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Tullow & Uganda sign deals to conclude farm-down (2/3/2012) Tullow Oil has signed two new production sharing agreements with the Ugandan government for Lake Albert licenses... Imperial sanctions $2 billion Cold Lake expansion (2/3/2012) Imperial Oil has approved a US$2 billion expansion of its Cold Lake oil sands operation in northeastern Alberta, Canada... Lundin drilling Johan Sverdrup appraisal (2/3/2012) Lundin Petroleum has begun drilling an appraisal well on the Johan Sverdrup discovery in the Norwegian North Sea... Gulf Keystone's Algeria interest going to BG & Sonatrach (2/3/2012) Gulf Keystone Petroleum is transferring all of its interest in the Hassi Ba Hamou Concession in central Algeria... Americas Petrogas at TD in Argentina Vaca Muerta shale well (2/3/2012) Americas Petrogas has reached total depth at approximately 3,250 meters in its Los Toldos Este vertical well in Argentina... Repsol kicks off drilling of Cuban deepwater well (2/3/2012) Repsol has commenced drilling operations in the Cuban sector of the Gulf of Mexico's Florida 50 km north of Havana... Maurel & Prom spuds Ziwani exploration well in Tanzania (2/3/2012) Maurel et Prom has commenced drilling operations in the Ziwani-1 exploration well in the Mnazi Bay Block... Blue Water transporting rig from Persian Gulf to Caspian Sea (2/3/2012) Blue Water Shipping has been contracted to transport a Le Tourneau S116(E) jackup drilling rig for Eurasia Drilling... National Oilwell Varco buying NKT Flexibles (2/3/2012) National Oilwell Varco is paying US$673.4 million for NKT Flexibles from its owners NKT Holding and Subsea 7... Tullow contracts Aker Solutions for Ghana services (2/3/2012) Aker Solutions has signed a frame agreement with Tullow Oil's Ghana subsidiary to provide well intervention services... Harvest's onshore Oman exploration well a duster (2/3/2012) Harvest Natural Resources' Al Ghubar North-1 exploration well in Oman has failed to encounter significant hydrocarbons... Jogmec starts prep work for gas hydrate production (2/2/2012) Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation is to commence test drilling in the deep Pacific waters off central Japan... Aroway in 3D shoot over Alberta acreage (2/2/2012) Aroway Energy and its joint venture partner have commenced field work on an approximate 55 sq km 3D seismic program... Bergen picked for Statoil's Asgard subsea project (2/2/2012) Statoil has awarded a contract valued at about US$8.6 million to Bergen Group for fabrication of subsea structures... NZOG still has New Zealand's Kakapo Prospect in sights (2/2/2012) New Zealand Oil & Gas continues to have plans to drill an exploration well on the Kakapo Prospect in the offshore Taranaki Basin... Polarcus to shoot Shell's 3D survey off Greenland (2/2/2012) Royal Dutch Shell and partners in the Kanumas joint venture have awarded a 3D seismic acquisition contract... Rosneft acquiring Taas-Yuriakh Neftegazodobycha stake (2/2/2012) Rosneft has concluded an agreement with Sberbank to acquire a 35.3% interest in Taas-Yuriakh Neftegazodobycha... Subsea 7 scores BP Clair Ridge Project contract (2/2/2012) Subsea 7 has been contracted by BP Exploration Operating Company for work in its West of Shetland Clair Ridge Project... Amerisur preparing for 6-well Colombia drilling program (2/2/2012) Amerisur Resources is in the final stages of negotiating a rig contract for its upcoming six-well Platanillo drilling campaign... Gulfsands halts exploration activities in Syria (2/2/2012) Gulfsands Petroleum has suspended its exploration operations in Syria following its end to production in December... Breitling spuds Limelight test in north Texas (2/2/2012) Breitling Oil & Gas has commenced drilling its Breitling-Limelight-1 exploration well in Hardeman County... Buccaneer bumps up reserves with Alaska Cook Inlet buy (2/2/2012) Buccaneer Energy has acquired a stake in the shallow-water Cosmopolitan Field in the Cook Inlet, increasing reserves... 2011 record year for US Gulf decommissioning (2/2/2012) Decommissioning activity in the US Gulf of Mexico exceeded all predictions with more than 200 platforms decommissioned... Shell selling 20% stake in Canadian shale to PetroChina (2/2/2012) Royal Dutch Shell is selling PetroChina a 20% interest in its Groundbirch Project in British Columbia, Canada... Tower prepping to spud Mvule-1 in Uganda (2/2/2012) Tower Resources is gearing up to drilling of its Mvule-1 exploration well at the northern end of Lake Albert... Oil Search drilling PNG test well for ExxonMobil (2/2/2012) Oil Search has commenced drilling operations on the P'nyang South-1 exploration well onshore Papua New Guinea... Nautical farming into First Oil Expro North Sea block (2/2/2012) Nautical Petroleum has obtained agreement to farm into the UK North Sea block containing the Hydra Prospect... Murphy lines up Ocean Confidence for Congo drilling (2/2/2012) Murphy Oil has contracted the Diamond Offshore semisubmersible drilling rig to drill this summer off the Republic of Congo k... Wintershall spuds Maria appraisal off Norway (2/2/2012) Wintershall has begun drilling an appraisal of its Maria discovery in the Norwegian Sea around 200 from Trondheim... Latest producer on Nigeria's Umusadege Field at TD (2/2/2012) The