Drilling ///
Baker Hughes and Akastor ASA have announced an agreement to create a joint venture company that will bring together Baker Hughes’ Subsea Drilling Systems business with Akastor’s wholly owned subsidiary, MHWirth AS.
Cameron Wallace, Digital Editor; Kurt Abraham, World Oil
Following a tumultuous 2020, global drilling rates outside the U.S. are a bit of a mixed bag for 2021. Lingering economic effects from shutdowns and travel restrictions are impeding recovery in regions like Africa and Eastern Europe, while Western Europe and South America are finding their stride.
The Neptune-operated Dugong discovery, in Production License 882, was one of the largest discoveries on the Norwegian Continental Shelf in 2020. Neptune estimates recoverable resources to be between 40 - 120 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe).
While oil majors and publicly-traded counterparts are mostly sticking to the mantra of drilling discipline, private operators’ ambitious growth plans present the OPEC cartel with a wild card as prices rebound and it attempts to boost its own oil production.
The situation could worsen as Big Oil makes another round of deep spending cuts, leaving consequences both for the oil market, which needs more supply from the OPEC cartel in the coming years, and the economic stability of a region that’s dependent on petroleum revenue.
Kaktovik Iñupiat Corporation strongly disputed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announcement that it failed with respect to its permit application to conduct seismic studies in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the company said in a statement.
Deb Haaland’s assurances during her nomination hearing appeared to provide little comfort to Senate Republicans, who argued that the Democratic lawmaker’s criticism of fracing, support for pipeline protesters and endorsement of the Green New Deal make her unfit for a job that includes overseeing energy development on federal land.
Gardner Denver High Pressure Solutions announced the new GD 2500Q Heavy Duty Frame quintuplex pump, designed to extend pump service life through an optimized power end frame design.
With the takeover by Chrysaor expected to complete by the end of March, Premier Oil will start trading under its new name, Harbour Energy Plc, on April 1. Putting behind it a multibillion-dollar debt pile, the firm should be well-positioned to ride the recovery in oil demand and boost investor returns.
The Senate ultimately is still expected to confirm Haaland, but the slim control Democrats have means Haaland needs every vote she can get. Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat who is chairman of the committee considering her nomination, threw into doubt the fate of another Biden nominee last week.
The biggest provider of oil and gas rigs to the U.S. shale patch is pushing a new pricing model as speedier drilling cuts into contractors’ revenue.
Companies including Exxon Mobil, Diamondback Energy and Marathon Oil have posted double-digit gains this year as a rebound in oil prices and the prospect of an economic recovery have outweighed risks to the industry from the Biden administration.
Maersk Drilling has received a conditional letter of award from Tullow Ghana Ltd. for the provision of the ultra-deepwater drillship Maersk Venturer and additional services for a development drilling campaign at the TEN and Jubilee fields offshore Ghana.
Engineered for superior perforating performance in stressed rock formations, the Perfecta rock charge delivers a high penetration depth in formation rock. Its use can improve well stimulation and productivity, and prolong the life span of conventional wells.
“We have concerns about investment, particularly in light of the pandemic,” OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said at a virtual conference in Iran on Jan. 26. Starving the industry of capital today “could sow the seeds for extreme volatility down the road.”
America is the world’s biggest consumer of crude oil, and any restrictions of domestic production will mean more will have to be shipped in from other countries with less stringent humanitarian and environmental laws.
“The Texas upstream oil and gas economy was already in a state of decline before Covid-19,” said Alliance Executive V.P. and Petroleum Economist Karr Ingham, in exclusive comments to World Oil, adding that the demand contraction in the U.S. and globally was easily the sharpest demand drop in the shortest amount of time on record.
Keppel Offshore & Marine will exit the offshore rig building business, after completing the existing rigs under construction, the company said in a statement.
“We are rooting for President Biden to lead America out of crisis,” API President and CEO Mike Sommers said. “As he works toward that important goal, he faces clear choices. Energy abundance or foreign dependence. American jobs or overseas jobs. Economic revival or small-town decline. Progress or retreat. Thus far, President Biden is on the wrong side of a number of these consequential choices.”
How the fragmented U.S. shale industry will respond to increased incentives to drill has become a crucial question for traders and industry watchers across the world.