A deepwater wildcat in the western Black Sea off Romania has discovered an accumulation initially pegged at 1.5 to 3 trillion cu ft of gas whose commerciality isn’t assured, press reports said Wednesday.

Jubilant Energy NV has spudded the Kathalchari-NE appraisal well on the AA-ONN-2002/1 block in Tripura, India.

African Petroleum Corp. Ltd. said the Narina-1 well on its 100% owned LB-09 block offshore Liberia found 69 ft of net oil pay in the Turonian and 36 ft in the Albian.

Schuepbach Energy LLC, Dallas, will shoot 2D seismic surveys and drill research wells in two areas of Uruguay under production sharing contracts signed Feb. 10 with state-owned ANCAP.

The Macasty shale on Anticosti Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence offshore Quebec has properties similar to those of the Utica shale, the Macasty geological equivalent in eastern Ohio, said Corridor Resources Inc., Halifax, NS.

An Anadarko Petroleum Corp. group has encountered hydrocarbons at the Jupiter-1 exploratory well on Block SL-07B-11 offshore Sierra Leone.

An appraisal well near the 2009 Heidelberg discovery in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico has confirmed the initial resource estimate of more than 200 million bbl of oil, said Anadarko Petroleum Corp.

Magnum Hunter Resources Corp., Houston, said its Triad Hunter LLC unit has acquired 15,558 gross (12,186 net) leasehold mineral interests prospective for the Utica shale predominately in Noble County, Ohio, for $24.8 million from an undisclosed seller.

The US and Mexico have signed an agreement allowing exploration and development of oil and gas resources along the two countries’ maritime boundary in the Gulf of Mexico. The accord, which still requires legislative approvals in both countries, makes US Outer Continental Shelf acreage with potentially 172 million bbl of oil and 304 bcf of gas available for leasing, US Sec. of the Interior Ken Salazar said.

The government of the Republic of Cyprus plans to protest any exploratory drilling for oil and gas in the Turkish-occupied northern part of the politically divided island.

Forest Oil Corp. said it has amassed a combined 114,500 net acres in the West Texas Wolfbone and Wolfcamp shale plays that it said provides a “concentrated geographic footprint in the Delaware and Midland basins” that exposes the company to numerous vertical and horizontal oil objectives.

Statoil and ExxonMobil have reported gas shows at a deepwater wildcat in the Mafia Deep subbasin offshore Tanzania which, if successful, will further cement the emerging vast gas prospectivity and liquefied natural gas prospects along the East African margin.

Ivory Coast has awarded several ultradeepwater exploratory licenses offshore in the Gulf of Guinea.

A private Oklahoma City independent will test the Upper Ordovician Maquoketa shale for oil at a horizontal well in the Salina basin of central Kansas.

Oil shows and sandstones encountered while drilling the targeted Upper Cretaceous section at its Sabu-1 exploratory well offshore Guinea “are particularly encouraging in the development of the turbidite fan plays further down dip on the concession,” said Hyperdynamics Corp., Houston.

Talisman Energy Inc., Calgary, said the 2010 Akacias-1 discovery on the Ecopetrol-operated CPO-9 heavy oil block in Colombia’s Llanos basin has produced more than 325,000 bbl of oil equivalent on long-term test since May 2011.

Apache Corp. has completed five of six initial vertical exploratory tests as oil producers in the Canyon Wash play in the northern Texas Panhandle and has leased or purchased 96,000 net acres in the 200 sq mile Bivins Ranch.

Horizon Oil Ltd., Sydney, said its board approved the final investment decision to develop a condensate recovery project at Stanley field in western Papua New Guinea subject to receiving debt financing on satisfactory terms.

GeoPark Holdings Ltd. has acquired Winchester Oil & Gas SA and La Luna Oil Co. Ltd., private exploration and production companies operating in Colombia, for $30 million cash adjusted for working capital.

Woodside Energy Ltd. is expanding development of North West Shelf Project natural gas fields off Western Australia and has begun letting contracts.