Gene Kliewer, Houston
Africa
Total has discovered oil in the Dissoni block in Cameroon’s offshore Rio del Rey basin. The well encountered 50 m of oil pay in what is described as “massive oil-bearing sandstone.”
The block was awarded to Total and partner Pecten in April 2005. In October the previous year, the company also made a discovery in its Cameroon acreage, named Bakingili. Currently Total operates two-thirds of the country’s current output, at just over 60,000 b/d, via its joint venture with Pecten and Societe Nationale des Hydrocarbures.
Vaalco Energy is spending both time and money drilling offshore Gabon.
Executives at Houston-based Vaalco, which has just 20 full-time employees and annual revenue of $93 million, gamble that the odds of striking significant reserves are better away from home compared to locally
The gamble is paying. Over the past three years, Vaalco revenues increased more than eightfold, while profits are up 75 times, to $33.7 million, from just $445,000 in 2002.
To revive the company, Vaalco drilled a test well in an expanse extending 25 mi from the coast of Gabon. Vaalco had paid less than $1 million in 1995 for the right to drill. The well, in 270 ft of water, found reserves estimated at 30 MMbbl, and Vaalco owns 28% of that. The Etame field now produces about 18,000 b/d for its partners.
Later this year, Vaalco hopes to sink wells in new Gabon acreage. The oil producer also has put up $8.4 million for a 40% interest in 1.4 million acres off the coast of Angola and has set up an office in Scotland to scout for North Sea projects.
Brazilian energy company Petrobras has obtained a stake in three Angolan exploratory blocks following a successful tender bid organized by Angola’s state oil company, Sonangol.
The inclusion of the three exploratory blocks, designated 6, 26 and 15, represents a new phase in Petrobras’ business in Angola. The company will now take on a new role as operator for blocks 6 and 26.
Block 6 is in shallow water, and will be the focus of an economic feasibility study over the course of the next four years. Exploratory work undertaken 20 years ago using technology developed by Petrobras’ R&D arm Cenpes indicated the presence of a hydrocarbon reservoir on this block.
Block 26 is in the deepwater Benguela basin of southern Angola. Petrobras considers this block to be at the current exploratory frontier, and the company will conduct a great deal of drilling activities there over the next few years. Petrobras plans to integrate geological and geophysical data and analogies with existing hydrocarbon models for the west coast of Africa and the east coast of Brazil.
Block 15 is in unexplored Angolan deepwater. However, the perimeter of the area contains oil fields with reserves of approximately 3.5 Bbbl and daily production of 600,000 bbl. Petrobras, and other oil companies, are banking on this region to have significant untapped hydrocarbon potential.
The addition of these 3 blocks gives Petrobras a stake in 5 blocks offshore Angola. Present in Angola since 1979, Petrobras also has a stake in block 2, with a production rate of 6,500 b/d, and exploratory activities in deepwater block 34.
Asia
Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has called on oil and gas consumer countries to participate in the exploration of deepwater and ultra deepwater acreages in Southeast Asia.
He urged oil and gas consumer countries to consider investing or becoming a partner in upstream exploration and development of the region, and thereby reduce oil dependence on the Middle East.
He also noted the vast potential of unexplored hydrocarbon in West and Central Asia, and the environmental and technological challenge of developing deepwater areas, the Arctic, Tar sands and coal-bed methane deposits.
Abdullah also called for a look at attractive investments policies and fiscal terms to allow consuming countries to participate in development activities in the host countries.
“Concerns among consumes about the security of supply are matched by producers’ concern about the security of demand,” he said, noting that the consuming countries were seeking to diversify their energy mix while producing countries would continue diversify their economies.
New Zealand Oil & Gas Ltd’s participation in seven offshore Taranaki oil wells from the end of 2006 into 2007 will be its largest continuous drilling program ever, the company said.
As well as having an interest in the Tui oil field (PMP 38158) where four production wells will be drilled by theOcean Patriot offshore drilling rig from October to March 2007, NZOG will have a stake in three other exploration wells being drilled by the same rig in nearby oil plays. Two are in the Tui permit.
The drilling program in offshore Taranaki (all operated by AWE) will commence in the last quarter of 2006 with the Hector oil exploration prospect in PEP 38483.
NZOG says Hector will be drilled into the Kapuni C sands with the primary target being clearly delineated by 3D seismic. Hector is a structural closure and has a similar setting to Tui. NZOG says the Hector structure has 50 MMbbl potential.
After Tui production wells are completed, two further wells Tieke and Taranui will be drilled from the second quarter of 2007 in the same PMP 38158 permit. The two wells will be drilled into the Kapuni F sands and the targets have been delineated on 3D seismic.
NZOG says the Tieke and Taranui prospects have individual potential indicatively in the range 10-20 MMbbl recoverable oil.
“Success at either of these exploration targets could be monetized relatively quickly by linking additional subsea wells by flowlines to the Tui FPSO,” the company says.
Meanwhile in the Felix and Opito Area in PEP 38729 on the north Taranaki coast, which NZOG has a 75% stake in, the refraction line seismic survey in the onshore region of this permit was completed in February 2006.
The company is considering acquisition of an onshore/offshore transition zone seismic survey to tie existing marine and land seismic datasets on the permit.
NZOG says it has entered into a $38-million financing agreement with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia to fund NZOG’s share of the Tui development.
Once production begins, initial flow rates from the fields expected to be around 50,000 b/d.
