Thursday, 14 August 2014

Shell divests gas assets

Shell is giving up its Pinedale and Haynesville onshore gas assets in exchange for about $2.1 billion of cash, plus additional acreage in the Marcellus and Utica Shale areas in Pennsylvania.

In one agreement with Ultra Petroleum, Shell will acquire 155,000 net acres in the Marcellus and Utica Shale areas in Pennsylvania and receive a cash payment of $0.925 billion from Ultra in exchange for 100 percent of Shell’s Pinedale asset in Wyoming, including associated gathering and processing contracts, subject to closing.

In a separate agreement with Vine Oil & Gas LP and its partner Blackstone, Shell has agreed to sell 100 percent of its Haynesville asset in Louisiana, including associated field facilities and infrastructure for $1.2 billion in cash, subject to closing.

“We continue to restructure and focus our North America shale oil and gas portfolio to deliver the most value in the longer term. With this announcement we are adding highly attractive exploration acreage, where we have impressive well results in the Utica, and divesting our more mature, Pinedale and Haynesville dry gas positions,” said Marvin Odum, Shell’s Upstream Americas Director.

The Shell net production from Pinedale in the second quarter 2014 was 190 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d) of dry gas (32 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (kboe/d)). During the first half of 2014, Ultra’s net production from the assets Shell is acquiring in Pennsylvania averaged 109 mmscf/d (19 kboe/d).

“We first entered the Pinedale Anticline in 2001, and I am proud of our operational excellence, community engagement, and leadership in responsible energy development over that time,” said Odum.

Shell’s Pinedale asset (which includes 19,000 net acres of leasehold interest, 1,108 gross wells and associated facilities, and an average of 0.7 percent overriding royalty interest in 11,500 acres) will be exchanged for cash and Ultra’s 100 percent interest in the Marshlands area (63,000 net acres) as well as its entire interest (92,000 net acres) in the Tioga Area of Mutual Interest (AMI), an unincorporated joint venture with Shell. After completion of this transaction, Shell will have a 100 percent interest in the Tioga AMI. The agreement is effective 1 April 2014, and is expected to close this year.

Shell’s Haynesville asset includes 107,000 net acres in in north Louisiana. The transaction includes 418 producing wells, 193 of them operated by Shell. As of 1 July 2014, the gross production from the Haynesville asset was approximately 700 mmscf/d of dry gas, with Shell’s net working interest share at approximately 250 mmscf/d (43 kboe/d). The agreement is effective 1 July 2014, and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year.

“We very much appreciate the support we have had in north Louisiana, and we will continue to operate in the state, as we have for decades, through our downstream, retail, midstream, and New Orleans-based deep-water operations,” said Odum.
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Latin America’s largest petrochemical company picks AVEVA software

Braskem, Latin America’s largest petrochemical company, has signed a contract with AVEVA to convert the engineering and design data of 12 of its plants to AVEVA PDMS.

This large contract is the result of a successful pilot project executed earlier this year. Braskem chose AVEVA over several other software vendors, attributing their decision to the confidence they had built up in AVEVA’s technology and personnel during the pilot project.

"These petrochemical plants were originally designed with software from another company," said Luis Henrique Barreto, Coordinator of Engineering Systems and Documents, Braskem.

"AVEVA PDMS offers us reliable continuity and the integrity of the original models. Combined with the excellent post-sales support and service we receive from AVEVA, this will ensure that the conversion runs smoothly creating high quality models without significant data loss. At the end of the process we will have AVEVA PDMS models of all of our plants, and we can use those models for the design and execution of maintenance and modification projects. The confidence we have in AVEVA and its technology has put us at ease with the process.

"We are proud to be working with Braskem on such an exciting large-scale project,” said Helmut Schuller, Executive Vice President, Global Sales, AVEVA. “The migration process must ensure maximum data integrity and our solutions and experience in large-scale migrations will ensure we achieve this. We look forward to continuing our work with Braskem and supplying our proven technologies to strengthen their operations. This agreement is a first step in our new relationship and clear evidence of Braskem’s confidence in AVEVA."
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Tuesday, 12 August 2014

OneSubsea, Helix and Schlumberger form alliance

OneSubsea, Helix Energy Solutions Group and Schlumberger have entered into a letter of intent to form an alliance to develop technologies and deliver services to optimize the cost and efficiency of subsea well intervention systems.

Helix is a leading subsea well intervention provider, with the largest fleet size of well intervention vessels, and an unequalled track record in cost-effective subsea well intervention. OneSubsea, a preeminent solution provider for subsea well control, with a global footprint of executed major projects, has significant experience in the manufacture and supply of subsea well intervention equipment and services. Schlumberger is the world's leading supplier of technology and services to the oilfield, including conveyance systems and in-well technologies for subsea applications.

