Opec stands firm against calls for more oil

US supermajor ExxonMobil has lifted force majeure on its crude oil exports from Nigeria after a workers’ strike shut down the company’s production in the country.

French giant Total has restarted the 125,000 barrels per day Amenam oilfield, off Nigeria, after routine maintenance.

Malaysian state oil company Petronas is suspending the Banda NW ST-1 sidetrack off Mauritania following indications that the well hit an 85 metre gross gas column and 15 metre gross oil column.

The international oil and gas industry will need to satisfy the ever-increasing demand for hydrocarbons by having the right people in the right jobs, according to Abe Palaz, director of educational, research and development partnership for Halliburton.

Houston-based Mariner Energy saw first quarter earnings surge on higher production and galloping oil prices as it took over StatoilHydro’s production on the US Gulf of Mexico shelf.

Rebels from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) Niger Delta rebels pledged today to halt attacks on the oil industry if the Nigerian government would allow former US president Jimmy Carter to act as a mediator in the simmering conflict.

UK-based Tullow Oil said the Mahogany-2 appraisal well had struck oil off Ghana, further boosting the size of the giant Jubilee discovery.

ExxonMobil said it returned its oil output in Nigeria to normal operating levels after an eight-day strike, while Shell plans to kick off a partial resumption of production shut by militant attacks "within days".

Angola’s next licensing round will not take place until the country concludes its parliamentary elections in September, after which the West African country may also try to encourage investigation on pre-salt horizons in the wake of Brazilian discoveries on that play.

Italian giant Eni has hit the jackpot off Angola, with the Sangos-1 wildcat, the first probe sunk in Block 15/06, tapping a 127-metre oil column.

German utility group RWE has made a new oil discovery in Area 195 in Libya's Sirte basin, its third discovery in about a year.

Algerian state-owned energy group Sonatrach has delivered a cargo of 30,000 cubic metres of liquefied natural gas to its affiliate in Spain, Gas Comercializadora at the regasification terminal in Barcelona.

Rebel group the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) - who have stepped up attacks on Nigeria's oil industry in the last month - said today they are considering laying down their arms temporarily after a ceasefire appeal by US presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

United Arab Emirates-based private player Dana Gas said its Al-Baraka well in southern Egypt had won a prize for “Best New Concept” from the Egyptian Petroleum Exploration Society.

Shell has shut in more Nigerian output after a fresh militant attack on a flowstation in the Niger Delta.

A court in Nigeria has ordered the politically-sensitive trial of Niger Delta rebel leader Henry Okah to take place behind closed doors, in a move expected to anger factions of the armed militant group.

Malaysia’s Petronas is optimistic it will find commercially viable reserves of oil and gas after four years drilling off the Moroccan coast, the company said yesterday.

ExxonMobil reached a deal with a Nigerian oil union today to end an eight-day-old strike which had shut in virtually all of its output in the West African country, a union leader said.

Addax Petroleum is weighing up a fast track standalone subsea development tied back to a floating production, storage and offloading vessel for the Ofrima North find, off Nigeria, with first oil flowing by the end of next year, it said today.

A strike which has shut down ExxonMobil's production in Nigeria entered its eighth day today with talks to resolve the contractual dispute continuing, a spokesman for the supermajor said.

Investment vehicle-Africa Oil Exploration has signed a subscription agreement to subscribe for 10,714 shares in privately-owned Wilton Petroleum for £755,439 ($1.49 million) cash, giving it a 9.68% stake in the company.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has awarded one of two Lake Albert oil prospecting permits claimed by Ireland's Tullow Oil to a rival consortium including South Africa's state oil company PetroSA, Congo's oil ministry said.

Natural gas from Egypt began flowing to Israel through a pipeline for the first time today, state-owned utility Israel Electric Corporation said.

New Guinea-based Oil Search said the Sipetrol-operated Shahd South-East-1 well in the East Ras Qattara concession in Egypt's Western Desert had flowed at an average rate of 2500 barrels of oil per day during its main production test this week.