The Briefing on Offshore Oil and Gas

Subtitle

Five numbers in offshore oil and gas

6

Offshore survey specialist Shearwater GeoServices has secured a largest-ever new four dimensional seismic campaign from exploration and production firm Woodside for up to six fields operated by Woodside offshore Australia.

$380m

Norwegian energy company Equinor announced that it has chosen inspection service suppliers for all offshore installations on the Norwegian continental shelf, with the agreements valued at a total of $380m.

$1.7tn

State-owned petroleum and natural gas company Saudi Aramco has set the offer price range for the initial public offering (IPO) of its shares at SAR30 ($7.90) to SAR32 ($8.50) a share. The base offer size will be 1.5% of the company’s outstanding shares, which could value it at up to $1.7tn.

0.5-1.5

Aker BP has found minor oil while drilling in the Gyda area in the southern Norwegian North Sea. Early analysis places the size of the discovery at 0.5-1.5 million standard cubic metres of recoverable oil.

39%

American petroleum and natural gas explorer and producer Noble Energy and its partners have acquired a 39% equity interest in the Eastern Mediterranean Gas (EMG) company, owner of the EMG pipeline.

Three projects starting this month

Aker and partners initiate JIP on subsea gas separation

Aker Solutions and partners have initiated a joint industry project (JIP) that aims to qualify membrane qualities suitable for separation of CO2 and subsea gas process. The partners include a group of oil and gas (O&G) operators Total, Pertamina and Equinor, and industry group the CO2 Capture Project (CCP). BP, Chevron and Petrobras are the members of CCP. The partnership will also focus on reducing the requirements for pre-treatment and eliminating the need for large processing modules.

Total and partners report first oil from Iara field in Santos Basin

Total and consortium partners have announced first oil from the Iara licence (Block BM-S-11A) in the deepwater Santos Basin pre-salt in Brazil. The first oil marks the start-up of the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) P-68 at Iara field, which is situated in the Santos Basin, 230km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.

Aker BP accelerates startup of Norwegian Ærfugl project

Norwegian oil exploration and development company Aker BP has announced its decision to proceed with the second development phase of the Ærfugl offshore development project, three years ahead of the original plan. Aker BP and its partners approved the final investment decision for Ærfugl Phase 2 in early November 2019, accelerating development of Ærfugl Phase 2 to begin production in the first half of 2020.

Further reading

Irish government to provide certainty on offshore licenses in first-ever policy paper

According to the Irish Offshore Operators’ Association, the government has confirmed, in writing, the timing of the first-ever Government policy paper on Ireland's exploration sector. Along with the timing of the paper's release, it has reportedly been confirmed that the paper will acknowledge a ‘fundamental duty to protect Ireland’s energy security’.

Source: Offshore Energy Today