Southern Europe and Mediterranean-focused Sound Oil has decided to abandon the second appraisal well on its Nervesa discovery in northern Italy pending a possible sidetrack at the well, the junior energy firm reported Tuesday.

Sound said that despite the confirmed presence of gas and the completion of re-perforation and stimulation operations in the lower section of the well’s target reservoir, the company had been unable to secure a stabilized flow rate. Consequently, Sound has concluded that the lower section of the target reservoir is insufficiently permeable to flow gas.

With no material gas shows in the upper section of the target reservoir, Sound has decided to abandon the well – although the firm also plans to retain the top-hole facilities at the site in anticipation of a future sidetrack.

Sound said that it will now focus on achieving first gas at the first Nervesa well while also preparing for its first well on its recently-acquired interest in Morocco.

Sound CEO James Parsons commented in a company statement that he was “disappointed” that the level of permeability encountered in the well was insufficient but that the company remains “very well positioned with a diverse and well balanced portfolio of assets in Italy and Morocco and a strong cash balance”.

CAIRO, May 26 (Reuters) – Egypt has extended its tender for natural gas exploration in the Mediterranean Sea by two months with the addition of four new blocks, the state gas board said on Tuesday, as the country seeks to boost domestic energy production.

CAIRO, May 26 (Reuters) – Egypt has extended its tender for natural gas exploration in the Mediterranean Sea by two months with the addition of four new blocks, the state gas board said on Tuesday, as the country seeks to boost domestic energy production.

Egypt is going through its worst energy crisis in decades, with increasing consumption and declining production turning the country from a net energy exporter to a net importer over the past few years.

Egypt is going through its worst energy crisis in decades, with increasing consumption and declining production turning the country from a net energy exporter to a net importer over the past few years.

Egypt has extended tender periods in the past when there was not enough interest or when potential bidders requested more time to complete evaluations.

EGAS vice-president Mahfouz al-Buny told Reuters the period was extended at the request of a number of companies who wanted further details on the blocks available, and to give firms time to evaluate the four new blocks up for tender.

The four additional blocks are Northeast Habi Marine, North Farma Marine, North Tabiya Marine and Northeast Amiriya Marine, EGAS said.

The original eight blocks are West Arish Marine, East Port Said Marine, North Rumana Marine, North Ras al-Ash Marine, West al Timsah Marine, South Taneen Marine, North Hammad Marine and East Alexandria Marine. The 12 blocks together cover a total of 20,548 square km (7,934 square miles). The foreign companies already exploring for oil and gas off Egypt’s north coast include Italy’s ENI and Britain’s BP and BG.

French oil and gas infrastructure builder Entrepose announced Monday that it has bought Indonesian process equipment firm PT Istana Karang Laut (IKL). IKL makes oil and gas production process modules and metering systems, and it also supplies turnkey project management solutions under EPC (engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning) contracts.

Entrepose – a subsidiary of construction group VINCI – designs, builds and operates production, transport and storage infrastructure for the oil and gas industry. The acquisition of IKL is part of the company’s strategy to expand geographically and diversify its activities, according to Entrepose Chairman Benoît Lecinq.

“IKL opens up markets for us in Central and South-East Asia, where demand for energy is increasing strongly and where resources have not yet been totally exploited. The company also brings us products and services in the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry,” he said, highlighting the recent deal between IKL and SGFL, a state-owned company in Bangladesh, for the design, construction and commissioning of a condensate fractionation plant.

MOSCOW, April 2 (Reuters) – Russian oil output edged up 0.6 percent in March to a post-Soviet high of 10.71 million barrels per day on increased production at Gazprom and Rosneft, Energy Ministry data showed on Thursday.

The output topped December’s high of 10.67 million barrels per day (bpd), the data showed. The data includes output for crude oil and gas condensate which reached 45.275 million tonnes in March, versus 40.696 million the month before.

Crude oil exports through oil pipeline monopoly Transneft rose by 2 percent to 3.91 million bpd, the ministry said. Oil and natural gas production accounts for half of Russian budget revenue, which has been hit by a 50 percent plunge in oil prices since June and Western sanctions over Moscow’s involvement in the Ukraine crisis.

Oil and gas condensate production at Gazprom, the world’s top natural gas producer, jumped by 14 percent in March from February.

Rosneft, the world’s largest listed oil producer by output, increased its crude oil production by 0.2 percent to 3.81 million barrels per day thanks to higher output from its Vankor oilfield in eastern Siberia.

Gas production was at 55.52 billion cubic metres (bcm) last month, or 1.79 bcm a day, versus 53.86 bcm in February, a decrease of seven percent month-on-month.

State-controlled gas company Gazprom produced 36.11 bcm, or 1.165 bcm per day, in March, down 10.2 percent from February.