Upon agreement on the final terms of the alliance definitive agreement, the alliance will leverage the capabilities of Helix, OneSubsea and Schlumberger, to provide a unique, fully integrated offering, combining marine support with well access and control technologies. The alliance will focus on several objectives aimed at increasing the operating envelope of today’s subsea intervention technology. These objectives include the expansion of applications enabled by subsea well-access technology, and specific solutions for deep and ultra-deepwater basins and higher well pressure environments. An important consideration is the evolution in the capabilities of Helix’s vessels to provide well intervention and additional support services such as well commissioning, artificial lift support, and abandonment, which are usually performed using drilling rigs.
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Tata Steel secures deal with Subsea 7

Tata Steel has signed a global framework agreement with Subsea 7, one of the world’s leading contractors in engineering, construction and subsea services to the offshore industry, which will formalise a 25-year working relationship between the two global giants. This long-standing partnership, which has seen four multi-million pound North Sea contracts signed in the last 12 months alone, is cemented by the new agreement.

Consisting of four separate projects, the latest contracts are believed to be worth in the region of £10 million and will see Tata Steel supply in excess of 55km of pipe weighing more than 9,000 tonnes.

As a leading supplier of products and services to the oil and gas industry, Tata Steel will supply around 28km of carrier pipe, more than 27km of sleeve pipe, girth welding and triple jointing and the application of Glass Flake Epoxy pipe coating. Welding and coating will take place at the company’s offshore processing centre in Hartlepool, UK.

Tata Steel’s exploration and production commercial manager, Richard Broughton said: “Our work with Subsea 7 over the years has been extensive, particularly in the North Sea oil and gas industry which has become an increasingly important market for us. The new framework agreement will extend the work our companies already do together on a global scale demonstrating the value of Tata Steel in today’s oil and gas industry.

“We have the ability to provide the carrier pipe, sleeve pipe and carry out the coating work in-house demonstrating the customer-focused approach Tata Steel takes. Subsea 7 is an important supply chain partner and our relationship with the company continues to grow.”

With the forecast for high growth in the coming years in areas such as the Subsea, Umbilicals, Risers and Flowlines (SURF) market, the future for operational activity looks promising.

 Subsea 7’s category director for group supply chain management, Phil Cran said: “This Global Frame Agreement reinforces the strong cooperation between Subsea 7 and Tata Steel, which has been developed over a period of multiple successful project deliveries. Subsea 7 fully expects this collaborative relationship to continue successfully in the future.”

Mr Broughton added: “This latest series of contracts further demonstrates the breadth of our offering as a company, over the last 25 years we have provided more than 83,000 tonnes of pipe to Subsea 7 over the course of 37 projects worldwide. From production to engineering our ability to consistently add value to the services we provide is what sets us apart in the market place.”
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Monday, 11 August 2014

Physicists create water tractor beam

Physicists at The Australian National University (ANU) have created a tractor beam on water, providing a radical new technique that could confine oil spills, manipulate floating objects or explain rips at the beach.

The group, led by Professor Michael Shats discovered they can control water flow patterns with simple wave generators, enabling them to move floating objects at will.

"We have figured out a way of creating waves that can force a floating object to move against the direction of the wave," said Dr Horst Punzmann, from the Research School of Physics and Engineering, who led the project.

"No one could have guessed this result," he said.

The new technique gives scientists a way of controlling things adrift on water in a way they have never had before, resembling sci-fi tractor beams that draw in objects.

Using a ping-pong ball in a wave tank, the group worked out the size and frequency of the waves required to move the ball in whichever direction they want.

Advanced particle tracking tools, developed by team members Dr Nicolas Francois and Dr Hua Xia, revealed that the waves generate currents on the surface of the water.

"We found that above a certain height, these complex three-dimensional waves generate flow patterns on the surface of the water," Professor Shats said. "The tractor beam is just one of the patterns, they can be inward flows, outward flows or vortices.”

The team also experimented with different shaped plungers to generate different swirling flow patterns.

As yet no mathematical theory can explain these experiments, Dr Punzmann said.

"It's one of the great unresolved problems, yet anyone in the bathtub can reproduce it. We were very surprised no one had described it before."

The research is published in Nature Physics.
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Friday, 8 August 2014

Schlumberger Norway awarded statoil contract

Schlumberger Norway has been awarded a contract with Statoil to provide integrated drilling services for the Norwegian continental shelf licenses Gullfaks, Gullfaks Satellites, Snorre, Statfjord , Tordis/Vigdis, Visund.
The agreement also covers exploration drilling on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS).

Taking effect on 1 September 2014 the contract has a value of NOK 1.15 billion for an initial duration of two years. The contract also has three optional extensions, each for two years.

The contract will provide jobs for some 350 people in Schlumberger Norway over the next two years.

