Exxon Mobil has made a new oil find in the LIZA-1 well on the Stabroek block about 120 miles offshore Guyana in South America.

The well encountered more than 90m of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs. It was drilled to 5,433m in 1,743m. The well was spudded on March 5 and data will be analysed in the coming months to better determine the full resource potential.

Stephen M. Greenlee, president of Exxon, said, 'Over the coming months we will work to determine the commercial viability of the discovered resource, as well as evaluate other resource potential on the block.'

Exxon (45%) operates for Hess 30% and CNOOC Nexen (25%).

From Houston (BN): In other Latin American news, a Colombian oil regulator was quoted in trade press as saying Anadarko’s KRONOS-1 offshore wildcat had reached its target ‘with very good results.’ Anadarko has had less to say.

Bob Daniels, Anadarko EVP of International and Deepwater Exploration, told a first-quarter earnings call not to expect much news this year. ‘We just started the wells, and they are going to be done midyear. So that will be the first activities, and then we're going to have to come back in, with success, to appraise and understand what we have.

‘The area we're drilling with Kronos and Calasu, that's 8 million acres. And we have multiple play types in there. So these wells could actually tell us a lot about what else we have, and what the total potential of the blocks could be. And we would like to then evaluate what that means to Anadarko.’

Kronos-1 is being drilled by the Bolette Dolphin, owned by Fred Olsen and managed by Dolphin Drilling. The drill ship is rated for 3,650m water depth and 12,190m drill depth. Anadarko’s operation report said Kronos-1 was expected to reach total depth sometime in the second quarter. Kronos is in the southern part of Anadarko’s holdings, which include prospects dubbed Fuerte Norte, Fuerte Sur, Purple Angel, Col 5 and Ura 4. Anadarko is operator with 50% interest. Ecopetrol owns the rest.

Following Kronos-1, the Bolette Dolphin is to move to the Calasu prospect in the northern part of Anadarko’s holdings to drill Calasu-1. The area ‘has multiple potential targets. Success at either well would de-risk multiple identified prospects,’ the operations report said.

China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) has made a mid-sized discovery at the LIUHUA 20-2 block in the Eastern South China Sea.

The Liuhua 20-2 structure is located in the Northern Slope Belt of Baiyun Sag in the Pearl River Mouth Basin of the South China Sea with an average water depth of about 390m.

The discovery well LH20-2-1 was drilled and completed at a depth of about 2,970m and encountered oil pay zones with a total thickness of 35.2m. The well tested at around 8,000 b/d of oil.

JV partner Lion Energy says that the LOFIN-2 well appraising the 2012 Lofin-1 discovery offshore Indonesia has met key pre-drill objectives.

It has significantly extended the proven gas column and provides valuable geological and engineering data including fluid samples, core data and wireline log data.

Atlantic Petroleum has decided to pull out of a licence off Norway which contains the ROALD RYGG (32/3) discovery.

Atlantic said it will relinquish its 7.5% stake in PL602 after receiving a further drilling proposal for the Gymir prospect in the same Statoil-operated licence.

Atlantic says the marginal economics on Roald Rygg combined with the expected long lead time to start of production has led to the decision to withdraw from PL602.

Atlantic CEO Ben Arabo said, ‘The further drilling of small accumulations scheduled for production in 2024 is a marginal project at the current time and an inefficient use of funds and resources in the current period of low oil price.’

Atlantic said it will continue to focus on its larger opportunities in the Norwegian Sea Aasta Hansteen area and on projects that can be monetised more quickly, such as the recent sale of the UK Pegasus West project.

Statoil is also exercising an option to take 10% in the PL802 licence in the Norwegian Sea. This will leave Atlantic Petroleum with 10% equity in Licence PL802 containing a number of high impact prospects.

The licence is just north east of the Asterix (31/23) discovery, and contains several prospects within the Upper Cretaceous play system that has been proven successful in this area.

The AUSTRALIAN Government has put 29 areas of offshore petroleum exploration in eight basins in Commonwealth waters up for sale under the 2015 offshore petroleum exploration acreage release.

Industry and Science Minister Ian Macfarlane said this year’s release offered explorers a mix of frontier and mature areas.

Macfarlane said the eight new permits would open the way for a further investment of $263mn by Australia's offshore petroleum exploration industry in Commonwealth waters.

Providence Resources has still not cemented a farm-out deal for its BARRYROE (31/23) asset offshore Ireland.

Earlier this year the company confirmed that it had reached agreement on commercial terms with a proposed farminee on Barryroe, with the farm in being subject to closing conditions, most specifically financing.

Providence said, however, that the closing conditions ‘have yet to be satisfied’ and that it is seeking to clarify the status of those conditions and the proposed farminee's position.

