GLOBAL E & P
Jeremy Beckman • London
Americas
Petrobras and Chevron have awarded a series of contracts for the Papa Terra heavy oil field development in the Campos basin, 68 mi (110 km) offshore Rio de Janeiro, in water depths of up to 3,940 ft (1,200 m).
FloaTEC Singapore, the joint venture between Keppel FELS and J. Ray McDermott, will handle design, engineering, and construction of the P61 tension leg wellhead platform. This will be built by the BrasFELS yard in Angra dos Reis, Brazil, while Floatec LLC will perform global engineering and basic design. J. Ray will fabricate the associated tendons, temporary buoyancy modules, and piles at its yard in Morgan City, Louisiana, and will install the platform using its deepwater construction vesselDerrick Barge 50.
BW Offshore and Brazilian partners QUIP and QGOG will supply the associated FPSOP-63. BW is responsible for the marine scope of the FPSO conversion while AMEC in Houston will provide basic engineering for the topsides. Topsides will comprise around 16 modules with a total weight of over 14,000 metric tons (15,432 tons). The facility will be able to process around 140,000 b/d of crude, 35 MMcf/d of gas, and 325,000 b/d of produced water, with 340,000 b/d seawater injection capacity. The Papa Terra project is due for completion by mid-2013.
OGX has entered a cooperation agreement with OSX Brazil for the charter of exploration and production units for its licenses offshore Brazil. The first of these charters, spanning 20 years, involves use of the FPSOOSX1, which has a storage capacity of 950,000 bbl and processing capacity of 80,000 b/d. OGX continues to discover oil in its shallow water blocks BM-C-42 and BM-C-43 in the Campos basin.
Statoil is taking a 25% working interest in 50 leases in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska acquired by ConocoPhillips in 2008. Statoil already held interests in 16 leases in the region. ConocoPhillips currently plans to start drilling in 2012.
Keppel AmFELS has delivered its second newbuild jackup to Mexican drilling contractor Perforadora Central. TheTuxpan is a LeTourneau Super 116E design equipped to drill wells up to 30,000 ft (9,144 m) subsurface in water depths to 375 ft (114 m). Perforadora provides services mainly for Pemex on the Mexico shelf.
Offshore Peru, BPZ Resources has completed its second development well on the Albacora field, discovered by Tenneco in 1972. BPZ has modified its original program, which was based around an FPSO, and now plans to develop Albacora via a platform with processing facilities and an FSO.
BHP Billiton has contracted Wood Group subsidiary DSI for commissioning services at the Angostura brownfield gas export expansion project off Trinidad. This involves adding a gas export platform, under construction in Morgan City, which will be linked to the fields’ oil production facilities. DSI will manage pre-commissioning and commissioning work at the yard, and also final functional and dynamic testing offshore prior to and during start-up in 2011.
West Africa
Subsea 7 has completed work on Total’s Girassol Pipeline Repair Project in Angolan deepwater block 17. This was a diver-less repair in 1,350 m (4,429 ft) of water which employed a new ROV-deployed technique to fix a damaged 12-in. (30.5-cm) water injection line. The program involved lifting the damaged ends of the pipeline, and preparing and aligning them prior to installation of two mechanical pipeline connectors, which were then set and checked with annulus tests on the previously installed spool piece. A pipeline leak test from the Girassol FPSO confirmed the operation was successful.
Tullow Oil has proved further reserves in its Tweneboa find in the Deepwater Tano block offshore Ghana. An appraisal well drilled by the semisubAtwood Hunter 6 km (3.7 mi) southeast of Tweneboa-1 in 1,321 m (4,334 ft) water depth intersected 32 m (105 ft) of net hydrocarbon pay. It also established the existence of a highly prospective and extensive turbidite fan system in the area which warrants further exploration drilling, Tullow claims.
Afren is teaming up with Oriental Energy Resources and Energy Equity Resources to develop the shallow water OML 115 concession off southeast Nigeria. The permit is adjacent to the Ebok and Okwok development area, where Afren/Oriental are already in partnership. The southern part of the Okwok structure extends into OML 115, and any further discoveries here could be tied into the emerging Ebok/Okwok infrastructure.
Northern Europe
Heerema Fabrication Group is close to completing the 11,000-metric ton (12,125-ton) deck for BP Norge’s Valhall re-development in the Norwegian North Sea. After reaching maximum fabrication height, the deck was moved outside the covered construction hall at Heerema’s yard in Zwijndrecht for further completion. The structure, which the company claims is the largest deck ever built in the Netherlands, measures 100 m (328 ft) long, 47 m (154 ft) wide, and 50 m (164 ft) high. Sailaway, along with the associated weather deck module, flare boom, and connecting bridges, is scheduled for May-June.
Bredero Shaw has agreed to form a joint venture with OOO ArkhTekhnoProm, an affiliate of Russian offshore pipeline contractor OAO Mezhregiontrubprovodstroi, to establish a concrete coating services facility in the Arkhangelsk area. Bredero Shaw will operate the venture for an initial four years, using one of its mobile concrete coating plants on a leased basis. The venture’s first contract involves concrete weight coating of 48-in. (122-cm) pipe for a pipeline crossing Baydaratskaya Bay from the Yamal peninsula.
