Aug. 2 (oilnow.gy) ExxonMobil has identified four additional potential discovery opportunities in Guyana after applying artificial intelligence to its Stabroek Block exploration data. Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Neil Hansen disclosed the results during ExxonMobil’s second-quarter 2026 earnings call on July 31. The company trained artificial-intelligence models using information gathered from previous discoveries, drilling... Continue Reading →
Petrobras confirms New Gas Discovery in Colombia
August 3, 2026 – Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras informs a new gas discovery in the Sandia-1 exploratory well, located in Block GUA-OFF-O in deep waters offshore Colombia. The Sandia-1 well is located approximately 42 kilometers from the coast, at a water depth of 1251 meters and 18 kilometers from the Sirius-1 (discovery) and Sirius-2... Continue Reading →
Talos Energy Farms Into Mexico’s Offshore Oil Block via Repsol Deal
July 28 (OE) Talos Energy has agreed to acquire a 50% working interest in Block 29 offshore Mexico from Repsol, expanding its international portfolio with a pre-final investment decision oil development that includes more than 200 million barrels of oil equivalent of estimated recoverable resources. Under the agreement, Talos will pay $30 million if it... Continue Reading →
Supermajors secure more exploration acreage as drilling commitments decline, Westwood Energy says
July 27 (oilnow.gy) Global oil and gas majors are expanding their exploration portfolios, but most new agreements are focused on securing future opportunities rather than committing to immediate drilling activity, according to an analysis by Westwood Global Energy Group. The analysis, published on July 21, examined exploration agreements secured by the supermajor group, including bp,... Continue Reading →
Brazil’s Oil Boom Is Accelerating as Asian Buyers Flee the Middle East
July 22 (oilprice.com) Since Middle East hostilities reignited, oil prices have soared higher, although they remain below the highs witnessed during April 2026. This can be blamed on U.S. strikes against Iran, with Tehran and Washington disrupting traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global hydrocarbon supplies are shipped. This has sparked greater demand for Brazil’s... Continue Reading →
Grupo Carso to Buy TotalEnergies’ Stake in Mexico Offshore Block
July 17 (OE) Grupo Carso has signed a binding agreement with TotalEnergies to acquire its entire 30% interest in offshore Block 30 in Mexico's Isthmus Saline Basin. The acquisition will be carried out through Mx Dlta Nrg 1, a subsidiary of Zamajal, in which Grupo Carso holds an 80% interest and Control Empresarial de Capitales... Continue Reading →
São Tomé rejects bids from Brazil’s Petrobras and Nigeria’s Oranto after generous offshore oil auction fails to attract enough competition
July 16 (africa.businessinsider.com) An African island nation offered oil companies control of as much as 85% of three offshore blocks. Only two investors came forward. São Tomé and Príncipe has now reportedly rejected every bid submitted in its latest licensing round, delivering another setback to the Central African country’s decades-long search for a commercially viable... Continue Reading →
Study identifies major oil-generating sweet spot near Suriname’s Block 52
July 13 (oilnow.gy) A new basin modelling study has identified an area near Suriname’s Block 52 as the strongest oil-generating sweet spot along the Guyana-Suriname margin. GeoExpro published the study results on July 9, 2026. The research was conducted by Kenneth Shipper and Paul Mann of the University of Houston’s CBTH Project, along with Andrew Pepper of... Continue Reading →
Uruguay’s Offshore Oil Province Could Be Bigger Than Vaca Muerta
CJuly 12 (oilprice.com) ompanies are gearing up for exploration drilling in deepwater blocks offshore Uruguay in the hope that the South Atlantic margin offshore South America could hold a lot of oil, similar to the recent discoveries offshore Namibia in Africa. Uruguay, with a limited exploration drilling history of three wells spudded, all dry,... Continue Reading →
Staatsolie gets fourth open acreage proposal in less than a month
July 10 (oilnow.gy) Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname N.V. has received the fourth proposal under its Open Acreage model, extending a run of offshore proposal activity as Suriname works to advance its oil production ambitions. The state oil company announced on July 7, 2026, that it received a proposal for an area in Sector 2: SHO EAST,... Continue Reading →