The United States and Mexico have agreed to cooperate in oil and gas developments along the maritime border between the two countries in the Gulf of Mexico.

The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has approved Shell Gulf of Mexico Inc.’s Oil Spill Response Plan (OSRP) for the Chukchi Sea.

Azerbaijan has a major role to play in securing Europe’s future energy security, according to a lecture by Professor Alan Riley of London’s City University.

Norwegian operators are paying more attention to the condition of their temporarily abandoned offshore wells, according to Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) Norway.

MPX North Sea and Carrizo Oil & Gas have completed a farm-out of UK North Sea license P1659 (block 20/7) to Nexen Petroleum UK and Agora Oil & Gas (UK).

Talisman Energy spent $1.2 billion last year on North Sea exploration and development.

Total has signed production sharing agreements with state-owned Petroci for three new ultra-deepwater licenses off Cote d’Ivoire.

A paper from Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy recommends improvements to the pipelines crossing the Arabian Peninsula.

National Ocean Industries Association President Randall Luthi has issued a statement on the Obama administration’s budget request for the Department of the Interior.    

Hurricane Resources believes its Lancaster discovery west of the Shetland Islands could contain 200 MMbbl of recoverable oil.

Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. (TAQA) has agreed on farm-ins to three licenses in the UK northern North Sea.

North Energy has agreed to sell its 12% interest in Norwegian production license 433 for $12 million to Centrica Resources (Norway).

The Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of Energy and Energy Affairs plans meetings with potential oil and gas partners in Houston Feb. 28-29.

A new joint venture in Malaysia aims to support Asia’s upstream sector with a wide range of services. Offshore’s contributing editor Gurdip Singh recently spoke to Maarten Spilker, Managing Director and CEO of Technip MHB Hull Engineering (TMH) – a new joint venture between global group Technip and Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Berhad (MHB).

TGS (TGS:Oslo) has updated various seismic gathering programs off northern Europe.

Iona Energy (INA.V) UK has agreed to acquire from Centrica PLC (CNA.LN) a 58.73% interest in block 13/21a containing the West Wick oil discovery in the UK central North Sea.

The JKC joint venture has awarded the BAM Clough joint venture a $A140 million ($151 million) letter of intent for work on the Ichthys LNG project.

Enigma Oil & Gas Exploration has secured approval from Namibia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy for a farm-out agreement with BP in offshore block 2714A.

New Zealand Oil and Gas (NZOG) is finalizing arrangements for a new 2D seismic survey in the Gulf of Gabes ofshore Tunisia.

Buccaneer Energy has agreed to acquire the two main productive leases in the former Cosmopolitan Unit (Cosmo) from Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska.