Jeremy Beckman - London
North America
Start-up is imminent at North Amethyst, the first subsea tieback off Canada’s east coast. Oil will be exported to theSea Rose FPSO, 6 km (3.7 mi) to the northeast on the White Rose field in the Jeanne d’Arc basin offshore Newfoundland. Operator Husky Energy estimates North Amethyst’s potential resources at 90 MMbbl. The company has extended the tenure of the drilling rig the GSFGrand Banks to allow further development of White Rose and other areas in the basin.
Dragados Offshore has contracted Saipem America to transport and install two platforms for Pemex in the Bay of Campeche off Mexico. The HA-LT-01 quarters platform will be installed on the Litoral Tabasco field in 26-m (85-ft) water depth either late this year or early next year. The PG-ZAAP-C power generation platform will be mobilized to the Zaap field in slightly shallower waters for the Ku-Maloob-Zaap project later in 2011. In both cases, the topsides are single-piece integrated structures weighing 4,500 tons (4,082 metric tons).
South America
Repsol has found further gas while appraising its Perla find in the Cardon IV block in the Gulf of Venezuela. The Perla 2X well, drilled in 60 m (197 ft) of water, encountered net pay of 840 ft (260 m), and during tests flowed 1.4 MMcm/d (49.44 MMcf/d) of gas and 1,500 b/d of condensate. Repsol estimates recoverable volumes at 1.6 – 1.85 Bboe. Delineation will continue, with two further wells planned in mid-year.
Peru’s Hydrocarbons General Bureau (DGH) has approved BPZ Resources’ application for extended tests on various oil wells on the offshore Corvina field. First commercial production was due on May 31, subject to limits on gas flaring from each well.
Petrobras has issued a letter of intent to Engevix Engenharia to start procurement for construction of eight FPSOs for fields in the Santos basin pre-salt region. Additionally, the company has signed a $300-million frame agreement with Aker Solutions for 40 vertical subsea trees for Iara and Guara, two of its firm pre-salt development projects. The trees, to be manufactured in Curitiba, Brazil, will operate in water depths to 2,500 m (8,202 ft).
Keppel Offshore & Marine has agreed to acquire the Estaleiro TWB shipyard in Navegantes, 110 km (68 mi) north of Florianopolis in Brazil. The 7.6-ha (18.8-acre) facility, to be named Keppel Singmarine Brazil, will be upgraded to build offshore support vessels. It will also take on fabrication of offshore modules, in support of major projects executed by Keppel’s existing BrasFELS yard.
Desire Petroleum has classified Liz, its first exploration well in the North Falkland basin, as a gas discovery. Early analysis suggests the well encountered wet gas within a zone of over-pressured, and mainly sandstone, reservoir, and dry gas in a different pressure regime at a deeper level. The semiOcean Guardian has since moved to drill the Sea Lion prospect in North Falkland license PL032 for Rockhopper Exploration.
Trinidad and Tobago are offering new offshore blocks under the islands’ 2010 leasing round. Tracts are available under two protocols, one for shallower water and one for deepwater (1,000-3,500 m, or 3,281-11,483 ft). The Energy Ministry claims that the fiscal terms are more attractive than for previous rounds.
West Africa
Total and Sonangol have discovered further oil in Angolan deep offshore block 17/06. The Begonia-1 well in the northeast of the concession encountered hydrocarbons in a Miocene-age reservoir, flowing over 6,000 b/d on test.
Sonangol has also struck oil twice in block 15/06, in partnership with Eni. The Nzanza-1 and Cinguvu-1 exploration wells were both drilled 350 km (217 mi) northwest of Luanda in 1,400 m (4,593 ft) water depth, intersecting oil pay sands in a Lower Miocene target interval. Results were in line with expectations, and should allow pre-development to proceed of the Western Hub cluster project
Tap Oil has formed a joint venture with Ghana National Petroleum to explore the Offshore Accra Contract Area. Analysis of existing 3D seismic data shows potential for multiple mid-size (100 MMbbl-plus) oil accumulations. As operator, Tap will focus initially on data re-processing and acquisition of new seismic, followed by a well in 2011-12.
Namibia’s government has renewed Energulf Resources’ exploration license in the Namibe basin off the northern coast for a further two years. The company says two prospects have been identified on block 1711, which covers an area of around 2.2 million acres (893,100 ha).
East Africa
Operations on Anadarko’s second exploration well in the deepwater Rovuma basin off Mozambique had to be suspended due to pore pressure problems. The well on the Collier prospect did not penetrate the entire target section. The drillshipBelford Dolphin has since transferred to the southern part of the 3D seismic area in Rovuma area 1 to drill the Palaeocene/Cretaceous Ironclad prospect. This will be followed by a well to the north on the Barquentine structure, close to Anadarko’s Windjammer gas discovery.
ExxonMobil has farmed into 35% of deepwater block 2 offshore Tanzania. Operator Statoil completed a 3D seismic survey over the 11,099-sq km (4,285-sq mi) concession following a 2D survey in 2008.
Closer to the coast in the West Songo Songo permit, operator Funguo Petroleum has completed its interpretation of seismic data. The company has identified numerous structural prospects and leads at Lower Cretaceous levels in Neocomian sandstones, which provide the main producing reservoir for the Songo Songo and Kiliwani North gas fields. Further data reprocessing is planned in order to refine structural and stratigraphic definition.