Mediterranean Sea
Italy’s Ministry of Economic Development has awarded ENI a production concession (AC 35 AG) for the Guendalina gas field in the Adriatic Sea. Development should be under way, with construction and installation of the production platform due to be completed later this year. According to partner Mediterranean Oil & Gas, two development wells should be drilled in the first half of next year, leading to first gas by end-June 2011. At peak, the facilities should deliver 20 MMcf/d. Guendalina, in 20 m (65.6 ft) water depth, 25 km (15.5 mi) offshore, will be connected to ENI’s Amelia production platform.
Aegean Energy has completed the EA-H1 well on the Epsilon field in Greece’s Kavala-Prinos basin. This is the first new field brought into production offshore Greece in the past 14 years, the company claims, and the well, drilled by the jackupEnsco 85, was also the country’s longest to date, with a total length of 5,500 m (18,044 ft). Total reserves at Epsilon are estimated at 30 MMbbl, with further drilling planned.
Cairn Energy has contracted the jackupEnsco 85 to drill the company’s first exploratory well on its Louza block offshore Tunisia. The permit is operated by Cairn subsidiary Capricorn, which may also drill acreage offshore Albania next year following promising results from a recent 3D seismic survey.
The Modiin group of companies has signed a farm-in financing agreement relating to Adira Energy’s shallow water Gabriella license offshore Israel. The 390-sq km (151 sq mi) permit, 10 km (6 mi) from the coast, was awarded to Adira last July and includes a minimum work program comprising 3D seismic acquisition and drilling of one well.
Black Sea/Caspian Sea
Gazprom expects construction of the Dzhubga-Lazarevskoye-Sochi gas pipeline to be completed this spring. Around 159 km (98.8 mi) of the pipeline runs beneath the eastern section of the Russian sector of the Black Sea, 4.5 km (2.8 mi) from the shore. The 53-cm (20.8-in.) pipeline is designed to deliver 3.8 bcm/yr (134 bcf) of gas, and will supply energy to the Winter Olympics scheduled for Sochi in 2014.
ExxonMobil and Petrobras jointly will explore the Simop, Ayancik, and Carsamba sub-blocks of Turkey’s deepwater AR/TPO/3922 license, in partnership with the Turkish national oil company, TPAO. Early this year, the semisubLeiv Eiriksson arrived in Turkish waters in preparation for drilling the Sinop-1 deepwater well for the Petrobras/TPAO partnership, 145 km (90 mi) offshore the city of Sinop.
Lundin Petroleum plans to start building a new self-elevating platform later this year to drill wells on its Lagansky block in the Russian sector of the Caspian Sea. In the Turkmen sector, Dragon Oil has contracted a consortium comprising Yantai Raffles Offshore, TSC Offshore China, and Momentum Engineering to build, lease, and operate a new Friede & Goldman-design Super M2 jackup. The rig should be delivered to Dragon in late 2011, for use on the Cheleken Contract Area fields.
Middle East
Wintershall expects to start acquiring 3D seismic this year over its shallow water block 4N offshore Qatar. The company was awarded the license, which extends over 544 sq km (210 sq mi) in 70 m (229 ft) water depth, in 2008. Two exploratory wells are planned during 2011-12.
Maersk Oil Qatar seeks to cancel a services contract for theFSO Africa due to persistent delivery delays. This is one of two floating storage and offloading vessels Maersk commissioned from TI Africa for use on its Al Shaheen oil field development. TI partners Euronav and OSG planned to contest the decision, and also pledged to continue with their conversion of the FSO Africa.
India
Hardy Oil and Gas has re-started production from the PY-3 field in the CY-OS 90/1 block in the Cauvery basin. Output had been suspended pending repairs to the loading hose on the FSO Endeavor, which has since been re-engaged for a further year on the field.
Asia-Pacific
ExxonNeftegas has drilled the first two extended reach development wells at the Odoptu field offshore Sakhalin Island, on behalf of the Sakhalin-1 consortium. The wells were drilled horizontally under the Sea of Okhotsk by the land-rigYastreb from an onshore location to the target area over 9 km (5.6 mi) offshore in the Odoptu reservoir. Production should start in the second half of this year.
Australasia
Bluewater Energy Services has a Letter of Award from ENI for an FPSO for the Kitan field in the Timor Sea, in the East Timor/Australian Joint Petroleum Development Area. Subject to partner and East Timor government approvals, ENI will use theGlas Dowr on Kitan for an initial minimum period of five years. Kitan is in JPDA permit 06-105, around 500 km (311 mi) north of the Australian mainland, in a water depth of 344 m (1,128 ft).
Woodside Energy has contracted Technip and Subsea 7 for subsea services for its Cossack Wanaea Lambert Hermes re-development off Western Australia. The project involves replacing the FPSOCossack Pioneer and refurbishing subsea infrastructure. Technip/Subsea 7’s remit includes recovering three risers and installing three replacements; installing 20 km (12.4 mi) of flowlines; riser base rectification duties; and assisting with pre-commissioning.
New Zealand’s Energy and Resources Ministry has invited bids for six new exploration blocks in the Reinga basin off the country’s northwest coast. The 105,230 sq km (40,269 sq mi) on offer is said to be geologically similar to the Taranaki basin, and has not previously been opened to exploration. The government acquired 2D seismic over the blocks last year in anticipation of this round.
New Zealand Oil & Gas (NZOG) has been awarded a new offshore permit in the northern part of the Taranaki basin, PEP 51988. The 1,138-sq km (439-sq mi) concession is just north of PEP 38491, where NZOG and its partners recently drilled a dry well on the Albacore prospect.