North America

Independents Rockin’ on Alaska’s North Slope

With recent oil discoveries potentially exceeding 10 Bbo, independents and their partners are opening up plays that could reshape exploration in a large portion of the Arctic. Recent discoveries in…

Exploration Update – Mexico

First Foreign Discovery Italian oil company Eni is the first major IOC to make an offshore oil discovery in Mexico since energy sector reforms were enacted in 2013. Amoca 2,…

Exploration Update – Mexico

Thick Oil Column in Perdido Fold Belt In September 2016 Pemex provided new data about the production potential of its exciting Nobilis 1 new field wildcat in the AE-0077-Cinturon Plegado…

Exploration Update – USA

Significant Light Oil Discovery in Alaska On 4 October 2016, Caelus Energy Alaska indicated that it has made a ‘world class’ oil discovery in Caelus-Tulimaniq 1, also known as CT-1,…

High-Resolution Model Building in a Full-Azimuth Nodal Survey

The velocity variation in the trench before and after the high-resolution tomography. Red line indicates the location of the line in Figure 2 on page 40. High-Resolution Image-Guided Tomography High-resolution image-guided tomography…

US Tight Oil: Remaining Competitive?

Since the oil price collapse, upstream development spending has been cut worldwide at surprising rates. How is that changing the world of drilling unconventional plays in the US? In this…

Regional play types in the Mexican offshore

Map showing the extent of the Gigante seismic in relation to the main geological features of the Mexican Gulf of Mexico. Structural styles and regional play types New seismic data…

Exploration Update – USA

Mississippi Canyon Discovery On 28 July 2016, Shell announced that it had made a hydrocarbon discovery with the Fort Sumter discovery well (G08831 1), situated in the 23 km2 Mississippi…

Australia: Santos Building Reserves

Although not tested, Santos has claimed its Lasseter 1 wildcat in WA-274-P in the Browse Basin off Western Australia as a significant gas/condensate discovery. The well, located in 404m of water, was targeting…

Argentina: Significant Reserves Below Las Mesetas

YPF has made what it describes as the largest conventional gas/condensate discovery in the province of Santa Cruz in the last 20 years by drilling beneath already mature formations in…

Induced Earthquake Hazards Finally Addressed

The US Geological Survey just published their first seismic hazard forecast to include both induced (human-caused) and natural earthquakes, identifying populated areas in the centre of the US that could…