Jeremy Beckman • London
FMC and Technip have won the main subsea engineering contracts for the Hibernia field Southern Extension project off eastern Canada. FMC will provide up to six subsea injections trees and wellheads, a manifold, and associated control systems, while Technip will supply a flexible flowline, a steel tube umbilical, and install all subsea equipment. Hibernia is in 90 m (295 ft) of water on the Grand Banks, 315 km (200 mi) southeast of St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. The contracts were awarded by Hibernia Management and Development Co.
South America
Statoil has brought onstream its first operated oilfield development in the Campos basin off Brazil. The Peregrino field is in licenses BMC-7 and BMC-47, 85 km (53 mi) offshore. Phase 1 facilities include two drilling and wellhead platforms with 37 horizontal wells linked to a large FPSO, in 100m (328 ft) water depth. Production should build to a peak of 100,000 boe/d. Soon after start-up, Statoil discovered further oil nearby while drilling the Peregrino South structure, using the semisubmersibleBlackford Dolphin.
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Petrobras has discovered further oil in the Campos basin pre-salt on the Albacora field in 380 m (1,246 ft) of water, 107 km (66 mi) offshore. The well, drilled by theP-31 rig, intersected a 241-m (790-ft) oil column, of which 104 m (341 ft) came from Macabu formation carbonate reservoirs. The company plans a long-term production test after assessing results from two cased-hole DSTs.
In the Brava area of the Campos basin pre-salt, Petrobras has started an extended well test on its Marlin field production concession. The two-year program will deliver 6,000 b/d of oil through a well connected to theP-27 platform. Another pre-salt program, recently concluded, involved a formation test of the Guara Norte well in ultra-deepwater Santos basin block BM-5-9. A second extension well test is now running on Guara South, 7 km (4.3 mi) south of the Guara discovery well.
Peru’s Ministry of Energy and Mining has approved BPZ Resources’ request for workovers on three oil wells currently shut in on the Albacora platform. During the four-month program, BPZ also plans to open previously untested zones in each of the wells. However, to produce from these zones it will require further authorization to flare associated gas until injection equipment is installed on the platform, probably around year-end. Recently, the company applied to acquire 3-D seismic in Peru’s offshore block Z-1.
Borders & Southern Petroleum has contracted Ocean Rig’s fifth-generation semisubmersibleLeiv Eiriksson for its first drilling program south of the Falkland Islands. The rig should mobilize to the area in October following completion of assignments this summer offshore Greenland for Cairn Energy. Another UK independent, Falkland Oil & Gas, will use the rig to test Loligo, a potentially giant Tertiary Channel play structure in one of the company’s southern licenses.
Port Stanley-based Argos has completed 3D seismic acquisition over its PL001 license in the North Falkland basin, and hopes to drill its first well late this year or early 2012 using the semiOcean Guardian.
Caribbean Sea
First gas has flowed from BHP Billiton’s Angostura gas project off Trinidad and Tobago. A new gas export platform has been added to the existing facilities on the Greater Agostura field, designed to deliver 280 MMcf/d through the 36-in. (91-cm) Northeastern offshore pipeline.
Another block has been awarded under Trinidad and Tobago’s 2010 shallow water bid round, this time to German company RWE Dea. NCm2A covers an area of 1,019 sq km (393 sq mi) 50 km (31 mi) off the northern coast of Trinidad, in water depths of 100-200 m (328-656 ft). RWE plans to acquire 3D seismic in July over the concession, which is on trend with the Hibiscus and Chaconia gas fields.
Petroleum Corp. of Jamaica has granted Sagres Energy a nine-month extension for its Phase 1 exploration program in three offshore blocks (9, 13, and 14). The expiry date is now Dec. 15, at which point Sagres must decide whether to enter Phase 2, which carries a one-well commitment. The company has identified numerous shallow water prospects in the Pedro Bank, 120 km (74.5 mi) offshore Jamaica, with prospective oil resources of 3 Bbbl. It is seeking a farm-in partner to drive exploration drilling forward.
West Africa
Total has another oil discovery off Angola. During a test, the Canna-1 well in block 17/06 delivered 5,000 b/d of 33° API crude from a Miocene reservoir, in 445 m (1,460 ft) water depth.
Canna-1 is Total’s latest discovery offshore Angola.
One of the sector’s newer operators, Cobalt International Energy, has Sonangol’s approval to drill two pre-salt wells in block 21. The program, which may already have started, is targeting the Cameia and Bicuar prospects.
ENI has awarded SBM Offshore a letter of intent to re-deploy the FPSOXikomba on its block 15/06 development. The vessel has operated for ExxonMobil off Angola since 2003, but that contract is drawing to a close. In preparation for the 12-year lease on 15/06, the floater will undergo a major upgrade program at the local PAENAL yard.
Another FPSO heading in this direction is Modec’s PSVM, a former VLCC converted by Jurong Shipyard in Singapore. This vessel, said to feature one of the largest external turrets fitted to a floater, will serve BP’s Plutao, Saturno, Venus and Marte development in ultra-deepwater block 31. It will be capable of processing 157,000 b/d of oil and 245 MMcf/d of gas.
Eni could have a major find emerging in its Ghanaian Offshore Cape Three Points license. The Sankofa-2 appraisal well, drilled 55 km (34 mi) from the coast in 864 m (2,834 ft) of water, flowed over 29 MMcf/d of gas and 1,000 boe/d of condensate, and also encountered a 6-m (19.7-ft) oil leg. Reserves could be large enough to justify Ghana’s first non-associated gas development.
