Jeremy Beckman • London
Americas
OGX, Brazil’s leading privately-owned oil company, has strengthened its track record with a potentially major discovery in the Campos Basin. Well 1-OGX-1-RJS, drilled by theOcean Ambassador on block BM C-43 in 140 m (459 ft) of water, encountered an oil column of over 200 m (656 ft) and net pay of 57 m (187 ft). Based on the well data and 3D seismic interpretation, OGX estimates recoverable volumes between 500 MMbbl and 1.5 billion bbl.
General Executive Officer Paulo Mendonca says: “These results highlight the high petrolific potential of our blocks and contribute to the reduction of exploratory risk on our upcoming prospects to be drilled in the region.” TheOcean Ambassador has since mobilized to block BM-C-41 to drill a shallow water well in the southern part of the Campos basin.
The Keppel/J Ray McDermott joint venture FloaTEC has signed a letter of intent to supply a tension leg wellhead platform for the P-61 project offshore Brazil. The Papa-Terra partnership of Petrobras (operator) and Chevron is expected to ratify the contract in due course.
Well management specialist AGR Petroleum Services will implement a multi-well drilling campaign in the North Falkland basin early next year for UK independent Desire Petroleum. Under the terms of the £2 million contract, AGR will drill four firm wells using the Diamond Offshore-owned third generation semiOcean Guardian, with six further one-well options. This will be the first exploration drilling in these waters since 1998.
West Africa
BP has notched its 19th oil find in Angolan ultra deepwater block 31. The Tebe structure was drilled in the southern part of the block, close to the Hebe discovery, in 1,752 m (5,748 ft) of water. Well analysis suggests flow of over 5,000 b/d of oil should be feasible under production conditions.
Eni has taken operatorship of Ghana’s Offshore Cape Three Points and Offshore Cape Three Points South licenses following an agreement with Vitol. Under the new alignment, applying to both blocks, Eni has a 47.22% interest, Vitol 37.78%, and Ghana National Petroleum Corp (GNPC) 15%. Earlier, the partnership drilled the Sankofa oil and gas discovery in Upper Cretaceous reservoir sands in the Cape Three Points concession.
In a separate development, GNPC has chosen Oando as its strategic partner to develop gas from Ghana’s deepwater Jubilee field. The program includes construction of a processing facility, offshore and onshore gas transmission pipelines. Completion is due to coincide with first oil from Jubilee.
Marathon has sold its division in Gabon to Perenco. The package includes a 56.25% interest in the producing offshore fields Tchatamba Marin, Tchatamba South, and Tchatamba West, which Perenco now operates. All production is processed at Tchatamba Marin, discovered in 1995, and sent to shore via a pipeline.
Transocean’sAdriatic IX jackup has started development drilling on Afren’s Ebok oil field, 50 km (31 mi) offshore Nigeria. Ebok-5 and Ebok-6 to follow are both appraisal wells designed to test 100 MMbbl of oil upside in the field’s western and southern limits. Thereafter, the rig will drill six horizontal producers. The project’s first phase should come onstream by the middle of next year, producing around 35,000 b/d by year-end via a wellhead support structure.
Mediterranean Sea
ACS Cobra Castor UTE has awarded JP Kenny a three-year construction management and procurement support contract for a gas storage project offshore eastern Spain. Kenny has been working on FEED and detailed design for the program’s 22-km (13.7-mi) offshore pipeline. Under the new contract, it will also provide services relating to a 31-km (19.3-mi) fiber-optic cable, a control umbilical, a subsea isolation valve, and a protection structure. The gas will be re-injected into Spain’s national grid when needed.
Vega Oil has issued tenders for equipment and materials for a planned appraisal well next year on the Elsa oil discovery in the central Adriatic Sea off Italy. According to partner Petroceltic, an independent audit of the field, in permit BR268RG, suggests possible recoverable resources of 104 MMbbl. Petroceltic itself is applying for four new Italian exploration and production permits in the Sicily Channel and Gulf of Otranto.
Houston-based Noble Energy has contracted DOF Subsea UK for offshore studies relating to its Dalit and Tamar field developments in Israel’s sector of the Levantine basin. DOF was due to start the program of hydrographic, geophysical, and geotechnical surveys this fall using its own vessel, an AUV, and a third-party geotechnical spread.
Caspian Sea
J. Ray McDermott has completed installation of offshore facilities for Lukoil-Nizhnevolzhskneft on the Yuri Korchagin. This is Lukoil’s first field development in the Russian sector of the Caspian Sea. The scheme comprises an ice-resistant processing platform (LSP-1) bridge-linked to a living quarter platform, with oil offloaded from an FSO to a single-point mooring (SPM) via a 36-mi (58-km), 12-in. (30.5-cm) pipeline. J.Ray transported and installed the 14 foundation piles for LSP-1, the 1,005-ton (912-metric ton) SPM substructure and associated five foundation piles, and the SPM deck. In 2008 J. Ray installed the pipeline under a separate contract from Lukoil.
