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1. Faroe Petroleum will drill a wildcat to test its offshore Anne Marie prospect on License 005 in the Faroe Islands . The target is a structure offsetting the Corona Ridge prospect where Chevron made its Rosebank/Lochnagar discovery and Amerada Hess its Cambo/Lindisfame discoveries. No drilling has yet taken place on the 005 block.

2. Faroe Petroleum will drill an appraisal well in UK Block 206/10 West of Shetlands as soon as it can line up a semisubmersible to do the work, according to Ogilvie's E&P Daily. It would like to drill the appraisal on its Freya prospect in the third quarter this year for the 4-week drilling effort. The target is 6.2 miles (10 km) east of Clair field and will evaluate the Devonian Clair group at 8,700 ft (2,652 m).

3. The first well in an Island Oil & Gas 2-year drilling program found gas at Seven Heads West field in the Celtic Sea offshore Ireland . The 48/23-3 well, in 341 ft (104 m) of water reached a total vertical depth of 3,237 ft (987 m) and found gas sands at the anticipated depths. The company hasn't yet tested the well for commercial feasibility.

4. First gas flowed from the jointly developed Atlantic and Cromarty subsea fields in the Outer Moray Firth. BG Group and Hess Corp. will connect the gas production to the ExxonMobil Sage Terminal at St. Fergus , Scotland . The companies anticipate producing a combined 220 MMcf/d of gas at peak production. BG is the operator of Atlantic field in Black 14/26a with Hess holding a 25% share. At Cromarty in Block 13/30a , Hess is the operation and BG has a 10% share. The fields are some 7.8 miles (12.5 km) apart and 50 miles (80 km) northeast of St. Fergus.

5. Oilexco found a 90-ft (27-m) oil column on a sidetrack as it drilled its Disraeli prospect in Block 21/23a of the UK sector of the North Sea . The 21/23a-8Z discovery produces from Eocene Tay sands at approximately 5,000 ft (1,525 m). The company has plugged back the well to drill another side track to probe the high point of the structure. The new find is southwest of the Saxon discovery in Block 21/23b .

6. Tullow Oil discovered natural gas at its K4 exploratory well in the UK North Sea. Initial production figures were not released for the 44/23b-13 well. Tullow probably will tie the well back to its planned Kelvin platform. The new well is 3.1 miles (5 km) southeast of the company's previous K3 discovery. The K4 well reached high-quality gas-bearing reservoir sands in the Lower Ketch Carboniferous zone and the company estimates high potential from the discovery. Under the current concept, the Kelvin Southern Gas Basin platform will act as a central hub for the area, including the K3 and K4 wells and possibly the Cameron and Harrison prospects that should be drilled in the next 12 months. Kelvin will be a minimum facilities platform with tiebacks to ConocoPhillips CMS hub at Murdoch field. ConocoPhillips is a 50% partner in the K4 well.

7. Statoil earned approval from the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority for a new wildcat in the Barents Sea . The company will use Transocean's Polar Pioneer semisubmersible drilling rig to drill the 7122/6-2 approximately 60 miles east of Snohvit and north of Eni's 7122/7-1 Goliat discovery well. Statoil plans to drill the well in 34 days.

8. Norway 's Statoil discovered a 10-million to 15-million bbl field with two wellbores in its 34/10-49 exploratory well in the Gullfaks area of the Norwegian North Sea. The finds are about 6.2 miles (10 km) southwest of Gullfaks. The deepest wellbore reached 17,980 ft (5,480 m) landing in Cretaceous rock. The sidetrack went to middle Jurassic sediments to 10,867 ft (3,312 m). Statoil is going to stay busy in the Gullfaks area as it hooks the Skinfaks and Rimfaks fields into the Gullfaks C platform. The work involves 26 subsea connections, including the removal of existing pipe and replacement with four new pipe coils that will connect to the tie-in manifold.

9. John Wood Group's JP Kenny Norge picked up a couple of contracts for work offshore Norway . The company will conduct front-end engineering and design (FEED) work for Talisman's resurrection of the shut-in Yme field and will handle the FEED tasks for Dong's Oselear to Gyda or Ula subsea tieback. The combined contracts are worth US $1 million.

