Asia

The jewel in the crown

The Philippines’ upstream sector is seeing a resurgence, bolstered by Prime Energy’s successful wells at Malampaya East-1 and Camago-3 just ahead of the recent SEAPEX Conference and Exhibition in Manila. Together with a string of re­cent concession awards, this has…

Japan retrieves rare-earth-rich mud from 6,000 m in deep-sea’s first

Japan has successfully retrieved sediment containing rare earth elements (REE) from the seabed off Minami-Torishima Island in the Pacific Ocean, some 1,900 km south-east of Tokyo. At nearly 6,000 m below the sea surface, the mission marked the world’s first…

Carbon capture and mineralisation pilots in the Middle East

44.01 named their company after the mass of the molecule that is central to their business: Carbon Dioxide. They use CO2 captured from indus­try or the atmosphere and dissolve it in water to create a carbonated in­jection fluid, a kind…

Eni’s success in the Kutei Basin continues

Eni announced a major gas discovery at the Geliga-1 wildcat in the Ganal block, offshore Indonesia’s Kutei Basin in April 2026. The well, approximately 70km offshore, is estimated to contain around 5 Tcf of gas and 300 million barrels of…

Geliga-1 – the gas discovery sourced by sandstones

Today, operator ENI and partner SINOPEC (18%) announced a new giant gas and condensate discovery in the Kutei Basin, offshore East Kalimantan in Indonesia. According to ENI, the new find may host up to 5 Tcf of gas and 300…

Conjugate margins in the Indian Ocean

The concept of conjugate margins as a geologi­cal model on which to base exploration strategy is well established in the Atlantic, where the exten­sional plate boundaries and geomorphology are clear and definitive. But other oceans also have conjugate margins, and…

A big new discovery or a confirmation of what was already known

The Chinese are quite good at issuing press releases at inter­esting moments, and the one announcing the discovery of 100 M t (around 720 MMbbl) of oil in the Bohai Basin is yet another good example. Published on the 24th…

Karabash – West Siberia’s new frontier?

The region of Karabash sits in the southern part of Khan­ty-Mansiysk and Tyumen. Historically, oil and gas de­velopments have been more limited in this part of West Siberia, as the region is underlain by a series of grabens which have…

One block, one basin

The Thailand Department of Mineral Fuels has just announced a licence round in the Mergui Basin, Andaman Sea. Interestingly, they have decided to license the area as a single massive block covering 60,288 km2 in water depths that range from…

Unlocking the deep offshore potential of the Mahanadi Basin

The eastern Continental Mar­gin of India (ECMI) is a 2,500 km long passive margin that comprises the follow­ing peri-cratonic basins from south to north, the Cauvery, Krishna-Godavari, Mahanadi, and Bengal Basins, of which the deeper parts remain largely under­explored. Currently,…

Sweetness and light in Oman’s Indian Ocean

Bringing the light to Oman’s India Ocean hydrocarbon-rich future Karyna Rodriguez describes how improved data resolution facilitating new technological inquiry in Oman’s Indian Ocean is turning “flickering shadows on the cave wall” into high-definition images of unexpected source and reservoir…