East Africa
Ophir Energy has increased its Tanzanian acreage by taking a 70% operating interest in the East Pande block from RAKGas. The license extends over 7,500 sq km (2,896 sq mi) off- and onshore southern Tanzania, and lies west of Ophir’s existing blocks, which have yielded three deepwater gas discoveries. Ophir plans to acquire new 3D seismic over Pande’s offshore section.
Tanzania’s Ministry of Energy and Minerals has granted Dominion Petroleum a one-year extension to the initial exploration period for deepwater block 7. This will give Dominion more time to assess the block’s potential, in light of the gas finds to the south.
Black Sea/Caspian Sea
GSP Offshore’s pipelay vesselBigfoot-1 has connected the offshore and onshore sections of the new Dzhubga–Lazarevskoye–Sochi gas pipeline in the Russian sector of the Black Sea. The 177-km (110-mi) pipeline, operated by Gazprom, will include a 159.5-km (99 mi) offshore section, running parallel with the Black Sea coast line. It will have annual throughput capacity of 3.8 bcm (134 bcf).
Lukoil and Rosneft have agreed to a long-term co-operation in Russia which includes exploration in the Caspian and Azov seas. Both companies currently have 49.9% stakes in the Caspian Oil Co. (KNK), which discovered the Zapadno-Rakushechnoye oil field in the northern Caspian Sea in 2008. They also each have 42.5% in Priazovneft, a company exploring the Temryusko-Akhartsk concession in the Azov Sea, which contains the Novoye oil and gas discovery.
BP has awarded AMEC a $600-million, five-year brownfield contract covering its entire offshore and onshore assets in Azerbaijan. The Engineering and Small Projects program includes modifications to existing facilities. AMEC will perform the work in Baku with local contractor Azfen.
Middle East
WorleyParsons has won an engineering services contract to support activities in the offshore divided zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The program is managed by Khafji Joint Operations, an operating agreement between Aramco Gulf Operations and Kuwait Gulf Oil Co. The five-year contract includes FEED for development of a new gas/condensate field with an oil rim offshore Khafji, just south of the border. This will require numerous wellhead platforms connected via flowlines to a central gathering platform.
Tasdid Offshore Development Co (TASDID) has loaded out the fourth platform jacket for the Reshadat field offshore Iran. Offshore installation was due to be performed by the DLB Shaw vessel, owned and operated by the TASDID-AL MOTAF consortium. A fifth jacket, F4, will be the next to load-out.
Mediterranean Sea
RWE Dea has notched its second gas find this year in the North El Amriya concession off northern Egypt. The NEA 4x field is some 6 km (3.7 mi) east of the earlier NEA 3x discovery, and exploratory drilling encountered gas in a Miocene interval in the Abu Maadi formation, producing up to 25,000 MMcf/d on test. The permit is 40 km (25 mi) north of Alexandria.
India
Reliance Industries has discovered rich gas and condensate with its first well in a block in India’s Cauvery-Palar basin. The CYPR-D6 well was drilled in 1,194 m (3,917 ft) of water, encountering multiple hydrocarbon-bearing clastic reservoirs in the late Cretaceous.
In shallower water in the Krishna Goadavari basin, a wellhead platform built in Malaysia was due to be installed on the Deen Dayal field, according to partner Jubilant Energy. Engineers India is the project manager.
Asia/Pacific
Husky Oil China has contracted Saipem for deepwater installations on the Liwan 3-1 field in the South China Sea, 300 km (186 mi) south of Hong Kong. The newbuild FDS 2 will install two 79-km (49-mi) pipelines, umbilicals, and a subsea production system linking the wellheads to a processing platform in shallow water.
Lukoil Overseas has taken a 50% interest from Quad Energy in the Hanoi Trough-02 block offshore Vietnam, on the shelf of the South China Sea. Three exploratory wells will be drilled on the block this year, which Lukoil is set to operate.
Total E&P Deep Offshore Borneo has contracted theENSCO 8504 for drilling off Brunei. The rig should be delivered from the shipyard in Singapore at the end of July. The initial contracted term covers three wells, with options to complete up to six further wells at escalating dayrates.
Petrofac International has commissioned Keppel Shipyard to upgrade the FPSOEast Fortune for an oil and gas field development off Peninsular Malaysia. The same yard was due to deliver the converted FPSO Lewek EMAS to EMAS Production for employment on Premier Oil’s Chim Sao field off southern Vietnam.
Australasia
Apache Energy has discovered gas in the Zola prospect in the WA-290-P permit offshore Western Australia. The Zola-1 well, drilled in 285 m (935 ft) of water, and a subsequent side track delivered 130 m (426 ft) of net gas pay from the target Triassic Mungaroo formation. The location is south of the Gorgon field, around 100 km (62 mi) offshore.
Woodside Petroleum has successfully appraised its Laverda North oil find in the Greater Laverda area off Western Australia. Discovery of new oil-bearing sands suggests the area could hold over 100 MMbbl recoverable. The well was drilled in the WA-36-R concession in the Exmouth sub-basin, 10 km (6.2 mi) west of the Woodside-operated Enfield development.
Shell Developments (Australia) has joined the Chevron-operated Wheatstone project off northwest Australia, taking an 8% equity interest in the Wheatstone and Iago gas fields. These will supply trains 1 and 2 of the Wheatstone LNG project, to be located onshore at Ashburton North. FEED for the project is nearing completion.
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