10. Germany 's Wintershall expanded its North Sea activities as it added Danish blocks 4/06, 5/06 and 6/06 by Denmark 's government. Wintershall plans to work with Saga Petroleum, which is a Norsk Hydro subsidiary, and Nordsofonden, a Danish government investment firm on the blocks. Wintershall will be the operator. It plans to conduct seismic research to pinpoint the best locations for exploratory wells in 2008. Wintershall also has interests in UK and Norwegian blocks in the North Sea, and it is a 42% owner in a neighboring Danish block in which a well is being drilled by Dong.

11. Cirrus Energy Corp. of Canada has asked the Dutch government for a license to work offshore Block Q11 , and, since no competing bids were submitted during the mandatory public notice period, it looks as if the company will receive the awards from The Netherlands. The award should become official in the third quarter this year.

12. JKX Oil & Gas tested its M154 well on its continuing drilling program at Poltava , Ukraine . The well flowed at a stabilized rate of 920 b/d of oil and 1 Mcf/d of gas through a 33/64-in. choke with flowing wellhead pressure of 770 psi. It tied the well back to production facilities with a new 3.7-mile (6-km) flowline. The M154 is the fourth horizontal well drilled as part of a development program on the southern flank of the northern sector of Molchanovskoye field. It pierced 984 ft (300 m) of gas- and oil-bearing Tournasian sand and produces from a 292 ft (150 m) section in the oil leg. The company also tested the I124 well in the same area. That well flowed at a stabilized rate of 1,530 b/d of oil and 750 MMcf/d of gas through a 30/64-in. choke with 1,075 psi of wellhead flowing pressure. That well is a vertical development well on the southern flank of the Ignatovskoye field. It produces from reefal Visean carbonate.

13. Shell Exploration and Production signed a joint activity agreement with Ukrainian state oil company Ukrgazbydobuvannya outlining work programs and the terms of the agreement. The Ukrainian company is a subsidiary of NaftogazUkrainy. Under the agreement, the companies will study an 11,969-sq-mile (31,000-sq-km) area in the Dniepr Donets Basin of central-eastern Ukraine . The region has potential for significant reserves. According to the agreement, Shell has farmed into eight Ukrgazbydobuvannya licenses in the basin with deep potential and shallower production. Shell can earn a half interest in the deeper play for a commitment to acquire seismic data and for drilling deep exploratory wells over a 3-year period that started in June.

14. An independent assessment of potential resources for Falcon Oil & Gas in the Mako Trough Pannonian Basin Gas Accumulation in southeastern Hungary shows potential for significant recoveries. The Scotia Group of Dallas , Texas , analyzed the deep trough and didn't include shallower zones. The report described technically recoverable resources but not reserves. According to the report the trough offers a 90% probability of providing 18 Tcf of technically recoverable resource, a 50% probability of 45.2 Tcf recovery and a 10% probability of a 96.3 Tcf recovery.

15. Toreador Resources has started producing gas from its Fauresti field in Romania . The rehabilitation effort on the existing field should offer the company 6 MMcf/d of gas and 30 b/d of condensate. Initial production will come from five wells re-entered by the company late last year and early this year. Toreador recompleted the wells as gas producers. Since 1970, the field has produced 7.6 million bbl of oil and 46 Bcf of gas. In all, the company will recomplete 11 wells in the field. Toreador also has located 10 prospects on its Vireresti permit on the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains in southeastern Hungary . The company estimated a pre-drill potential of 12 million to 105 million boe each on the 10 prospects.

16. Po Valley Energy Ltd. of Australia has asked the Italian government for the go-ahead to produce its gas fields in northern Italy . That includes the company's Sillaro gas field. If approved, this would allow the company to start its first production in Italy . It discovered the field in December last year and expanded the play with the discovery of addition producing zones a month later as in encountered flow rates 10 times higher than expected. Since then, it has been conducting the reservoir studies necessary to get government approval for development. It plans two production wells - the Sillaro 1 dir and Sillaro 2 to the west of the original Sillaro 1 . It will drill the wells late this year or early next year. It anticipates production of more than 8 MMcf/d of gas.