Oil Discovery NEWS

Thai oil and gas company PTTEP has made an oil and gas discovery from the first exploration well, Sirung-1, in Block SK405B, off the coast of Sarawak, offshore Malaysia. The well, spudded in January, was drilled to a total depth of 2,538 meters where it encountered a significant oil and gas column of more than 100 meters, in the clastic reservoirs. An appraisal well is scheduled in near future to assess the upside resources, PTTEP said

Petroleos Mexicanos discovered what’s expected to be a billion-barrel oil field in Tabasco as it aims to reverse a decade and a half of sinking production. “It’s a gigantic field,” said Romero, comparing it to the recently discovered gas and condensate fields Quesqui, with 900 million barrels of oil equivalent, as well as Ixachi, with 1.9 billion.

Saudi Aramco has discovered two new oil and gas fields in the northern regions. The new Abraq al-Toloul oil field in the northern city of Arar, flows with a daily rate of 3,189 bpd, along with 3.5 million cubic feet of natural gas. Hadabat al Hajara gas field in the al-Jof region has a daily production rate of 16 million cubic feet of natural gas, along with 1944 bpd of oil condensate

Britain’s Neptune Energy and its partners have discovered oil at a jointly owned drilling license in the Norwegian part of the North Sea, and will now consider options for how to develop the find. The Dugong well is estimated to contain between 40 million and 120 million barrels of oil equivalent, making it the largest find off Norway so far this year.

Oil producer Apache Corp and its joint venture partner Total SA made their third oil discovery offshore Suriname, sending Apache’s shares up 14% in after-market trading. The third major find was at the Kwaskwasi-1 well drilled offshore Suriname, which comprises 1.4 million acres. The Suriname operations are just across the border from where Exxon Mobil led discoveries off Guyana that are estimated to hold more than 8 billion barrels of oil.

Equinor has discovered oil at its Monument exploration well in the Gulf of Mexico. The company said that further drilling is still required to establish its size. A statement from Equinor read, “We are pleased to have proved an accumulation of movable hydrocarbons in the Monument exploration well. However, determining the full potential of the discovery will require further appraisal drilling,”. Equinor holds a 50% stake at the prospect.

Apache Corp and Total’s major oil discovery on Tuesday in Suriname sent Apache’s shares soaring to nearly 27%. Apache said the discovery conformed to a geologic model with 73 meters of oil pay and 50 meters of light oil and gas condensate pay, with more appraisal planning underway. Apache’s contract with Total included $100 million upfront payment and expenditures sustained in exploration.

British E&P major, Tullow Oil has made another discovery on the Orinduik license, offshore Guyana. This marks the second in the line of discoveries for Tullow Oil in its Jethro-1 exploration well, the first discovery made back in August 2019. The exploration well was drilled to a final depth of 2,175m using Stena Forthdrillship. The Orinduik Block is operated by Tullow, where Total and Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas are partners.

Guinean Minister of Hydrocarbon and Mines yesterday informed that Noble Energy has discovered oil in Block 1 offshore Equatorial Guinea. The US oil firm is looking to produce new oil from the block by October. Noble Energy encountered oil by drilling the Aseng 6P well for more than 4,000 meters. Noble operates the Aseng field with a 40% stake, where Glencore, Gunvor and Atlas Petroleum are partners.

Central African country, South Sudan has discovered oil in the Adar area of the state, its first-ever since independence in 2011. Informing about discovery, the oil minister of the country said that the field contains 5.3 million barrels of recoverable oil. The field will be connected to the nearby Paloch oilfields, operated by Dar Petroleum Operating Company.

British oil firm, Tullow Oil has reported a major oil discovery in the Orinduik block in Guyana. The discovery has given hopes that the firm will move to develop a field in the oil-rich country. The Orinduik block is operated by Tullow with a 60% stake, where Total and Eco Atlantic are partners with 15% stakes each and Qatar Petroleum owns the remaining 10%.

Initial tests on Shpirag 4 well of Shell in central Albania showed "a flow potential of several thousand barrels of oil per day". Shell has informed that it is yet to determine the commercial volume of the well. Shell's Executive VP of exploration said, "We are pleased that these initial tests have confirmed the potential of this discovery and look forward to growing our business in Albania".

Italian oil major, Eni has informed about discovering oil offshore Angola. Eni discovered hydrocarbons while drilling on the Ndungu-1 new field wildcat (NFW) well. The discovery is estimated to contain up to 250 million barrels of light oil. Eni operates Block 15/06 with an interest of 36.8421%, with partners Sonangol (36.8421%) and SSI Fifteen (26.3158%).

Vedanta Ltd has reported oil discovery in the Krishna Godavari basin block in the Bay of Bengal. The Anil Agarwal-led firm said that "it has notified the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons and Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas of an oil discovery in the second exploratory well H2, located in the block KG-OSN-2009/3, Krishna-Godavari Basin, East Coast of India".

Norwegian oil major, Equinor has announced oil discovery from the Visund A Platform in the Telesto exploration well in the North Sea. The newly discovered reserve is estimated to contain approximately 12-28 million barrels of recoverable oil. Equinor operates the production license 120, where Petoro, ConocoPhillips and Repsol are partners. The Visund A platform will now proceed with drilling development wells on the Visund field.

Australia-based Otto Energy has discovered oil and gas in the Lightning prospect on the US Gulf Coast. In an announcement, Otto stated that the Green-1 well was drilled to its final total depth of 4,638 metres by its partner, Hilcorp Energy. Otto Energy entered a farm-in agreement with Hilcorp, last year. The Green-1 Well is second in line of a planned eight-well exploration program.

Italian oil major, Eni reported oil discovery in the Afoxé exploration prospect, offshore Angola. The new discovery is projected to possess around 170 MMbbl to 200 MMbbl of light oil. The Afoxé-1 NFW well was drilled in a water depth of 780 metres, reaching a total depth of 1,723 metres. Intensive data collection from the well is indicating a production capacity of more than 5,000 bpd of oil.

Indian oil major, ONGC made new oil discoveries in the states of West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, which might pave path to two new sedimentary basins in India. The E&P giant discovered gas deposits in a block in Vindhyan basin in Madhya Pradesh. The second discovery has been made in Ashok Nagar of 24 Parganas district in West Bengal. The deposits are currently being tested.