Heritage Oil surprises investors with major gas discovery in Iraq

Gulf Keystone Petroleum (LON:GKP) , the oil and gas group active in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, this morning reported that it had finished drilling and testing operations on its Shaikan-3 shallow appraisal well. The well was drilled to 1,100m in order to test Cretaceous age rock intervals for producible oil – an area that could not be completed properly in the original Shaikan-1 well that was drilled in 2009. Flow tests and log evaluations have focused on resources in the Garagu, or lower portion, of the Cretaceous rock.

Italian oil and gas major Eni opened up Mozambique’s gas riches to China on Thursday when it agreed to sell a 20% stake in its giant Mozambique gas field to China National Petroleum Corporation for US$4.21-billion. The deal, still subject to approval by Mozambique authorities, will leave Eni with a 50% stake in the field which is the Italian company’s biggest ever gas discovery. “It’s great early monetisation on what is a world-class project and helps reduce Eni’s risk exposure to the area,” said Jason Kenney, oil analyst at Santander.

Energy firm Heritage Oil said on Wednesday it has made a major gas find in Iraq's autonomous region of Kurdistan that is among the largest ever in the country."The discovery of a major gas field of up to 12.3 trillion cubic feet (348 billion cubic metres) in-place with exceptional flow rates makes this one of the largest gas fields to be discovered in Iraq," a statement said.The spokesman for the Kurdistan regional government's natural resources ministry declined to comment when contacted by AFP.

Petroceltic (LON:PCI) , the AIM and ESM listed oil and gas group that works in North Africa, the Middle East and the Mediterranean, has agreed a tie-up with the Middle East new ventures arm of Hess (NYSE:HES) and executed two Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) with the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq (KRG).

Afren (LON:AFR), the FTSE 250 oil and gas group, has set its sights on average production levels reaching 42,000 to 46,000 barrels of oil equivalent in 2012 as the flow of oil from its flagship Ebok field in Nigeria continues to ramp up. With all 14 production wells in the first phase of the Ebok development now completed, the company has started the year with an ambitious exploration and appraisal programme that has already produced a major oil discovery at Okoro East, offshore Nigeria.

Originally posted at OilPrice.com, Last year was a record one for major new discoveries, and 2013 has so far demonstrated that the road to discovery still has plenty of mileage. The past two months alone have netted new finds in Egypt, a flurry of promising exploration results in East and West Africa, some important moves toward commercial viability in Kenya, more gas in the North Sea, an unexpected junior discovery in Brazil—and of course, more gains in Texas.

OSLO (Reuters) - Norwegian oil firm Statoil and ExxonMobil have discovered a large natural gas deposit off the coast of Tanzania and added further resources to another nearby find, Statoil said in a statement on Thursday. The discovery, Statoil's seventh major find in just over a year, confirmed 3 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas in the Lavani well, 2,400 meters under the sea. In addition, the firms also added 1 Tcf of gas to an earlier 5 Tcf discovery in the Zafarani sidetrack in the same block just 16 kilometers away, Statoil, the block's operator said. ...

AIM listed oil and gas group Encore Oil (LON:EO.) this morning reported that drilling was expected to start in the next few days on appraisal wells close to the Cladhan oil discovery in the UK Northern North Sea. Sterling Energy (TSX-V:SLG), the Canadian operator on the block, reported that a rig was currently being mobilised to the site.