Dragon Oil increases stake in Block 9 to 45% from Kuwait Energy

Kuwait Energy has farmed out a 15% interest in Block 9, Iraq to Dragon Oil. Kuwait Energy will reduce its interest to 45% and Dragon Oil will increase its stake to 45%. The 15% will be made up of the following: 8.57% for USD100 million cash; 6.43% in settlement of a dispute in favour of Dragon Oil Full press release by Kuwait Energy follows: Kuwait Energy Company is pleased to announce the signing of the Block 9, Iraq Farm-out Agreement with Dragon Oil Plc (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Emirates National Oil Company Ltd, the national oil company...

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Tortue unitisation across Mauritania and Senegal

The governments of Mauritania and Senegal have signed an Inter-Governmental Cooperation Agreement in another step forward for the Tortue gas development which straddles the border of the two countries. The field will now be unitised with an initial split of resources 50:50 and a mechanism for future equity redeterminations based on actual production and other technical data. FID of the field remains on track, targeting year end 2018 with first...

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Zohr II at Calypso offshore Cyprus

Eni has made a sizeable gas discovery offshore Cyprus which could accelerate the country’s path to gas exports. The Calypso-1 discovery was made on Block 6 which is dubbed as a “Zohr like” play. Full announcement by Eni below: Eni has made a lean gas discovery in Block 6 Offshore Cyprus with Calypso 1 NFW. The well, which was drilled in 2,074 meters of water depth reaching a final total depth of 3,827 meters, encountered an extended gas column...

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Kenya goes alone with first oil targeting 2021 - plays catch-up with Uganda

Kenya was left at the pipeline “altar” in 2016 when Uganda decided to export its crude via a Tanzanian pipeline instead. The years of work around a joint Ugandan-Kenyan pipeline went to waste as the two countries could not agree on the development with security as well as political factors hindering co-operation between the two countries. Kenyan oil discoveries in the Lokichar Basin had been left in limbo with no export plan in sight. However,...

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Kosmos' end of a winning streak with dry well at Requin Tigre

Kosmos Requin Tigre prospect was announced dry this morning. This was a "make it" well that had the potential to add 60bcf of gas in the Senegal/Mauritania trend and would have increased total gas discovered in the basin to over 100tcf. However, this dry well constrains Kosmos' growth in the basin with no further exploration drilling in area for now. The drillship will now proceed to test two oil prospects offshore Suriname commencing in early Q2 2018. With three dry wells in a row, Requin Tigre, Hippocampe and Lamantin (the last two targeting...

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Mitsui victory for AWE battle?

AWE’s board has recommended Mitsui’s all cash bid of A$0.95/share which was received on 28th January. This superior offer follows a heated battle since the end  of last year. November 2017: CERCG cash bid of A$0.71/share conditional on due diligence, rejected following AWE’s assessment that it undervalued the company December 2017: CERCG revised cash offer of A$0.73/share December 2017: Mineral Resources scrip offer at A$0.80/share December...

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Israel capital cycle: Noble sells down Tamar to fund Leviathan

Noble Energy is divesting 7.5% of its 32.5% interest in the Tamar field for USD800 million. This will reduce Noble’s interest to 25% as required by the Israeli government’s competition requirements. The buyer is Tamar Petroleum who will pay for the acquisition with USD560 million in cash and 38.5 million shares in Tamar Petroleum. The divested interest represents 62mmcfpd of production in 2017 and reserves of 500bcfe. Noble intends to sell-down...

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