City Oriente, an oil company controlled by U.S. investors, ended its drilling and exploration contract with Ecuador’s government 13 years early on Friday, transferring operations to a subsidiary of state-owned oil company Petroecuador.

Ecuador’s government paid $69 million to end City Oriente’s 24-year contract and assume control over its jungle oil wells within three months, Oil and Mining Minister Galo Chiriboga said in a news release.
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Shell and BPZ will make cooperation agreement to do seeking of new natural gas source in Peru. Both exploration companies of this mine hopes will get new source of natural gas, what can give advantage and increases result of exploration of second natural gas of company.

Planning of location nature gas source location search in three offshore block around 1,300 kilometers ( 800 miles) north of Lima.
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Apex has identified up to 8 drilling locations on these lands pending further geological study.

Apex has acquired an additional 800 acres within its SW Saskatchewan Bakken oil play area. This brings Apex’s acreage in potential Bakken bearing lands to 2,240 acres of 100% working interest lands. Licensing has begun on its first well on these lands with potential Viking and Bakken heavy oil production.

Also, Apex expects to spud its Alberta Pakowki Section 13 prospect within a week, pending cooperative weather.
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World’s largest oil producer expected to to increase output by 200,000 barrels a day through July, according to U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon.

Saudi Arabia plans to increase its oil production by 200,000 barrels a day next month, the kingdom’s oil minister told U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on Sunday, according to Ban’s spokesman.

The U.N. secretary-general met with Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi in the port city of Jiddah during a one-day trip to the world’s largest oil producer.
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Oil and natural-gas producer Concho Resources Inc. said Thursday it has agreed to buy Henry Petroleum’s energy holdings in Texas and New Mexico for $565 million in cash.

The properties, located in the Permian Basin of West Texas and Southeast New Mexico, include the equivalent of 163 billion cubic feet of proved reserves, and 283 billion cubic feet of identified unproved reserves. Concho estimates that 70 percent of the proved reserves contains oil.

The holdings currently produce the equivalent of about 33 million cubic feet per day, and have a reserve-to-production ratio of 13.5 years, Concho said.
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After the huge Soviet mines in the region closed in the 1990s, jobless men and boys started their own small operations, using picks and shovels to claw coal out of the mountains. Some are as young as 11, miners say.

Today, hundreds _ perhaps thousands _ of miners earn an average they say of about US$50 (euro32) a week in the mines. They haul the coal out one 150-pound sack at a time, and sell them in markets for about US$3 (euro1.80) each.

“We work for bread,” shrugged Ibrahim Almahayev, 43, nearly naked, whose face was smeared with coal dust. Read more » »

Japan Canada Oil Sands Ltd, a unit of Japan Petroleum Exploration Co said on Thursday it plans to expand its Canadian oil sands operation to produce up to an additional 35,000 barrels a day by 2014.

The company, which has run a pilot project for the Hangingstone oil sands operation for the past 10 years, said it would seek regulatory approval for the expansion of its thermal oil sands project in 2010.

Its current operation produces about 8,000 barrels of tar-like bitumen per day.

Yukio Kishigami, executive vice-president of Japan Canada Oil Sands, said the company is not yet ready to detail the cost of the expansion. A budget will be produced as it completes work leading to the regulatory application. Read more » »

Fox Petroleum Inc. is pleased to announce that it has signed a Letter of Commitment (LOC) with Senergy, an international integrated oil services company, to utilize the Byford Dolphin semi-submersible drilling rig to drill a well on the company’s Bourbon prospect. Fox has secured the drilling rig for a 22-day slot in the fourth quarter of 2008. Fox Petroleum has a 46% interest in the UK North Sea Block 211/17, which contains the Bourbon Prospect.

Richard Moore, Fox’s Chief Executive Officer, said, “We believe the 211/17-3 well drilled in the 1980s to be an unrealized discovery well. Fox plans to move up-dip from the #3 well, which we believe encountered an oil-water transition zone. This well, if successful, should prove up the recoverable resources estimate recently prepared by Aimwell Energy Ltd. in excess of 160 million barrels of oil recoverable - mean case.”

Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) has reported an increase of 3.2 billion barrels in the company’s STOIIP (stock-tank oil initially in place) volumes in 2007. The figure represents an impressive 88 per cent jump over the corresponding STOIIP increase of 1.7 billion barrels achieved in 2006. STOIIP is the amount of oil believed to be originally contained in a rock formation at stock-tank conditions (under atmospheric pressure and room temperature).

The company attributed the growth in STOIIP volumes largely to the booking of the Habhab heavy-oil reservoir that was appraised during the year, and from the Rabab Southeast and Budour Northeast oil discoveries. Read more » »

Result Energy Inc. is pleased to provide a year end 2007 summary and an update on 2008/09 exploration plans:

2007 Review

Result’s average daily production increased for the 6th consecutive year to 1,119 boed from 823 boed in 2006, a 36% year over year increase. Production is currently 90% weighted to natural gas and following the April 30, 2008 disposition of Saskatchewan assets, the Company’s current productive capacity is now estimated at 950 boed.

Funds from operations increased by over 52% for the year; to $6.2 million from $4.1 million in 2006. Fourth quarter funds from operations was $0.86 million, down 37% from the same period last year.

The proved plus probable additional (”P+PA”) reserves at December 31, 2007 increased to 3.55 million boe, up 3% from a year earlier. However the P+PA reserve value discounted at 10% was down 5% from the prior year. Read more » »