World of Oil and Gas

Vol. 233 No. 2

Offshore Cyprus licensing round to begin

Recent natural gas discoveries in the region have prompted the Republic of Cyprus to proceed with its second licensing round, to be held at the end of this month. Already, according to news reports, a host of international companies, including Petrobras, Gazprom, Petronas, Total, BP and ExxonMobil, have expressed interest in the licensing round, which will include 12 reportedly hydrocarbon-rich offshore blocks.  In December, Texas-based Noble Energy announced that it had discovered gas resources in Block 12 amounting to between 5 and 8 Tcf of gas. The find, however, has frustrated relations between Cyprus and Turkey, which refuses to recognize Cyprus’s sovereignty in the area.

Norway awards 60 new oil production licenses

Norway has awarded 60 new production licenses to 42 oil companies in the “biggest ever” award in so-called predefined areas, said Energy Minister Ola Borten Moe.  The companies were awarded 34 licenses in the North Sea, 22 licenses in the Norwegian Sea and four licenses in the Barents Sea. The licenses are situated in mature areas on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, where 27 companies have been awarded operatorships.

PGS begins 3D survey in Angola presalt play

Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) has kicked off a 26,000-sq-km, 3D seismic survey in Angola’s presalt province following approval of recent block awards in the burgeoning play. The shoot is being carried out in the Kwanza and Benguela basins by the Norwegian seismic contractor’s vessel Ramform Valiant, which will be joined by a second unit, PGS Apollo. Data processing is due to start in March. The survey is being jointly funded by BP, Total and Statoil, which recently secured operatorships on two blocks each, in the deepwater Kwanza basin licensing round.

Repsol rig arrives in Cuba

Saipem’s semisubmersible drilling rig, Scarabeo 9, has arrived in Cuba to begin drilling a deepwater well. The rig will drill for Repsol YPF and was inspected by U.S. officials during a stopover in Trinidad & Tobago. U.S. offshore regulators said that the vessel complies with existing international and U.S. standards. The rig is scheduled to start drilling later this year. Cuba has limited experience with offshore oil exploration. In 2004, Cuba drilled a deepwater well that received little notice. Since then, the U.S. Geological Survey has said that there could be a substantial amount of untapped oil off the Cuban coast.

Tullow partners with Shell in Atlantic

Tullow Oil said it will team up with Royal Dutch Shell to jointly explore for oil and gas at select frontier sites in and around the Atlantic Ocean. Tullow said the two firms have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding. The firms will look for the types of risky oil finds that have become Tullow’s hallmark and have helped transform it from a little-known prospector into one of the fastest growing energy firms in Europe.

Eni gains new Barents Sea exploration license

Eni has been awarded a new exploration license in the Barents Sea, just east of Goliat field, by the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. The license area covers 431 sq km in water depths ranging from 400 to 450 m. If exploration is successful, any development would benefit from the proximity to Goliat field, thereby minimizing the time to market. Eni has been present in Norway since 1965 and produces around 135,000 boepd in the country.

ConocoPhillips seeks JV partner in Alberta

ConocoPhillips is seeking a 50/50 joint-venture partner for its oil-sands projects in Western Canada. The third-largest U.S. energy company aims to sell an interest in its Surmont, Thornbury, Clyden, Saleski, Crow Lake and McMillan Lake projects, most of which are undeveloped or, like Surmont, at an early stage of production. ConocoPhillips says its oil-sands assets are producing 12,000 bopd, but have a potential peak production of more than 500,000 bopd. They are spread over 715,000 acres in northeastern Alberta and may have 30 billion bbl of oil in place.

France’s Total has entered into a joint venture with Chesapeake Exploration to acquire a 25% share in Chesapeake’s and EnerVest’s liquids-rich area of the Utica shale play across 10 counties on the eastern side of the state of Ohio. Total paid Chesapeake and EnerVest about $700 million in cash for acquiring these assets. The JV covers about 619,000 net acres. Chesapeake will continue to operate the joint acreage. To date, 13 wells have been drilled across the acreage, with very promising results seen in terms of productivity and liquid content.

Apache Corp. said that it will acquire Cordillera Energy Partners, a privately held company, for $2.85 billion. Cordillera’s operations include about 254,000 net acres in the prolific Granite Wash, Tonkawa, Cleveland and Marmaton plays in western Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle. In addition to estimated proved reserves of 71.5 MMboe and net production of 18,000 boepd, Cordillera has assembled an acreage position with significant resource potential, including 14,000 potential drilling locations in liquids-rich Anadarko basin plays. A self-funded development drilling program begins in 2013.

Iraq and Russia’s Lukoil have awarded a $998-million deal to South Korea’s Samsung Group to develop Phase 2 of super-giant West Qurna oil field. Samsung will build a central oil processing facility. Lukoil and Statoil were awarded a 20-year service contract for West Qurna Phase 2 in Iraq’s second licensing round held in December 2009. The companies are due to get the southern field pumping at a rate of 1.8 MMbopd, with first oil planned for early 2013.