Woodside to Implement Schlumberger's DELFI
Australia's largest oil and gas operator Woodside Energy will leverage Schlumberger's DELFI cognitive cloud-based software environment in an effort to increase consistency, reduce study cycle time and foster innovation in its subsurface characterization and development activities, Schlumberger announced on Tuesday.According to Schlumberger…
Empyrean Energy to Spud Well in Indonesia
Australia's Empyrean Energy provided an operational update in relation to the upcoming drilling campaign in the Duyung PSC in the West Natuna basin, offshore Indonesia, in which Empyrean holds an 8.5% interest.The oil and gas development company with interests in China, Indonesia and the United States…
US Drillers Add Oil Rigs
U.S. energy firms this week increased the number of oil rigs operating for the first time in seven weeks despite plans by most producers to cut spending on new drilling this year.Companies added six oil rigs in the week to Aug. 16, the biggest increase since April, bringing the total count to 770…
Gazprom Lead Oil and Gas Growth Worldwide
Russian giant Gazprom saw the most production growth among world’s exploration and production (E&P) companies during the five-year span from 2014 through 2018.It’s followed by Chinese player PetroChina Company Limited and U.S. shale company EQT Corporation ranking second and third, respectively…
EOG Bags Offshore Ireland Licence
United Kingdom-based exploration and production company Europa Oil & Gas (EOG) has been awarded a 15-year frontier exploration licence for an area in the Slyne Basin, offshore Ireland.The area includes Europa’s flagship Inishkea prospect, which lies immediately to the north-west of the producing…
Petronas Signs Offshore Deal with Gabon
Malaysian oil and gas company Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) has signed an agreement with Gabon for two exploration permits after the African country enacted a new oil law last month.A Bloomberg report quoted Noel Mboumba, Gabon’s petroleum minister saying that the deal follows the enactment of a revised hydrocarbons code last month…
Investments in Exploration Drilling to Double
Rystad Energy sees investments both in offshore and onshore exploration drilling doubling in the next five years, compared to the last five years. Conventional onshore demand will be driven by Asia, Africa and South America.Europe on the other hand, will be a hot spot for offshore exploration…
Baker Hughes: U.S. Cuts Rigs for Fifth Straight Week
U.S. energy firms this week reduced the number of oil rigs operating for a fifth week in a row as most independent producers cut spending even though majors were still pushing ahead with investments in new drilling.Drillers cut six oil rigs in the week to Aug. 2, bringing the total count down to 770…
Petrobras Posts Highest-ever Quarterly Profit
Brazilian state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA posted its highest ever quarterly profit on Thursday and handily beat analysts' estimates, thanks in large part to billions of reais in asset sales.In a securities filing, Petrobras, as the firm is commonly known, said second quarter net profit came to 18.87 billion reais ($4.92 billion).
Hess Corp Posts Smaller Quarterly Loss
Hess Corp reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss on Wednesday, helped by lower exploration costs and a surge in output in its Bakken shale and Gulf of Mexico assets that also prompted the company to raise its 2019 production forecast.The company also cut its full-year spending plans…
BP and Eni Ink Exploration Deal in Oman
Supermajors BP and Eni on Wednesday signed an exploration and production sharing agreement (EPSA) for Block 77 in central Oman with the Ministry of Oil and Gas of the Sultanate of Oman.Block 77 covers a total area of over 2,700 square kilometers. BP and Eni will each hold a 50% interest in the EPSA…
GSP Offshore, Trident Black Sea Bid in Ukraine
GSP Holding company GSP Offshore SRL is the preferred drilling and engineering services provider of Trident Black Sea, in its bid for the right to negotiate a production sharing agreement (PSA) with the Ukrainian government for the offshore Dolphin block in the northwestern part of the Black…
KNOC Aims to Sell Stake in Dana Petroleum
State-run Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC) is considering upping the stake it is planning to sell in its British unit Dana Petroleum after failing to lure a buyer for the 30% previously on offer, banking and industry sources said.KNOC had hired Canada's Scotia Bank to help with selling part of the oil and gas producer…
Ocean Monarch Mobilises to Otway
Australian upstream oil and gas exploration and production company Cooper Energy announced the semi-submersible drilling rig Ocean Monarch, operated by Diamond Offshore, has commenced mobilisation from the Gippsland Basin to the Otway Basin where it is to drill 2 offshore gas exploration wells.According to a press release…
Neptune Acquires Interests in Offshore Indonesia
