New North drilling commenced in the UK sector at Viola North, there was confirmation of the size of the UK Catcher discovery, and pre-drill estimates suggest the Norwegian Ronaldo prospect could contain up to 100 m boe. And Cairn Energy resumed drilling offshore Greenland after intervention by Greenpeace protesters.
EXPLORATION
Testing for multi-billion barrel field
London-listed Gulf Keystone Petroleum has kicked off a new appraisal well onshore Kurdistan on the giant Shaikan discovery.
Gulf Keystone said Shaikan 3, a shallow appraisal, is close to the location of the Shaikan 1 well drilled last year which originally discovered the giant field.
Drilling is planned to a depth of 1,100 metres to test for oil production volumes in a Cretaceous target after Shaikan 1 could not be logged, tested or fully evaluated last year due to lost mud circulation and other drilling problems, Gulf Keystone stated.
Drilling will take an estimated two months.
Viola North drilling start
Drilling has kicked off on the Viola North prospect in the UK North Sea Valiant Petroleum has revealed.
Valiant said the Ensco 100 jackup spudded the well in UK licence P1629 covering block 30/18b in the Central North Sea and drilling is expected to take 60 days to reach a target depth of 15,570 ft (4,746 metres).
Drilling is due to map out a three-way dip and fault controlled structural trap formation and pre-drill estimates suggest the prospect could contain between 63, 111 and 191 m bbl of oil equivalent on on a P90, P50 and P10 basis.
Viola North lies close to the Clyde, Fulmar, Janice, and Medwin fields, and Valiant is operating the well with a 50% equity interest after farming out an interest to Apache North Sea which is paying 75% of drilling costs to earn a 50% stake in the area.
Dry hole in DRC
Drilling on the Nganga well in the Nganzi block in the Democratic Republic of Congo has ended with a dry hole Soco International has reported.
Soco said the onshore well hit 500 metres (1,640 ft) of source rock with significant hydrocarbon shows and 245 (803 ft) metres of good quality porous sand.
“However, petro-physical interpretation of the logs acquired across the reservoir interval indicates that these sands are water bearing,” Soco said. A next well will aim to target a different part of the same basin.
Cladhan at 100 – 200 barrels
City commentator Evolution Securities has repeated speculation that the UK Cladhan discovery which is undergoing further appraisal could contain between 100 and 200 m bbl of oil.
Evolution, citing UK press speculation and EnCore Oil's confirmation of the find during the UK holiday weekend, said the Northern North Sea block 201/29a discovery which is located on the western margin of the East Shetland basin near the Heather, Hudson and Tern fields, could contain between 100 and 200 million barrels of oil, based on press reports.
EnCore, which has 16.6% stake in the find, confirmed that the latest appraisal well on Cladhan drilled by the Transocean John Shaw rig has hit a further 102 ft (31 metres) of net pay in the appraisal well, which is due to undergo a drill stem test.
EnCore shares were reported to be up 24% on the results from the latest Cladhan well.
Readying for Ronaldo
Noreco has struck a deal to participate in a forthcoming exploration on the Ronaldo prospect due to be drilled offshore Norway next year.
Noreco is taking a 20% stake in PL434 in the Norwegian Sea after an agreement with E.On Ruhrgas and E.On will retain a 10% stake in the target, in the Haltenbanken area of the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
And: Ronald pre-drill figure revealed
Ronaldo, the drilling target in which Norway's Noreco has just acquired a stake is thought to contain up to 50 to 100 m boe according to a pre-drill estimate published today.
Noreco has revealed the figures in a presentation to the 17th Pareto oil and gas conference taking place in Oslo
Drilling on Ronaldo, in PL434, southeast of the Heidrun field, is due to commence in the first quarter next year targeting a Middle Jurassic Fangst group formation, and the well is due to be operated by Wintershall with the Songa Dee semi-submersible.
Noreco has a 20% stake in the forthcoming well, after a farm-in deal with E.On Ruhrgas which retains 10% equity in Ronaldo.
Deepwater opportunity off India
There were signs of a larger deepwater market opportunity developing offshore India with a fourth gas discovery reported by London-listed Hardy Oil and Gas.
Hardy said it has made its fourth discovery in the Krishna Godavari basin with the KVG D3 W1 well which hit a gross payzone of 37.5 metres (123 ft) after drilling to a depth of 3,501 m (11,483 ft) in water depth of 1,653 m (5,421 ft).
Wire-line modular pressure testing tools and gas samples were used to assess the find, designated Dhirubhai-52, which has been reported to the Indian government and the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons.
Serica starts Indonesia programme
London-listed Serica Energy has signalled that it is shortly due to commence drilling its Dambus 1 exploration well offshore East Kalimantan in Indonesia.
Serica said that the Trident IX jackup has arrived on location for the Dambus 1 well in the Kutai Production Sharing Contract area – operated by Serica with 30% - in the Mahakam Delta off East Kalimantan.
Drilling in a water depth of 85 metres (190 ft), the rig will be targeting stacked Miocene sands at depths from 1,200 metres to 2,700 metres subsea (3,936 – 8,856 ft), and pre-drill estimates suggests gross mean prospective resources of 200 m boe and 60 m boe net to Serica.
