Editor's note: This Global E&P section first appeared in the November-December 2023 issue of Offshore magazine. Click here to view the full issue.
By Jeremy Beckman, London
NORTH AMERICA
Boskalis’ semisubmersible transport vessel Boka Vanguard has delivered the 25,000-ton Whale FPU to Ingleside, Texas. Shell ordered the platform from Seatrium in Singapore for its deepwater Whale development in the Alaminos Canyon area of the US Gulf of Mexico. The FPU comprises a topside module and a four-column semisubmersible floating hull, both largely replicas of the hull and topsides for Shell’s Vito platform. Whale is due to start production in 2024.
Kosmos Energy is working on subsea tieback options for its recent Tiberius oil discovery in Keathley Canyon Block 964. The well, drilled in 7,500 ft (2,300 m of water), was cased to TD to preserve it as a future producer. Partner Occidental operates the Lucius spar platform, a potential host, 6 mi to the north-west.
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Cenovus Energy’s Sea Rose FPSO is due to arrive at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast early in January for mid-life upgrade works. The vessel, which produces oil and gas from the White Rose field offshore Newfoundland, had a previous stay at the same yard in 2012.
SOUTH AMERICA
ExxonMobil has started up Payara, the third oilfield development on the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana. Production through the FPSO Prosperity should build to 220,000 b/d of oil by mid-2024 as more wells come online. The platform, moored in 6,300 ft water depth, will develop a resource of more than 600 MMbbl. Supplier SBM Offshore recently started work on the FEED for the FPSO for the Whiptail development in the same block, with planned oil production capacity of 250,000 b/d and gas treatment at 540 MMcf/d.
CGX Energy and Frontera Energy will consider a standalone development in the Corentyne block off Guyana after confirming a commercial oil discovery with their Wei-1 well, drilled by the semisub Noble Discover 14 km north-west of the earlier Kawa-1 find, and located 200 km from Georgetown. The SIA joint venture between Subsea 7 and Schlumberger is working on a conceptual field development plan for the northern portion of the block, including the subsea architecture and export facilities.
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Off neighboring Suriname, Petronas and ExxonMobil have pulled off a second oil discovery on Block 52. The Roystone-1 well, drilled 185 km from the coast in 904 m of water, found oil in Campanian sandstone reservoirs. Petronas will assess potential synergies with the Sloanea-1 discovery from 2020. Staatsolie is now aiming to step up exploration in nearshore to shallow-water areas, having opened a bid round for 11 blocks in water depths of up to 150 m. Bidding will close at the end of May next year.
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Equinor has submitted development plans to Brazil’s ANP agency for the Raia Manta and Raia Pintada presalt oil discoveries in the BM-C-33 concession in the Campos basin, 200 km offshore Rio de Janeiro in waters up to 2,900 m deep. The fields are two of three proven originally in 2010 by Repsol Sinopec, now a partner to Equinor along with Petrobras. Plans call for a 126,000 boe/d FPSO processing gas and oil/condensate with no need for further onshore processing, which would be a first for any offshore development in Brazil. Gas would head through a new 200-km subsea pipeline to Cabiúnas, Macaé in Rio de Janeiro state, with the liquids offloaded to shuttle tankers.
WEST AFRICA
The FLNG vessel Gimi has departed the Seatrium Shipyard in Singapore for bp’s Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) gas-condensate development offshore Mauritania and Senegal. Supplier Golar LNG has a 20-year lease and operate agreement which should take effect once the vessel is moored and connected to the GTA hub. This month, Allseas’ Pioneering Spirit was due to start laying the 75 km remaining of the two 16-in. export pipelines and four CRA infield lines in water depths of up to 2,800 m.
GTA partner Kosmos Energy will take on operatorship of the Yakaar-Teranga gas discoveries off Senegal, subject to government approval, after bp opted to exit the project. The fields contain an estimated 25 tcf: Kosmos and state-owned Petrosen are working on a scenario involving production of around 550 MMcf/d of gas with a pipeline to the shore and another FLNG liquefying further volumes for export.
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Eni has asked to Altera Infrastructure to deploy an FPSO and FSO for the second phase of the deepwater Baleine oilfield development off Cote d’Ivoire under a 15-year contract. Both vessels are undergoing life extensions and field-related modifications at Drydocks World, Dubai. The circular FPSO Voyageur Spirit previously operated on the Huntington oilfield in the UK North Sea. Nordic Brasilia is being converted from a shuttle tanker.
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Perenco has delivered first oil from the Hylia South West structure in shallow water off Gabon, which the company discovered late last year in the Nto reservoir on the Mono permit. A single well fitted with an electric submersible pump produces oil to a self-elevating Fololo platform (a proprietary Perenco design) with production sent to the Hylia platform facilities, 10 km to the south.
