Activists Climb Shell North Sea Platform
Greenpeace activists boarded two Royal Dutch Shell oil platforms in the British North Sea on Monday in protest against plans to leave parts of the giant structures in place after production shuts down.Pictures provided by Greenpeace show two people in yellow hats scaling one of giant two large, rusty structures and unfurling a banner reading "Clean up your mess, Shell!"Shell confirmed that protesters boarded the Brent Alpha platform and the Brent Bravo concrete legs.Shell is in the process of dismantling the 40-year-old Brent field east of the Shetland islands, in
Ithaca Buys Chevron's UK North Sea Fields
Israel's Delek Group moved closer to listing its Ithaca Energy subsidiary on Thursday by buying most of Chevron's British North Sea oil and gas fields for $2 billion.Under pressure from a fall in oil prices to near 14-year lows of $26 a barrel in 2016, major oil and gas companies in the North Sea have been forced to sell assets to private equity-backed investors and specialized operators.Delek said the deal, backdated to Jan. 1 and pending regulatory approval, will quadruple Ithaca's pro-forma production to 80,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Aoka Mizu FPSO Hooks Up to Lancaster Field
Hurricane Energy's floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel has been connected to the group's North Sea Lancaster oilfield, another milestone for the group as it seeks to extract so-called fractured basement oil in Britain.Hurricane specializes in recovering oil from fractures in hard and brittle rock known as fractured basement reservoirs, which some see as a risky way to obtain crude."The Aoka Mizu FPSO arrived at the Lancaster field on 17 March 2019 and successfully hooked up to the turret mooring system buoy on the morning of 19 March 2019.
Ineos to Buy ConocoPhillips North Sea Assets
Britain's richest man Jim Ratcliffe's oil and gas company Ineos Group Holdings is in exclusive talks with ConocoPhillips to buy North Sea oil and gas fields worth $3 billion from the U.S. energy company.Various news paper reports say that British petrochemicals company has confirmed it is negotiating to buy several North Sea oil fields from U.S. energy giant.The Sunday Times, which first reported the story, said that the period is said to be set to three…
Stena Drilling Rig Gets an Engine Overhaul
The first phase of a new diesel engine maintenance and service program has been completed for vessels owned by international drilling contractors Stena Drilling, power specialist Royston said.Work on the Wartsila 16v25 No.3 generator on board the Class 3 semi-submersible drilling platform Stena Don saw cylinder heads, pistons and conrods overhauled, as part of an extensive 20,000 running hour service.This required a four-man engineering team working day and night shifts on the vessel while it was located at Scapa Flow…
Hurricane FPSO Leaves Dubai After Upgrade, Shetlands First Oil Seen in H1
The Aoka Mizu floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel ordered by Hurricane Energy has left Dubai following a series of upgrades, the company said, another milestone for the group as it seeks to extract so-called fractured basement oil in Britain.Hurricane specializes in recovering oil from fractures in hard and brittle rock known as fractured basement reservoirs, which some see as a risky way to obtain crude.It expects first oil from its Greater Lancaster Area (GLA) project, west of Scotland's Shetland Islands, in the first half of 2019.
Chevron becomes first oil major to exit Norway
U.S. oil firm Chevron will become the first oil major to formally exit the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) as it transfers its last stake in an exploration license, according to a government letter.Oil majors, including Exxon Mobil, BP and Shell, have scaled down their presence in Norway by selling or merging their assets in the mature region to focus on new growth opportunities elsewhere.Chevron is also seeking to sell assets in the British North Sea in order to focus on growing U.S.
Equinor Acquires 40% Stake in Rosebank Project
Equinor has signed an agreement to acquire Chevron’s 40 percent operated interest in the Rosebank project, one of the largest undeveloped fields on the U.K. Continental Shelf (UKCS). The parties did not disclose the commercial terms of the agreement.“Today’s agreement allows us to buy back into an asset in which we previously had a participating interest, demonstrating our strategy of creating value through oil price cycles. The acquisition of Rosebank complements our portfolio of oil…
Total Buys Chevron's Interest in Danish Underground Consortium
French oil and gas major Total said it has agreed to take all of Chevron's share capital in the Danish Underground Consortium (DUC), which will increase its stake in the project and expand its North Sea presence.The acquisition comes a day after Total announced a major gas discovery on the Glendronach prospect, located off the coast of the Shetland islands in the North Sea."Following the completion of the Maersk Oil acquisition, this deal is a great opportunity…
Total Makes Major Offshore UK Gas Discovery
French oil and energy group Total said on Monday it had made a major gas discovery on the Glendronach prospect, located off the coast of the Shetland islands in the North Sea.Total said preliminary tests on the new gas discovery confirmed good reservoir quality, permeability and well production deliverability, with recoverable resources estimated at about one trillion cubic feet (1 tcf).It said Glendronach, located near its Edradour field, will be tied…
Total Pact with Stena Drilling for Laggan Well
Aberdeen-based Stena Drilling has announced that it has signed a deal with French oil giant Total to drill one well at the west of Shetland, Laggan field.A press release from Stena Drilling said: "We have signed a contract with Total E&P UK Ltd. for the Stena Don in 2019 to drill one well on the Laggan field located west of the Shetland Islands in water depths of up to 650m."The Stena Don is currently working for Total E&P UK on an Exploration well which is also located west of the Shetland Islands.