‘In the interim, as this was not an exclusive arrangement, Providence has continued commercial discussions in respect of its Barryroe asset with various counterparties, a number of whom are currently active in the data room process,’ the company said.

Albania will offer companies interested in oil and gas exploration seven offshore and onshore blocks in June in a bidding process, according to officials.

Energy minister Damian Gjiknuri has asked for bids for the offshore IONIAN 5 and Rodoni blocks to be handed in by June 25.

Multi-Client seismic specialist Spectrum has teamed up with Schlumberger to jointly acquire and process Spectrum’s offshore MEXICO CAMPEHE-YUCATAN 2D regional multi-client program.

The cooperation agreement includes more than 44,000 km of regional 2D seismic data in the new frontier Campeche/Yucatan area.

The new 2D regional programme provides a tie-in to Spectrum’s Big Wave multi-client programme in the northern and eastern areas in the US section of the Gulf of Mexico.

The long offset 2D survey was designed to best illuminate the complex structures located in the deep water area, including both pre-salt and post-salt plays.

Woodside Energy has decided not to enter into the next period of the exploration programme on the LAKE TANGANYIKA SOUTH Production Sharing Agreement (LTS PSA) in Tanzania.

Partner Beach Energy said it has preserved its right to proceed into the next exploration period under the LTS PSA.

Beach said it is currently assessing all options for the Lake Tanganyika South Block. Following Woodside’s decision, Beach will retain 100% of the LTS PSA and remain operator.

Providence Resources has completed an assessment of satellite oil seep data acquired over P1885 offshore Northern Ireland.

The data has revealed the presence of two large seeps about 3.5km northwest of the POLARIS prospect. Providence said the seeps appear to be related to faulting and may provide direct evidence of active oil migration from potential Lower Carboniferous source rocks.

As part of its licence commitments and to minimise ongoing costs, Providence has relinquished about 70% of P1885, retaining what it considers to be the most prospective area over the Polaris prospect.

Eni has made a new gas and condensate discovery offshore Libya, in the BOURI NORTH exploration prospect in Area D (32/1), 20km north of the producing Bouri field.

The discovery was made by the A1-1/1 well in 125m. The well encountered gas and condensate in the Metlaoui Group of Eocene age. During the production test, constrained by surface facilities, the well flowed 1,340b/d and is expected to pump in excess of 3,000b/d of oil in production mode.

The well is the second discovery made by Eni in Libyan offshore Area D since the beginning of 2015.

TGS has received a seismic permit from Mexico's Comisión Nacional de Hidrocarburos (CNH) authorising the acquisition of its GIGANTE 181,500 km regional 2D seismic survey in the Gulf of Mexico.

The survey will utilise four Seabird vessels to acquire an extensive regional grid of 2D multi-client seismic with 12,000 km offsets.

Gigante will cover the vast offshore sector of Mexico, including world class producing trends such as the Perdido fold belt and Campeche Bay, and line ties will be made in to the US Gulf of Mexico regional grids previously acquired by TGS. TGS will begin acquisition in Q2 2015.

INDONESIA’s Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry is set to offer 10 oil and gas blocks in a new bidding round this year.

The blocks are spread across the archipelago and comprise four conventional blocks to be tendered through open bidding, four under a direct-appointment scheme to oil and gas contractors that have performed studies in respective areas, as well as two unconventional shale blocks.

Norway has been hit with a run of dry wells, with the latest disappointment just north of the HYME field in the Norwegian Sea.

Statoil drilled wildcat wells 6407/8-7 and 6407/8-7 A with the Transocean Spitsbergen but both proved disappointing.

Talisman Energy’s wildcat well 15/12-24 S, which was drilled about 6km north of the Varg field, has also come up dry, while Suncor’s appraisal well 34/4-14 S drilled in the 34/4-11 oil discovery has also proved disappointing.

Kosmos Energy said its TORTUE-1 exploration well in Block C8 offshore Mauritania has encountered more hydrocarbons while drilling to total depth to evaluate the deeper Albian stratigraphy.

Tortue-1 has intersected approximately 10m of net hydrocarbon pay in the lower Albian section, which is currently interpreted to be gas. This is in addition to the previously announced 107m of net pay encountered in the Cenomanian, which was the primary objective.

The Tortue discovery area has also been renamed Ahmeyim.

Bahamas Petroleum says it will kick off its first exploration well off the BAHAMAS by April 2017 after being awarded an extension to its licence and well obligations.

Bahamas said it would also be looking for a farm-in partner for the licence.

Simon Potter, CEO of Bahamas Petroleum said, ‘With this clarity, and the prospect of a new regulatory environment passing through Parliament, we look forward to evaluating the full potential of the licence holdings.’

Offshore