Vietnam find
London-listed Soco International has reported a new hydrocarbon find drilling offshore Vietnam.
Soco said testing on the find is due to take up to three weeks after the joint operating company Hoang Long said a Te Giac Den field appraisal well in the Cuu Long Basin area designated TGD 2X drilled to appraise an Oligocene E formation hit hydrocarbons in a clastic sequence at a depth of 4,450 metres (14,596 ft).
Chariot drives towards drilling
London-listed Chariot Oil and Gas has promised to pursue an “aggressive” exploration schedule offshore Namibia.
In a stock exchange statement today in advance of forthcoming results, Chariot said that after acquiring 3D data over Northern (1811A and B) and Southern (2714A&B) blocks offshore Namibia in July, mapping and interpretation has been underway in along with an acreage farmout process.
Visits and the number of attendees at a data room to view the seismic information have increased substantially since interpretation results have become available, Chariot said today.
FIELD DEVELOPMENT
Up to US $20 Bn of Russian opportunities
Outlining key contract opportunities in Russia, a Dublin-based research group says its latest report on the sector underlines just how many opportunities exist there.
Up to $20 Bn worth of contract work has been identified in a new report on the Russian energy sector by the researchers at Dublin, based consultancy, Research and Markets..
After Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced last April that the giant Shtokman gas and condensate project in the Barents Sea will kick off in 2011, while in the Sea of Okhotsk, Gazprom is said to be accelerating the Kirinskoye development, and by the end of this year the Russian gas giant is also due to install a production platform at the Prirazlomnoye oil field in the Pechora Sea, according to the new report.
Looking at Gazprom's offshore projects, the group says these three developments highlight that the Russian gas giant is serious about new developments despite weakening gas prices, a shortage of technological expertise and a lack of experience of offshore operations.
Clipper South sailing ahead
Germany's Bayerngas signalled plans to start developing the Clipper South field through a UK subsidiary after an equity deal.
Bayerngas UK, which is already buying up Endeavour Energy's minority stake in the GDF Suez-operated Cygnus gas field, also signalled it is to acquire a 25% stake in the Clipper South field from Fairfield Energy.
Clipper South is operated by RWE Dea, with 50% and Fairfield retains 25% in the in the field for which a field development plan (FDP) was submitted to the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change for approval recently.
Bayerngas - formerly Genesis Petroleum Corporation Plc which was bought out by Bayerngas last year – indicated intentions to achieve first gas from Clipper South in 2012.
When operator RWE acquired its 50% equity in Clipper South in May last year from Fairfield – as indicated by our previous website www.offshore247.com – RWE signalled then that it intended to tap the field with up to six horizontal multi-fractured wells tied in to a single platform. To the southwest of Clipper South is the Anglia gas platform, in which RWE has 12.2% equity.
WEATHERFORECAST
Gale winds in North Sea, but calm conditions in Norwegian Sea - week 36
Low pressure activity west of Ireland moves eastwards to England and s-parts of North Sea the coming days and leads to increasing E-SE winds in North Sea. At times perhaps gale in Central North Sea south of 60 deg. N. This windy weather pattern with strong E-SE winds looks to continue throughout this week. On the other hand a High pressure area across Northern Scandinavia and Northern Norwegian Sea leads to almost calm winds in Norwegian Sea and also weak winds in most n-parts of North Sea, but towards the weekend probably increasing winds in most n-parts of North Sea.
COMPANY NEWS
New leader for Maersk UK
Maersk in the UK North Sea has a new new managing director who has promised to build a long term business in the sector.
Martin Rune Pedersen, 38, has been appointed to take over the managing director role following the
retirement of his predecessor, Tom Van Leenen.
Energy expert expects more work
Energy consultant ClerkMaxwell in Aberdeen has boosted its office space in the Scottish oil capital in the expectation of more business.
The company has just doubled its offices to 7,000 sq foot by taking up another floor at Salvesen Tower in the city's harbour district after recently winning up to £700,000 worth of repeat business from existing and new clients and the group expects further growth.
CONTRACTS
Andrew brownfield work added
New brownfield engineering work was landed by Wood Group in the North Sea to assist BP with topsides modifications as part of further development of the Andrew field area.
Wood Group was chosen to supply engineering and project management for the Andrew Area development which includes a subsea tieback of the Kinnoul field in which Wood Group Kenny will be involved - and the development of a Lower Cretaceous section of the Andrew field reservoir below the platform.
Under a two-year contract estimated to be worth £75 million, Wood Group will be responsible for engineering, procurement and construction of a new 800 ton module which is to be installed on the Andrew steel platform, as well as extensive topsides modifications as part of a brownfield workscope.
Kinnoul is being tied back via a 28 km (17.5 mile) line and JP Kenny is working on the subsea side of the project.
New deal secures work for energy firm
Energy specialist McNulty Offshore has helped to secure 150 jobs in a £2.3 million deal with a neighbouring firm in the UK Northeast.
