GLOBAL E&P
Jeremy Beckman • London
South America
OGX Petroleo e Gas has racked up further discoveries in the northern part of Brazil’s Campos basin. Its latest well in the shallow water BM C41 block, targeting the Santa Helena prospect, found hydrocarbons in carbonate rocks in the Aptian section. The company also intersected an 18-ft (5.5-m) oil column in the Inga structure while drilling through the Aptian and Santonian intervals. OGX General Executive Officer Paulo Mendonca said this result could point to “a new province of great importance.”
Petrobras has started oil production from the Urugua field in the Santos basin via the FPSOCidade de Santos. Four wells should be onstream by year-end, when output should reach a peak of 35,000 b/d. The FPSO, moored in 1,300 m (4,265 ft) of water, offloads produced oil via a shuttle tanker, with associated gas flowing through a 174-km (108-mi), 18-in. (45-cm) pipeline to the PMXL-1 platform on the Mexilhao field.
Falklands exploration company Argos Resources is seeking to raise $34 million via a share placement, most of which would be used to finance 3D seismic over permit PL001 in the offshore North Falklands basin. A review of existing 2D data revealed seven prospects with combined potential resources of 747 MMbbl to 1.75 Bbbl. Rockhopper Exploration, which discovered oil in this basin earlier this year in the Sea Lion structure, was due to complete its second exploration well in the area, on the Ernest prospect, last month.
Mediterranean Sea
Melrose Resources is set to transfer operatorship of its deepwater Rhone Maritime concession off southern France to Noble Energy. The permit includes various unexplored frontier plays that need evaluation via new seismic. Noble has agreed to fund the bulk of a proposed acquisition program.
Israel’s government has given the go-ahead to Noble’s Tamar gas development on the other side of the Mediterranean, in the deepwater Levantine basin. However, the partners have had to modify their original plan, due to delays in approvals for a new onshore reception terminal in northern Israel. Under the revised scheme, known as Tamar South, the field’s gas will be piped southeast to a new shallow water platform, next to the producing Mari-B offshore gas complex. From there, supplies will be diverted through an existing pipeline to the terminal at Ashdod.
In the same deepwater region as Tamar, the partners in the Sara and Myra licenses (the Offshore Israel Project) have completed processing of newly acquired 3D seismic. They expect to firm up drilling prospects by the end of this year, one of which will likely be drilled next summer.
BP and partner RWE Dea are committing $9 billion to a multi-field development in two permits in the West Nile Delta, 40 km (25 mi) offshore northern Egypt. The fields in the North Alexandria and West Mediterranean Deep Water concessions have combined reserves of over 50 bcm. Under a first-phase program, BP will develop gas and associated condensate from subsea wells on five fields tied back to a new gas plant on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast. First gas is scheduled for late 2014.
Map shows BP’s West Nile Delta concessions.
Farther east in the offshore Nile Delta, Petrobel has brought on stream Tuna, its latest shallow water development in the Temsah concession. Output should build to 4.5 MMcf/d this month, according to Eni, which co-owns Petrobel via its affiliate IEOC. Development involved installation of a four-legged platform in 80 m (262 ft) of water, with production from three wells exported through a 14-km (8.7-mi) pipeline connected to existing infrastructure.
West Africa
Total has launched its second successive multi-field cluster development in Angolan deepwater block 17. As with Pazflor, the Cravo, Lirio, Orquidea, and Violeta (CLOV) fields will be produced through 34 subsea wells tied back to an FPSO equipped with oil processing capacity of 160,000 b/d, and storage of 1.78 MMbbl. Uniquely (according to Total), the process kit will be able to treat Cravo-Lirio’s light Oligocene crude and Orquidea-Violeta’s heavier, more viscous Miocene oil. Subsea 7 will perform subsea installations – the fields are spread out in water depths ranging from 1,000-1,400 m (3,281-4,593 ft).
In block 15/06, Total also participated in the recent Cabaca South oil find, 100 km (62 mi) offshore. Operator Eni said the result strengthens prospects for a second production hub in the northeastern part of the block.
Tullow Oil has discovered another potential oil giant offshore Ghana, in the Deepwater Tano license. Owo, situated west of the Jubilee development, was drilled by the semisubSedco 702 in 1,428 m (4,685 ft) of water. The deviated well encountered 53 m (174 ft) of net oil pay in two sandstone reservoir zones. The rig went on to drill a sidetrack to test a deeper part of the Owo channel system, to be followed by a well on the Onyina prospect in the same area.
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The FSOVirini Prem left the Yulian shipyard in China last month, sailing out to the Ebok field development offshore southeast Nigeria. Operator Afren will use the 267-m (876-ft) long, refurbished vessel to store up to 1.2 MMbbl of crude produced and processed by a dedicated mobile offshore production unit. The oil will be offloaded to tankers. Afren is developing Ebok via six horizontal producer wells and one water injector.
Ophir Energy has contracted the new deepwater semiMaersk Deliverer to drill the first well on the AGC Profond PSC, administered jointly by Senegal and Guinea-Bissau. The rig, currently under construction at Keppel Fels in Singapore, should arrive on location during the first part of 2011 to drill Kora, a 400MMboe late-Cretaceous prospect in a water depth of around 2,600 m (8,530 ft).
