Shell Signs Deal To Explore Kazakhstan
Shell signed a deal with Kazakhstan for oil and gas exploration in the Zhanaturmys block in western Kazakhstan. The block comprises 1,377 km2. The contract runs until 2032. Kazakhstan’s Deputy Energy Minister Yerlan Akbarov and Suzanne Coogan, senior vice president and country chair at Shell Kazakhstan, signed the agreement on 5 March.
Under the agreement, Shell and Kazakhstan will work together on seismic exploration, data collection, and technical evaluation of potential hydrocarbon resources within the block.
According to Akbarov, the Zhanaturmys block is in one of Kazakhstan’s most promising oil and gas basins and could hold significant potential for expansion of hydrocarbon exploration in the country.
Eni Starts Up Ndungu Full-Field Development Offshore Angola
Eni announced the startup of the Ndungu full-field development, part of the Agogo Integrated West Hub Project (IWH), in the western area of Block 15/06, offshore Angola. Agogo IWH consists of seven production wells and four injection wells, with an expected production peak of 60,000 BOPD.
Ndungu reached full-field production first through the N’goma FPSO and later through the Agogo FPSO.
Across the two fields, Agogo and Ndungu, peak output of approximately 175,000 BPD is expected.
Agogo IWH is operated by Eni- and BP-owned Azule Energy, with partners Sonangol E&P (36.84%) and Sinopec International (26.32%).
Drilling Begins at Trion Field
Woodside Energy Group and Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) began drilling at the ultradeepwater Trion field. The Trion field is in the Perdido Fold Belt, at a water depth of 2,500 m, approximately 180 km off the Mexican coastline and 30 km south of the US and Mexico maritime border. The project was greenlighted in 2023 with an expected budget of $7.2 billion.
The project includes a floating production unit, Tláloc, with an output capacity of 100,000 BPD. Tláloc will be connected to a floating storage and offloading vessel with a capacity of 950,000 bbl.
Transocean Ltd.'s Deepwater Thalassa arrived in early March for the drilling campaign and will be supported by supply vessels operating from ports in Tamaulipas state. Woodside and Pemex expect 24 wells to be drilled over the course of field's life.
Woodside serves as operator of the Trion field and holds 60% interest, with Pemex holding the remaining 40% interest.
Kosmos Extends Ghanian Exploration Licenses
Kosmos Energy has extended its licenses for the West Cape Three Points and Deepwater Tano Petroleum agreements to 2040. The licenses were ratified by the Ghanaian parliament in late February and cover the Jubilee and TEN fields in Ghana. The extension will bring Ghana up to $2 billion in incremental investment. The updated Jubilee plan of development will include up to 20 additional wells in the field.
The J74 well in the Jubilee field came online in January and is producing about 13,000 BOPD. According to the company, the first well of the five-well 2026 drilling campaign, J75, has been drilled, encountering approximately 40 m of net pay. Kosmos expects it to go online by the end of Q1 2026.
Kosmos signed a sale and purchase agreement, valued at $205 million, to acquire the Attah Miles FPSO to serve the TEN fields.
Equinor Announces Snorre Field Discovery
Equinor an oil discovery near the Snorre field, on Norway's side of the North Sea. According to the company, the well in production license 057 (PL 057) sits 1.6 km east of the Snorre field in water depths of 381 m. The well was drilled by Odfjell Drilling Ltd.'s Deepsea Atlantic rig.
"The new discovery will be tied back quickly to existing subsea facilities and produced through the Snorre A platform," said Erik Gustav Kirkemo, Equinor senior VP for the southern area in exploration and production Norway.
Equinor serves as operator of PL 057, with partners Petoro AS (30%), Harbour Energy Norge AS (24.5%), Inpex Idemitsu Norge AS (9.6%), and Vår Energi ASA (4.9%).
Joint Venture Forms To Explore Offshore Bulgaria
Turkish state-owned oil and gas company Turkiye Petrolleri (TPAO) will partner with Shell to explore the Khan Tervel field offshore Bulgaria. Khan Tervel is in Bulgaria’s maritime area of the Black Sea, near the TPAO-operated Sakarya gas field.
TPAO and Shell will begin a 3D seismic survey of the formation covering about 1,500 square miles of seabed under a 5-year lease for the work. The companies will then evaluate the data, which will guide the subsequent steps of the project.
Shell secured an exploration license for Khan Tervel in December 2025.
Santos and Beach Energy Sign FID on Cooper Basin's Moomba Project
Santos and Beach Energy have signed a final investment decision (FID) for the Moomba Central Optimization (MCO) Project in South Australia’s Cooper Basin. Santos will invest $357 million in the project, which is planned to be delivered over 3 years.
The MCO project will replace seven aging gas-driven compressor stations with one electric-driven station to debottleneck infrastructure and enable future production growth in the Cooper Basin Central Fields. The Moomba Gas Plant will add inlet compression and new power generation to handle incoming gas and supply electricity to upstream satellite facilities.
“Importantly, the project is estimated to reduce Santos Scope 1 emissions by over 40,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year, supporting our Scope 1 emissions reduction targets,” said Santos’ managing director and CEO Kevin Gallagher.
Santos announced it is also targeting CAPEX and OPEX savings of more than $600 million over the life of the Central Fields by moving to more-efficient, modern infrastructure.
Equinor Makes Two Discoveries in North Sea
Equinor has announced two discoveries in the North Sea; oil in the Troll area and oil and gas condensate in the Sleipner area.
Located 5 km northwest of the Fram field in the Troll area, the Byrding C discovery is estimated to contain 4–8 million bbl of recoverable oil. Bryding C was drilled by the COSL Innovator. Bryding C was made in exploration well 35/11-32 S in production license (PL) 090.
“Near-field discoveries like these are important to maintain high energy deliveries from the Norwegian Continental Shelf going forward. The oil discovered in Byrding C will be produced using existing or future infrastructure in the area,” said Lill H. Brusdal, VP for exploration and production in the Troll area.
Located northwest of the Sleipner Vest field, the Frida Kahlo discovery is estimated to contain 5–9 million BOE of gas and condensate. The discovery was drilled from the Sleipner B platform and is expected to be brought onstream as early as April. The Frida Kahlo discovery was made in PL 046.
The four most recent exploration wells in the Sleipner area have all proven gas and condensate, with combined estimated resources of 55–140 million BOE.
Equinor operates PL 090 with 75% interest, with partner Inpex Idemitsu Norge AS (25%), and operates PL 046 with 58.3% interest, with partners Orlen Upstream Norway AS (24.4%) and Vår Energi (17.2%).
