salt targets to a planned total measured depth of approximately 10,100 feet. Drilling is anticipated to require approximately 28 days. In the event of success, additional time will be required to test and evaluate the well.

EnCore Spins Off Exploration Company

EnCore Spins Off Exploration Company

Monday, April 18, 2011

EnCore Oil plc

EnCore planning for a subsidiary company, which will be assigned the Exploration Assets, to be floated on AIM. The new company will be known as XEO Exploration plc ("XEO"). Subject to regulatory approvals and a successful institutional placing, XEO is expected to be admitted to AIM around the end of May 2011.

EnCore is in the process of transferring the Exploration Assets listed below into XEO, subject to receiving the necessary partner and regulatory approvals. The exact percentage shareholding of EnCore in XEO will depend upon the final amount of funds raised by XEO.

In addition to their indirect interest in XEO through EnCore's remaining holding, the Company plans to offer qualifying EnCore shareholders the opportunity to subscribe for shares in XEO directly at the institutional placing price. The offer to EnCore shareholders will be made around the time of XEO's admission to AIM and close shortly following admission.

In addition to the licenses above, XEO has the potential option to acquire a number of UK 26th Round licenses, yet to be awarded by DECC, that are under further environmental review.

Rationale behind the flotation

The EnCore Board has considered a number of scenarios for progressing the exploration portfolio and has concluded that placing those assets into a separately quoted company is the most beneficial route forward for the following reasons:

• EnCore's future focus is now to be directed towards its two main assets, Catcher and Cladhan, which are in the latter stages of appraisal and will soon be moving into the development stage of their lifecycles.
• A very significant proportion of the value of the Company is in Catcher and Cladhan. Therefore, the Board did not wish to dilute shareholders' exposure to these assets by an EnCore fundraising for a high-impact exploration program covering the Exploration Assets with the attendant risks.
• Moving forward, EnCore's existing and any future capital/debt can be targeted directly at the development assets.
• Existing EnCore shareholders will remain exposed to any success from the Exploration Assets through EnCore's shareholding in XEO. However shareholders who wish to have increased exposure to a risked exploration program will also be offered the opportunity to participate in the offer at the institutional placing price.

Proposed XEO Board and EnCore Board of Director Changes 

On completion of the institutional placing and admission of XEO to AIM, Eugene Whyms, currently Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Company Secretary will become a Non-Executive Director of EnCore and take up the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of XEO. Alan Booth, CEO of EnCore, will assume the additional role of a Non-Executive Director of XEO. Chris Johnson, currently Group Financial Controller will become CFO of EnCore, whilst James Clark, currently Commercial Director of EnCore will assume the additional role of Company Secretary. All these appointments are scheduled to occur concurrently with the successful admission to AIM of XEO.

Additional appointments to the XEO Board will include the appointment of EnCore's Business Development Manager, Peter Schwarz as Chief Operating Officer (COO), and the appointment of experienced banking and oil industry executive, John Mapplebeck as Non Executive Chairman of XEO.

EnCore expects the XEO prospectus to be mailed to shareholders during the week commencing May 30, 2011.

Matrix Corporate Capital LLP is acting as nominated adviser and joint broker and Westhouse Securities Limited as joint broker in connection with XEO's admission to AIM.

Commenting on the formation of the new company, EnCore Chief Executive Alan Booth said, "EnCore has considered a broad range of options available to it at this important time in the Company's development. Clearly the significant discoveries at Catcher and Cladhan must take priority in terms of access to our capital. At the same time, we also firmly believe that our expanding exploration portfolio deserves appropriate funding to unearth any value that it may contain. However, we recognize that the risk profile of these assets is higher than the ongoing evaluation of the Catcher area and Cladhan. Whilst farming out the exploration portfolio was one possible route, it was recognized that the remaining equity levels would likely be in the order of one third of current levels. The farm out process would also likely place timing and control in the hands of third parties, who might perceive EnCore to have limited options with regard to exploration funding. We believe that the chosen route should allow us greater control over our own destiny, whilst enabling us to expose our current and new shareholders to higher impact and more material equity levels in those prospects in which we will seek to invest.

"Both companies will continue to benefit from the people and skills that have been so successfully deployed in building the asset base to date at EnCore, and both companies will be co-located at the current Baker Street offices. Whilst there can be no guarantee that we will be as successful again, we would like to ensure that our shareholders at least have a choice as to whether they wish to have ongoing exposure to high-impact exploration in the UK offshore in addition to their indirect interest through EnCore's shareholding in XEO."