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Petronas has acquired a 40% stake from operator TotalEnergies in Block 20 in the Kwanza basin, offshore Angola, for $400 million. The concession, formed earlier this year through the merger of blocks 21/09, 20/11 and 20/15, contains the Cameia and Golfinho oil discoveries 150 km south-west of Luanda. The partners are working on plans for a 70,000 b/d FPSO with a network of subsea wells, and re-injection of associated gas.
NORTH SEA
Equinor and Ithaca Energy have committed to progress Rosebank, Britain’s most remote and deepest-water field development to date, in 1,100 m of water 130 km north-west of the Shetland Isles. In the first phase, targeting 245 MMbbl, subsea wells will be tied back to an FPSO that formerly operated for Shell on the Knarr field in the Norwegian Sea and which will be made electrification-ready to tap into power from future wind energy in the region, with capacity to produce 70,000 b/d and over 21 MMcf/d of gas. Altera will charter and operate the vessel under an initial nine-year term, with Odfjell’s semisub Deepsea Atlantic drilling the first seven planned wells from mid-2025. TechnipFMC will supply the subsea production/SURF equipment.
In the central UK North Sea, NEO Energy and partners Jersey Oil & Gas and Serica Energy are acquiring the circular FPSO that produces oil from the depleting Western Isles fields from operator Dana Petroleum. They plan to redeploy it as the central processing platform for their Greater Buchan Area project comprising redevelopment of the prematurely shut down Buchan field and other discoveries in the area. Again, the vessel will be prepared for electrification.
MIDDLE EAST
Israel’s government has awarded 12 offshore licenses to six companies under the country’s fourth bid round, with the initial three-year exploration periods to be followed by a commitment to drill during the second term. Groups of licenses were offered to two consortia: Eni operates six licenses in offshore Zone G; Azerbaijan’s SOCAR leads six more in Zone I, in partnership with bp and NewMedEnergy.
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Egypt has handed exploration and production rights to block EGY-MED-E8 (East Port Said) in the Mediterranean Sea to Eni (operator), bp and QatarEnergy. The block extends across 2,600 sq km in waters up to 800 m deep.
On the North East El-Amriya block in the Mediterranean, Shell Egypt has proven gas in the Mina West prospect, the first of three exploration wells drilled by the Stena Forth. Results were undergoing analysis to determine the size and recoverable potential.
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ADNOC is forging ahead with the Hail and Ghasha development offshore Abu Dhabi. A joint venture between NPCC and Saipem will construct the offshore facilities, including artificial islands housing four drill centers and a processing plant, and over 300 km of subsea pipelines. Tecnimont is responsible for the onshore scope, including CO2 and sulfur recovery. The two fields in the Ghasha concession should deliver over 1.5 bcf/d of gas by the end of the decade, with 1.5 MMmt/yr of CO2 captured for subsurface storage onshore.
ASIA-PACIFIC
Murphy Oil and partners PetroVietnam and SK Earthon have sanctioned the Lac Da Vang field project in the Cuu Long basin offshore southern Vietnam. They plan a phased development with start-up in 2026, and peak production of 30-40,000 boe/d. Lac Da Vang, thought to hold up to 100 MMboe recoverable, is in Block 15-1/05: the partners aim to drill another prospect, Lac Da Hong, in 2024.
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SK Earthon has started production from the Lufeng 12-3 oilfield development in the eastern South China Sea, in a water depth of 240 m. According to co-venturer CNOOC, facilities include a newbuild 100,000-t `intelligent’ FPSO and a wellhead platform and (eventually) 13 producer wells. Production should hit peak rates of around 29,500 b/d next year.
In the central Bohai Sea off eastern China, CNOOC has brought online Phase 1 of the shallow-water Bozhong 19-6 development, comprising a new central processing platform, three unmanned wellhead installations and an onshore gas process terminal. This is the first gas-condensate field to produce in the Bohai Bay area, the company said, with over 200 bcm in place and powered by the Bozhong-Kenli oilfields onshore facilities. CNOOC aims to drill 42 producers and 20 gas injectors, an to deliver peak production of 37,000 boe/d during 2024.
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Eni has discovered gas in the North Ganal PSC offshore Indonesia. The Geng North-1 well, drilled 85 km offshore East Kalimantan in 1,947 m of water, encountered a 50-m thick gas column in Miocene sandstone. Initial analysis suggests 5 tcf of gas and up to 400 MMbbl of condensate, potentially sufficient for a new production hub in the northern part of the offshore Kutei basin and connected to the Bontang LNG complex.
Bumi Armada subsidiary Armada Akia and Pexco Tarakan have signed the Akia PSC in the offshore Tarakan basin in Indonesia’s North Kalimantan province. The concession contains the Aster and Tulip discoveries: the partners will look to acquire new 3D seismic over Tulip, which holds an estimated 860 bcf of gas and 60 MMboe of oil and condensate, followed by a fast-track development in 800 m using an FPSO and an FLNG vessel, or gas export pipeline.
