IPR and its partner, Sojitz Oil and Gas, have discovered another oil bearing structure in the underlying Alam El Bueib sands in the Yidma-Alamein License in Egypt's Western Desert. Nearly two decades after acquisition of the license and nearly 50 years of oil production from the Alamein Dolomite, the new deeper production is from a structural closure offsetting the Dolomite closure where new wells will be drilled and rim wells will be re-entered to help develop the closure.

Qatari oil and gas services company, Gulf International Services QSC, is looking to set up joint ventures to drill outside the emirate as it faces lower rates for its rigs, the company's chief coordinator, Ebrahim Al Mannai, has said.

Dana Petroleum has announced that the Fin-1X exploration well has discovered a new oil field in the North Zeit Bay Production Sharing Contract ('PSC') area onshore in the Gulf of Suez, Egypt. This follows the recent discovery of the Lorcan oil field in the same PSC area.

Gulf Keystone has announced the commencement of drilling operations on its Sheikh Adi-1 exploration well in the autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq. This is the first exploration well to be drilled on the Sheikh Adi Block immediately to the west of the company's Shaikan Block, the site of last year's discovery of the giant Shaikan oil field.

Petroceltic has announced that the Oryx-1 exploration well, on the Ksar Hadada Permit in Tunisia, has reached its total depth at 1140 m. Although oil shows were encountered in both the upper and lower Ordovician reservoir units, log analysis indicates that no significant oil saturation is present in these reservoirs at this location.