Neptune Energy East Sepinggan, subsidiary of the European exploration and production company Neptune Energy has agreed to acquire interests from the Eni East Sepinggan Limited, a unit of Eni in the Kutei basin production sharing contracts (PSC) offshore Indonesia.According to a press release from the Italian multinational oil and gas company…
Total Plans $5 Bln in Asset Sales
French energy giant Total will sell around $5 billion worth of assets, mostly from its upstream exploration and production business, as it seeks to focus on low breakeven projects that can weather weak oil prices, it said on Thursday.The company reported a 19% year-on-year drop in adjusted net profit to $2.9 billion in the second quarter…
South-Khadyryakhinskoye Gas Flows
Russian largest independent gas producer and LNG player Novatek has begun commercial production at the South-Khadyryakhinskoye gas field, whose capacity is estimated at about 1 bcm of natural gas per year.“The South-Khadyryakhinskoye field is located in close proximity to the Company’s existing infrastructure…
Beach Energy to Boost Drilling Spend
Beach Energy, Australia's third-largest independent oil and gas producer, ended the 2019 financial year more cashed up than expected and plans to step up spending on drilling while keeping an eye out for acquisitions, its boss said on Wednesday.Beach paid off debt on its A$1.6 billion ($1.1 billion) acquisition of Lattice Energy within just 18 months…
Aker Energy IPO May be in Late 2019 or 2020
Norwegian investment firm Aker could launch its planned initial public offering (IPO) of Aker Energy in late 2019 or in 2020, depending on when Ghana approves the development plan of its Pecan oilfield, the CEO said.The company, controlled by Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge Roekke, has said it wants to make Aker Energy a leading exploration and production c
Hurricane Energy Spuds Lincoln Crestal
UK-based oil exploration and production company Hurricane Energy said it has spudded the second of three wells on the Greater Warwick Area in the UK North Sea.Well 205/26b-B well, or Lincoln Crestal, was was spudded – the start of the drilling process – using the Transocean Leader rig, which…
Deepwater Leads in Discovered Oil and Gas
Half of the 6.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) new conventional oil and gas discoveries in the first half of 2019 were deepwater finds, signalling a return for explorers to high-risk frontier deepwater plays, said analyst Rystad Energy.Year-to-date average monthly discovered volumes…
Dominican Republic Kicks Off Licensing Round
The Dominican Republic's first oil licensing round will be a success if it awards more than two of the 14 blocks on offer this year, a government official said at an event disclosing the Caribbean nation's fiscal terms.The licensing round, which began on Wednesday with disclosure of contract terms…
Total Launches Dunga Phase 3 in Kazakhstan
Total and its partners have approved the launch of Phase 3 development of the onshore Dunga field in the Mangystau Region of western Kazakhstan.Phase 3 of the Total-operated field will consist of adding wells to the existing infrastructure and upgrading the processing plant to increase its capacity by 10% to 20,000 barrels of oil per day by 2022.
Aker Energy Issues Bonds to AFC
Aker Energy Ghana, a subsidiary of Norwegian-based oil exploration and production firm Aker Energy AS, has entered into an agreement to issue $100 million of convertible subordinated bonds to Africa Finance Corporation (AFC).AFC also intends to take part in future capital market activities…
Floater Sector Active Despite Market Volatility
Activity in the floating production sector has not been slowed by the recent volatility seen across global oil markets, according to a recent report by World Energy Reports (WER).Brent oil, which had reached as high as the mid $70 range earlier this year, fell 17% from mid-May and mid-June on demand growth fears and swelling crude inventory…
Shelf Drilling Bags Gulf of Thailand Gig
Dubai-headquartered offshore drilling contractor Shelf Drilling has secured a contract for the Shelf Drilling Scepter jack-up rig with Chevron Thailand Exploration and Production for operations in the Gulf of Thailand.The contract for the 2008-built rig is expected to commence in Q1 2020 and run until Q2 2022 and includes a one-year option.David Mullen…
GulfSlope Energy Forms JV for GoM
GulfSlope Energy, an independent oil and natural gas exploration company, has signed a letter of intent to enter a joint venture (JV) for drilling of shallow water depth prospects in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM).The oil and natural gas company focused on exploring offshore U.S. GoM said in a…
Sapura Energy Bags Multiple Contracts
Malaysia’s oilfield services player Sapura Energy said it has has clinched contracts worth a total of MYR 1 billion ($242 million) for several new oil patch deals and one – the company’s first – offshore wind contract.The 10 new contracts are for its engineering and construction and drilling segments across Malaysia…
US Drillers Add Rigs
U.S. energy firms this week increased the number of oil rigs operating for a second week in a row with oil futures up about 12% over the past couple of weeks despite plans by most producers to cut spending on new drilling this year.The rig count, however, was still down 92, or 10%, since…
