Editor's note: This Global E&P section first appeared in the November-December 2022 issue of Offshore magazine. Click here to view the full issue.
By Jeremy Beckman, London
NORTH AMERICA
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources’ recent Beaufort Sea leasing sale attracted $575,146 in bids for a total of 17,212 offshore acres. Average bids per acre, at $35.41, were among the highest in the history of the state’s leasing program.
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BP, Equinor, ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy were the successful bidders for offshore exploration licenses offered in the eastern Newfoundland region, under the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board’s NL22-CFBO1 Call for Bids round. They collectively pledged work commitments of over $238 million across a 1,222,907-ha area. Subject to further approvals, the licenses should be ratified in January. ExxonMobil/QatarEnergy secured ultra-deepwater Parcel 8 in the Orphan basin.
Suncor Energy expects the Terra Nova FPSO to return to the field’s location offshore Newfoundland by year-end, following life extension works in Portugal. Production should finally resume after a long suspension in early 2023.
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Talos Energy will increase its production from the deepwater US Gulf of Mexico after agreeing to acquire privately-owned operator EnVen Energy for $1.1 billion. The deal also adds infrastructure in Talos’ operating areas.
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Allseas should start laying late next year of the new 36-in. Southeast Gateway offshore pipeline, which will take gas 700 km south along the coast from Tuxpan to southeast Mexico. An alliance between TC Energy and Mexican state utility CFE commissioned the pipeline, which should start service by mid-2025.
SOUTH AMERICA
Reports indicate that bp Trinidad and Tobago has sanctioned its third subsea development, a seven-well tieback of the Cypre gas field, 78 km off southeast Trinidad in 80 m water depth, to the Juniper platform.
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ExxonMobil has awarded MODEC the FEED for the fifth FPSO in the deepwater Stabroek block offshore Guyana. In anticipation of a construction, installation and operation contract, MODEC will procure its second standardized M350 newbuild hull for the floater for the Uaru field development, designed to produce 250,000 b/d of oil with associated gas treatment and water injection facilities. Further developments are likely in the longer term following ExxonMobil’s recent Sailfin and Yarrow discoveries on the block.
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Petrobras and its partners in the pre-salt Santos basin Sépia area off Brazil have discovered oil in the Peduncolo prospect in 2,197 m of water. The net oil column was one of the thickest encountered to date in Brazilian waters. The consortium, which includes TotalEnergies, QatarEnergy and Petronas, plans follow-up delineation, reservoir assessment.
Keppel Shipyard and Sembcorp Marine Rigs & Floaters in Singapore will supply two more FPSOs for Petrobras for the expanding Búzios field development in the Santos basin, named P-83 and P-82. Both will be configured to produce up to 225,000 b/d of oil and process up to 12 MMcm/d of gas, with Keppel allocating construction of the P-83 topsides, hull and accommodation module to yards in Singapore, China and Brazil. The new platforms will help Petrobras and its partners achieve their target of increasing Búzios’ capacity from the current 600,000 b/d to 2 MMb/d.
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TotalEnergies and partners Wintershall Dea and Pan American Sur have committed to the Fenix gas project offshore Tierra del Fuego, southern Argentina. The field in the Cuenca Marine Austral 1 concession will produce via three horizontal wells drilled from a new unmanned platform in 70 m of water. The gas will head through a 35-km multiphase subsea pipeline to the Vega Pleyade platform for delivery to the onshore Rio Cullen and Canadon Alfa complexes. At peak, the $706-million development should add 70,000 boe/d of new production.
WEST AFRICA
Saipem will provide and install production facilities for Baleine, Côte d’Ivoire’s first deepwater oil and gasfield development. Under two contracts awarded by operator Eni with a combined value of $955 million, Saipem will refurbish the FPSO Firenze, previously deployed at the Aquila field off southern Italy, for new service at Baleine. The FDS construction vessel will lay the flexible pipelines, risers and umbilicals.
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Equatorial Guinea’s government has approved VAALCO Energy’s plans for a $310-million development of the Venus field in offshore Block B. The company estimates resources at just over 23 MMbbl, with further upside from nearby tie-in development and exploration prospects. VAALCO is looking to acquire and convert suitable production facilities and to start development drilling in 2024.
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ExxonMobil has made its first discovery in Block 15 offshore Angola for nearly two decades. The drillship Valaris DS-9 drilled the Bavuca South-1 well in 1,100 m (3,608 ft) of water, 365 km northwest of Luanda. The find will form part of the Block 15 redevelopment, a multi-year drilling program targeting fresh production of around 40,000 b/d to offset declines from developed fields.