Chevron has agreed to sell Total its 45.9% operating interest in block 1 in the Joint Development Zone (JDZ) in the Gulf of Guinea. The JDZ is governed by a treaty signed by Nigeria and Sao Tome and Principe. Block 1 covers 700 sq km (270 sq mi) in water depths ranging from 1,600-1,800 m (5,249-5,905 ft), and includes the 2006 discovery well Obo-1. The other partners are Addax Petroleum, Dango Energy Equity Resources, and Sasol.
Caspian Sea
Aker Solutions has teamed up with Kazakh oilfield services group KGNT Holding to form a new joint venture company. Aker Caspian will offer a range of services for offshore field development in the Kazakh sector, including maintenance and modification. It will also own and operate a newly built fabrication yard in the port of Aktau.
The Amec Tefken Azfen (ATA) consortium has won a five-year contract from BP to assist its oil and gas field activities off Azerbaijan. The program, covering engineering services and project and construction management, will include the current Chirag Oil Project – West Chirag development, and the future Phase 2 program from Shah Deniz.
Middle East
ADMA-OPCO has commissioned McDermott International to upgrade a water injection system in the Zakum field off Abu Dhabi. Under the $350-million contract, McDermott will engineer, fabricate, and install a new 3,250-metric ton (3,582-ton) deck and six-leg jacket for installation in the Zakum Central Super Complex which will support the new water treatment and injection equipment. It will also install new pumps and provide structural reinforcement to existing water injection modules here and at the Zakum West Super Complex.
Iraq’s South Oil Co. has contracted Foster Wheeler for project management consultancy services for the country’s crude oil export expansion project. The program, due to be completed by mid-2013, involves installation of new pipelines offshore Basra, three single-point moorings, and an offshore central manifold and metering platform. These measures are designed to lift Iraq’s current export capacity of 1.8 MMb/d to 4.5 MMb/d by 2014.
Iran claims to be making strong progress on two new development phases of the South Pars gas/condensate field in the Persian Gulf. According to a report by Iranian news service Shana, construction of the platforms for phases 15 and 16 is nearing the midway point, with development drilling over one-third complete and offshore pipelay two-thirds complete. During peak activity later this year, the projects will employ 15-16,000 personnel.
East Africa
UK-based Cove Energy is set to farm into five contiguous deepwater blocks offshore Kenya operated by Anadarko. The two are already partners in a current drilling program off Mozambique. Cove says the blocks cover Kenya’s entire deep offshore fairway, and hold numerous play types, with evidence of working petroleum systems. Drilling should get under way in 2012-13.
The Nyuni joint venture partners should spud the Nyuni-2 exploration well in December, according to Key Petroleum. It will be drilled directionally from Nyuni Island in the northeast of the Nyuni offshore block, targeting a large anticlinal closure drilled by the Nyuni-1 gas discovery of 2003-04. The main prospective interval is thought to be the Necomian sand unit that also houses the Kiliwani North and Songo Songo gas reservoirs.
Australasia
Chevron has discovered more gas in the Exmouth Plateau area of the Carnarvon basin off Western Australia. The Brederow-1 well was drilled in 4,550 ft (1,387 m) of water in the WA-364 permit, 217 mi (350 km) northwest of Onslow. It encountered around 49 ft (15 m) of net gas pay. Shell is Chevron’s sole partner in the permit.
Asia-Pacific
Kangean Energy Indonesia has ordered a gas FPSO for its Terang Sirasun Batur fields. A consortium of BW Offshore, PT Pelayaran Trans Parau Sorat, and PT Energi Consulting Indonesia will supply the FPSO, risers, umbilicals and mooring system under an $875-million contract. BW will also operate the vessel, which will have gas compression/conditioning capacity of 340 MMcf/d. Production, due to start early in 2012, will be exported through the East Java Gas pipeline.
Hoang Long Joint Operating Co. was due to start development drilling last month on the Te Giac Trang field off southern Vietnam, using the jackupPV Drilling-1. By now the platform jacket and drilling deck should have been installed, with first oil targeted for mid-2011. The partners have also been drilling an appraisal well on the Te Giac Den structure in the same block (16-1) in the Cuu Long basin – the discovery well had to be curtailed prematurely due to pressure problems.
CNOOC has brought on line two small shallow water oilfields in Bohai Bay, offshore China. Bozhong (BZ) 19-4, in the southwest part of Bohai Bay, is producing through the BZ 25-1/25-IS oilfield facilities 7 km (4.3 mi) to the southeast. At peak it should deliver over 15,000 b/d. In the southern area, the BZ 29-4 field is tied into the BZ 28-2S production facilities. Output should build to 7,800 b/d.
Oil production has re-started at Newfield Exploration’s East Belumut complex in PM 323 off Malaysia. Operations had to be suspended for four weeks to rectify damage caused by a vessel to an oil export line connecting the East Belumut platform to the Tinggi platform, 17 km (10.6 mi) away.
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