Azerbaijan Parliament Ratifies Shafag-Asiman PSA

Azerbaijan Parliament Ratifies Shafag-Asiman PSA

Tuesday, May 10, 2011
BP plc

On May 6, the Parliament of the Republic of Azerbaijan ratified the new production sharing agreement (PSA) between BP and SOCAR on joint exploration and development of the Shafag-Asiman structure in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea, BP reported Tuesday.

Rashid Javanshir, BP's Regional President, said: "We are particularly pleased that the PSA was ratified by a unanimous vote. This is a good demonstration of the country's acknowledgement of BP's track record here and trust in our long-term commitment to Azerbaijan. We look forward to working in partnership with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) to expand our mutual cooperation in exploration and development."

The ratification follows the signing of the PSA in Baku in October, 2010. Under the PSA, which is for 30 years, BP Exploration (Azerbaijan) Limited will be the operator with 50 percent interest while SOCAR will hold the remaining 50 percent equity.

The block lies some 125 kilometers (78 miles) to the SE of Baku. It covers an area of some 1,100 square kilometers and has never been explored before. It is located in a deepwater section of about 650-800 meters with reservoir depth of about 7000 meters.

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Statoil Reports North Sea Discovery

Statoil Reports North Sea Discovery

Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Statoil ASA

Oil has been proven by Statoil and its partners Det norske oljeselskap ASA and Svenska Petroleum Exploration AS on the North Sea Krafla prospect. The well is located in block 30/11 around 26 kilometers south of the Oseberg South field.

Based on preliminary calculations the size of the discovery is between 12.5 and 56.5 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent.

"Statoil has had great exploration success in mature areas during the last years," said Gro Gunleiksrud Haatvedt, Statoil's head of exploration on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS).

"The North Sea is a strategically important area to Statoil, and this discovery on Krafla confirms once again that the company can still find interesting volumes close to established infrastructure."

"These discoveries can quickly be put on stream and help extend the life of our installations," she said.

Drilled by the Ocean Vanguard rig the well proved a column of around 200 meters in good quality reservoir rocks.

"Previously six exploration wells have been drilled in block 30/11 without commercial success, so we are very pleased that Statoil seems to have made a fast track discovery in our first operated well in this license," said Tom Dreyer, exploration manager for the Northern North Sea.

"Although data collection is still ongoing, the results so far clearly indicate that this is an oil discovery. If this is the case then we have unlocked the exploration potential of this area and have several follow-up opportunities."

When the Krafla well is completed, the Ocean Vanguard will start drilling the planned sidetrack well on Krafla West, which is located west of the recently drilled well.

The find will probably be developed and produced by tie-back to one of the subsea installations in the Oseberg area.

The licensees in PL035/PL272 are: Statoil (operator) (50%), Det norske oljeselskap ASA (25%) and Svenska Petroleum Exploration AS (25%).

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Coastal Hits Pay Offshore Thailand

Coastal Hits Pay Offshore Thailand

Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Coastal Energy Co.

Coastal Energy Co. on Tuesday announced the successful results of the Bua Ban North B-02 exploration well.

The Bua Ban North B-02 well was drilled to 6,513 feet TVD and encountered 62 feet of net pay in the Miocene objective with 26% average porosity. The B-02 well also tested the Eocene interval and encountered 150 feet of net sand with 19% average porosity. The Eocene sand zone was wet as it was not a target in this well and was drilled off structure.

The B-02 has been cased and suspended pending the arrival of testing equipment. Conductor pipe has been set on the B-03 well, which is testing the Miocene in a separate fault block due east from the B-02 well.

Randy Bartley, Chief Executive Officer of Coastal Energy, commented:

"The B-02 well encountered thicker sands in the Miocene than were anticipated with better than expected reservoir quality. The Eocene zone which was encountered was not a target in this well, but delivered the highest reservoir quality sands we've seen to date in the Eocene interval. The reservoir characteristics in the Eocene are better than what we have modelled at this depth. This supports our thesis of higher quality sands in the shallower Eocene and should bode well for the planned drilling of the shallower Eocene prospects to the northwest."

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Microsoft Is In Talks To Buy Skype Technologies

Microsoft Is In Talks To Buy Skype Technologies



May 10, 2011

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is in talks to buy Skype to gain the most popular international calling service and its 663 million customers, according to a Bloomberg report, which cited two people familiar with the matter.

The deal would value Skype at $8.5 billion and may be announced as early as today. It could help CEO Steve Ballmer bring in Web users and narrow Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) lead in Internet advertising.

Microsoft has a potential upside of 27.3% based on a current price of $25.83 and an average consensus analyst price target of $32.89.

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