Equinor, Aker BP, Vaar face rising project costs, Norway budget shows
The Norwegian government announced on Monday that Aker BP, Equinor and Vaar Energi had raised their estimates of costs for major oil and natural gas development projects in the Norwegian continental shelf. The government's fiscal budget documents revealed that the cost of Equinor Johan Castberg is expected to rise from 80.3 billion crowns, which was estimated a year ago. Aker BP’s Yggdrasil will likely cost 134.4 billion crowns compared to 120.2 billion crowns a year ago, and Vaar’s Balder Future is expected at 52.2 billion crowns compared to 44.5 billion crowns.
Sources: TotalEnergies will sign a $10 billion deal for Suriname's offshore project
Four sources familiar with the project said that TotalEnergies, a French oil company, will sign the final investment decision on Tuesday, for the first offshore oil and natural gas development of Suriname. The development is expected to cost more than $10 billion. Gran Morgu, located in Block 58 140 km off of the coast of South America, has estimated recoverable reserves of 700 million barrels. This is comparable to ExxonMobil’s 11 billion barrel discovery in the neighbouring oil-rich Guyana. Annand Jagesar told reporters last week that the FID will be implemented in the first quarter of 2024.
COOEC-Fluor Completes Module Fabrication
Texas-based multinational engineering and construction firm Fluor Corporation announced that its joint venture COOEC-Fluor Heavy Industries fabrication yard has completed the central and wellhead platforms for CNOOC’s Dongfang 13-2 Gas Fields Development Project.The central platform recently departed the COOEC-Fluor yard in Zhuhai, China, and follows the successful loadout of the wellhead platform in August 2018. The modules will make up part of a new offshore oil and gas production platform in the western South China Sea…
Australia's Best Option is LNG Imports
Australia has painted itself into a corner with its natural gas industry and faces the stark reality that there are no easy choices to alleviate the dual problem of a looming supply crunch and the associated higher prices.Australia is far from the first country to find itself with an energy issue, but it is unusual insofar as the country is about to become the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), and still it can't get its policy settings right to ensure domestic supplies.It sounds counter-intuitive and somewhat bizarre…
McDermott Winds FEED for Scarborough FPU
McDermott International, Inc. on Tuesday announced it has signed a contract with Woodside Energy Ltd. to undertake a front-end engineering and design (FEED) activities for a floating production unit (FPU) for the Scarborough field natural gas development in Western Australia.McDermott’s center of excellence in The Hague, Netherlands, will lead the study and early engineering. Upon completion, the contract includes the option to progress to an engineering, procurement, construction…
ADNOC, Inpex in LNG Bunkering Pact
ADNOC Logistics & Services (ADNOC L&S), a wholly-owned subsidiary of UAE's ADNOC, has signed an agreement with Japan's Inpex Corp to collaborate on LNG bunkering activities.Under the agreement, ADNOC L&S and Inpex will explore opportunities for LNG bunkering in the UAE as well as the potential to jointly expand LNG bunkering activities to cover other regions, including Southeast Asia, said a press release from the Abu Dhabi-based integrated shipping and logistics company.The use of…
Goldsboro LNG Project Eligible for $1.5bln German Loan
Pieridae Energy announced that its proposed financing of upstream activities within the Goldboro LNG project has received a written confirmation of eligibility in principle for up to US $1.5 billion of untied loan guarantee by the German federal government under its UFK program (Bundesgarantien für ungebundene Finanzkredite).According to the press release, this confirmation not only satisfies a critical condition leading to the completion of Pieridae’s acquisition of Ikkuma as contemplated by the arrangement agreement entered into between the Company and Ikkuma on August 23…
Smarter Energy Policy Will Broaden Offshore Recovery
For the past few years, depressed commodity prices, stricter regulatory requirements and competition from onshore development at home and from other countries offering attractive offshore lease and royalty terms have had severe impacts on new exploration in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Thankfully, the tide appears to finally be turning.In August, Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 251 drew increased competition for offerings and $178 million in high bids, $53 million more than previous sale held in March.
Genoil to Develop Russia's Velikoye Oil Field
Genoil has signed an agreement to attract finances and evaluate technologies to develop oil and gas fields in the Astrakhan Region of Russia. This agreement is with the license holder of this property; JSC Petroleumgas Company commonly known as "AFB". AFB's licenses encompass 700 square kilometers where the Velikoye oil field was discovered. To date, AFB has conducted geological exploration of the Velikoye oil field that has included high-resolution 2D seismic, vertical seismic profile as well as offset vertical seismic profiling, interpretation of all archived seismic data etc.