Services under the agreement include the delivery of directional drilling, measurement while drilling (MWD), logging while drilling (LWD) and mud logging services. In addition, Schlumberger Norway will deliver RT data transfer, integrated operations/onshore support, drilling optimization and drilling equipment.
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Thursday, 7 August 2014

Statoil completes 2014 Hoop exploration programme

Statoil has together with its partner Idemitsu Petroleum Norge made a small gas discovery in the Mercury prospect in PL614 in the Barents Sea.

This completes Statoil’s 2014 exploration programme in the Hoop area.

Statoil drilled three exploration wells in the Hoop area in the Barents Sea: Apollo and Atlantis in PL615 and Mercury in PL614. Those were Statoil’s first operated wells in the Hoop area. Statoil is partner in the OMV-operated oil discoveries Wisting Central and Hanssen in the neighbour licence PL537, which opened a new oil play in the Hoop area.

Unfortunately, the three Statoil-operated wells drilled this summer did not result in commercial discoveries. In Apollo a good reservoir was proved in the well, but no hydrocarbons. Atlantis and Mercury resulted in two small gas discoveries.
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SOCO Vietnam update

Vietnam, Block 16-1 - Te Giac Trang field

The TGT partners continue to focus on achieving approval for the H5 Field Development Plan (“FDP”) and meeting the first oil target in September/October 2015.

The Hydrocarbons Initially In Place/Reserve Assessment Report (“RAR”) was approved on 18th June 2014, and the work is ongoing on the FDP which is expected to be submitted for approval by the relevant Vietnamese authorities by the end of the third quarter.

All  related development works required to meet the first oil schedule remain on target.

Drilling by the ENSCO 109 rig of the 2014 in-fill development programme at the TGT field continues. The first two wells, TGT-17PST1 and TGT-18PST1, have been completed and are producing in line with expectations.

The rig is currently drilling the TGT-11X well.

Following the earlier issues with the Hercules rig, the partners are currently targeting drilling a total of 4-6 development wells during 2014, with any approved wells not completed likely to be added to the 2015 programme.

Vietnam, Block 9-2 – Ca Ngu Vang field

Completion of the CNV-7PST1 well by the Naga 2 rig is expected in September. The well has encountered unexpected geological problems in the upper hole section just above the reservoir. Borehole instability issues, caused by a below seismic resolution fault in the Oligocene section, just above the Basement, requires the section to be re-drilled and for an alternative casing programme to be employed to ensure the well can be drilled safely into the Basement.

Redrilling of the section is not expected to impact the commencement of development drilling on TGT’s H5 well head platform which remains on target following platform installation.

Once onstream, the CNV-7PST1 well is expected to enable production levels of the CNV field to be increased.
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SOCO spuds Lidongo X Marine-101, Congo Basin

SOCO announces that the Lidongo X Marine-101 (LXM-101) exploration well has spudded in the Marine XI Block, located in the Congo Basin, offshore the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville).

The LXM-1 well is designed to test the extension of an adjacent gas/condensate/oil field into the Marine-XI license block. The LXM-101 well is located 23 kilometres north west of Pointe Noire in a water depth of approximately 45 metres.

The planned total depth for the well is provisionally estimated to be 2,600 metres Total Vertical Depth subsea (TVDss), although provision has been made to continue drilling to a maximum depth of circa 3,100 metres TVDss, terminating in the lower most part of the Djeno sandstone formation.

The well will be drilled using the jack-up drilling rig Noble Percy Johns, and is expected to take 35 to 45 days to drill.
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Wednesday, 6 August 2014

Lundin Petroleum spuds exploration well in Barents Sea

Lundin Petroleum started drilling exploration well 7220/11-1 in PL609.

The well will target the Alta prospect, which is located some 20 km northeast of the Gohta discovery in the Barents Sea.

The main objective of well 7220/11-1 is to prove the presence of hydrocarbons in sandstones of Triassic age in addition to carbonates of Permo-Carboniferous age. Lundin Petroleum estimates the Alta prospect to have the potential to contain unrisked, gross prospective resources of 261 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe).

The planned total depth is 2,393 metres below mean sea level and the well will be drilled using the drilling rig Island Innovator. Drilling is expected to take approximately 60 days.

Lundin Norway holds 40 percent interest in PL609. Partners are RWE Dea Norge AS and Idemitsu Petroleum Norge AS with 30 percent each.
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Lundin Petroleum completes Tembakau appraisal well

Lundin Petroleum has completed the first well in its 2014 Malaysian drilling campaign with the successful drilling and testing of Tembakau-2 appraisal well in Block PM307, offshore Malaysia.

Tembakau-2 was drilled by the jackup rig West Prospero to a depth of 1,450 metres in 68 metres water depth. The well targeted stacked gas reservoirs in Miocene aged sands in a large, low-relief, structure discovered by Lundin Petroleum's Tembakau-1 well in late 2012.