Shell, Exxon Eye Somalia's Offshore
Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil are looking to return to Somalia ahead of an oil block bid round later this year, the East African country's oil ministry said.Shell and Exxon Mobil had a joint venture on five offshore blocks in Somalia prior to the toppling of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre…
MTS, SUT to Collaborate
The Marine Technology Society and the Society for Underwater Technology announced that they have entered into a three-year Memorandum of Agreement to explore ways to work together to the benefit of their collective membership.Both SUT and MTS focus on the facilitation, development, and application of marine science and technology for purposes of exploration…
Oilfield Services Pricing Rises
Oilfield services companies are in bullish mode. They are now able to raise prices for their products and services, after several years of gloom.“Oil and gas investments are on the rise, and so too is the pricing power of service companies. After losing pricing power in 2015 and 2016, oilfield service companies have since regained some of the lost ground…
US Rig Count Climbs
U.S. energy firms increased the number of oil rigs operating for the first time in the past three weeks as U.S. crude futures soared around 10% this week.Big energy price declines over the prior couple of months, however, prompted one analyst to cut rig count forecasts for 2019 and 2020.Companies added one oil rig in the week to June 21…
Pemex Steering Clear of Deepwater
Petroleos Mexicanos will focus on shallow water projects and onshore plays, and avoid investing in its deepwater riches for now, as the ailing Mexican state-run oil company seeks to turn around a 14-year slide in crude production, a top official said on Thursday.Chief Financial Officer Alberto…
Poland Employs New Seismic Tech
The Polish state-controlled oil and gas company PGNiG said that its geophysical services provider Geofizyka Toruń SA became the first company in Europe to employ new seismic data acquisition technologies in searching for hydrocarbon deposits.The Polish oil and gas company said in a press…
Total Cuts 200 Jobs in Denmark
French oil major Total SA said on Thursday it would cut 200 jobs in Denmark as part of the redevelopment of the Tyra gas fields in the North Sea.Total, which bought A.P. Moller-Maersk's oil and gas business in 2017, will shut production at the Tyra gas fields at the end of 2019 as part of a major redevelopment."Unfortunately…
Turkey to Drill Near Cyprus for Three Months
Turkey launched a second drilling ship on Thursday which will conduct natural gas operations off the northeast coast of Cyprus for three months, a move which risks aggravating a conflict with Cyprus over jurisdiction rights for oil and gas exploration.Turkey and the internationally recognised…
Total Launches New Supercomputer
Energy major Total said its new supercomputer - which has propelled it to a world ranking as the most powerful computer in the sector - will enable its geologists to find oil faster, cheaper and with a better success rate.The Pangea III computer build by IBM will help process complex seismic data in the search for hydrocarbons 10 times faster that before…
Further Delay in Barryroe Project Loan
Ireland's offshore Oil and gas company Providence Resources has again pushed back a deadline to receive $9mln of funding from Apec, its farm-in partner in the key Barryroe site off the south west coast.The loan from Barryroe's Chinese backer was due by June 14. It is now due to be received in July 5…
US Leads World Oil Reserves
The United States has a world-leading 293 billion barrels of recoverable oil resources, which is 20Bbbl more than Saudi Arabia and 100Bbbl more than Russia, with the Permian Basin leading that charge.Rystad Energy’s estimate of US recoverable oil is also five times more than officially reported…
Norway Wealth Fund to Drop ConocoPhillips, Hess
Norway's wealth fund will have to divest its holdings in ConocoPhillips and Hess after both U.S. oil companies were added to a list which effectively excludes them from the Nordic country's portfolio.As part of Norway's efforts to shift its $1 trillion "rainy day" fund away from oil, the…
Oxy Enters Four Blocks in Southern Colombia
U.S.-based oil company Occidental Petroleum Corp has partnered with Amerisur Resources Plc on four exploration and production blocks in southern Colombia, near the border with Ecuador, the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) said on Tuesday.The Tacacho, Terecay, PUT-9 and Mecaya blocks are in the jungle region of Putumayo, one of the provinces with the great
Book Review: Getting Down to It; 50 Years of Subsea Success in Norway
The Norwegian Continental Shelf’s journey from the very first basic marinized subsea trees to today’s complex and sophisticated subsea processing equipment has been a rapid, at times turbulent, but always remarkable.There are many engineers who have seen through that journey, from the first exploration wells using Norwegian rigs in the mid-1970s to today.
