Oil dropped over $1 to $122 after a statement from Opec said supply was enought and a shipping source said Saudi Arabia planned to raise spot market oil exports to the US this month.

08 May 2008 16:37 GMT

US exploration company Empire Energy unveiled a $31 million programme to drill up to eight test wells at key locations in an exploration lease covering 23% of Australia's island state of Tasmania, according to reports.

08 May 2008 16:09 GMT

Hungarian producer MOL has taken a 35% stake in an exploration block in the north-west of India from India’s Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).

08 May 2008 16:07 GMT

Investments worth about $600 billion will be needed to develop recent big oil finds in the Santos basin in Brazil, said analysts at UBS.

08 May 2008 16:06 GMT

Mexican Energy Minister Georgina Kessel warned today that Mexico could suffer a severe energy crisis before 2018 if the troubled sector was not overhauled.

08 May 2008 15:55 GMT

Houston junior Tammany Oil & Gas shelled out $10 million for eight non-operated oil and gas properties in the Gulf of Mexico – all the assets of Summit Gulf Venture, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sumitomo.

08 May 2008 15:33 GMT

Houston-based Universal Energy announced successful results from flow tests on two Caviar prospects in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, estimating that production from the wells could begin as early as July of this year.

08 May 2008 14:43 GMT

Swedish explorer is waiting on logs to confirm that the Wan Machar-1 well, in Block 5B, Sudan, is a dry hole.

08 May 2008 14:28 GMT

Flotek Industries has reported a drop in net income from $3.7 million in the first quarter of 2007 to $3.4 million in 2008.

08 May 2008 12:58 GMT

Electromagnetic Geoservices (EMGS) has lined up enough industry pre-funding to allow it to start a multi-client electromagnetic (EM) scanning survey in the Barents Sea, ahead of Norway's 20th licensing round.

08 May 2008 12:50 GMT

A Houston jury has rejected a multi-million dollar trade secrets lawsuit brought by National Oilwell Varco against four former employees and their current employer, A&B Valve & Piping Systems.

08 May 2008 12:36 GMT

Houston-based explorer Swift Energy booked an 88% rise in net income from continuing operations in the first quarter, but higher costs meant the company's figures failed to meet market expectations.

08 May 2008 12:28 GMT

US oilfield services player Superior Well Services posted a lower quarterly profit, missing market estimates, hurt by adverse weather conditions in the Appalachian region and increased competition leading to pricing pressures.

08 May 2008 12:04 GMT

US gas producer and pipeline player El Paso Corporation posted a higher first-quarter operating profit today, adding it expects full-year earnings to be sharply higher than previously forecast on stronger oil and natural gas prices.

08 May 2008 11:45 GMT

Russian producer Sibir Energy has delayed its plans to re-list from the Alternative Investment Market to the London Stock Exchange by at least six months.

08 May 2008 11:43 GMT

Kuwait has signed a $150 million contract with US company Excelerate Energy to build liquefied natural gas facilities at Ahmadi port by April next year.

08 May 2008 11:31 GMT

Executives from the Eni-led AgipKCO consortium, which is developing the Kashagan field, met for talks with Kazakh officials today in a bid to push ahead with the project's new development plan, a source close to the talks said.

08 May 2008 10:00 GMT

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

Materials prices are one variable which can play havoc with budget costings for offshore units, but artist Nathan Sawaya and US oilfield services outfit Weatherford may have hit upon an innovative solution ... Lego. UpstreamOnline takes a closer look.

08 May 2008 09:51 GMT

Ukraine's environment ministry has cancelled Vanco Energy's licence for the Prykerchensky Block, in the Black Sea - awarded to the US explorer last October, according to a ministry order published today.

SBM-Atlantia has lifted the lid on its groundbreaking MoorSpar system - a new disconnectable turret design for floating production storage and offloading vessels which may see floaters become the unit of choice for deep-water hurricane- and cyclone-prone plays. The key, MoorSpar project manager Philippe Lavagna says, is a disconnectable mooring system featuring steel catenary risers rather than hybrids. Watch the full interview with Lavagna here.

08 May 2008 08:42 GMT

Lundin Petroleum has signed a farm out agreement with French Gaz de France covering the Pays de Saulnois licence off France, giving GdF a 50% stake in the prospect.

