Global E&P Briefs

Feb. 1, 2006
Sonangol and Total of France have confirmed a new oil discovery in Angola’s offshore block 32.

Africa

Sonangol and Total of France have confirmed a new oil discovery in Angola’s offshore block 32. Appraisal drilling in the Gengibre-2 well to 4,342 m had tested to 5,100 b/d.

The Gengibre-2 appraisal well is located approximately 162 km (100 mi) off the Angolan coast in 1,696 m (5,564 ft) of water. The well was drilled to a total depth of 4,342 m (14,245 ft) and successfully tested at restricted rates of 5,226 b/d of oil from one horizon and 4,969 b/d of oil from another interval.

Gengibre-2 is located 2 km (1.3 mi) northwest of the previously announced Gengibre-1, located 12 km (8 mi) west from the Canela discovery, and 17 km (9 mi) southwest of the Gindungo discovery.

The concessionaire of block 32 is Sonangol. Marathon and Total Exploration (the operator of the block) each hold a 30% interest, Sonangol P&P 20%, Esso Exploration and Production Angola (block 32) 15%, and Petrogal 5%.

Gengibre is the third discovery in block 32, operated by Total Angola with a 30% stake in partnership with Marathon Oil 30%, Sonangol 20%, Esso Angola 15%, and Petrogal 5%.

Angola is the second oil producer in Sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria and now produces 1.3 MMb/d.

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Statoil ASA has secured two rigs for exploration drilling on land in Algeria. The company says plans call for drilling of the group’s first exploration well on the Statoil-operated Hassi Mouina block to begin in the summer.

Statoil has a 75% share in the block and Algerian national oil and gas company, Sonatrach, has 25%.

The company says it has made a commitment to gather 400 km of 2D seismic data and to drill two wells in the block, but plans to drill more.

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Petrobras has bought a 50% stake in deepwater block L in Equatorial Guinea from a group of companies for an undisclosed sum. Petrobras acquired a 25% participation from Chevron Corp., 12.5% from Amerada Hess Corp., 10% from Energy Africa Equatorial Guinea Ltd., and 5% from Sasol Petroleum International Ltd.

Chevron remains the block’s co-owner and operator, but Petrobras has an option to become the operator in case of a commercially viable discovery.

Total's Girassol FPSO has been producing oil from Angola's block 17 since December 2001. The FPSO is installed in approximately 1,350 m of water.
Click here to enlarge image

The block, in the Muni basin, lies next to the prolific block G operated by Amerada Hess, where eight oil fields have been found, including the Ceiba field, which is already in the production phase.

Asia-Pacific

Malaysia’s Tanjung Offshore Berhad’s subsidiary, Tanjung Maintenance Services Sdn Bhd (TMS), has received a letter of award from Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd (PCSB) to provide maintenance services for mechanical rotating equipment at all offshore platforms operated by PCSB off Sabah and Sarawak states.

The maintenance contract, worth $21.38 million, is for five years with options to extend for another two years. It includes provision of maintenance, repair, refurbishment, servicing, and testing as well as field services for various types of mechanical rotating equipment at all PCSB-operated platforms.

The contracted work would be supported by the existing operation center in Kemaman on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, and the new operation centers in Labuan island, off Sabah, and the Miri oil town in Sarawak.

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Singapore’s PPL Shipyard has secured a $175 million contract to build a Baker Marine Pacific class 375 deep drilling offshore jackup rig for Aban Singapore Pte Ltd., a subsidiary of Mumbai-listed Aban Loyd Chiles Offshore Ltd. of India.

Construction of the jackup is expected to begin in 1Q 2006 with delivery scheduled in mid-2008, says PPL’s parent group SembCorp Marine.

The Baker Marine Pacific Class 375 design is a proprietary ownership of Baker Marine Pte Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of PPL Shipyard. The jackup will be customized to meet the owner’s requirements for operations in the Indian Ocean.

It will be equipped with a drilling package to drill high pressure and high temperature wells at 30,000 ft while operating in 375 ft of water and will have accommodation for 120 personnel.

This is the first jackup on order in 2006 and the ninth jackup to be built based on the BMC Pacific 375 design in PPL Shipyard, according to SermbCorp.

“With the robust offshore oil and gas market and the high utilization and charter rates for jackup rigs, we can expect more rigs to be ordered,” says PPL managing director T K Ong.

Aban, incorporated in 1986, is the largest offshore oil field service provider in India’s private sector. It owns eight rigs, one drill ship, and one floating production unit, all of which have been on long-term contracts.

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Shell Malaysia and the upstream unit of the Malaysian national oil company, Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd, delivered the first gas from their jointly operated new Shallow Clastics satellite field ahead of schedule.

First gas from the Shallow Clastics field, part of the mammoth E11 Hub Integrated Gas Project offshore Sarawak, Malaysia, flowed through a combination of existing and new dedicated facilities.

So far, five Shallow Clastics wells have come onstream from the existing E11 platform and a new satellite platform installed during 2005.

Shell says two further phases of Shallow Clastics field development are planned. The other E11 satellite gas field developments, E8, F13 West, and F13 East are expected to come onstream over the next three years.

A new satellite platform has already been installed for E8, and the project team is currently focused on completing the installation and drilling program for the E8 field development.

Once completed, the $1.4 billion E11 Hub Integrated Gas Project will bring gas production from the fields through one integrated hub, before channeling the processed gas to the Petronas LNG complex at Bintulu.

Shell Malaysia and Petronas Carigali each has a 50% interest in the E11 Hub Integrated Gas Project, with Shell Malaysia as the operator.

The two partners have so far invested $265 million each in the project.