Trelleborg's Safepilot for Shell's Brent Data Decommissioning Project
SafePilot from Trelleborg’s marine systems operation helped to pilot Allseas’ 200 meter-long barge, Iron Lady, from the Tees Bay to Able UK’s Seaton Port in Hartlepool which transported Shell’s 24,200 ton Brent Delta topside to Able’s facility on May 2, 2017.The Shell-operated Brent field, is located 115 miles east of the Shetland Islands, in 140 meters water depth, and has been in production since 1976. As part of Shell’s complex Brent Decommissioning Project…
DNV GL Secures Shell Penguins Contract
DNV GL has won a cross-service contract to support Shell's Penguins Field redevelopment on the UK Continental Shelf.The contract with Shell involves a team which will deliver an integrated verification and class project for the operator's Penguins floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.DNV GL is providing integrated Verification and Class services to the project. This will be led by a team in UK Oil & Gas, collaborating with the DNV GL Offshore Class unit in Norway and the DNV GL yard team in China and the Philippines.Justin Fletcher…
Ship Repair: Damen Wins Stena Don Refit Contract
Damen Verolme Rotterdam (DVR) won a contract by Stena Drilling for a refit of its drilling rig Stena Don. The vessel is scheduled to arrive at the yard in October 2018 and is expected to remain there for around three months. The most significant aspect of the works will be the installation of an eight-point mooring system prior to the rig being deployed off the UK’s Shetland Islands.In advance of the vessel's arrival, preparations are already underway at…
Equinor's UK Mariner Oil Platform Faces Further Strike Action
Equinor's Mariner oil platform in the UK North Sea is facing further strike action after GMB union said on Monday its members had voted to stop work in a dispute over pay, probably in the autumn, days after another union also threatened a strike.GMB said its dispute is with Aker Solutions, an oil services company operating on the platform.
Aker Solutions Workers at Equinor's Mariner Platform Vote to Strike
Unite the Union members working for Aker Solutions on Equinor's Mariner oil platform voted for strike action relating to pay, Britain's largest workers union said in a statement on Friday.The strike would involve about 200 workers and would likely take place between early August and early October.The Mariner field is located near Britain's Shetland Islands and is a major project that was due to start production in the second half of this year.Reporting By Julia Payne; Editing by Kirsten Donovan
Itochu Seeks North Sea Sale
Japanese commodity trading house Itochu is seeking buyers for stakes in two North Sea oilfields, a pipeline and a terminal, a document seen by Reuters shows.The sale, run by Scotiabank, could fetch up to $250 million, according to banking sources.The transaction would mark the latest exit of a long-standing player in the ageing basin as a new generation of companies, many with the backing of private equity, seeks to inject new life into oil and gas fields.Itochu…
Siccar Point Announces Sale
Siccar Point Energy (“Siccar Point”) has announced that on March 28, 2018, a Sale and Purchase Agreement was signed with Shell UK Limited (“Shell”) under which Shell will acquire a 30% non-operated working interest in UKCS licences P1028 and P1189 (incorporating the Cambo discovery) and a 22.5% non-operated working interest in P1830 (including the Blackrock prospect), both located 125 km north-west of the Shetland Islands. A final appraisal well is planned on the Cambo discovery in Q2 2018 and an exploration well is planned on the Blackrock prospect in 2019.
UK North Sea Output Could Resume its Decline
North Sea production has recovered slightly since 2015 as new fields, more drilling helped reverse declines. The UK North Sea is set to resume a two-decade decline in oil production next year, snapping a brief period of growth since 2015, consultancy Bernstein said in a report on Monday. Production in the North Sea, home to the Brent global crude benchmark, peaked in 1999 at 2.6 million barrels per day (bpd) and had steadily slipped until 2014, when it hit around 800,000 bpd. In the past four years, output has stabilised or even recovered.
Shell Announces Plan for Penguins Filed Redevelopment
Shell announced the final investment decision for the Penguins field redevelopment project in the U.K. sector, which includes the construction of a new-build Sevan Marine designed cylindrical floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. The Penguins field is in 165 metres of water, approximately 150 miles north east of the Shetland Islands. Discovered in 1974, the field was first developed in 2002 and is a joint venture between Shell (50 percent and operator) and ExxonMobil (50 percent).