NORTHWEST EUROPE
Equinor and its partners have postponed a planned FID on the Wisting oil project in the Barents Sea, one of Norway’s largest outstanding greenfield developments. A combination of inflation, supply chain pressures and extended equipment lead times had raised the estimated cost to NOK104 billion ($10.14 billion). The partners will continue studies, including a power-from-shore solution, but may defer an investment decision until the end of 2026.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA/CASPIAN SEA
Energean has produced first gas from the deepwater Karish field offshore Israel through the 8-bcm/r capacity FPSO Energean Power. Three wells should be online by year end, with production exported to utilities in mainland Israel. And Energean’s latest exploration program in the region has yielded three successive gas discoveries on the Athena, Hermes and Zeus prospects, all drilled by the Stena IceMax. Energean is now assessing a multi-field (Olympus Area) development, tied into new and existing infrastructure.
Following the recent US-brokered deal, under which Lebanon and Israel have agreed to provisionally establish a permanent maritime border in the Mediterranean Sea, TotalEnergies and partner Eni plan to drill a prospect on their Lebanese offshore exploration block 9 that may extend into Israeli waters.
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BP Exploration (Shah Deniz) has awarded the SOCAR-KBR joint venture an optimization stage engineering services contract for the Shah Deniz compression project in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea (currently in the pre-FID stage). The new compression platform at the Shah Deniz gasfield will be designed for unmanned operations.
MIDDLE EAST
ADNOC has claimed a new record for the world’s longest offshore oil and gas well. The 50,000-ft well, drilled by ADNOC Drilling from an artificial island in the Upper Zakum concession offshore Abu Dhabi, was 800 ft longer than the previous record set in 2017. The Upper Zakum partners, which include ExxonMobil and INPEX/JODCO, are designing extended reach wells to tap an undeveloped part of the reservoir, targeting an extra 15,000 b/d of production.
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Qatargas has awarded Saipem a $4.5-billion EPCI contract for the offshore North Field production sustainability project. The workscope includes what Saipem claims will be two of the largest fixed steel jacket compression platforms ever built, along with flare platforms, bridges and living quarters.
EAST AFRICA
Operating company bp has loaded its first cargo of LNG from the Coral Sul FLNG vessel in deepwater Area 4, offshore Mozambique. Eni operates production from the Coral South gas development, which came onstream five years after sanction in 2017: bp’s 20-year offtake contract covers 100% of the vessel’s LNG output (its nameplate capacity is 3.4 MM metric tons/yr). The sellers are the Mozambique Rovuma Venture (Eni, ExxonMobil and CNPC) and GALP, KOGAS and Mozambique state energy company ENH.
ASIA-PACIFIC
Sabah Shell Petroleum and its partners have committed to Phase 4 of the Gumusut-Kaka-Geronngong-Jagus East development offshore Sabah, Malaysia. This involves drilling four new subsea wells in water depths up to 1,200 m, producing around 25,000 b/d through the Gumusut-Kakap semisubmersible platform.
Petronas has completed licensing of five ultra-deepwater blocks offshore Sabah, with TotalEnergies awarded operatorship of a new PSC covering Block SB 2K over the province’s northwestern area. Petronas expected four wells to be drilled across the blocks during 2022-23.
Mubadala Energy has discovered gas in Block SK320 offshore Sarawak. The Cengkih-1 well, drilled 220 km from the coast at Bintulu, encountered a gas column of over 110 m in Miocene pinnacle carbonate reef reservoirs, a proven play type in Central Luconia province. Cengkih is close to facilities serving the 1-tcf Pegaga gasfield which started production in May.
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CNOOC has produced first gas from the Jinzhou 31-1 gasfield development in Liaodong Bay, Bohai Sea offshore eastern China, in water depths of around 30 m. The subsea production system, which features the first shallow-water Christmas tree developed in China, is connected via a pipeline and umbilical to processing facilities at the Jinzhou 25-1 south platform. Production should reach a peak next year of close to 14.8MMcf/d.
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Jadestone Energy and OMV have terminated a proposed deal to transfer operatorship of the Maari oilfield offshore New Zealand to Jadestone. Last year the government introduced changes to the country’s upstream regulatory framework: the two parties had sought clarification on the processes needed to complete their transaction, but with no progress in sight, decided to call off the deal. Jadestone has, however, completed acquisition from bp of a 16.67% interest in the Cosssack, Wanaea, Lambert and Hermes oil fields development, otherwise known as the North West Shelf oil project.
