In the widest sense of the word, corruption is the glue that holds the ‘system’ together. The time to fight back has arrived. Soon it will be too late, write Lili Fuhr and Simon Taylor 

British exploration firm Europa Oil and Gas is hopeful of landing a development partner for licences it holds off the Irish coast before the end of the year.

BP said it could cut capital spending further after reporting an 80% drop in profits in the first quarter of the year, when oil prices touched a near 13-year low.

After a deep slide in oil prices, Algeria’s Sonatrach is shifting strategy to offer foreign firms direct negotiations to buy stakes in 20 oil and gas fields in a bid to attract investors and increase output, a source at the state energy company said.

For Europe’s biggest oil companies, $60 is the magic number. BP, one of the first companies to predict a prolonged price downturn, has “reset” its business to generate surplus cash flow, with oil at about $60 a barrel by 2017.

Petroceltic has received unsolicited expressions of interest in certain assets it holds in Egypt. The Irish exploration firm’s management noted the approaches in its interim results presentation yesterday, but didn’t identify which of the production and/or exploration assets were the subject of the takeover interest. Furthermore, regarding a potential disposal, the company said while it would consider offers, it does not generally see itself as a seller in terms of its Egypt-related portfolio.

Irish exploration firm, Petroceltic is expected to begin drilling next year at one of its prospects located close to a recent huge gas discovery off the coast of Egypt.

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Under-fire Irish exploration firm, Petroceltic is being viewed as one of the potential long-term beneficiaries of Italian energy group, Eni’s apparent super-find off the coast of Egypt.

Italian energy company Eni has discovered a “supergiant” natural gas field off Egypt, it revealed.

A number of exploration firms are lining up to buy newly available seismic data on key offshore basins ahead of September’s deadline for applications in the Government’s latest licensing round.

Italy will settle the debt arrears it owes to private sector suppliers by the end of this year, economy minister Pier Carlo Padoan said in a newspaper interview yesterday, pushing back previous commitments.

The Government looks set to formally open its new offshore exploration licensing round next month, with it likely to run until the autumn of 2015.

Kentz has won a $38m (€27.3m) engineering contract in Venezuela — via its US-based oil and gas handling subsidiary, Valerus — representing the group’s fourth significant international contract win inside the past month.

The coming year is set to be another interesting one in terms of the development of Ireland’s much mooted, though still largely unproven, offshore oil and gas potential.

Oil giant ExxonMobil has said it has no intention of pulling out of Irish waters, despite disappointing early drilling results from the highly-anticipated Dunquin prospect off the Kerry coast — in which it is a senior partner — last month.

Italy’s economy will begin emerging from its longest slump since the Second World War in the fourth quarter of this year and should grow through 2014, its economy minister Fabrizio Saccomanni said.

Saipem’s share price fell by as much as 25% yesterday, after Europe’s biggest oil industry services group gave its second major profit warning in less than six months due to problems with contracts in Algeria, Mexico and Canada.

Oil companies will face the full force of the law if they manipulate prices, Britain’s energy minister said as the European Commission demanded that more firms provide information as part of its probe into oil pricing.

The Government is set to announce details of a major research contract to assess Ireland’s true oil and gas potential in the coming weeks, with industry rumours suggesting Italian giant Eni could be signed up as project partner.

Drilling activity has formally started at the Dunquin exploration prospect off the Kerry coast.

Oil exploration drilling programmes off the Irish coast are expected to increase materially in the coming years, according to Davy Stockbrokers, who view the entry of Kosmos Energy as a potential game changer in Irish oil exploration.

ExxonMobil is gearing up to finally begin drilling off the coast at the highly-anticipated Dunquin prospect, with the rig arriving in Cork late last week for preparation.

Global energy giant Exxon Mobil is due to start a $140m (€108m) exploratory drilling programme for gas and oil off the south- west coast.

The Barryroe oil field off Co Cork could produce up to 100,000 barrels of oil per day, or a total of 280m barrels of recoverable oil over a 25-year lifespan.

After striking it rich off the Cork coast, exploration company Providence and its prospecting partners have lined up a specialist rig to try to find oil in difficult, deep waters 200km off the Kerry coast.

Although the commercial viability of the Barryroe oil field has been established, the next stage is by no means risk-free.

Iran said it was very optimistic over a visit by UN nuclear inspectors aimed at shedding light on suspected military aspects of Tehran’s atomic work, but suggested Tehran would curb cooperation if the experts became a “tool” for outside powers.

NIGERIA’S two main oil unions threatened to shut output in Africa’s top crude producer as a national strike entered its fourth day, mounting pressure on President Goodluck Jonathan to restore fuel subsidies.

Iraq today signed a multibillion-dollar deal with Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. to tap natural gas in the south, one of the biggest agreements by the OPEC member to develop an energy sector battered by years of neglect and war.

MUAMMAR GADDAFI’S death means a long and complex trial that could have divided Libya and embarrassed Western governments and oil firms will be avoided.

Italy has today criticised Standard & Poor's for downgrading its credit rating, saying the decision was out of touch with reality at a time when the government is working to boost growth and reduce its debts.

Italy wants China to buy its government bonds or invest in its companies in an attempt to aid its economy.

The European Union has opened a humanitarian office in Tripoli and France has reopened its embassy as the process of resurrecting the Libyan capital gets underway.

The head of Libya’s rebel cabinet is heading to Italy for a meeting with Premier Silvio Berlusconi on a European diplomatic tour aimed at securing the release of billions of dollars in frozen Libyan assets.

ITALIAN Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he was against NATO intervention in Libya but had to go along with it, an admission that exposed the fragility of the alliance trying to unseat Muammar Gaddafi.

A tanker has arrived in Libya’s rebel-held port of Marsa el-Hariga to load up a shipment of oil for export, potentially giving opponents of Muammar Gaddafi crucial funding amid escalating violence.

Italian officials vowed to do whatever it takes to free the crew of an Italian tugboat apparently seized by Libyan officials at Tripoli’s port as US and European airstrikes enforced a no-fly zone over Libya.

The streets of Libya’s capital are littered with the bodies of scores of protesters shot dead by security forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, an opposition leader said today.

Libya is refusing to issue visas for visitors from nearly every European country in an escalation of a dispute that began when Swiss authorities arrested the son of Muammar Gaddafi.

DESPITE fresh rumours to the contrary, Tullow Oil is not expected to formally announce the identity of its preferred farm-out partner for the two Ugandan assets that it is likely to shortly gain control of until the country’s government formally approves its takeover of the licences.

ITALIAN energy giant Eni has withdrawn its interest in two of Heritage Oil’s exploration assets in Uganda – effectively confirming Tullow Oil’s takeover of them.