Russia

The National Bank of Kazakhstan reports that foreign direct investment in Kazakhstan reached $ 4.3 billion over the first nine months of 2005, representing an increase of 10% compared to the same period the previous year.

Geological exploration and prospecting activities represented almost half of the reference period’s total foreign investments at $2.1 billion.

Europe

Swedish oil company Lundin Petroleum AB says its capital spending budget will amount to $310 million in 2006. Its development budget this year will be in excess of $200 million with a major focus on projects in Norway and Tunisia expected to deliver significant production growth through early 2007.

Lundin Petroleum expects to produce around 36,000 boe/d in 2006, increasing to over 50,000 boe/d in 2007 with the Norwegian and Tunisia new field developments.

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Drilling has started on ExxonMobil’s Kogge gas prospect in the Norwegian North Sea. TheMaersk Gallantis expected to drill for three months to depths of 5,500 m.

ExxonMobil, as operator, owns 30% in license PL-315. Other owners include state-owned Petoro with 30%, Statoil ASA (STO) 30%, and RWE Dea, a unit of RWE AG, 10%.

Americas

Petrobras plans to invest, along with its partners, about $18 billion over the next 10 years in natural gas and oil production development in the Santos basin.

Petrobras says the offshore BS-500 block, the biggest of five planned production areas in the basin, should start pumping about 20 MMcm/d of natural gas from 2010, and between 150,000 and 200,000 b/d of crude.

Petrobras has been in exclusive talks with Spain’s Repsol-YPF to develop Mexilhao field in the Santos basin off the coast of Sao Paulo together. Petrobras discovered the field in 2003 and puts its proven reserves at 72 bcm of gas. Estimated development cost is $1.9 billion.

Petrobras is developing 10 blocks in the basin on its own and 19 in partnerships with other companies, including ExxonMobil , BG Plc, Repsol, and El Paso.

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Canadian Superior Energy Inc. of Calgary, Alberta, Canada says its year-end 2005 exit production rate was 3,470 boe/d, up 27% from the production rate at the beginning of the year.

Prior to year-end 2005, the company’s wellsite geohazard field survey work and biological baseline survey work on its Intrepid block 5(c), approximately 96 km (60 mi) off the east coast of Trinidad, was completed in anticipation of its first exploration well planned for drilling on this block in 2Q 2006.

Canadian Superior is currently in the process of contracting an offshore semisubmersible drilling rig for this well and has now completed the procurement of all casing, wellhead, and related long lead-time critical items needed for the well, which will be one of the deepest wells recently drilled in the area.

Canadian Superior says it has become a significant acreage holder in Trinidad and Tobago with 135,041 gross acres, and Intrepid block 5(c) encompasses 80,041 net acres.

Trinidad and Tobago oil and gas basins and supply approximately 80% of North America’s LNG.

PTTEP boosts planned expenditures, adds 29 projects

Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production Public Co. Ltd. (PTTEP) has revised its estimated capital expenditure (capex) and operating expenditure (opex) for 2006-2010 to $5.8 billion, up from $4.6 billion estimated for 2005-2009. The revision includes 29 new projects.

PTTEP president Maroot Mrigadat says the expenditure would help raise production to 238,400 boe/d in 2010 from 179,000 boe/d this year.

This year’s capex and opex would be $1.2 billion and $410 million; 2007’s $972 million and $362 million; 2008’s $901 million and $373 million; 2009’s $524 million and $385 million; and 2010’s $284 million and $410 million, reports Maroot.

Major projects being undertaken by the listed upstream unit of the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) are:

1 Bongkot project (PTTEP’s share 44.44%): construction of six additional wellhead platforms, the drilling of eight development wells, the drilling of three exploration wells, and 3D seismic surveys in the North Bongkot area and the South Bongkot area, the latter of which is a new production area. Total expected average natural gas sales amount is 598 MMcf/d.

2 S1 project (PTTEP’s share 100%): drilling of 35 development wells and upgrading and construction of production facilities. Total expected average crude oil sales amount is 19,265 b/d.

3 B8/32 & 9A (PTTEP’s share 25%): construction of five wellhead platforms, the drilling of 103 development wells, and the drilling of two exploration wells. Total expected average crude oil sales amount is 53,000 b/d.

4 Pailin project (PTTEP’s share 45%): drilling of 64 development wells, the construction of a wellhead platform, and the layout of pipelines. Total expected average natural gas sales amount is 376 MMcf/d

5 Arthit project (PTTEP’s share 80%): the construction of a production platform, six wellhead platforms, and the drilling of 44 development wells. The current plan for the Arthit project is to start up gas production in the first half of 2007. Total expected initial production rate will be at 330 MMcf/d.

6 Malaysia Thailand Joint Development Area (MTJDA) project (PTTEP’s share 50%): drilling of four exploration wells, the drilling of three appraisal wells, and the preparation of production facilities. The current plan is to start up gas production in the second half of 2008. Total expected initial production rate will be at 270 MMcf/d, with an option of up to 470 MMcf/d.

7 Myanmar M7 & M9 project (PTTEP’s share 100%): drilling of six exploration wells, geological and geophysical studies, and 3D seismic surveys in order to establish the potential natural gas reserves and achieve a development plan.

8 Algeria 433a & 416b project (PTTEP’s share 35 %): 3D seismic surveys and the drilling of two appraisal wells..

9 Vietnam 16-1 project (PTTEP’s share 28.5 %): drilling of two exploration wells, the drilling of an appraisal well, and 3D seismic surveys.

10 Vietnam 9-2 project (PTTEP’s share 25%): sidetrack drilling of the appraisal well, CNV-4X, and geological and geophysical studies.