Americas
Energy companies are showing continued interest in exploring for oil and gas in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea. The Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service received bids on 127 blocks offered at Oil and Gas Lease Sale 195 in Anchorage, the area’s ninth federal offshore lease sale.
In the previous eight Federal sales held in the Beaufort Sea planning area since 1979, MMS issued 690 leases, of which 64 remain active. Lessees have drilled 30 exploratory wells in the federal portion of the Beaufort Sea, all but one in the sale area.
Newfoundland could soon see a fourth development project in the Jeanne d’Arc basin. Chevron Canada Resources and its joint venture participants signed a unitization and joint operating agreement in early April that will advance evaluation of the Hebron, Ben Nevis, and West Ben Nevis oil fields.
The fields contain heavy oil in complex reservoirs and will require a significant amount of work before a decision is made to seek regulatory approvals.
For now, the joint evaluation will focus on the gravity based structure concept and will include a detailed examination consideration that evaluates construction methodology, cost of construction, and availability of construction materials.
Asia-Pacific
In late March, Santos Ltd. started production from its Mutineer-Exeter field 150 km north of Dampier in the Carnarvon basin on the northwest coast of Australia. This is Santos’ first offshore operatorship.
The MODEC Venture 11 FPSO is producing the Santos-operated Mutineer-Exeter field offshore Western Australia.
Modec’sMODEC Venture 11 FPSO, a converted Suez-max tanker will produce the field. The FPSO, installed in 156 m water depth, has an oil processing capacity of 100,000 b/d, gas handling of 2-3 MMcf/d, and produced water treatment capability of up to 125,000 b/d. The vessel has 930,000 bbl storage capacity. Modec will own and operate the FPSO for a minimum of five years with possible extensions.
Production on Mutineer-Exeter will come from four horizontal development wells at a rate of 70,000-90,000 b/d during the start-up phase.
Also off Western Australia, ChevronTexaco Corp.’s Australian affiliate and its JV partners signed a framework agreement to align their equity interests in the giant gas resources of the Greater Gorgon Area.
The agreement provides the basis for combined development of natural gas at Gorgon and nearby gas fields as one world-scale project.
The JV participants have agreed to align their equity interests in individual licenses in the Greater Gorgon area.
Mediterranean
Saipem won a drilling contract in early April for the semisubmersibleScarabeo 4 to drill offshore Egypt. The International Egyptian Oil Co. contracted the rig to drill four wells off Egypt for eight months, with a start date of June 2005.
IEOC has the option to extend the contract for a further two wells.
Central Asia
KazMunaiGaz and Agip KCO have signed an agreement that allows KazMunaiGaz to purchase 50% of BG’s share in the North Caspian Project. The Agip KCO consortium bought BG’s 16.67% stake for $1.8 billion and agreed to sell half to Kazakhstan.
BG earlier announced its willingness to sell its share in the Agip KCO consortium, which operates a number of oil fields in Kazakhstan’s sector of North Caspian shelf, the largest of which is the Kashagan field.
The consortium is planning to start production in 2007-2008.
Middle East
The Abu Dhabi Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC) has chosen Exxon Mobil Corp. for final negotiations regarding participation in the Upper Zakum offshore oilfield. SPC issued a statement in early April announcing that ExxonMobil was selected based on the merit of its technical offer.
Tim Cejka, president of ExxonMobil Exploration Co. says, “We are committed to applying ExxonMobil’s broad range of industry-leading technologies and operating capabilities to assist Abu Dhabi in obtaining maximum recovery and value from this important national resource. In addition, we look forward to cooperating closely with ADNOC in the areas of training and skill development.”
Upper Zakum is one of the world’s largest oil fields and contributes significantly to Abu Dhabi’s current production. The field has the potential for substantial growth.
Successful conclusion of final negotiations will allow ExxonMobil to obtain a 28% equity interest in the Upper Zakum field.
The company has been involved in Abu Dhabi’s petroleum business for more than sixty years.
Africa
Sonangol and BP have discovered oil with the Ceres-1 well in ultra-deepwater block 31 offshore Angola. Ceres-1 is the sixth discovery in the block, following Plutão, Saturno, Marte, Venus, and Palas.
The well is 32 km southeast of Plutão and 31 km northwest of Palas, which was announced earlier this year. Ceres-1 covers 5,349 sq km in water depths of 1,500-2,500 m.
Sonangol is concessionaire of block 31. BP operates the block with 26.67% interest. Partners are Esso Exploration and Production Angola (Block 31) Ltd. with 25%, Sonangol EP with 20%, Statoil Angola AS with 13.33%, Marathon Petroleum Angola Ltd. with 10%, and TEPA (Block 31) Ltd. with 5%.
BP has interests in four offshore Angolan blocks with operatorship of two. The company also operates the discovered fields in block 18, in which it has 50% interest.
Addax Petroleum produced first oil on the Okwori project offshore Nigeria eight months after spudding the first development well. This is the first green-field development for Addax and is one of the first subsea developments in Nigeria to use the latest selective well completion technology. Production levels are expected to reach 25,000 b/d before year-end.
TheSendje Berge FPSO, which has a processing capacity of 60,000 b/d of liquid, will produce the Okwori field. The FPSO has oil storage capacity of 2 MMbbl and gas compression capacity of 55 MMcf/d.
Okwori is in 440 ft water depth in OPL-90, 90 km south of Port Harcourt. Addax will continue exploration and appraisal activity in and around the field.
Europe
Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum & Energy has approved Hydro’s plan for developing and operating the Vilje field in the Norwegian North Sea.
Vilje lies north of the Heimdal field and will be developed with two subsea installations on the seabed. The field’s wellstream will be transported through a new 19-km-long pipeline to a production ship on the Alvheim field.
Production is set to start on Vilje in February 2007. Recoverable reserves are estimated at about 50 MMbbl of oil and 400 MMcm of gas.
