Sterling Energy has completed a 3D seismic survey over a high-graded portion of the Ambilobe block. The acquisition was undertaken by CGG Services on behalf of the Ambilobe joint venture partners Sterling and Pura Vida Mauritius. The processing of the data will begin shortly to a pre-stack migration cube.
A manager in working for Libya's Mellitah has been kidnapped, according to reports. The staff member, working for the consortium, which is owned by state oil firm NOC and Italy's ENI, was taken earlier this week. Mellitah operates a complex in Libya which exports oil and gas as well as the Wafa and El Feel oilfields.
Dana Gas has signed an agreement for oil major BP to pay for part of its exploration costs in the El Matriya onshore concession area in Egypt. BP is expected to pay an estimated $39million of the cost of Dana's drilling of a natural gas exploration well.
Chevron has moved a deepwater Gulf of Mexico platform to sheltered waters after damage was caused its installation tendons. The company said the Big Foot TLP was not connected to any subsea wells or tendons at the time of the incident.
Premier Oil has taken full ownership of the Solan field. The UK-listed oil company acquired the 40% stake in the field which it did not already own. It purchased Chrysador’s interest in the Solan field, West of Shetland, for nil upfront consideration.
An Invergordon firm that was founded as a ferry operator nearly 50 years ago and evolved to meet the needs of a growing oil and gas industry has been swallowed up by Global Energy Group. Aberdeen and Inverness-based Global said yesterday it had acquired MF Marine Operations through its Caledonian Towage subsidiary. Global – owned by Highland businessman Roy MacGregor and his family – did not say how much it paid Colin Watson, MF Marine’s owner and managing director, for the business.
Aberdeen and Stavanger are two cities sitting on either side of the North Sea with long histories evidenced by their many fine old buildings constructed respectively of granite and wood. The links between the two cities go back many centuries largely through trading and fishing but since the advent of the oil and gas industry in both areas in the late sixties our populations have become even closer. In 1990 the two cities cemented that relationship by formally twinning. In 1995 the two cities joined together with another four energy capitals to be the founder members of the World Energy Cities Partnership an organisation which has grown to 22 energy capitals from around the world.
Companies in Alberta prepared to return to work as rain eased a wildfire that prompted the shutdown of 10 percent of Canada’s oil-sands production. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.’s operation staff received permission today to go to the Primrose oil sands site to implement a “step-by-step recovery plan,” Julie Woo, a company spokeswoman, said in a statement Monday. Cenovus Energy Inc. plans to send essential staff to the Foster Creek project once a government team assesses potential hazards, the company said on its website.
Iran, seeking billions of dollars to revitalize its ailing oil industry, plans to offer significantly better commercial terms to companies prepared to invest than offered during the last market opening nearly two decades ago. Foreign oil executives who have reviewed partial drafts of the new terms, called the Iranian Petroleum Contract, said they’re more generous than the types of deals used in the 1990s and 2000s. Unlike those contracts, which merely paid a set fee for the delivery of a project, the new agreements could give investors some share of a field’s production and allow companies to book more reserves on their balance sheet.
Oil companies that have pumped trillions of barrels of crude from the ground are now saying the future is in their other main product: natural gas, a fuel they’re promoting as the logical successor to coal. With almost 200 nations set to hammer out a binding pact on carbon emissions in December, fossil-fuel companies led by Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Total SA say they’re refocusing on gas as a cleaner alternative to the cheap coal that now dominates electricity generation worldwide. That’s sparked a war of words between the two industries and raised concern that Big Oil is more interested in grabbing market share then fighting global warming.
A new oil and gas service business has launched in Aberdeen, creating 16 jobs. Initially based in Tullos, Aberdeen, EnerQuip plans to move to a larger facility in the north-east in early 2016 to support anticipated growth. It has been formed by three former senior bosses of Granite City-based AMC Engineering – Andrew Polson, Dave Clark and John Duncan – who together have more than 50 years’ oil and gas experience.
Apache has revealed plans to reorganise its business as it looks to reduce costs. Cory Loegering has been named as the new head of Apache North Sea, taking over from Jim House who has been given a newly created position. House will become senior vice president for the Houston region and will be based at the company's headquarters Houston.
While the UK’s offshore industry is indeed facing pressure there is huge remaining potential – with up to 23billion barrels of oil & gas still to play for. Tax reforms announced in the Government's 2015 Budget and the setting up of the new regulator, the Oil & Gas Authority, provide strong foundations for the regeneration of the North Sea. The onus is now on industry to align around a common purpose and work together to build a more sustainable future through safe cost and efficiency improvements. North Sea oil & gas is a hugely valuable industry and a prize worth fighting for; supporting 450,000 jobs; paying billions of pounds to Treasury each year; fostering advanced technology; and meeting half of Britain’s oil & gas needs.
