Oslo unveils APA round goodies

Oil, natural gas liquids and condensates production on the Norwegian continental shelf in March was 2.5 million standard cubic metres of oil equivalent the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) said today.

Norway's StatoilHydro today began a planned maintenance shutdown of the Snohvit liquefied natural gas and plans to restart the plant in early July.

French offshore services giant Bourbon’s first quarter revenues are up 21.4% over the same period last year to €211.7 million ($326.6 million), primarily due to charters in the offshore division and strong growth in Africa.

Spanish energy company Gas Natural has booked a 10.2% rise in first quarter net profit, coming in at €335.8 million ($515 million).

Svein Olsen has stepped aside as chief of Aker Floating Production, with Karl Erik Kjelstad taking his place as interim chief of the Norwegian company, as it fights to control spiralling cost overruns on the Aker Smart 1 floating production, storage and offloading vessel conversion.

Norway’s Reservoir Exploration Technology (RXT) slid deeper into the red in its first quarter results as it was hit by foreign exchange losses, the company said.

UK listed Sound Oil is set to push on with this year's seismic shoot over the Citarum onshore block in Indonesia’s West Java province after its partners in the contract area paid back their default to the tune of $5.864 million plus interest and costs.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

French giant Total said first quarter net profits leapt 9% to €3.25 billion ($5.04 billion) as record oil prices helped make up for a slight dip in the outfit’s oil and gas production.

Italy has chosen the four winning bidders of a depleted gas field auction, but has not yet named the companies involved.

Opec is refusing to pump more oil into world markets despite member nations’ calls to increase supply to curb skyrocketing prices.

Irish explorer Providence Resources has bought a package of of oil and gas assets in the Gulf of Mexico from Triangle Oil & Gas in a $67.5 million deal.

StatoilHydro has announced that the life of the Tune field off Norway has been extended and gas production increased following a reconstruction of production to a low-pressure system.

Turkey will try to firm up plans to produce gas from Turkmen fields with a foreign partner during an energy ministry trip to the central Asian republic in June, a Turkish energy official said today.

Mediterranean Oil & Gas has confirmed significant oil from appraisal drilling on the Ombrina Mare field in the Adriatic Sea off Italy.

Austrian integrated oil group OMV reported strong rises in first quarter revenue and earnings amid record oil prices.

Offshore services player Deep Sea Supply has sealed two four-year time charters with ExxonMobil for the newbuild platform supply vessels Sea Pollock and Sea Turbot.

Australia’s Incremental Petroleum and compatriot Otto Energy are set to start front-end engineering and design for the Edirne gas project in Turkey.