Barclays Capital sees both BG Group (LON:BG) and Shell (LON:RDSA) as delivering premium growth with both integrated oil companies building inventory at a faster pace than their peer group.
BG has delivered the best performance of the overall group of oil firms that BarCap follows while Shell was comfortably the strongest of the majors, it said in a note this week.
Tullow Oil (LON:TLW) said this week that its performance has been excellent so far this year and it now expects to report record interim financial results. The FTSE 100 oil and gas explorer posted record revenues of US$1.05 billion in the six months to end June, owing to higher commodity prices and strong output from the Jubilee field in Ghana.
Green Dragon Gas (AIM:GDG) has entered into an agreement with PetroChina Huabei Oilfield Company under which it will gain access to a key PetroChina pipeline, allowing it to distribute and monetise its growing gas production in China. Green Dragon will first need to construct a pipeline connecting its own integrated gas production facility (IPF) and the Huabei Oilfield Fan 4 station.
Dragon Oil PLC (LON:DGO) has completed and tested its latest development well in the Caspian Sea, it emerged this week. The oil producer is currently expanding its operations in the Cheleken contract area offshore Turkmenistan, with a major three year drill programme that is expected to cost as much as US$700 million.
Bowleven (LON:BLVN), the West Africa focused oil and gas group, announced it has secured a one year extension for exploration work on its key Etinde prospect, offshore Cameroon.
Regal Petroleum (LON:RPT) has sold its 25 percent stake in the East Ras Budran concession in Egypt. The AIM-listed firm will receive US$640,344 from the sale, which was agreed with its joint venture partner the Apache East Ras Budran Corporation.
Faroe Petroleum (LON:FPM) has announced the signing of two new credit facilities, which it said provided substantial additional finance to underpin the company's growth plans. Faroe Petroleum has begun drilling on its Fulla exploration prospect west of Shetland in the Atlantic Margin this week. The exploration well (in which Faroe has a 50 percent stake) is located to the north-east of the producing Clair oil field and is targeting potentially oil-bearing Devonian Clair reservoir sands at a depth of 2,100 metres.
Victoria Oil & Gas (LON:VOG) put out an encouraging update on its exploration work across its West Medvezhye block in Siberia. It is also making progress with taking its first discovery there, Well-103, to full commercialisation, the company said this week.
Rockhopper Exploration (LON:RKH) has again extended its drill programme in the Falklands this week, adding one additional rig slot on the Ocean Guardian rig. The high profile explorer will shortly spud its third appraisal well on the Sea Lion oil discovery, after that it has three more contracted wells which will be drilled in succession.
Cadogan Petroleum (LON:CAD) revealed that major Italian energy firm Eni S. p. A had completed its acquisition of an interest in two of Cadogan's eastern Ukraine licences. The transaction was completed on 6 July, having received shareholder approval on June 16 this year.
Caza Oil & Gas (LON:CAZA, TSE:CAZ) reported that log data from a newly drilled well at the Bongo property in Wharton County in Texas indicated potential oil pay sections in its targeted formations. Most importantly, the data gathered from the O.B. Ranch No.2 well confirmed Caza’s theory that the previous well, O.B. Ranch No.1, produced from the fringe of a larger oil bearing Cook Mountain section.
Evolution Securities reckon Nautical Petroleum (LON:NPE) could push the Kraken heavy oil project forward and submit a preliminary field development plan by September if a new well is successful. This week, the North Sea oil firm spudded the 9/02b-5 appraisal well on the Kraken oil discovery in the North Sea. The appraisal well is being drilled about one kilometre south west of the original discovery well, and it has been designed to appraise the core area of the field and establish a commercial flow rate.
Xtract Energy (LON:XTR) announced that an extension has been agreed to finalise agreements that will result in the sale of its 50% stake in Extrem Energy, a Turkish joint stock company. Xtract has been negotiating the sale with the Merty Energy and the Yoldemir family who between them own the remaining 50% of Extrem.
Russian operating oil firm PetroNeft (LON:PTR) said this week that the Kondrashevskoye No. 2 sidetrack well on its licence 61 block had confirmed 2P reserves. The firm provided investors with an operations update from the block in the Tomsk region, western Siberia, which also revealed that a well on the Lineynoye field showed the thickest oil pay that the company has discovered to date.
Oilex (LON:OEX, ASX:OEX) told investors this week that drilling has now reached total depth in the Cambay-76H horizontal well, in India, and it is now preparing the well for fracture stimulation. It has also confirmed that the completion string, for the planned multi-stage fracture stimulation program, has been successfully run in the horizontal well section.
Sterling Energy (LON:SEY) said it was “disappointed” that recent flow tests at its Sangaw North-1 well in Kurdistan had not demonstrated commercial hydrocarbon flow rates. The firm has now completed flow testing operations in the cased-hole section of Sangaw North-1.