Norway, Russia Team Up In Search For Arctic Oil

Russia and Norway will soon sign a deal to acquire new seismic data from the two countries’ Arctic Barents Sea maritime border region to boost the search for oil and gas, the Norwegian oil minister told Reuters on Nov. 28.

“Now we have come to an agreement, which will allow shooting seismic data across the border,” Tord Lien, Norway’s minister of petroleum and energy, said after a meeting with Russia’s natural resources minister, Sergei Donskoi, in Oslo, Norway. “This will make it possible to get a better picture of the reservoirs that cross the border.”

He expects to sign the deal before Dec. 24.

The two neighboring countries already have signed a deal to exchange older seismic data from the border zone.

Statoil and Lundin are among the firms that have previously found oil and gas in the Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea.

Israel Accepting Bids For 24 Offshore Exploration Blocks

Israel is accepting bids for the rights to drill in 24 offshore exploration blocks as the country looks to bolster its oil and gas sector.

Large natural gas deposits already have been found off Israel’s Mediterranean coast, and Israel expects the new tender will attract a host of foreign operators, leading to further discoveries.

Israel’s Energy Ministry also released results from a study conducted by Paris-based consultant Beicip-Franlab that estimated there are still 2,137 Bcm of natural gas and 6.6 Bbbl of oil to be discovered in Israeli waters.

Licenses will be awarded for a three-year period with an opportunity to extend another three years if work has begun. The individual blocks are up to 400 sq km (154 sq miles) in size.

BGP Begins 2-D Survey Offshore Cuba

BGP Marine has kicked off a 2-D multiclient survey offshore Cuba after signing a contract with Cuba-Petroleo Co., according to a news release.

Targeting the Cuba Economic Zone of the Gulf of Mexico, the project comprises 25,000 km (15,534 miles) of 2-D long-offset, high-resolution, broadband seismic and gravity data. The acquisition is being carried out with the BGP Pioneer vessel, and the final data will be available to clients in fourth-quarter 2017, BGP said in the release. The bid round will be followed after the completion of the survey.

The underexplored offshore Cuba region contains large areas of open acreage. The presence of an active hydrocarbon system is indicated by oil and gas shows in some of the wells, BGP said in the release.

The survey has been designed to acquire high-quality data that will be fundamental in assisting the interpretation of the geology offshore Cuba, and the identification of prospective structural and stratigraphic trends that can be used for regional evaluation and future detailed seismic survey designs, BGP said.

—Staff & Reuters Reports