Global E&P

Carson basin seep survey area. (Courtesy Fugro)

Caribbean Sea/South America

BHP continues to prove gas with its rolling campaign of deepwater drilling offshore Trinidad and Tobago. The drillship Deepwater Invictus discovered gas in July with a re-drilled well on the Bongos prospect, after an earlier find in the Victoria structure. BHP planned to follow up with a well on the Concepción prospect to further test the Magellan play.

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ExxonMobil’s run of deepwater successes continues at the Stabroek block offshore Guyana, with the drillship Stena Carron finding oil in the Hammerhead prospect, 21 km (13 mi) southwest of the Liza discovery. The well encountered 60 m (197 ft) of oil-bearing Tertiary-age sandstone reservoirs, younger than the previously tested Liza Cretaceous sandstone and Ranger carbonate plays. ExxonMobil now sees potential for up to five FPSOs producing over 750,000 b/d collectively by 2025. A second drillship, Noble Tom Madden, was due to sail in this month to speed up the exploration program, starting with a well on the Pluma prospect, 27 km (17 mi) from the Turbot structure.

Work continues on the initial development of the Liza field, with Saipem assigned the EPCI scope for the Phase 2 risers, flowlines, and jumpers and installation of umbilicals, manifolds and foundations for the production, water and gas injection systems. Phase 2, which will feature more wells than Phase 1, will produce around 220,000 b/d.

West Africa

Woodside Energy says the partners in the deepwater SNE oilfield development offshore Senegal may commission further 3D seismic work across the field during the first part of next year. The main focus will be on improving data quality across the S400 reservoir and to assist design of the production and water injection wells. Woodside is due to replace Cairn Energy shortly as operator of the project.

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Petronas has agreed to two northwest Africa farm-in deals. One is for a 30% interest in the Rufisque Offshore Profond block off Senegal, operated by Total, in water depths of up to 3,000 m (9,842 ft). The partners plan to start exploration drilling after identifying prospects based on 3D seismic.

The government of The Gambia has approved the other farm-in, to offshore blocks A2 and A5. In exchange for a 40% stake, Petronas has agreed to fund 80% of the costs of the Samo-1 well, which the drillship Stena DrillMax may already have spudded. According to operator FAR, this would be the first well in the region for four decades: the location is 112 km (70 mi) offshore The Gambia in 1,017 m (3,336 ft) water depth. FAR is targeting resources of up to 825 MMbbl from two reservoir intervals.

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BW Offshore’s FPSO BW Adolo has produced first oil from the Tortue field in the Dussafu production-sharing contract offshore southern Gabon. Partner Panoro Energy said planning continues for a second phase of development, and appraisal continues of the recent Ruche North East Marin-1 discovery, drilled by the jackup Borr Norve in 115 m (377 ft) of water, 3 km (1.86 mi) northeast of the undeveloped Ruche fields.

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Tullow Oil’s first operated well offshore Namibia should be nearing completion. The drillship Ocean Rig Poseidon spud the Cormorant-1 well on the PEL 37 permit in the Walvis basin last month, targeting up to 124 MMbbl of oil in a mid-Cretaceous deep marine fan sandstone system.

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South African independent Ricocure has agreed to transfer operatorship of two exploration blocks in the Orange basin to Azinam. These are Block 3B/4B and Nearshore Block 3B/4B, spanning 18,530 sq km (7,154 sq mi) and extending up to 250 km (155 mi) offshore South Africa. Previous operator BHP acquired a GeoStreamer 3D survey over the permits in 2012 – Azinam plans to reprocess the data-set.

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The FPSO for Total’s deepwater Egina project offshore Nigeria sailed recently to the field following connection of the 60,000-ton topsides. According to contractor Samsung Heavy Industries, the newbuild vessel is 330 m (1,083 ft) long and 61 m (200 ft) wide, with oil storage capacity of 2.3 MMbbl. It will eventually produce 200,000 b/d via a network of 44 subsea wells.

The Egina FPSO. (Courtesy Samsung Heavy Industries)

Eastern Europe

Woodside Energy has an agreement with Shell to farm into 30% of block 1-14 Khan Kubrat in the Bulgarian sector of the Black Sea. An exploration well could follow next spring.

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Allseas’ Solitaire has started pipelay operations for the Nord Stream 2 gas line system in the Gulf of Finland. This is a round-the-clock program, with supply vessels bringing in the 12-m (39.3-ft) long pipes from nearby logistics hubs for welding onboard the vessel.

Middle East

Egypt’s authorities have approved two new offshore concession agreements with Eni and its partners. One is for the Nour exploration license in the East Nile Delta basin, 50 km (31 mi) offshore in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea in water depths of 50-400 m (164-1,312 ft). Eni, which operates via its subsidiary IEOC, planned to drill an exploration well before year-end. In the Nile Delta, Petrobel (a joint venture between IEOC and EGPC) and BP have secured a 10-year extension to the Abu Madi West development lease, which includes the shallow-water Nooros gas field.