08 May 2008 08:02 GMT

UK-listed Gulf Keystone Petroleum reported a net loss of $30 million for the 12 months ending in December compared to a profit of $46.3 million in 2006.

08 May 2008 07:46 GMT

Det Norske has reported an increase in net loss to Nkr44.8 million ($8.8 million) for the first quarter of 2008 compared to Nkr10.2 million in 2007 despite a 170% increase in revenue which came in at $79.5 million.

08 May 2008 07:40 GMT

Louisiana-based Global Industries has agreed to buy the deep-water construction and dive support vessel Olympic Orion.

08 May 2008 07:27 GMT

Iran's Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari said it would be possible to see a price of $200 per barrel for crude if existing conditions in the market continued, an Iranian news agency reported today.

08 May 2008 07:22 GMT

US seismic survey group Geokinetics saw first quarter earnings fall as a result of higher depreciation expenses on its capital investment programme, it said.

08 May 2008 07:21 GMT

StatoilHydro has proved up even more reserves at the Alve field, in production licence 159B off Norway, with well 6507/3-5S hitting between 3 billion and 5 billion cubic metres of recoverable gas condensate.

08 May 2008 07:00 GMT

Norwegian seismic player Scan Geophysical is primed to carryout an 8500 kilometre 2D sweep off Portugal for a consortium comprising Petrobras International Braspetro, Galp and Partex.

08 May 2008 06:45 GMT

Petroleum Geo-Services said first quarter operating profit shot up 39% to $46.6 million compared with the same period last year due to buoyant market demand.

08 May 2008 06:37 GMT

Houston-based North Sea player Endeavour International saw first quarter losses deepen to $16.8 million from a loss of $3.1 million in the same quarter last year as it took a 29.6 million hit on derivates losses and suffered from the weak US dollar.

08 May 2008 06:30 GMT

Norwegian seismic player TGS-Nopec’s operating profit before interest and tax fell 9% to $46.6 million for the first quarter this year compared with the same period last year.

08 May 2008 06:07 GMT

Australia’s Red Fork’s first well at its West Tulsa project in Oklahoma has signaled a potential hydrocarbon pay of 30 feet in the primary objective.

08 May 2008 05:58 GMT

Singapore’s Sembcorp Marine reported a 24% jump in net attributable profit due to higher operating margins from rig building and the ship repair business.

08 May 2008 05:39 GMT

Otto Energy has been handed an eight-year exploration service contract in Area 8 off the Philippines, the Australian company said today.

Oil steadied today within sight of a record high near $124 a barrel as the dollar's rise against the euro reduced the appeal of the commodity as a hedge against inflation.

08 May 2008 04:57 GMT

Oilfield security in Nigera would improve if oil companies boosted their community development efforts, Emmanuel Egbogah, special petroleum adviser to Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua, said.

Woodside Petroleum confirmed today it will replace the floating production, storage and offloading vessel Cossack Pioneer off Western Australia rather than upgrade it.

08 May 2008 03:51 GMT

The use of floating production, storage and offloading vessels to tap deep-water oil in the US Gulf of Mexico faces challenges and will depend on individual project needs, an industry panel discussion heard.

08 May 2008 03:47 GMT

BHP Billiton gave a briefing on its petroleum business yesterday in London in an attempt to reiterate that its upstream business is not for sale and has strong growth potential.

08 May 2008 03:21 GMT

A heated debate over the future of Mexico's oil industry will drag on for months, delaying President Felipe Calderon's plans to give foreign companies a bigger say in the country's sagging energy sector after leftists have forced him into holding a long "national debate" in the Senate.

08 May 2008 03:09 GMT

A US federal appeals court ruled yesterday that a plea bargain between prosecutors and UK supermajor BP violated the rights of victims of a deadly 2005 explosion at the company's giant Texas City refinery.

08 May 2008 02:39 GMT

US well control specialist Boots & Coots and Canada’s HSE Integrated have agreed to form a joint venture to provide oilfield safety services throughout the US.

08 May 2008 02:23 GMT

Prolific workboat builder Jaya Holdings reported a 26% jump in net attributable profit as the Singapore outfit rides the strong demand for offshore support vessels.