Umusadege-9 production well on the Umusadege Field in Nigeria has reached total depth at about 10,848 ft... Two ExxonMobil Poland shale wells prove uncommercial (2/2/2012) ExxonMobil has revealed its two shale wells drilled in Poland's Podlasie Basin have failed to flow commercially... Senex ups stake in Cooper Basin permit & Orca Energy (2/1/2012) Senex Energy has agreed to earn a further 22% interest in South Australia's Cooper Basin exploration permit PEL115... Kea drilling Puka-1 test in New Zealand's Taranaki (2/1/2012) Kea Petroleum is commencing drilling operations on its Puka-1 exploration well onshore the Taranaki Basin in New Zealand... UOS begins work in Poland with Sercel system (2/1/2012) United Oilfield Services has begun providing seismic acquisition services in Poland with Sercel's cable-free acquisition system... Tecpetrol scores with Puerto Gaitan well in Colombia (2/1/2012) Tecpetrol has achieved an oil discovery in Colombia with the first of nine planned exploration wells in the Llanos Basin... Baker Hughes granted oil sands steam injection license (2/1/2012) ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company has awarded the first license for its patented steam injection system... Santos delays Winchester well off Western Australia (2/1/2012) Santos has advised today that because of an anticipated later delivery of the Ensco 109 jackup, drilling has been pushed back... Texas producers to disclose frac fluids as of tomorrow (2/1/2012) Under the new Texas Railroad Commission ruling, all oil and gas producers operating in Texas are required to report chemicals... Tethys in North Ustyurt Basin MOU with Uzbekneftegaz (2/1/2012) Tethys Petroleum has signed a memorandum of understanding with Uzbekneftegaz on Uzbek exploration blocks... SandRidge buying Dynamic Offshore for $1.27 billion (2/1/2012) SandRidge Energy is acquiring Dynamic Offshore Resources for US$1.275 billion - $680 million in cash... SW Turkey's Caliktepe-2 taps mud & water (2/1/2012) Calik Enerji Sanayive Ticaret has completed testing its Caliktepe-2 exploration well on its Bismil licenses... OGX confirms pre-salt reservoirs in Santos Basin discovery (2/1/2012) OGX Petroleo e Gas Participacoes has confirmed the existence of pre-salt microbiolite hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs... Total set to launch South Sudan exploration campaign (2/1/2012) Total is to commence exploration of the giant Block B in South Sudan's Jonglei Basin this month... GE contracted for North Sea Golden Eagle & Brazil's Guara Norte (2/1/2012) GE Oil & Gas has received contracts for field subsea and platform equipment and for FPSO power and production equipment... UK launches 27th offshore licensing round (2/1/2012) The UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change today invited applications for licenses in the next round... Borders & Southern spuds 1st of 2 test wells off Falklands (2/1/2012) Borders & Southern Petroleum yesterday commenced drilling an exploration well 140 km south of the Falkland Islands... Beach plugs & abandons 2 Australia Cooper Basin wells (2/1/2012) Beach Energy has found its two exploration wells drilled in South Australia and Queensland unworthy of completion... Santos puts Wortel Project onstream off East Java (2/1/2012) Santos has commenced gas production from its Wortel Project offshore East Java, Indonesia in the Sampang Block... Drillship Pacific Scirocco spuds Nigeria ultra-deep well (2/1/2012) Pacific Drilling's newbuild ultra-deepwater drillship Pacific Scirocco has commenced drilling off Nigeria forTotal... For more headlines check each department in Site Navigation. From the Editor To frac or not to frac, that is the question Dev George Managing Editor The debate rages on but whether to permit hydraulic fracturing as part of the completion process for natural gas wells may well have been decided last week with US President Barack Obama giving his support to fraccing in his State of the Union speech to the US Congress. Without the fraccing technology that releases natural gas from unconventional reservoirs, particularly coalbeds and shale formations at depths of 5,000 to 20,000 ft (1,500 to 6,100 meters) it would be difficult to bring these vast resources into production...Continue Click here for prior editorials. Oil/Gas Prices & Analysis Heavy trading sends Brent crudes higher, US crudes lower (2/2/2012) In contrast to North America, where the winter has been unseasonably warm, Europe has seen severe winter temperatures and the difference was apparent at the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) in London and the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), where futures were again settling high at ICE and low at Nymex as a direct result of demand differences...Go to latest O&G prices/analysis Feedback Click here to email your comments and suggestions on this site and any of its articles. Click here to read feedback comments. What's New New Book Review: China, Oil and Global Politics Tools Glossary World Time Zones Measurement Conversions Currency Converter About This Site | Contributer's Guide | Newsfeed Services | 2012 Advertising Info | Contact Us ©Copyright 2001-2012, Oil and Gas International, all rights reserved. ISSN: 155-7440. 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