Oil major Chevron said three more tendons designed to link its Big Foot deepwater oil project to the Gulf of Mexico seabed have sunk. The announcement has created further concerns about how long it will take for the project to start. Chevron said a total of nine tendons rested on the seabed after failing to float after six had sunk earlier in the week.
Statoil has signed a joint venture contract with Kvaerener and KBR worth NOK 6.7billion on behalf of the Johan Sverdrup partnership. The contract includes engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the topside for the Johan Sverdrup utility and living quarter platform. The utility and living quarter platfrom consists of two modules, one utility module and one accommodation module. Fabrication of the utility module will be done by subcontractors in Poland under management of Kvaerner and completed at Stord Norway.
Fighting between rebels and government forces in South Sudan’s oil-producing states intensified, the army said before the two sides meet on Monday for peace talks. Rebels attacked non-producing oil fields north of the Unity state capital, Bentiu, on Friday and were repulsed, army spokesman Colonel Philip Aguer said by phone from the capital, Juba. The Sudan People’s Liberation Army is “in full control of Unity oilfields and has captured a number of equipment including tanks and ammunitions,” Aguer said.
About the only surprise to come from OPEC’s decision on June 5 to leave oil output unchanged was that everyone got along. “I have been in OPEC for some many years, and it is the first time I had seen this,” OPEC Secretary-General Abdalla El-Badri said after the meeting. “Very, very positive.”
Oil and gas explorer Serica Energy has finally completed its cash and shares acquisition of an 18% stake in the UK North Sea’s Erskine field. It is nearly a year since the London company first announced the deal, which is estimated to be worth about £8.7million. Chairman Tony Craven Walker said the protracted transaction underlined the need for greater co-operation within the industry to open up shared access to key infrastructure.
A flurry of North Sea deals is welcome news for an industry facing ongoing challenges, Bob Ruddiman, head of energy and natural resources at legal firm Pinsent Masons, said yesterday. Mr Ruddiman, who is based in Pinsent’s Aberdeen office, was speaking after Serica Energy revealed it had completed the acquisition of an 18% stake in the Erskine field. He said: “The UKCS (UK continental shelf) more than most oil producing regions has had to adapt to the constraints of a lower oil price which no one could foresee.
Orkney’s wave and tidal-energy device test centre has said jobs will go as part of restructuring in response to the industry’s “changing landscape and market demands”. But the European Marine Energy Centre (Emec) did not say how many roles were affected. Managing director Neil Kermode said: “The last year has been particularly difficult for the industry, and due to current market conditions I am going to have to restructure Emec.
OPEC extended its campaign to restrain rival producers by continuing to pump oil into a global supply glut. The 12 nations kept their combined daily production target at 30 million barrels after meeting in Vienna on Friday. Crude oil fell 0.6 percent in London, extending this week’s decline to 5.9 percent. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ decision signals intensifying competition for market share among global producers and more pain for U.S. shale drillers, who already idled a record number of rigs. It should also keep a lid on energy costs for consumers and help keep inflation in check.
The oil and gas industry will have the chance to give their view on plans for a city deal in Aberdeen. Politicians, industry experts and businesses located in the energy capital of Europe have long called for investment to improve the infrastructure of the city. Now the city deal will become the main focus of discussion at the closing session of Oil & Gas UK’s annual conference from June 17 – 18.
Baker Hughes international rig count for last month was 1,158, down 44 from the 1,202 counted in April. The number was also down 192 from the 1,350 counted at the same time last year.
Schlumberger has independently evaluated the unconventional oil potential of the Horse Hill-1 well in the Weald Basin neat to Gatwick Airport. The company, working on behalf of UK Oil & Gas, has estimated a gross overall oil in place for the Jurassic section of the well to be approximately 2.731 million barrels of oil per square mile. London-listed UK Oil & Gas Investments previously announce the findings of a report which estimated 158million barrels per square mile could lie below the site just north of Britain's second-largest airport, much more than first thought.
Serica Energy has acquired an 18% stake in the North Sea Erskine field from oil major BP. The company said the deal was completed earlier this month, giving them a share in UK blocks 23/26a and 23/26B. As part of the transaction 13.5million shares in Serica have been issued to BP who now hold approximately 5% of the company’s enlarged issued share capital.
