Global and regional upstream activities, including in Southeast Asia, are rising, as more exploration and development projects are evaluated and approved. Yet, the drilling rig market in the region is not as exciting as it should be, especially with global oil prices ranging between $100 and $120 per barrel in recent months.
India’s Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) said it targets to boost exploration investments by 1.5 times in the next three years to $4 billion. Significantly, ONGC is heading the South Asian nation’s oil and gas hunt in unexplored areas and is seeking international partners to bring challenging fields to production to make up for the falling output from its ageing fields.
Inpex has started exploration drilling offshore Japan, which if successful could mark the nation’s first new offshore gas development in over three decades.
China has again been contesting Malaysian oil and gas activity in the South China Sea. This time Beijing has been targeting Thai state-backed upstream player PTT Exploration & Production’s (BKK:PTTEP) upstream drilling operations offshore Sabah.
Indonesian upstream regulator SKK Migas has approved ExxonMobil’s plans to restart drilling at its giant Cepu Block in a bid to find new reserves and stem falling output at the country’s largest oil producing block.
Italy’s Eni is believed to be carrying out studies in Blocks 115 and 116 offshore Vietnam with an eye to planning a single-well drilling campaign during the first-half 2022, Westwood Global Energy said in its latest report. The blocks are a short distance from Eni’s large Ken Bau discovery offshore Vietnam.
A Chinese ship has been meddling with Harbour Energy’s ongoing drilling campaign at its Tuna block in the Natuna Sea offshore Indonesia. Significantly, the appraisal drilling is funded by Russia’s state-backed Zarubezhneft and the incident underscores the fact that Moscow’s energy interests in the South China Sea are increasingly being threatened by China.
Norwegian offshore drilling company Borr Drilling has received a letter of award covering a 105-day contract for its Gunnlod jack-up working for an undisclosed operator in Malaysia.
UK-based upstream player Harbour Energy has restarted development well drilling at its Natuna Sea Block A offshore Indonesia after operations were suspended due to a helicopter accident last week.
By Dave Moseley, senior analyst at Westwood Global Energy
Westwood Global Energy reports that as of June 28 there were two appraisal wells active in the UK. Completions to date in 2021 are one appraisal well at 22/26d-3 Glengorm South and two exploration wells at 22/6c-B4Z Bacchus South and 16/2a-6 Tiger Lily.
Transocean’s Deepwater Nautilus semi-submersible unit looks set to keep drilling offshore Myanmar for South Korea’s POSCO after the Swiss-based driller announced a contract extension.
Climate activists that failed in their attempt to stop oil and gas drilling in Norway’s Arctic are taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights.
Santos has started its $235 million Phase 3C infill drilling campaign offshore East Timor in an effort to extend the life of the Bayu-Undan field. If successful, the Santos-led Darwin liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant in Australia, which is fed by the ageing field, will not need to be shut down while new supplies of gas are developed.
India’s Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is seeking to buy newly built jack-up drilling rigs as the national oil company (NOC) looks to secure long-term offshore drilling capacity.
The sinking of Velesto Energy’s NAGA (dragon) 7 jack-up rig offshore Malaysia has prompted investment firm CGS-CIMB to upgrade the drilling company as the closed-door investigation into the accident continues.
Malaysia’s Velesto Energy is evaluating potential recovery options for its jack-up drilling rig NAGA (dragon) 7 that sunk off the Malaysian state of Sarawak while working for ConocoPhillips.