DEVELOPMENTS

Svenska Petroleum Exploration to drill first deepwater well offshore Guinea Bissau 

Svenska Petroleum Exploration AB has commissioned Exceed to drill the first-ever deepwater well offshore Guinea Bissau, West Africa. According to the company’s website, its exploration activities in the region have increased following approval of a license extension in 2017. The project awarded to Exceed will include full well project management services to deliver the country’s first deepwater exploration well. The company’s workscope will include all front-end engineering planning, service procurement support, logistical set-up, HSE management and operational execution of the well. Photo: Exceed.

Equinor reports world’s heaviest offshore lift at Johan Sverdrup 

Equinor reported that the two final platform topsides, a bridge and a flare stack have been lifted into place at Johan Sverdrup field. According to the company, the processing platform lift was the heaviest lift ever performed offshore. The two final topsides were installed using the heavy lift vessel Pioneering Spirit’s single-lift technology. The processing platform weighs nearly 26,000 tonnes. Additionally, the lift of the utility and living quarters topside, weighing 18,000 tonnes, was completed in just over 3 hr. Overall, the lifting operations reportedly took less than 72 hr to complete. Congruently, the final flare stack, and the bridge connecting the processing platform and the drilling platform, were installed using the heavy lift vessel Thialf. “Now we are in the process of concluding the installation campaign for the first phase of construction of Johan Sverdrup. Putting the final building blocks of this gigantic project into place is important to ensure start-up of the field as planned in November this year,” Trond Bokn, the project’s senior V.P., explained in a release. Photo: Roar Lindefjeld & Espen Rønnevik – Woldcam, Equinor. 

Conrad Petroleum gets approval for Mako development, offshore Indonesia 

Conrad Petroleum, operator of the Duyung Production Sharing Contract (PSC), reported that its development plan for Mako gas field has been approved by Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. It was reported that the plan originally was submitted last August, then re-submitted under a gross split regime in January. According to the company, the Duyung PSC was converted from a cost recovery scheme to a gross split scheme. The amended PSC consequently was agreed upon by Conrad and the Indonesian government. The successful Mako South-1 exploration well was drilled in June 2017 in the Duyung PSC, which covers approximately 890 km²in the Riau Islands Province, in the South China Sea. A November 2018 resource audit reported contingent 2C resources of 276 Bcf in Mako gas field. 

BUSINESS

NACE, SSPC discuss coming together for stakeholders 

Non-profit associations NACE International and the Society for Protective Coatings (SSPC) are exploring unified efforts on behalf of stakeholders. Leadership and staff soon will convene to discuss not only possible benefits of the concept, but also possible challenges. “Our organizations have unique strengths and are complimentary in many ways,” Terry Greenfield, president-elect of NACE International, said in a release. “This is an opportunity to see if bringing together those strengths makes something that is even better than the sum of the parts. We want to see if coming together will make it easier and better for our stakeholders to find everything they need in one place, instead of two, and be sure that they are getting the most comprehensive options available to them.” 

OSDU forum to deliver flexibility to oil, gas customers 

The Open Group—a global consortium developing vendor-neutral technology standards and certifications—is now focused on the development of a standard data platform for the oil and gas industry. The Open Subsurface Data Universe (OSDU) will bring together exploration, development and wells data, enabling secure, reliable, global and performant access to all subsurface data. This reportedly will accelerate the deployment of emerging digital solutions to support better decision-making and faster delivery of capabilities. It also is expected to reduce the implementation and lifecycle costs across the subsurface community. Formed by several leading oil and gas operators, the OSDU forum utilizes technology standards, new digital technologies and best business practices to address the business and technical issues related to subsurface data. It was designed to create an open, standards-based ecosystem, in which suppliers compete with each other to provide the best applications and services. So far, there are more than 35 operators and suppliers participating as member organizations of the forum, including Equinor and Shell.

Southeast Asia sees its largest upstream transaction in five years in Malaysia 

A Murphy Oil Corp. subsidiary signed a sale and purchase agreement to divest the fully issued share capital of its two primary Malaysian subsidiaries—Murphy Sabah Oil Co., Ltd., and Murphy Sarawak Oil Co., Ltd.—to a subsidiary of PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP). PTTEP will pay Murphy $2.127 billion in an all-cash transaction, in addition to a ~$100 million bonus payment that is contingent upon certain future exploratory drilling results prior to October 2020. The year-end 2018 proved reserves net to Murphy were 816 MMboe, of which 16% (129 MMboe) reportedly were attributable to operations in Malaysia. The proved reserves are comprised of 468 Bcfg and 51 MMbbl of liquids. Total production net to Murphy in 2018 for the properties being divested reportedly was over 48,000 boed. Under terms of the transaction, however, Murphy will exit Malaysia. This reportedly represents the largest upstream transaction in Southeast Asia in five years, and the largest-ever for Malaysia’s upstream sector. In a release, Murphy President and CEO Roger Jenkins said, “After 20 years of successful operations in Malaysia, I am pleased to announce this all-cash transaction benefiting our shareholders by fully monetizing our proved and probable reserves. The tactical repositioning of Murphy allows us to simplify our business and focus on our core assets in the Western Hemisphere. The transaction will provide us with greater financial flexibility and allow us to continue returning cash to our shareholders through share repurchases.” 

EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION 

Eni reports significant discovery in Angola’s deep water 

Eni reported that its Agogo-1 well has led to a major oil discovery in Block 15/06, approximately 112 mi off the coast of Angola. The well, drilled by the Poseidondrillship in a water depth of over 5,367 ft, is approximately 12 mi west of the N’Goma FPSO (West Hub). After reaching a TD of nearly 14,600 ft, the well proved a single oil column of about 666 ft, with nearly 394 ft of net pay of high-quality oil in a sub-salt diapirs setting in Lower Miocene sandstones. According to the company, the acquired data indicates a production capacity of more than 20,000 bopd. Overall, the discovery is estimated to contain between 450 MMbbl and 650 MMbbl of light oil in place with further upside. Agogo is the third commercial discovery since the Block 15/06 Consortium—which is made up of Eni (operator, 36.8421%), Sonangol P&P (36.8421%) and SSI Fifteen Limited (26.3158%)—launched its new exploration campaign last year. It follows the discoveries of Kalimba and Afoxé. The JV says it will now work to appraise the Agogo discovery and begin studies to fast-track its development. Eni has been in partnership with Angola since 1980, mainly in the conventional offshore and deepwater E&P sector. 

Vedanta Limited reports oil discovery in India’s Krishna-Godavari basin

Vedanta Limited, the largest private sector oil and gas producer in India, has reported an oil discovery in the second well H2 in Block KG-OSN-2009/3. The first exploration well drilled on the block (A3-2) reportedly was a gas discovery. The company holds 100% participating interest in the block, which is in the Krishna-Godavari basin, off India’s eastern coast. The company reported to the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons and Ministry of Petroleum that multiple reservoir zones were encountered within the Mesozoic sequence between approximately 10,859 ft and 13,208 ft, with hydrocarbon indications during drilling and downhole logging. A drill stem test of the zone between about 11,164 ft and 11,256 ft flowed oil to surface, according to Vedanta. Further appraisal reportedly is necessary to establish the size and commerciality of the oil discovery.

Eni strikes gas in the Nour prospect, offshore Egypt 

Just one day after reporting a major discovery off the coast of Angola, Eni announced that it was evaluating a new gas discovery in the Nour North Sinai Concession, in the eastern Egyptian Mediterranean. The concession, approximately 31 mi north of the Sinai Peninsula, is in participation with Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS). Eni is operator, however, with a 40% stake. Its partners include BP (25%), Mubadala Petroleum (20%) and Tharwa Petroleum Company (15%). The Nour-1 new field wildcat was drilled by the Scarabeo-9 semisubmersible, in a water depth of nearly 968 ft. The well, which reached a TD of nearly 19,403 ft, uncovered more than 108 ft of gross sandstone pay, with good petrophysical properties, as well as an estimated gas column of about 295 ft in the Tineh formation of Oligocene age. According to the operator, the well has not been tested, but an intense and accurate data acquisition has been carried out. Eni said that feasibility studies will now commence to accelerate the exploitation of the new resources, leveraging the synergies with existing facilities and infrastructures once the discovery evaluation is finalized. 

Spirit Energy announces start of production at Oda field 

Spirit Energy (operator, 40%), with partners Suncor Energy Norge (30%), Faroe Petroleum (15%) and Aker BP (15%), has announced start-up of the Oda project, in the southern part of the Norwegian North Sea. It reportedly is Spirit’s first development as operator on the NCS. The field, which was first discovered in 2011, was developed with a subsea template tied in to the Ula platform (pictured), about 8 mi away. The oil being produced is exported to Ekofisk, where it continues on via the Norpipe system to the Teesside terminal in the UK. The gas from Oda is injected into the Ula reservoir to improve oil recovery from the field. The project reportedly was delivered ahead of schedule and below budget. According to the operator, this was achieved through efficient drilling of production wells and a new type of cooperation with suppliers. Rune Martinsen, managing director at Spirit Energy, said, “We wanted to have the suppliers with us from start to finish, rather than defining the project ourselves and then putting it out for tender. In this way, we created predictability, cooperation and a long-term perspective—also for the suppliers. We’ve let the experts do what they do best. There is no doubt that this cooperation model has contributed to high-quality delivery. We have also had excellent cooperation with Aker BP, operator of the host platform on the Ula field.” Photo: Aker BP.