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Vol. 232 No. 11
Seadrill has entered into a five-year contract for operations in North America with the ultra-deepwater semisubmersible rig West Capricorn. The potential contract value is $919 million, which includes a $30 million mobilization fee. The oil company has the right to extend the contract term for two additional one-year periods. West Capricorn is currently under construction at the Jurong Shipyard in Singapore. The unit will commence its transit to North America upon delivery, which is scheduled for late December.
Dragon Oil has signed a farm-in agreement with a wholly owned subsidiary of Cooper Energy through which Dragon Oil is to earn a 55% participating interest in the development phase and assume operatorship of the Bargou exploration permit offshore Tunisia. The Bargou exploration permit is located in the Gulf of Hammamet in the Mediterranean Sea. The permit covers an area of 4,616 sq km with offshore exploration prospects in water depths ranging from 50 to 100 m.
Russian independent Lukoil announced that the Vietnamese government has approved a deal to buy a 50% stake in the Hanoi Trough-02 offshore block. In April, Lukoil agreed to a production-sharing agreement, taking half of the offshore project in the South China Sea from closely held Quad Energy SA, which kept the other half. The Hanoi Trough-02 block, which is located on the shelf of the South China Sea, is estimated to hold 180 million metric tons of oil equivalent. The block has been explored since 2007.
ExxonMobil, BP and Eni will spend around $100 billion to upgrade three oil fields in southern Iraq, the top energy advisor to the Iraqi prime minister announced. Some $50 billion will be spent to upgrade the supergiant West Qurna-1 oil field, which is being developed by ExxonMobil. The remaining $50 billion will be spent by BP and Eni to upgrade the Rumaila and Zubair oil fields, respectively. The three fields are now pumping about 2 million bopd, which is the bulk of Iraq’s total oil output of 2.9 million bopd.
UTEC Survey announced the opening of its new Brazil office, which is the company’s ninth international office and will provide local support to Brazil and the rest of South America. Initial services offered include construction support (i.e., acoustic metrology, pipelay and ROV positioning) and geophysical and inspection surveys.
ABB has won an order worth about $36 million from Aker Solutions to provide drives and transformers to its subsea power distribution system for the Asgard subsea oil and gas field operated by Statoil. ABB’s equipment will supply power, as well as optimize motor speed and control, for the world’s first subsea gas compression system from onboard the Asgard A floating vessel off the coast of Norway in the Norwegian sea.
Terra Sonic International has acquired California-based Sonic Sampling & Supply, which is a distributor of sonic drilling equipment, tooling and accessories and provides expert training, support and service to its global customers. The acquisition adds compact sonic equipment for small to mid-range sonic rigs.
UK-based Tullow Oil has awarded Seadrill a one-year contract for operations offshore Ghana with the newbuild ultra-deepwater semi-submersible rig West Leo, which is currently under construction at the Jurong Shipyard in Singapore, with delivery scheduled for the end of January. The unit will subsequently start its transit to Ghana, where commencement on the Tullow contract is expected in mid-April. West Leo will be the second unit of the Moss Maritime CS50 Mk II design that Seadrill puts into operations.
Paradigm has opened a new office in New Delhi, India. This office will provide local sales and support services for its seismic imaging, interpretation, reservoir modeling and characterization, and data management solutions to its customers and prospects in the region. In addition, Paradigm has recently relocated its Mumbai office to be closer to its customer base.
Imtech Marine announced the opening of a new office in the Algeciras-Strait of Gibraltar region in Spain. The office is the 74th location in the global service network of Imtech Marine. From the new office, the company will provide 24/7 maintenance services to both locally operated vessels and international shipping lines in various ports of Spain, such as Algeciras, Barcelona, Cádiz and Valencia, as well as the nearby ports of Gibraltar and Tangier.
Transocean has opened its new training center and offices in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 32,000-sq-ft facilities are located in downtown Kuala Lumpur, close to the Petronas Towers. The new training center is scheduled to serve 1,200 Transocean personnel per year with more than 20 types of courses. The Kuala Lumpur Training Center is one of Transocean’s four global training centers. The other three are in Aberdeen, Houston and Macae, Brazil.
Sonardyne’s wideband acoustic monitoring technology has been selected for the new emergency well-containment system built by Trendsetter Engineering Inc. for the Helix Well Containment Group. The new emergency well response system comprises an intervention capping stack that would be placed over a damaged well to stop its flow. Its design makes it capable of capturing and processing up to 55,000 bopd and 95 MMcfd of gas at surface pressures up to 10,000 psi.
Houston-based offshore engineering firm Gibson Applied Technology and Engineering announced the acquisition of Nomad Consulting, which provides project management and technical specialists. Nomad focuses on upstream capital projects with an emphasis on installation, marine construction, hookup and commissioning of subsea infrastructure. Nomad’s expertise is also utilized in FEED for subsea systems engineering and field development.
EMAS AMC, the subsea construction division of Ezra Holdings, has been awarded a contract by BP to perform subsea work in Atlantis field, located in Green Canyon block 743 in the US Gulf of Mexico. The project scope consists of the installation and replacement of subsea equipment comprised of manifolds, pipeline-end manifolds, jumpers and associated hardware in 6,800 ft of water, as well as assisting BP with complete commissioning and startup activities. This is the second contract awarded by BP to EMAS AMC for work on Atlantis field.
Gazprom and BASF have come to an agreement for an asset swap. According to the agreement, blocks 4 and 5 in the Achimov formation of Urengoy field in western Siberia will be jointly developed. BASF subsidiary Wintershall will hold 25% interest with an option to increase that to 50%. The framework agreement also stipulates that Gazprom will receive interests of equal value in selected exploration and production projects by Wintershall in the North Sea off the Netherlands and the UK. Gazprom will ultimately receive half of Wintershall’s shares in those concessions.
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