The Briefing on Offshore Oil and Gas
Subtitle
Five numbers in offshore oil and gas
38
Final investment decisions could be made for as many as 38 new projects off UK shores in the next three years according to new energy research. This would represent as much as $22.6bn in greenfield expenditure.
42,000 barrels of oil
State-owned oil and gas subsidiary Pertamina Hulu Energi has collected 42,000 barrels of oil from offshore West Java, Indonesia, along with 5.74 million sacks of oil-and-sand mix from the shore after an oil well leaked.
3.2 billion cubic metres
CNOOC, China’s national offshore producer, expects Lingshui 17-2 its major deepwater gas field to produce 3.2 billion cubic metres annually after it starts production in 2021.
248 to 180
The US House of Representatives has voted 248 to 180 in favour of a measure to permanently ban oil and gas leasing offshore Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico.
$2.5tn
The US has accused China of “coercive interference”, as well as holding $2.5tn of oil and gas hostage in the South China Sea, after Chinese President Xi Jinping said that China had made a “bigger step” towards developing the region with the Philippines.
Three projects starting this month
Europa Oil & Gas secures new exploration permit offshore Morocco
UK-based Europa Oil & Gas has secured a new exploration permit, covering an area of 11,228km2 in the Agadir Basin, offshore Morocco. Following official confirmation from Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (ONHYM), Europa will be assigned a 75% interest and operatorship, while the remaining 25% will be held by ONHYM. The exploration licence lies in water depths ranging between 600m and 2,000m and has an eight-year term, comprising three phases.
Equinor begins production from Utgard field
Equinor and its partners have commenced production from the Utgard gas and condensate field, which covers the Norwegian-UK border in the North Sea. Discovered in 1982, the Utgard field development comprises two wells from a subsea template tied back to the Sleipner field using a pipeline and an umbilical. The subsea template has one well on each side and is installed on the Norwegian side of the border.
Vaalco Energy spuds appraisal wellbore offshore Gabon
Vaalco Energy has spud an appraisal wellbore at Etame field offshore Gabon, as part of its 2019-20 drilling campaign. The company is drilling the Etame 9P appraisal wellbore, which expected to take around four weeks. It aims to evaluate the Dentale reservoirs situated under the Etame field. The reservoirs are expected to contain up to 4.6 million gross barrels of recoverable oil. Based on the availability of oil resources in Dentale, Vaalco will drill additional wells to recover the hydrocarbons.
Four M&A’s
ExxonMobil rumoured to sell Gulf of Mexico assets
Global oil and gas company ExxonMobil is rumoured to be in advanced talks with Spanish company Repsol SA over the sale of its deepwater assets in the Gulf of Mexico for $1bn. According to a report by Reuters, Exxon has begun the process of selling off nine assets in the Gulf, including its 50% stake in the Julia oil field and its 23% interest in the Lucius Deepwater Oil and Gas Project. However, it is not certain how many of the nine assets would be sold to Repsol.
Halliburton acquires new portfolio from Westerton
Oil field service company Halliburton has acquired a new portfolio of electro-mechanical downhole cutting tools and related tubing punches from UK-based well-drilling contractor Westerton. The downhole cutting portfolio, which is electro-mechanical, includes single and rotating blade configurations which can execute precision cuts on oilfield tubulars. With this portfolio, operators will achieve single blade cuts in a short period with real-time downhole data that is capable of reducing the uncertainty of data.
GE to sell of entire stake in Baker Hughes
Energy company General Electric (GE) has announced that it has begun to sell off its entire stake in oil and gas company Baker Hughes, with whom it merged its own oil and gas business with in 2017. According to reports, GE will initially bring its stake in the company down from 62.5% to 38.4% in a move that it expects will generate $2.7bn in funding. As part of this, GE has made a public offering of 115 million shares of Baker Hughes’ Class A common stock at a price of $21.50.
HALO to acquire assets from ONE-Dyas
Oil and gas production, development and exploration company Hague and London Oil (HALO) has signed an agreement to acquire several assets in the Dutch and UK sectors of the North Sea from ONE-Dyas. HALO will acquire a 7.9% interest in the Sillimanite Development Unit, which straddles the Dutch & UK median line in the North Sea and 0.85% of the Joint Development Area (JDA). Additionally, the company will acquire 2.34% of the Western Gas Transmission (WGT) pipeline system.