Production from the Eni-operated Zohr field in the deepwater Egyptian sector recently reached 2 bcf/d, following start-up of a new 218-km (135-mi) subsea pipeline. Planned peak output is 2.7 bcf/d. Zohr is 190 km (118 mi) north of Port Said in the Shorouk block.

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Saudi Aramco has awarded Baker Hughes, a GE company an integrated drilling services contract for the offshore Marjan oilfield development, aimed at increasing the field’s production capacity. It is Aramco’s largest new upstream project this year and involves adding new wells. BHGE will provide LWD, reservoir navigation and rotary steerable services.

Lomonosov Moscow State University has signed an MoU to collaborate with Saudi Aramco Upstream Technoloy Co. on developing new materials for the oil and gas industry and techniques for reservoir and oilfield data acquisition, analysis and modeling. Under the program, Aramco will establish a new research center at the MSU Science Park in Moscow.

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Following the US’ decision to re-impose sanctions against Iran, Total has withdrawn from the Phase 11 development of the South Pars gas/condensate field in the Persian Gulf. The other parties still left in the development have held discussions on taking on Total’s share of the contract.

Asia/Pacific

Ophir Energy has completed its acquisition of various producing interests from Santos, including the Chim Sao/Dua oil field offshore Vietnam and the Madura Offshore and Sampang PSCs off Indonesia. The latter are both late-life assets, but Ophir is already planning an extension by developing the Meliwis gas field in Madura, probably via an unmanned wellhead platform tied back to the Maleo production facility. The $70-million project should come onstream within a year, peaking at around 25 MMcf/d.

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Gazpromneft-Sakhalin has been drilling its second well on the Ayashky license block in the Sea of Okhotsk offshore eastern Russia. This follows an upgrade to oil reserves from the company’s 2017 Neptune discovery on the block, now estimated at 415.8 MM metric tons (458.3 MM tons).

A semisubmersible drilling rig in operation on Gazpromneft-Sakhalin’s Ayashky license. (Courtesy Gazprom Neft)

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Gazprom has signed a memorandum of co-operation with PetroVietnam on developing the Bao Vang gas field off Vietnam’s east coast to supply a new power plant in Quang Tri province. Further exploration drilling would first be needed to confirm the viability of the development.

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CNOOC has commissioned SOFEC to supply a disconnectable turret system for the Lufeng permanent reinstatement project in the South China Sea. The new system will be integrated into a replacement FSO that will be connected to the existing Lufeng 13-2 field mooring spread. SOFEC designed the turret mooring system for the original development of the field in 1993, used to moor a MODEC-converted FSO and to disconnect in the event of an approaching typhoon.

Aker Solutions will provide over 35 km (22 mi) of dynamic and static power umbilicals to CNOOC’s Liuhua 16-2, 20-2 and 21-2 development off Hong Kong. These will link subsea production facilities to a new FPSO. Aker Solutions will apply its OsciLay process to the static section of the Liuhua 16-2 umbilical: this is said to address the difficulties of managing extreme tension loads during installation.

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Premier Oil expected fabrication to start this month of subsea structures for its BIG-P gas project in block A in the the Natuna Sea offshore Indonesia. These are due to be installed during 2Q 2019, coinciding with drilling of the development wells. First gas is scheduled for 3Q 2019.

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Tamarind Resources has acquired operatorship of the Galoc oilfield offshore the Philippines from Nido Petroleum. The field currently produces oil through four wells connected to the 450,000-bbl storage capacity FPSO Rubicon Intrepid. Tamarind plans a new phase of development.

Australasia

The Browse joint venture is progressing studies for the Browse LNG project offshore northwest Australia. According to Woodside Energy, the favored proposal, based on proven technologies, includes two gas FPSOs supplying around 10 MMt/yr of gas through a 900-km (559-mi) pipeline connecting to existing North West Shelf infrastructure. Condensate would be exported directly from the FPSOs. Concept definition could start toward year-end.

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Carnarvon Petroleum is interested in reactivating the Buffalo oil field in Timor-Leste waters which BHP shut down in 2004, when production had declined to 4,000 b/d. Following the application of modern seismic/reservoir mapping technologies to resolve various uncertainties, Carnarvon sees potential for a re-development that could recover 31 MMbbl. It aims to drill the Buffalo-10 well next year, with a view to firming up resources for a $20/bbl project.

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Santos has agreed to pay an initial $2.15 billion to acquire Quadrant Energy, which has various assets offshore Western Australia, mainly in the Carnarvon basin. These include the company’s recent Dorado oilfield discovery in the Bedout sub-basin.

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Eni will likely begin well P&A operations next year at the decommissioned Woollybutt oil field in the WA-25-L license offshore northwest Australia. The field, 80 km (50 mi) north of Onslow, underwent development in 2003 through subsea wells connected to an FPSO. Subsea equipment retrieval is currently scheduled for 2020. •