According to plans, Philippine oil production could almost double when Nido Petroleum opens its first project in the country next year.
Nido holds a stake in the Galoc Project in the Palawan basin, offshore the northwest of the Philippines. Development of the Galoc project was approved by the Philippines Department of Energy earlier this year.
Managing Director David Whitby predicted revival of the Philippines oil industry.
“We took a position that the Philippines in the Palawan basin was excellent in late 2004 and have been proceeding to acquire a big position since that time and the other companies are only just starting to come,” he said.
Nido has a 22.3% interest in the Galoc field, which is expected to start production in the middle of next year with initial output of 7,500-10,000 b/d of oil. The Philippines’ output currently is 14,360 b/d.
Nido says Palawan Basin, which includes Galoc, could be the next Mauritania, where Woodside Petroleum just opened its Chinguetti project.
The company’s landholding in the area is bigger than the Northwest Shelf in western Australia--considered to be one of Australia’s largest resources projects.
“It’s big, it’s prospective, they found oil there and gas there before and they will do it again,” Whitby said.
“You need enough land to put big discoveries in there, if you just have a little block that doesn’t work.”
The company plans to do a seismic survey over the landholding in the coming months, in conjunction with the Philippines National Oil Co.
Americas
Mexican NOC Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) has purchased 11 Triconex safety instrumented systems from Invensys Process Systems as part of an operations, safety, and security upgrade in major offshore projects.
At the Ku Maloob Zaap oilfields off the coast of Mexico’s Campeche state, Pemex Exploration and Production Northeast Marine Region is undertaking what it calls a significant upgrade and expansion of its drilling and production infrastructure. Triconex emergency shutdown systems and fire and gas safety systems will be installed on nine platforms.
The Ku Maloob Zaap expansion is a major initiative in Mexico’s national oil production strategy. Ultimately, more than 100 new wells will be added to Pemex’s asset base, producing approximately 800,000 b/d of heavy Mayan crude to meet future domestic demands for oil and gas.
The 11 Tricon control systems will be deployed at critical sites in five complexes throughout the extensive Ku Maloop Zaap offshore infrastructure. The systems will provide emergency platform shutdown functions to protect six production platforms and one linking platform, and will additionally protect three production platforms and one crew housing platform.
The Tricon systems monitor a variety of parameters against preset safety limits. These parameters include platform equipment status, detection for smoke, hydrogen, toxic gases and combustion gases, control of fire suppression equipment, alarm management, and manual shutdown controls.
The Invensys implementation also includes a range of professional services from Invensys Process Systems Mexico, including engineering, programming, local assembly, acceptance testing, training and commissioning.
Venezuela’s national assembly approved all 22 contracts for new E&P joint ventures between state oil firm Pdvsa and 16 foreign and domestic oil companies.
Energy and Mines Committee Chairman Angel Rodriguez said “The goal was achieved: increased government control over production and ownership.”
Under the previous contract scheme, operators would see their expenditure reimbursed by Pdvsa. Now, as JV partners, “each company will have to invest” to achieve an increase in production.
Pdvsa has a minimum stake of 60% in each venture and in some cases as much as 80%.
The new contracts also establish an increased take for the Venezuelan government of 83.33%, distributed in royalties (30%), taxes (50%) and a local development tax of 3.33%.
The government of Ecuador has invited Malaysia to participate in its oil and gas exploration prospects, according to Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar.
Syed and his Ecuadorian counterpart, Francisco Carrion Mena, met in Putrajaya to sign a memorandum of understanding to promote economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation between the two countries.
After the signing ceremony, Syed said, “This South American nation has expressed its hope that Malaysian national oil company Petronas could be involved in such ventures” that would increase E&P activities in the net oil-exporting country.
Europe
Statoil has confirmed discovery of hydrocarbons in Valemon near the Kvitebjørn field.
Well 34/11-5 S was drilled from the Kvitebjørn platform in 190 m of water to a total vertical depth of 4370 m below sea surface. Hydrocarbons were proven in Middle Jurassic sandstone.
The well will be plugged temporarily and the upper sections used as a sidetracked production well on the Kvitebjørn field
Valemon development evaluation continues.
Licensees in PL 193 are Statoil ASA (operator) 43.55%, Petoro AS 30%, Norsk Hydro Produksjon 15%, Enterprise Oil Norge AS 6.45%, and Total E&P Norge AS 5%.
Tullow Oil Plc says the K4 exploration well, 44/23b-13, in the UK sector of the North Sea has encountered reservoir quality gas bearing sands with “significant upside potential.”
The K4 discovery is 5 km southeast of Kelvin (K3) gas discovery. Tullow says future K4 development probably will tie to Kelvin development. Kelvin is expected to involve a minimum-facilities platform with a pipeline to the central CMS hub at Murdoch.
The K4 joint venture partners are Tullow Oil plc (22.5%), ConocoPhillips (UK.) Ltd. (50%) and GDF Britain Ltd. (27.5%).
In Britain’s Outer Moray Firth, first gas has flowed from BG/Amerada Hess’ joint Atlantic/Cromarty field development. Both fields, discovered respectively in 1997 and 1986, are exporting directly to the Sage terminal in St Fergus, 80-km to the southwest, via the UK North Sea’s longest subsea tieback.
The subsea facilities are being operated remotely from St. Fergus through a satellite link to Shell’s nearby Goldeneye platform, and then via a 32-km subsea electro-hydraulic umbilical to the two fields. At peak, they should produce 220MMcf/d combined.