Prelude FLNG Ships First LNG Cargo
The first shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) has sailed from Shell’s Prelude floating LNG (FLNG) facility offshore Australia, Shell announced Tuesday alongside its joint venture partners INPEX, KOGAS and OPIC.This shipment from the world’s largest floating producer of LNG, located 475 kilometers northeast of Broome in Western Australia…
Exxon to Proceed with Argentina Development
US based ExxonMobil said on Tuesday it is proceeding with a long-term oil development in Argentina’s Bajo del Choique-La Invernada block.The project is expected to produce up to 55,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day within five years and will include 90 wells, a central production facility…
Fitch Downgrades Pemex Debt to 'Junk'
Fitch on Thursday became the first major ratings agency to downgrade the debt of Mexican oil company Pemex to "junk" status, in a major setback for President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's plans to revive the struggling state-run firm.Fitch changed Pemex's credit rating from investment grade to speculative grade, or "junk", with a negative outlook, a day afte
ExxonMobil to Redevelop Angola Block 15
American multinational oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil and its partners said that they will further invest in Block 15 offshore Angola to increase production as part of an agreement with Angola’s recently established National Agency for Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels.As part of the agreement…
W&T Strikes Oil in US Gulf of Mexico
Oil and natural gas producer W&T Offshore has discovered oil at the Gladden Deep prospect in Mississippi Canyon block 800 in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.W&T is operator of the well, which is one of 14 planned for the drilling program under the Monza JV. The company owns a 17.25% interest in the discovery.Gladden Deep is located in approximately 3…
Luthi Steps Down as NOIA Head
The National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) announced that Randall Luthi will leave the organization next month, after serving as the group’s president for nearly 10 years. Luthi will return to his home state of Wyoming to serve as Chief Energy Advisor to Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon.The…
BP Sells Egypt Assets to Dragon Oil
BP said on Monday it has agreed to sell its interests in Gulf of Suez oil concessions in Egypt to Dubai-based Dragon Oil, as part of the supermajor’s plan to divest more than $10 billion in global assets over the next two years.Under the terms of the deal, Dragon Oil, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC)…
UKCS Investments On the Rise
North Sea operators and contractors are investing across people, R&D, technology and new markets to support continued growth, said a new report.The 30th Oil and Gas survey, conducted by Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the Fraser of Allander Institute and KPMG UK…
Danos Wins US Contracts
Danos has recently entered into a contract with an independent land company based out of Dallas, Texas, to transition 50-60 crew members in a variety of positions. The transition will take place over the coming weeks to support water transfer at water treatment facilities in Midland and Orla, Texas.
Asian Renewables Investment on the Rise
Renewable energy investment in the Asia-Pacific region will overtake spending on oil and gas exploration by 2020, consultancy Rystad Energy said on Monday.Total capital expenditure in renewables will rise above $30 billion in the region by 2020, just overtaking investment into exploration and production for oil and natural gas…
Shell Sees Significant Oil Discovery in Albania
Shell Upstream Albania B.V. said on Friday initial tests showed "a flow potential of several thousand barrels of oil per day" from its Shpirag 4 well in central Albania, and it needed more work to determine its commercial volume."We are pleased that these initial tests have confirmed the…
Environmental Activists Block BP London HQ
Greenpeace activists blocked the entrance to BP's London headquarters on Monday, demanding one of the world's biggest energy companies ends all new oil and gas exploration or goes out of business.Greenpeace activists arrived at the building in St James' Square in central London at 0200 GMT…
Eni Extends Algeria Gas Contract
Italian multinational oil and gas company Eni announced that it had signed agreements with Algerian state-owned Sonatrach to extend its gas supply pact.The agreement covers almost 15% of the gas imported into Italy. The agreement extends the 40-year partnership until 2027, with the option…
Argentina Grants Offshore Exploration Permits
Argentina awarded permits to begin hydrocarbon exploration in 18 areas off the coast of the country in the Malvinas West basin to companies including Exxon Mobil Corp, Total SA, YPF SA and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the government said on Friday.The winning companies offered bids totaling $724 million…
DNO Completes $400mln Bond Placement
The Norwegian oil and gas operator focused on the Middle East and the North Sea, DNO ASA said it has completed the private placement of USD 400 million of new, five-year senior unsecured bonds with a coupon rate of 8.375 percent.The bond placement received strong investor demand across international markets and was oversubscribed…
Pemex Requests $8bn Loan Amid Heavy Uncertainty
Petróleos Mexicanos’ (Pemex) US$8 billion bank loan comes amid heavy investor uncertainty over the oil company’s debt load, but lenders wanting to maintain links with Pemex and the left-wing administration overseeing the firm may have little choice but to commit to the financing.The state…
Rovuma LNG Gets Government Green Light
The government of Mozambique has approved development plans for the ExxonMobil-led Rovuma LNG project, which will produce, liquefy and market natural gas from three reservoirs located in the Area 4 block offshore Mozambique, two of which straddle the boundary with neighboring Area 1.“The…