According to the Northern Echo newspaper, energy fabrication and repair group McNulty on Tyneside has awarded a contract to Mech-Tool Engineering in Darlington for delivery of pre-assembled buildings, fire and blast walls and weather protection shutters for an offshore electricity subs-station.
The equipment will serve Centrica Energy's Lincs offshore wind farm, which is being developed 8 km (5 miles) offshore from the Lincolnshire coastline near the holiday town of Skegness.
HSE
No AoC for self-operated FPSOs
Norway's main offshore regulator indicated a change in policy over floating production facilities.
Norway's petroleum Safety Authority gave a significant signal that it will not allow companies to operate their own Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessels on the Norwegian Continental Shelf with an Acknowledgement of Compliance.
In a new statement the PSA said it will not grant an AoC in future where a field operator itself is also operating a floating production facility, after consulting with Norway's Ministry of Labour over the issue.
The PSA says the whole point of the AoC scheme was to clarify the distribution of responsibility offshore between field operators and the operating contractors on mobile production facilities, and to make it easier for units to be moved between various operators.
Macondo update
BP said the failed Blow Out Preventer from the Deepwater Horizon on the Macondo oil well in the deepwater US Gulf of Mexico has now been removed.
Now work is underway to put a replacement BOP over the well, as BP explained in a new update on the well capping work, after the well was effectively sealed with a cement plug.
The Macondo well has been sealed since August 5 and the Deepwater Driller is now on standby to continue drilling a relief well
LICENSING
Tullow takes on more of Africa
Tullow Oil extended its interests onshore Africa by taking up new licences in Kenya and Ethiopia.
New licences have been obtained in the under-explored East Africa Rift Basin by Tullow, covering a total of 97,000 sq. kilometres, through agreements with Africa Oil Corporation, ten times larger than the Lake Albert Rift Basin where Tullow has already discovered around 2.5 Bn bbl of oil.
Tullow has acquired a 50% stake in four blocks in Kenya, designated 10BB,10A, 12A and 13T and one in Ethiopia, designated South Omo, and follows on from a farm-in with Centric Energy on block 10BA last month. Tullow will pay pro-rata costs in each block up and carry Africa Oil for future costs up to US $23.75 million.
Race is on for Corvette
Shell and partner ExxonMobil put up for sale a stake in the UK Southern North Sea Corvette field as possible gas storage site.
ExxonMobil signalled that with Shell it is offering to sell its entire interest in the Corvette area with licences P007 and P016 covering blocks 49/24a and 49/23a.
“The Corvette Field provides bidders with an attractive opportunity to develop a major new UK Underground Gas Storage facility, supported by the Corvette field platform,” a statement by Exxon on the asset trading site Indigo Pool says.
KMG moves into North Sea
BG Group agreed a deal with long-time Kazakhstan partner KazMunaiGas to bring it into the North Sea.
KMG has agreed with BG to farm into UK North Sea licence P1722 which contains the White Bear prospect, giving KMG a 35% stake in the drilling target.
KMG EP and BG Group reached an agreement to jointly explore the White Bear prospect in the UK North Sea, close to BG's operated Everest and Armada fields.
BG remains operator of the prospect and the licence carries an obligation to drill one exploration well which is planned for next year.
POLITICS
Arrests for Greenpeace four
Four Greenpeace protesters who boarded the Stena Don rig working on a deepwater well offshore Greenland for Cairn Energy were arrested.
BBC news reported that the four who had spent 40 hours on the rig had been taken into custody at lunchtime one day last week. Citing a Cairn spokeswoman, BBC Scotland said operations on the Stena Don rig later resumed. “The actions taken by Greenpeace remain a matter for the Greenlandic authorities,” Cairn stated.
…and: Greenland condemns Greenpeace
After the Greenpeace boarding of the Stena Don rig drilling for British-based Cairn Energy offshore Greenland, the country's government issued a statement condemning the action
Acknowledging the action, Greenland's cabinet – (Naalakkersuisut) – said they had been notified that Greenpeace had breached the security zone around the Stena Don and that activists had forced their way onto the rig.
In a statement issued through a London public relations firm, the government declared: “This is clearly an illegal act, ignoring the rules of democracy. At the same time it is a severe breach of security conditions, meant to protect the lives of people and the environment,” the government declared.
Earlier last week: Greenpeace activists claimed to have boarded the rig operating for Cairn Energy offshore Greenland in an attempt to stop exploration drilling. Truls Gulowsen, speaking for Greenpeace in Norway said a team would stay on board the Stena Don rig as long as possible to disrupt the drilling programme planned by Cairn.
RENEWABLES
Tidal firm chooses Scottish fabricator
Norway-based renewable energy group Hammerfest Strøm has selected Scotland's Burntisland Fabrications to construct a support manifold for a new tidal generator.
Bifab will built a three-leg subsea support manifold to support the top end of the rotor generator including the nascelle and the system is designed to generate up to 1 Megawatt of tidal power once installed next year. It will be installed at the European Marine Energy Centre in the Orkney Islands next summer for a long term trial.
Back in February the company received a £3.9 million grant from the UK's Carbon Trust to help finance the trial of its HS100 0 tidal turbine at EMEC.