Total has signed a Heads of Agreement with KazMunaiGas (KMG) for development of the Khvalynskoye gas/condensate field in the Kazhak offshore sector, in shallow water close to the maritime border with Russia. If approved, Total and GdF-Suez will take half KMG’s existing 50% interest in the project, which is operated by Lukoil.
Black Sea
Petrom has brought onstream two new satellite field developments in the Romanian offshore sector via its Platform 7. Output from the Delta field should ramp up to 3,400 boe/d by the end of this year, while Lebada Vest has produced at an initial rate of 900 boe/d.
In the Turkish sector, TPAO has been drilling the Bati Ayazli prospect in the South Akcakoca basin using the GSP jackupSaturn. The well was designed to target two stratigraphic levels, the deeper of which has not been tested in this region before. If the shallower target results in a gas find, this would likely be developed through the Ayazli production complex to the east.
On the eastern side of the Black Sea, Gazprom has begun installing the new Dzhuba-Lazarevskoye-Sochi gas pipeline that will include a 159.5-km (99-mi) offshore section close to the Russian coast.
Bay of Bengal
Bangladesh has filed arbitration actions against Myanmar and India over maritime borders in the Bay of Bengal. The actions were brought under the UN’s Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to which all three countries are signatories. According to Foley Hoag LLP in Washington, which is advising Bangladesh’s government, the claims of Myanmar and India over overlapping waters have prevented Bangladesh from exploiting potentially large deposits of oil and gas off its coast.
The advisers add that license holders such as ConocoPhillips and Tullow Oil have been intimidated by Myanmar warships in waters that Bangladesh claims as its own. Furthermore, Bangladesh complains that Myanmar has granted concessions which have led to drilling or exploration in disputed areas without its consent. India is accused of denying Bangladesh any portion of its continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles, against the rules and principles established by UNCLOS.
Asia-Pacific
Bongkot joint venture partners PTTEP, Total, and BG Group have signed a gas sales agreement covering all output from the Greater Bongkot South (GBS) field in the Gulf of Thailand. GBS, in blocks B16 and B17, 200 km (124 mi) east of Songkhla, will produce through 13 wellhead platforms linked to a central processing installation. The latter will have capacity to handle 350 MMcf/d of gas and 15,000 b/d of condensate.
Gas will be sent through a new spur line to the PTT 3rd trunk line, with condensate exported to the existing FSO at the Greater Bongkot North field, 80 km (49.7 mi) to the north. GBS should come onstream in 2012.
Also in the Gulf of Thailand, Coastal Energy has contracted EOC for a heavy-lift barge to install fixed platforms early next year at its Bua Ban field on block G5/43. This should facilitate development drilling during the rest of the year.
Vietnam’s government has approved the Hoang Long Joint Operating Co.’s development plan for the Te Giac Trang field in the Cuu Long basin. The partnership is close to finalizing a contract for an FPSO. First production is scheduled for mid-2011.
In the Sulu Sea off the Philippines, ExxonMobil and Mitra Energy were aiming to start drilling operations late this year, under a program that could cost up to $100 million. The drilling area extends across 8,620 ha (21,300 acres).
Gas production is under way from the Oyong Phase-2 project off Indonesia. Oyong began producing oil in September 2007, with the gas development sanctioned later that year. According to operator Santos, the program has involved modifying the existing offshore facilities and laying a 60-km (37-mi) gas pipeline to a new processing plant onshore in East Java. Gas will be sold to a local utility for use by the Grati power station.
Australasia
Oilex has contracted the semisubSonga Mercur for exploration drilling in the Timor Sea. After completing work for Woodside Energy, the rig will drill the Lore and Lolotoe oil prospects in contract area JPDA 06-103 in the Joint Development Area. Oilex estimates the combined prospective resources at 285 MMbbl.
The SapuraAcergy joint venture will install the production facilities for the Devil Creek development under a $170-million contract from Apache Energy. This project is designed to extract and process gas from the Reindeer field 80 km northwest of Dampier in 60 m (197 ft) water depth. The workscope includes installation of a wellhead platform jacket and topsides, a 91-km (56-mi), 16-in. (40.7-cm) rigid pipeline, and subsea tie-in/stabilization measures. The heavy-lift/pipelay vesselSapura 3000 will perform the main tasks.
In the Otway basin off Victoria, Santos has contracted Subsea 7 for pipeline, subsea tree, and umbilical installations for its Casino-Henry project in water depths ranging from 56-72 m (184-236 ft). The bulk of this program will be managed by the construction vesselSkandi Navica supported by the DSV Rockwater 2.
