Premier Oil (LON:PMO) reported this morning that an outline deal had been done between the partners on its Huntington project in the UK North Sea and Norwegian oil services group Sevan Marine. The agreement covers the potential use of the FPSO vessel Sevan Voyageur as the production unit for the Huntington field. It is contingent on certain technical and financing conditions but nevertheless marks another step in Premier’s plan to kick off production from Huntington by 2012. Its shares were down 1.3% to 1,255p.

Empyrean Energy (LON:EME) has dumped plans to apply for any more contract extensions on the Glantal project in Germany. The move follows a series of promising results from the group’s Sugarloaf project in Texas, US, where it now wants to focus attention. Separately, Empyrean reported that the Morgan-1H well at Surgarloaf had been successfully fracture stimulated and that ‘fraccing” work was underway on the Easley-1H well. Its shares were up nearly 2% to 6.5p on the update.

Shares in Latin American oil and gas group Geopark Hldgs (LON:GPK) rose 6.5% to 580.5p on news that it had successfully tested two new wells on its 100%-owned Fell Block in Chile. The wells include Aonikenk Sur 1, a new pool gas discovery, and Alakaluf 7, which is a new oil producer. GeoPark is planning to spend US$50-60m during 2010 on a programme of work consisting of between 14-18 wells, 2D and 3D seismic surveys and an expansion of its production infrastructure.

Roger Cagle, the chairman of Dominion Petroleum (LON:DPL) said the company was “extremely optimistic” about the coming 12 months, during which time it will be drilling the Ngaji-1 well in Uganda, which is scheduled to spud in June. Cagle said the drilling work had the potential to deliver significant value to Dominion’s investors. The company’s shares were flat at 6.1p.

Elsewhere, mineral exploration group Stratex International (LON:STI) reported that drilling was underway at its Hasançelebi gold project in Turkey. The company’s joint venture partner Teck Resources has launched a 2,000m programme in the first stage of what could be a $2m exploration effort that would earn Teck a 51% stake in the project. Stratex’s shares remained unmoved at 3.9p.

Latin America-focused gold group Minera Irl Ltd (LON:MIRL) churned out 7,071 ounces of gold from its Corihuarmi mine during the three months to March. The…

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