Oil & Gas

The shrinking pool of large international E&P companies

The group of large interna­tional E&Ps has been steadily shrinking. Over the past five years, companies in the peer group, including Noble Energy, Mar­athon, and Hess, have been acquired. These…

India – Andaman Islands – drilling update

In late September, Oil India (OIL) announced the presence of gas recovered during intermittent flow on testing at its Vijaya Puram-2 well in the offshore eastern Andaman block AN-OSHP-2018/1, with…

Open for business, again

“We have to inject life back into the economy and avoid de-industrialisation,” said Shane Jones during a webinar yesterday, hosted by Ross Compton from the EnerGeo Alliance. Mr Jones is…

Kharas-1 well might have two surprises in store

As the exploration community read the news around Rhino Resources’ Volans-1X “high liquid-yield gas condensate” discovery this week – is it good news to have proven yet another fluid type?…

Revisiting the southern boundary of Sangomar

Recently published maps of the Sangomar field offshore Senegal depict the southern boundary of the accumula­tion exactly lining up with the mari­time boundary between Senegal and The Gambia, suggesting that…

Exploring young petroleum systems comes with risks

Any exploration well carries risk, and ul­timately, it is the drill bit that will either prove or disprove a play concept. In South Korea’s Ulleung Basin, despite the presence of…

The Athabasca oil sands

Recent governments in Canada have not been particu­larly supportive of the oil industry, which mainly concentrates in Alberta. Some people are even actively contemplat­ing separation from the Canadian federation and…

Why peer reviews often don’t work

Reputations are both made and destroyed in the af­termath of the drill se­quence. But what is behind the ranking that determines where the rig goes next? It is the prospect…

“No concern at all”: The economist’s view

“I thought we would be speaking for 15 minutes, now it has turned into half an hour already!” Carole Nakhle is sought after when it comes to her view on…