Black Sea
Grup Servicii Petroliere’s newly converted shallow water derrick laybargeGSP Bigfoot 1 has been contracted for pipelay in the Turkish sector. After completing its initial assignment in Russian waters, for Gazprom’s Olympia gas distribution project, the vessel was due to transfer south to install a 7-km (4.3-mi) long, 12-in. diameter subsea pipeline for TPAO’s Akcakoca project. The vessel was also slated to perform tie-ins to Akcakoca’s existing offshore trunklines via a wye-piece connection.
Caspian Sea
Shell Development Kashagan has awarded the Aker Solutions/CB&I/WorleyParsons joint venture an updated FEED contract for the Phase II Kashagan oilfield development offshore Kazakhstan. The new program, valued at $293 million, applies to offshore and onshore facilities and pipelines, and should be completed in spring 2011.
Middle East
Pars Oil and Gas Co. (POGC) was hoping to sign a contract last month with Petropars to develop phases 27 and 28 of the South Pars gas field in the Arabian Gulf. Earlier, according to a report by Iranian news service Shana, two jackets for South Pars phases 17 and 18 were installed at a location 100 km (62 mi) offshore Assaluyeh in Bushehr province. The completed facilities will be able to produce 50 MMcm/d (1.77 tcf/d) of gas and 80,000 b/d of condensate.
India
Gujarat State Petroleum Corp has commissioned Larsen & Toubro (L&T) for a new wellhead platform for a field development in the Krishna-Godvari basin off eastern India. The $235-million engineering and construction program will be performed mainly at L&T’s yard in Kattupali and its engineering center in Chennai.
Asia-Pacific
CNOOC has discovered further oil in the eastern part of Bohai Bay, offshore China. The Penglai PL9-1-2 well penetrated pay zones with total thickness of 77 m (252 ft) in the Miaoxibei Uplift.
In the eastern part of the South China Sea, the company has resumed full-scale operations at Huizhou oil and gas field complex. Production had to be suspended last September following damage caused by Typhoon Koppu. CNOOC has also started producing oil from the Wezhou 11-1 east field in the western South China Sea and from BoZhong 3-2 in Bohai Bay.
PTSC Mchanical & Construction Co has contracted J. Ray McDermott for platform and subsea transportations and installations at the Te Giac Trang field development offshore southern Vietnam. J. Ray’s consignment will include two wellhead platforms, infield pipelines, and a subsea isolation valve. The project is in block 16-1 in the Cuu Long basin in a water depth of 45 m (148 ft). The program should get under way shortly.
Mediterranean Sea
Spanish energy utility Enagas has agreed to buy Repsol’s 82% stake in the Gaviota underground gas storage facility off northern Spain for $119 million. The site, formerly the location for a production platform, is offshore Bermeo in Vizcaya. Enagas plans to expand its current operative volume of 0.9 bcm to 1.6 bcm (56.5 bcf). Murphy Spain is the remaining partner.
Eni has started production from Annamaria B, a gas platform in the Adriatic Sea on the median line between Italy and Croatia. It is the first cross-border development in the sector. Produced gas is sent through a 70-km (43.5-mi) subsea pipeline to a treatment plant at Fano on Italy’s east coast. Sister platform Annamaria A, in Croatian waters, was already in production. Eni describes the $561-million development as its most significant in this region since 1998.
AuDAX Resources plans to drill the Lambouka prospect in its Tunisia/Sicily Channel permits
Bombora Energy has agreed to farm into two exploration permits operated by AuDAX Resources in Italian and Tunisian waters. G.R.15.PU is offshore the island of Pantelleria, southwest of Sicily, while the Kerkouane permit is offshore northeast Tunisia. Under the agreement, Bombora will share the costs of an exploratory well on the Lambouka prospect.
Italy’s Ministry of Economics has approved Key Petroleum’s application to convert one block off western Sardinia, and two Lampedusa blocks to the south, to exploration permit status. Perth-based Key believes the shallow-water Lampedusa concessions could contain oil resources of over 1 Bbbl. Both are on the Pelagian shelf, a geological extension of prolific basins in Tunisia and Libya.
A report by the US Geological Survey suggests the Levant basin in the eastern Mediterranean could contain 122 tcf of recoverable gas, and around 1.7 Bbbl of oil. Noble Energy, which stirred excitement in the region last year with its deepwater Tamar gas discovery offshore Israel, has started issuing development contracts. Aker Subsea will engineer and manufacture around 240 km (149 mi) of steel tube umbilicals for the project from its facilities in Houston and Mobile.
Australasia
The partners in the Sunrise joint venture have opted for Shell’s floating LNG (FLNG) technology as their preferred development solution. The Greater Sunrise fields, including Sunrise and Troubadour, hold contingent resources of 5.13 tcf of dry gas and 225.9 MMbbl of condensate. The location is 450 km (279 mi) north of Darwin, partly in the Joint Petroleum Development Area between Timor-Leste and Australia.
In the JPDA 06-105 permit, Eni has begun development of the Kitan oil field. Production will head through three subsea wells connected to the FPSOGlas Dowr, to be operated by Bluewater. Start-up is scheduled for the second half of 2011.
Petrobras has farmed into a 50% interest in the WA-360-P permit in the Carnarvon basin offshore Western Australia, operated by MEO Australia. Under the terms of the agreement, Petrobras will drill an exploration well later this year on the potentially giant Artemis gas structure.
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