The region of South America and the Caribbean has had a mixed bag of results in oil and gas in the last 12 months or so. We have seen more world class oil discoveries being made, play openers, a return of bid rounds, and slow progress with deal flow.

South America and the Caribbean is currently seeing less licensing activity, at least partially because of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on frontier exploration, which has prompted international oil companies to focus on ILX and advantaged oil.

The extended impact of uncertain oil prices, combined with the Covid-19 pandemic and dwindling investor sentiment for hydrocarbons, have resulted in further delays, and in some cases cancellations, of already delayed wildcat wells.

Energy Resources and Norwest Energy have announced a gas discovery at Lockyer Deep-1 in the EP 368 Block in the Perth Basin.

Good news from onshore Timor-Leste: Karau-1, which spudded late October 2021 in Block TL-OT-17-08, was reported in mid-December 2021 as discovering oil and gas.

Hydrocarbon exploration returns to Bangladesh after a hiatus of several years.

Shell has made a ‘significant oil and gas discovery’ at the Graff-1 well offshore Namibia.

Increasing demand, decreasing supply, untested high-potential plays, and much-needed exploration.

The Biden–Harris administration is continuing its comprehensive review of the offshore and onshore oil and gas leasing programmes in the Gulf of Mexico, with more environmental, social and governance (ESG) pressure expected to be applied on hydrocarbon explorers.

A regional update on the resource and political situation in the Caspian Sea.

Longboat Energy, the emerging full-cycle North Sea E&P company has announced a material discovery at the Egyptian Vulture exploration well in PL 939, encountering light oil in the primary target in the Lower Cretaceous Intra Lange Formation.

Total Energies, with operating partners Qatar Energies and Sonangol, have drilled the Ondjaba-1 wildcat offshore Block 48, Angola.

An update on the exciting petroleum potential of Namibia’s onshore Kavango Basin and associated exploration activity.

A multi-decade marathon to develop a unique African resource.

Do the low volumes of hydrocarbons discovered - and produced - in Morocco suggest that its petroleum basins are simply underexplored or is it underperformance?