VIDEO: 'Eye of fire' Near Offshore Platform in Mexico Extinguished
A fire on the ocean surface west of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula early on Friday has been extinguished, state oil company Pemex said, blaming a gas leak from an underwater pipeline for sparking the blaze captured in videos that went viral.Bright orange flames jumping out of water resembling molten lava was dubbed an "eye of fire" on social media due to the blaze's circular shape, as it raged a short distance from a Pemex oil platform.The fire took more than five hours to fully put out, according to Pemex.The fire began in an underwater pipeline that connects to a platform at Pemex's
SOCAR Inks Deals for Caspian Fields with Equinor
Azeri state oil company SOCAR and Norway's Equinor on Wednesday signed a risk service contract for the development of the Karabakh offshore oil and natural gas field in the Caspian Sea.The two companies also signed a product-sharing agreement for Ashrafi, Dan-Ulduzu and Aypara exploration area."The agreements signed today represent a natural next step in the region. This will strengthen our position in a prolific basin and develop growth options," Equinor Chief Executive Eldar Saetre said in a statement.To operate the licences, Equinor and SOCAR will form a 50-50 joint operating company.
Ghana to Award New Oil Blocks off West Coast
coast beginning this year, the energy ministry said on Thursday.The West African country plans to award six of the nine blocks this year while the remaining three will be given out next year through a mix of open competitive tender and direct negotiations, the ministry said in a statement.It said state oil company Ghana National Petroleum Corporation will acquire one of the blocks to explore in partnership with a strategic partner to develop its technical capacity and become an operator.Ghana, which began commercial crude production in late 2010, currently produces around 180,000 barrels per day mainly
25 More Years in the ACG Field
Statoil, together with co-venturers and the Azerbaijan Government sign amended and restated Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli PSA. The Azerbaijan Government and the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) together with BP, Statoil, Chevron, INPEX, ExxonMobil, TPAO, ITOCHU and ONGC Videsh today sign the amended and restated Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli (ACG) Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) which will be effective until the end of 2049. The agreement was signed today in Baku and is now subject to ratification by the Parliament (Milli Majlis) of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Subsea Construction Vessel Launched in Azerbaijan
The vessel was named Khankendi by the President of Azerbaijan, H.E. Ilham Aliyev, at a ceremony in Baku Shipyard and launched by the Shah Deniz consortium. Baku Shipyard LLC, a joint venture between Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M), State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and Azerbaijan Investment Company (AIC), has completed a Subsea Construction Vessel (SCV) for the Caspian region. The Khankendi will be deployed to the Shah Deniz field where it is expected to perform subsea installation and construction work over the next eleven years. The SCV was specifical
Brazil Regulator Rejects Total Study on Drilling at Amazon River Basin
impact study has held up the company's four-year quest to explore the offshore basin, an area some geologists say could contain up to 14 billion barrels of petroleum, or more than the entire proven reserves in the Gulf of Mexico. Total led a group including Britain's BP Plc and Brazilian state oil company Petrobras in buying five exploration blocks in the basin in 2013, but the discovery of a massive coral reef just 28 kilometers (17 miles) from the blocks has thrown environmental approval for drilling into doubt. Total in Brazil did not respond to a request for comment. The firm's Paris-listed
Mexico Auctions Two-thirds of Blocks in Shallow Water Oil Tender
$8.2 billion, Energy Minister Pedro Joaquin Coldwell told a news conference. The auction was the latest step in Mexico's bid to attract more private investment to the industry after Congress changed the constitution in late 2013 to end the 75-year production and exploration monopoly of state oil company Pemex. The Mexican state firm won two blocks in Monday's bidding - one in consortium with Germany's Deutsche Erdoel AG, and another with Ecopetrol. The Colombian firm also won a block with PC Carigali, a unit of Malaysian oil firm Petronas. Spain's Repsol combined with the
Uruguay to Tender 17 Offshore Blocks for Exploration
Uruguayan state oil company Ancap said on Tuesday it will tender 17 off-shore blocks for exploration in areas up to 3,000 meters deep, with offers to be presented in April 2019. The tender, called Uruguay Round III, will be launched in Houston in September. "Ancap is working with the ministry of industry and energy in the preparation of the model contract," the company's General Manager Ignacio Horvath said during an oil industry conference in Uruguayan resort town Punta del Este on the Atlantic coast. Uruguay is a net oil importer. In 2009 and 2012 it held Rounds
Pemex Discovers 6 New GoM Crude Deposits
Mexico's state oil company Pemex said on Tuesday it had discovered six new deposits in the Gulf of Mexico, two of super light crude in deep waters, and four of light crude in shallow waters. Pemex also plans to drill 30 exploratory wells in 2017, it said in a statement. (Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez)
February 2025
