Libya – exploration stories
In his book “The prize”, Daniel Yergin describes how Libya’s entry on the global oil stage in the 1950s was spectacular and engineered wisely. Yergin quotes the Libyan petroleum minister:…
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…
Why target the surface synclines in the flat foreland of a fold-and-thrust belt?
Imagine an onshore petroleum province that has three proven plays and a supergiant oil field suddenly opening up for international business and exploration companies. Except, it has no modern seismic…
Better illuminating the Rotliegend beneath a heavily deformed overburden
In April 2025, the main stakeholders in the offshore energy landscape in the Netherlands signed the so-called “Sector Accord”, which brought more clarity and momentum to exploring for and subsequently…
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…