Union Jack Oil has reached an agreement with Celtique Energie Petroleum to acquire an additional 10 % interest in the PEDL241 licence, which contains the North Kelsey prospect. The company said under the terms of the agreement, Union Jack will increase its share from 10% to 20%. The prospect is 10 kilometres to the south of the Wressle-1 discovery well in PEDL180.
Union bosses have given offshore catering companies two weeks to return to the negotiating table and hammer out a compromise on staff pay, or risk facing strike action. The Unite union yesterday said the Caterers Offshore Trade Association (Cota) had “refused to enter into meaningful discussion” regarding its members’ earlier decision to backtrack on a 2% pay increase that had been agreed for this year.
Indonesia is seeking a long-term crude oil supply deal with Iran if trade sanctions against the Persian Gulf nation are lifted, as it talks to OPEC on rejoining the group. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will hold a meeting on Friday to discuss Indonesia’s request to be a member, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said said in a statement. Indonesia, a net oil importer, is also discussing crude supply and investments with the United Arab Emirates during meetings in Vienna, he said.
Airpac Bukom Oilfield Services grew profits and revenue during the year to March 31 despite an “increasingly challenging” trading climate, the Aberdeenshire firm’s owner said yesterday. Reporting group results, equipment rental specialist Vp said its Kintore-based Airpac Bukom subsidiary increased operating profits to £2.8million, from £2million the year before, while revenue rose by £1.3million to £21.5million.
McDermott International has been awarded an offshore contract by Pemex for the engineering, procurement, construction and installation of the Ayastil-C replacement jacket. The company said the value of the large brownfield award will be included in McDermott’s second quarter 2015 backlog. McDermott International said it plans to use its in-house engineering and procurement experts Altamira fabrication yard in Mexico, Intermac 600 transportation and launch barge and heavy-lift Derrick Barge 50 vessel to complete the installation of all structures.
The head of ConocoPhillips said he expects the US tight oil boom to continue, despite low crude prices currently hitting the market. Ryan Lance told a seminar organised by oil-producing group OPEC that technological breakthroughs would play a significant part in allowing steep reductions in costs. Since last year OPEC has decided against cutting production to tackle the global glut which arose from a boom in US shale.
Nearly a year after oil markets entered a deep downward spiral, unmoored from the $100-a-barrel mark that had anchored them for years, some OPEC members are publicly talking for the first time about a new "fair" price for their crude.
Lifting the ban on US oil exports would do little to help Eastern European countries decrease their reliance on Russian energy, a policy research arm of Congress said in a memo to US lawmakers.
North Sea well services contractors expect revenues and investment to drop by about a quarter this year as balance sheets start to reflect the full severity of the downturn in the sector, a new report said.
Petrofac has secured a contract worth $45million to support ONE (Oranje-Nassau Energie) on its newly acquired share of the Sean gas field. The deal comes just a few days after the Dutch oil and gas producer announced its entry into the UK North Sea after snapping up 50% of the Sean field. Sean is in the southern sector of the North Sea and ONE is now operator after acquiring its stake from Shell and Esso Exploration and Production UK, which each held 25%. The remaining 50% is held by SSE E&P UK.
Energy service firm NorSea Group (UK) said yesterday it was expanding its activities to take in the “small piece” decommissioning market. It revealed it had already secured a “major” decommissioning contract, serviced through its deepwater support base at Smith Quay in Peterhead, and was actively tendering for other opportunities in this growing sector of the market. The Norwegian-owned firm gave no further details of the new contract, which coincides with a new senior management team being set up to lead the company’s growing activity across Scotland.
Never mind cutting output to staunch a global glut, the talk so far at this week’s OPEC summit is mostly about pumping more oil. Iraq will increase exports this month as fighting with Islamic State militants spares its biggest-producing regions, the country’s oil minister said Wednesday. His counterpart from Iran urged the group to make room for more output when global sanctions recede. The prospect of more supply led BP Plc’s chief executive officer to predict price “softness” will persist.
Woodside Petroleum Ltd. is looking at becoming a partner in a potential $8.5 billion liquefied natural gas project in the US, a sign it’s setting its sights on the major leagues. The Australian company’s initial pact with Sempra Energy to develop the Texas terminal shows it’s moving toward a model that looks more like that of energy giants Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BG Group Plc, according to UBS Group AG. “We see our customers wanting more flexibility,” Woodside Chief Executive Officer Peter Coleman said in an interview in Paris, where he’s attending the World Gas Conference.