Franklin Mining and Exploration Oil & Gas Projects for 2009
Franklin Mining, Inc. executives and consultants from the US and South America are this week meeting with William Petty, Chairman, CEO & President and Franklin’s Board of Directors as they begin a review of all properties and pending projects in both the Mining and Oil & Gas divisions of the company.
Franklin’s oil and gas projects in Argentina remain under negotiation pending approval by government agencies. A recommendation of approval for a final report on the economic development of a designated natural gas allocation will be presented to Franklin’s Board this week by Fernando Infante, Franklin Mining Executive Vice-President and Howard Dunn, President of Franklin’s Oil & Gas Division. With Board approval, an international business consulting and accounting firm will prepare their review and assessment of planned gas-to-liquid processing plants.
Paul Baker, International Mining Consultant, La Paz, Bolivia, will meet with the Franklin Board for a discussion and review of his December 2008 Summary Evaluation of the Escala Mine joint-venture. As previously announced, Mr. Baker’s assessment is that the Escala’s 2008 pre-production development has resulted in three excellent cross cut haulage tunnels having been driven to intersect east/west vein structures.
Read more
Indian oil exploration in Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh protest
Bangladesh has said that it will lodge a formal complaint with India about three Indian oil and gas survey ships that allegedly crossed into its maritime boundary and continued working despite being told to leave.
A press statement issued here Friday by the Bangladesh foreign ministry said an Indian survey vessel and its two support ships had initially moved towards Indian waters but were spotted inside Bangladesh waters Thursday afternoon.
The press release added that the government will lodge a formal complaint with the Indian authorities, asking them not to undertake any exploratory work in the Bay of Bengal until the maritime border issue is solved through mutual agreement.
This is the first time that Indian oil and gas survey ships have entered the maritime economic zones that Bangladesh claims as its own.
The Indian vessels allegedly entered seven nautical miles into the territorial waters of Bangladesh under Deep Sea Block-14 and continued operations by claiming that they were within their maritime boundary, The Daily Star newspaper reported Saturday.
Read more
SeaBird Exploration award contracts for the Aquila Explorer in South America
SeaBird Exploration Limited has been awarded two contracts for the Aquila Explorer in South America and the Far East. These contracts are back-to-back and will commence when Aquila Explorer is ending the contract with Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) in early 2009. Furthermore, SeaBird has been awarded a new contract for the Geo Mariner in the Middle East.
These contracts secure satisfactory back-log for the Aquila Explorer and Geo Mariner until the later part of Q2 2009. The total value of these contracts are in the range of US $30 million and are expected to yield average day rates in excess of our current guiding for these vessels of US $75-90,000.
SeaBird has now executed a formal contract with BP Exploration & Production Inc. for the ocean bottom nodes seismic acquisition survey in Green Canyon, Gulf of Mexico, USA, including the Hugin Explorer and Kondor Explorer, following the letter of award previously announced.
This survey will commence upon completion of the current survey in Block 17, offshore Angola for Total. Completion date for this survey is now expected to be early Q2 2009 due to ongoing improvements to the deep-water node system. BP is also a partner in block 17.
CEO of SeaBird, Tim Isden stated, “We are pleased that we are able to continue building our vessel backlog at day-rates above our guided levels, despite the turmoil in the financial markets and the drop in oil price.”
China, Taiwan Sign Deals to Boost Oil Exploration
China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) and Taiwan’s CPC Corp signed four agreements on Friday to boost cooperation in exploration, including the transfer of equity in an oilfield in Kenya, the official Xinhua news agency said.
China’s top offshore oil firm agreed to transfer a 30 percent stake in onshore Block 9 in Kenya to Taiwan’s state-run CPC, Xinhua said, without providing more detail.
The agreements included a letter of intent for closer cooperation, a revised deal on joint exploration in the Tainan Basin of the Taiwan Strait and the Chaozhou Shantou Basin off China’s Guangdong coast, and a joint study on the Wuqiuyu Basin off China’s Fujian coast.
CNOOC’s Chairman and chief executive Fu Chengyu and CPC’s Chairman Wenent Pan, who was on a visit to Beijing, signed the agreements.
Read more
PSA Norway Checks Emergency Preparedness on Deepsea Atlantic
Source: RZ / rigzone.com
During the period of November 26-28, 2008, the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) conducted an audit of technical and operational factors related to emergency preparedness and helicopter operations on the mobile facility Deepsea Atlantic.
The facility was at the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co Ltd (DSME) shipyard in Goeje in South Korea. The audit was linked to Odfjell Drilling’s (Odfjell’s) application for an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) for the mobile drilling facility Deepsea Atlantic.
Background for the audit
The Deepsea Atlantic is a mobile drilling facility under construction at the DSME shipyard in South Korea. The plan is to use the drilling facility for activities on the Norwegian shelf, with StatoilHydro as operator.
Read more
Spanish, Cepsa Oil and Gas Company Announces New Hydrocarbons Exploration in Llanos Basin, Colombia
The company will have an upstream portfolio of 17 permits in Colombia including the Upper Magdalena River Valley.
During the Colombia Round 2008 licensing process, Cepsa, in consortium with the Canadian oil groups Meta Petroleum and Talisman, was awarded Blocks CPO 12 and CPO 14. Subsequently, in the Mini Round 2008, Cepsa Colombia was the successful bidder of blocks LLA 22 and LLA 26, with a 100% working interest in both.
With these four new contracts, involving additional investments estimated to amount to over $50 million, the company expects to significantly broaden its exploration operations and presence in the country.
These contracts come in addition to the recent acquisition of exploration and production rights in the Caracara Block in Colombia, where Cepsa already operates three fields with a total output of 20,000 barrels of oil per day.
PTT Exploration oil and natural gas will acquire Coogee Resources
PTT Exploration & Production Pcl, Thailand’s only publicly traded oil and natural gas explorer, will acquire Coogee Resources Ltd., a closely held Australian oil project developer, for $170 million to expand its reserves.
The acquisition will provide PTT Exploration with “a unique platform” for expansion in Australia, the Thai company said in a filing to the stock exchange today.
PTT Exploration is seeking sources of gas overseas because some local fields have become less productive. It has about 40 petroleum projects, including gas exploration and production in Oman, Vietnam and Myanmar. The $170 million investment accounts for 2.7 percent of PTT Exploration’s total assets as of Sept. 30.
Read more