Tembakau-2 is 3.7 kilometres to the south of the discovery well and penetrated 22 metres of gross gas sands in four sand intervals between 900 metres and 1300 metres subsea. The main two reservoirs penetrated were fully cored and the well was comprehensively logged.

The reservoir deliverability was measured through production testing. The "I20" sand produced at stabilised flow rate of 15.8 million standard cubic feet per day of gas over a 8 hour period on 64/64" choke and the "I10" sand produced at stabilised flow rate of 15.9 million standard cubic feet per day of gas over a 8 hour period on 72/64" choke.

Each perforated interval was 3 metres. The gas produced is dry with approximately 0.5% CO2. Multiple samples were obtained for further laboratory analysis. The data gathered will be analysed and integrated with 3D seismic information to update the current gross contingent resource estimate of gas and to provide reservoir information for conceptual development studies.

"The appraisal drilling results from Tembakau are positive. We are incorporating the results of the well into an updated resource estimate. We will now move forward in reviewing conceptual development options and I am hopeful that this will lead to another commercial development project in Malaysia," said Ashley Heppenstall, President and CEO.

The well has been plugged and abandoned and the West Prospero rig has moved to the Bertam oil field well head platform location, also in PM307, to commence development drilling.

Lundin Petroleum holds a 75 percent interest in PM307 through its subsidiary Lundin Malaysia BV. Lundin Malaysia BV's partner is PETRONAS Carigali Sdn. Bhd. with 25 percent interest. Lundin Malaysia BV operates seven blocks in Malaysia, namely PM307, PM308A, PM308B, PM319, SB303and SB307/308.
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First oil from Bonga North West deep-water project

Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Ltd (SNEPCo) started oil production from the first well at the Bonga North West deep-water development off the Nigerian coast on Tuesday 5 August 2014, another milestone for the country’s energy industry.

“This is an excellent addition to our deep-water portfolio – a key growth theme for Shell’s world-wide upstream business,” said Andrew Brown, Shell’s Upstream International Director.

“It’s also good news for Nigeria, as it is a new source of oil revenues and strengthens Nigeria’s deep-water expertise, a key driver of economic development.”

The Bonga project, which began producing oil and gas in 2005, was Nigeria’s first deep-water development in water depths over 1,000 metres. Bonga North West represents a significant step forward for the project.

Oil from the Bonga North West sub-sea facilities is transported by a new undersea pipeline to the existing Bonga floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) export facility. The Bonga FPSO has been upgraded to handle the additional oil flow from Bonga North West which, at peak production, is expected to contribute 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, helping to maintain the facility’s overall output.

Four oil producing wells and two water injection wells in the Bonga North West development will be connected to the FPSO, from where oil is loaded onto tankers for shipping around the world.

The Bonga North West project is part of Shell’s long-standing commitment to developing deep-water engineering skills in Nigeria. The investments made by SNEPCo and its other project partners in the Bonga North West project include upgrades of local contractors’ facilities and providing specialised training for Nigerians to work in the energy industry.

The Bonga project is operated by SNEPCo, which holds a 55% stake. The other project partners are Esso Exploration & Production Nigeria (Deepwater) Limited (20%), Total E&P Nigeria Limited (12.5%) and Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited (12.5%) under a Production Sharing Contract with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

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Fugro deepwater search MH370

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has awarded Fugro an additional contract for the deployment of two specialist vessels, equipment and expertise in the deep-water search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 (MH370).

Fugro will mobilise its vessels Fugro Equator and Fugro Discovery, both fitted with specialist deep tow survey systems for the work. Since June, the Fugro Equator has been involved in the bathymetric survey of the search area.

Fugro and ATSB expect the Fugro Discovery to begin the deep tow search late September with Fugro Equator joining shortly thereafter.

The search is expected to take up to twelve months but will understandably end if the missing aircraft is found beforehand. The Australian Government has allocated has AUS $ 60 million to the ATSB to carry out the search for MH370.
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Monday, 4 August 2014

Noble Corporation completes Spin-Off Of Paragon Offshore

Noble Corporation has completed the spin-off of all of the outstanding shares of Paragon Offshore plc, which owns most of Noble's standard specification drilling business.

Noble and Paragon are now two separate, publicly-traded companies.

On August 1, 2014, Noble distributed to its shareholders one ordinary share of Paragon for every three ordinary shares of Noble held at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on the record date of the distribution, July 23, 2014. No fractional Paragon shares were issued; however, shareholders who would otherwise have been entitled to receive a fractional Paragon share in the distribution instead received cash in lieu of that fractional share.

Paragon ordinary shares will begin regular-way trading under the symbol PGN on the New York Stock Exchange on August 4, 2014.

Noble ordinary shares will continue to trade on the NYSE under the symbol NE.
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