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.

Oil and gas exploration, development and production company, Circle Oil, has announced the appointment of Professor Chris Green as its CEO. Professor Green initially joined Circle as a non-executive director in September 2005.

King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, custodian of the two holy mosques, has ordered a halt to oil exploration operations to save hydrocarbon wealth for future generations, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported recently.