Norwegian explorer Statoil has agreed a long-term gas supply agreement with the UK's SSE. The deal, which will start from October, will see gas supplied increase from ca. 0.5 billion standard cubic metres per day to ca. 2.5 bcm/y. Tor Martin Anfinnsen, senior vice president of Marketing and Trading in Statoil, said: “We are very happy to have made this agreement with SSE. Being the second largest supplier of gas and electricity in the UK, SSE is a significant player in a market that is very important to Statoil.
Atlas Knowledge has been awarded a contract by INPEX to provide training for production workers involved in the Ichthys LNG project. The multi-million dollar agreement will see the company develop and deliver custom-made training modules and online 3D models of the project's onshore and offshore production facilities. The e-learning team will provide all personnel in the integrated operations team with an understanding of the plant, equipment, materials and their associated hazards. Facility-specific modules will take production technicians on an interactive journey to the process area they are assigned to.
Endeavour International has launched its marketing process in the UK for the sale all of its North Sea oil and gas assets. The company said it will consider a full range of options in order to “unlock the underlying value” of its assets, which include interests in five fields in the North Sea. A spokesman said Endeavour believes the sale of all its North Seas assets would provide the “best means to preserve and protect” the value its other assets.
Statoil has been awarded four licenses off the coast of Nicaragua. The award will give the company its first acreage in the region. The licenses awarded cover 16,000sq km in the Sandino basin and Statoil will have an 85% interest as well as acting as operator.
Iraq, OPEC’s second-biggest oil producer, is exporting a new grade of crude after customers complained about the quality of oil from the country. The Basrah Heavy crude will be exported for the first time starting Monday, shipped from the southern port on the Persian Gulf, Oil Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said on his Facebook page.
Brent oil snapped a two-day advance as Saudi Arabia maintained crude output at a record in May before OPEC meets this week to discuss its production policy. Futures slid as much as 0.8 percent in London after rising 4.8 percent on Friday. Saudi Arabia pumped 10.25 million barrels a day, unchanged from April and the most in a monthly Bloomberg survey going back to 1989. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will probably maintain its collective quota at 30 million barrels a day when it meets June 5 in Vienna, according to a separate survey last month.
Mexico’s oil regulator said it will allow pre-qualified companies including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. to bid on all 14 shallow water blocks up for auction after removing restrictions. Companies pre-qualified to bid to explore for oil in Mexico’s shallow waters will be able to participate in auctions for all available blocks, according to Juan Carlos Zepeda, National Hydrocarbons Commissioner. Participation was limited to five blocks under prior guidelines. Companies participating in group bidding now also have the option to compete individually, Zepeda said Friday in Mexico City.
Oil explorers idled rigs in US fields for the 25th straight week, drawing out an unprecedented retreat in drilling that has curbed the country’s shale oil boom and helped crude prices rally. Rigs targeting oil in the US declined by 13 to 646, the lowest since August 2010, field services company Baker Hughes Inc. said on its website Friday. Most of the losses were outside of major basins, with drilling subsiding in states including California and Louisiana.
Facilities management group Richard Irvin Energy Solutions has returned to profit in its latest trading year and says it is ready to hire North Sea engineers who want to move back onshore. The firm’s management team, led by chief executive Willie MacLean, has worked to turn the business from a £3.1million loss in 2014 to a small pre-tax profit of £74,000 this year. Mr MacLean, who took over the role of chief executive at the end of 2013, said: “2014 was a year of turnaround for Richard Irvin and, having returned to a stable and profitable position, we can now focus on growing the business in the year ahead.
A Dutch court has rejected a suit to have gas production stopped at one segment of the Groningen gas field. The move was made in relation to Eemskanaal on the grounds complainants had not proved that stopping exploitation would improve their safety. The decision by the court is the second in two month regarding exploitation of gas at the field.
The US has a more than 50 percent chance of lifting the ban on most crude oil exports within the next two years, potentially narrowing the gap between domestic and international crude prices, according to Bank of America Corp. The collapse in domestic gasoline prices has reduced the political cost of tackling the issue, while the prospect of economic sanctions imposed on Iran being removed while the US’s self-imposed ban remains in place seems an unlikely pairing, the bank said in a report dated Thursday.
Scotland-based energy firms will expect the Middle East to become vital to their operations in terms of market share over the next few years, according to a professional services firm. KPMG surveyed more than 30 senior executives from oilfield services and energy-focused technology businesses at a seminar in Aberdeen last week which highlighted business opportunities and risks in the region. The Middle East represents an enormous market for UK-based businesses in the industry with opportunities spanning oil and gas, power generation and renewables.