Recent Drilling has Lowered Costs, Increased Performance
The profitability of oil and natural gas development activity depends both on the prices realized by producers and the cost and productivity of newly developed wells. Overall trends in well development costs are generally less transparent than those in price and productivity, which are readily observable in the markets or through analyses of well productivity trends such as EIA's monthly Drilling Productivity Report. To better understand the costs of upstream (or, wellhead) drilling and production activity, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) commissioned IHS Global Inc.
INPEX, MHI JV to Study Technological Challenges in Energy Sector
INPEX CORPORATION (INPEX) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) jointly announced today that they have concluded a memorandum based on an agreement to jointly study solutions for various technological challenges in the energy sector. Under the auspices of the memorandum, INPEX and MHI plan to jointly establish a working committee and address technological solutions including utilizing the Internet of Things (IoT)1 and robot technology to further optimize oil and gas production operations.
Covey Park Inks Deal for Louisiana Shale Gas Acreage
Private equity-backed Covey Park Energy LLC said on Wednesday it bought shale natural gas acreage in Louisiana for $420 million from EP Energy Corp, the latest in a slow trickle of land deals across the energy space. Covey, which is funded by Denham Capital, bought 52,933 gross acres in the Haynesville and Bossier shales. The land produced about 113 million cubic feet per day in the fourth quarter. Covey said it aims to increase that to 200 million cubic feet per day. After the deal closes in the second quarter…
The American Energy Story Obama Won't Tell the World
(Note: Kevin McCarthy is the majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives. President Barack Obama is poised to repeat his history of weak-handed negotiations on the world stage when nearly 200 countries gather in Paris on Monday to consider an international response to climate change. According to the president, rejecting the Keystone XL oil pipeline and piling regulations on the fossil fuel and power industries in the United States are necessary to preserving America's credibility as a leader on the world stage.
Aker Bags Rotan Subsea Contract
Aker Solutions has been awarded a contract from Murphy Sabah Oil Co., Ltd. (Murphy) to deliver the subsea production system for the Rotan deepwater natural gas development offshore Malaysia. The delivery includes hardware for four subsea wells, a hub manifold, in-line tees, a connection system and production control system. First deliveries are scheduled for the second quarter of 2016. The contract will be booked as part of the company's third-quarter order intake. "We're very pleased to team up with Murphy on this important development…
NOIA Applauds Senate Passage of OPENS Act
NOIA President Randall Luthi issued the following statement on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s passage of the OPENS Act, which will open new areas of the OCS to energy exploration and development, extend revenue sharing to participating coastal states, and lift the outdated ban on U.S. “The National Ocean Industries Association applauds the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee for passing the OPENS Act, which will strengthen America’s energy and national security, improve our national economy, and benefit consumers across the country.
Netanyahu: Nothing Will Stop Israel's Natural Gas Development
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to further develop offshore natural gas fields after the country's anti-trust regulator said he would step down to protest against the lack of competition in the gas sector. Netanyahu is under pressure to strike a balance between moving ahead with plans to develop the large Leviathan gas field while creating competition, since Leviathan is owned by the same firms as the nearby Tamar site that started production in 2013. The fields are off Israel's Mediterranean coast.
NOIA Welcomes BOEM Shell's Plan Conditional Approval
The BOEM's (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management) decision to conditionally allow Shell to proceed with the carefully planned and coordinated drilling effort in Alaska is good news. The potential for energy development in the Chukchi Sea would allow Alaskans to benefit from well-paying jobs and resources to safeguard the environment, protect native traditional activities, and improve communities. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline may also benefit from the flow of resulting production. For the rest of the U.S.
Studies Show U.S. Offshore’s Untapped Potential
While short-term news emanating from the global energy sector was universally negative in the waning months of 2014 as the price per barrel continued to plummet below $60, the inevitable truth of oil & gas is that prices will rise again, and the long-term picture for this extinguishable natural resource is decidedly bullish. The oil and gas industry is very well accustomed to hard cyclical markets, markets that are defined not only by supply and demand but increasingly by hard-to-predict forces of politics and international gamesmanship.
API Wants US to Open up More Offshore Acreage
The offshore oil and natural gas leasing program proposed by the Obama administration puts America’s energy competitiveness at risk, API President and CEO Jack Gerard told reporters today as the government kicked off a series of public meetings on the proposal around the country. “America has a chance to be the world leader in energy now and for decades to come,” said Gerard. “But the opportunity could slip through our fingers if the government keeps 87 percent of offshore waters closed to oil and natural gas leasing.
Pennsylvania Governor Bans New Oil/Gas Leases on State Land
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf on Thursday signed an executive order reinstating a moratorium on new leases for oil and natural gas development in state parks and forests. The move restores the ban lifted by his predecessor, Tom Corbett, a Republican. Officials in Pennsylvania were not immediately available to say how much gas and oil energy companies produce from state forest and park land. Wolf, a Democrat, generally supports fracking, but called in his inaugural speech this month for it to be done safely with less impact on the environment.
