Offshore staff
OSLO, Norway – Eni’s ultra-deepwater Kekra-01 well in the Arabian Sea offshore Pakistan was dry.
According to Rystad Energy, the country had high hopes for the well which had a pre-drill resource estimate of around 1.5 Bboe.
“The dry well comes as a major blow not only for the country, but also for the companies involved,” said Rystad senior analyst Palzor Shenga. “The drilling campaign initially had a budget of between $75 million and $80 million, which later grew to approximately $100 million due to technical complications.”
Eni’s partners were ExxonMobil and local companies PPL and OGDCL.
“It seems unlikely at this stage that there will be another attempt at offshore exploration in Pakistan, despite the fact that the country’s ultra-deepwater zone is competitively priced,” Shenga added. “Most international companies have already fled the cash-strapped country, which is plagued by Islamist militant violence. The disappointing result of this well can be expected to have a negative impact on future offshore licensing rounds in Pakistan.”
Another Rystad report predicts that unplanned outages at the Oseberg field offshore Norway and the Flotta terminal on Shetland cut impact North Sea production this summer by around 160,000 b/d.
The region’s total oil output could fall next month to the lowest level since August 2014, the analyst added, as the ConocoPhillips-operated Ekofisk field undergoes maintenance, with an attendant 230,000 b/d outage.
These factors could restrict North Sea production to 2.28 MMb/d.
05/21/2019
