World of Oil and Gas

Vol. 233 No. 4

Chevron in talks with Russia on Arctic exploration

Chevron Corp. has held talks with a senior Russian official on Arctic exploration, as the country’s prime minister and president-elect, Vladimir Putin, hinted he would allow non-state companies to operate in Russia’s northern seas. Unlike peers, such as ExxonMobil, Shell and BP, Chevron failed to gain a foothold in Russia following the Soviet Union’s breakup. The parties discussed developing Russia’s Arctic reserves, as well as changes to the investment climate and tax regime for oil companies operating in the country, the ministry said in a statement.

CGGVeritas acquires its first-ever 3D multi-client survey in Alaska

CGGVeritas has begun acquiring the Tabasco 3D multi-client survey near Kuparuk and Alpine oil fields on Alaska’s North Slope. The company is deploying two of its proprietary acquisition technologies for the first time on the tundra to acquire the 133-sq-mi survey. The company has acquired proprietary surveys on the North Slope since 2001.

BP to explore four deepwater blocks with Petrobras

BP announced that the Brazilian National Petroleum Agency (ANP) has approved the company’s farm-in to four deepwater E&P concessions operated by Petrobras in the Brazilian equatorial margin. BP Energy do Brasil Ltda. is taking a 40% interest in each of the blocks, in the Barreirinhas and Ceará basins, from Petrobras. The move will give BP access to four new concession blocks in Brazil: BM-BAR-3 and BM-BAR-5 in the Barreirinhas basin, and BM-CE-1 and BM-CE-2 in the Ceará basin. Together, the blocks cover a total area of 2,113 sq km.

The Philippines receives 38 bidders for exploration licensing round

Thirty-eight firms have signed up as possible bidders for 15 oil and gas prospects in the Philippines, including two exploration sites that China claims as its own, an energy official said. This comes on top of 42 firms that expressed interest in the auction of coal exploration sites offered up under the 4th Philippine Energy Contracting Round. The Energy Department also renewed assertions that all of the 15 areas being offered for exploration are within Philippine territory. Two of these, area 3 and 4, are in northwest Palawan near the disputed Reed Bank area, where service contract 72 is located. The Reed Bank area was the subject of controversy last year, when two Chinese ships allegedly intimidated a survey vessel of Forum Energy Plc., the operator of service contract 72.

Canada oil sands producers will share environmental technology

A dozen of the largest Canadian oil sands producers have agreed to share funding for environmental research, saying that pooling their resources will speed creation of new technologies to reduce the negative effects of oil sands development. The 12 companies involved in the new organization, called Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance, have agreed to jointly fund environmental research and then share the intellectual property rights for environmental technologies. The oil sands in northeastern Alberta are the world’s third-largest oil reserve and are expected to roughly double in production to 3 MMbopd by the end of this decade.

A partnership led by Chesapeake Energy Corp. plans to spend about $900 million on a natural gas processing complex to collect and move gas from eastern Ohio. The planned system will also handle NGLs. The partnership plans to spend the money over the next five years. Affiliates of Chesapeake’s midstream subsidiary own 59% of the partnership. M3 Midstream and EV Energy own 33% and 8%, respectively.

Sinopec drills promising test well for shale gas in Sichuan

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp.’s (Sinopec) analysis of a test well in Yuanba field, in Sichuan province, shows evidence of a large amount of shale gas, the company said. The Yuanba 21 well is capable of producing 507,000 Cmd (17.9 MMcfd) of gas. China has an estimated 25.08 Tcm (886.5 Tcf) of potentially recoverable shale gas reserves. Although its potential shale gas reserves are massive, China hasn’t launched commercial production of the unconventional energy source.

Norway’s Odfjell Offshore plans to raise up to $500 million in a private equity placing to further develop its fleet of six ultra-deepwater and harsh-environment offshore drilling units. In addition, Odfjell Offshore may over-allot up to 10% of additional new shares. The company owns a fleet of modern semisubmersible drilling units and UDW drillships that are under contracts in Norway, UK, Brazil, Angola and Tanzania.

BP has put North Sea oil assets worth close to $3.2 billion up for sale, according to reports. BP recently received an exploration permit to drill a deepwater well off the Shetland Islands. News sources reported that BP had launched an auction this month to sell many of its stakes in reservoirs, where it holds a minority position.

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