NOF Energy celebrates success
NOF Energy celebrated the cream of the north/north-east of England's oil, gas and wider energy sectors at its annual awards event pre-Christmas. The categories and winners of the 2008 awards were:
Hydrocarbon mapping in non-invasive way
TWO initiatives that could help produce maps of hydrocarbon location, and thus enable more accurate targeting of reservoirs, were launched at the end of June, having been submitted to a call for proposals issued in 2007.
Total ownership proving a boon
IN THE introduction, we said Electro-Flow Controls ranked among those companies that quietly go about their business and are self-financed. It turns out that, so far, this firm has kept away from takeovers too.
Mature drilling market is core
THE bulk of Electro-Flow's business comes from the mature drilling rigs market rather than new-builds. But Wheeler and Littlechild say the new-builds side is showing signs of taking off. A good example is the choke control systems contract for the Transocean Clear Leader II. Another is the design and build of BOP control systems for the Q4000 deepwater intervention/drilling semi-submersible built for Helix of Houston. As for retro-fits, while the American drilling companies are hugely important, so too is having Brazilian oil company Petrobras on board as an enthusiastic user/specifier of Electro-Flow systems.
Sonsub grabs Bourbon Pearl
SONSUB, a unit of Saipem-Eni, has added the multipurpose ROV support vessel, Bourbon Pearl, to its fleet. This vessel has lately been performing electromagnetic (EM) offshore exploration for PetroMarker in the Barents Sea operating out of Hammerfest, in Norway.
Wavefield transaction valued at £30million
TGS-NOPEC Geophysical has buried the hatchet with Wavefield Inseis over their planned merger and, as a result, CGGVeritas has stepped in and made a paper offer worth $310million for the latter.
Intelligent strategic drilling JV forged
NATIONAL Oilwell Varco and Schlumberger have committed to forging a joint venture that combines their respective and complementary expertise in the manufacturing and technology development of wired drill-string telemetry systems.
Saturation dive deal
HALLIN Marine has been awarded a $4.2million contract for the provision of saturation diving services offshore Malaysia for the 2009 season.
Encana job
NORWEGIAN group DOF Subsea has been contracted by EnCana to provide specialist subsea services from its multipurpose support vessel, the Skandi Bergen, on the Deep Panuke gas project offshore Nova Scotia. The company said its contract was estimated to be worth about $6.3million.
TPAO licence deal takes ExxonMobil to Black Sea
EXXONMOBIL is entering the Black sea via a licensing with TPAO, of Turkey, covering two deepwater blocks.
Saudi Arabia will remain swing producer
THE IEA says Saudi Arabia will continue to play a vital role in balancing the global oil market and that its willingness to make timely investment in new production will be a key determinant of future price trends.
Climate not good for assuring healthy energy SME birth rate
SWORD'S view is that a robust supply chain is fundamental to a healthy North Sea - and fundamental to Aberdeen long-term. But he is worried that the birth rate is now too low to enable the next generation of SME babies to come through and survive.
Cartel members on a roll
Developments in Kuwait are concentrated on the Sabriyah and the Umm Niqa fields, where a total of 50,000bpd of NGL capacity is being added, with completion expected in 2011. Another project at the Sabriyah field should add 160,000bpd more oil production by 2015.
Emphasis has to be on genuine nurturing of clients
SWORD admits that P/E faces its own set of challenges, and one is access to capital.
E&P will become a different game
Homing in on exploration & production companies, 3i's head of oil, gas and power pointed out that everything was great in the petroleum garden with $140-plus oil. That meant every project was economic at $100 a barrel.
Stena Carron starts multi-well hunt
THE discovery that has done more than any other in recent years to draw attention to the latent potential of West of Shetland is surely Rosebank/Lochnagar, over which there has been much speculation as to size - mostly in the 400-600mmb range, but could be larger, with the prospect of a future separate gas find in the same locale.
BP continues to grow its West of Shetland business
EVEN allowing for Total bringing Laggan/Tormore onstream, BP will remain cock o' the walk West of Shetland as operator of the Clair, Foinaven and Schiehallion fields. On November 26, Foinaven notched up 11 years of production. By any measure, this, the very first development West of Shetland, has been a success story, including attracting investment in infill drilling, pursuing satellite opportunities - notably East Foinaven I
OMV hoping for an Atlantic stormer
Turning to OMV, we reported in November that the company was seeking to farm-down "before doing battle" with its West of Shetland target, Tornado, hoping to divest a large chunk before starting drilling early in the new year.
The times they are a changin’ – again
Whether your credit is being crunched, squeezed or wiped out, there is no escaping the way the world is changing shape again.
Sterling’s East Breagh drilling high point for October
TEN exploration and appraisal wells are currently active on the UKCS, although that count is 11 if Caithness's Middle Jurassic Lybster appraisal on block 11/24 of the Inner Moray Firth is included, being drilled from an onshore location. But just two wells were spudded in October, both in the Northern North Sea - Total's well 8/15-2 on the Palaeocene Sailor prospect, which is imminently to re-spud, and Sterling's well 210/29a-4 on the Middle Jurassic Cladhan prospect.
NOAA’s ocean carbon quest
US AGENCY NOAA (National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration) and the National Science Foundation have commissioned the first comprehensive national study of how carbon-dioxide emissions absorbed into the oceans may be altering fisheries, marine mammals, coral reefs and other natural resources. The work will be carried out by the US National Academy of Sciences.
Joint venture wins Kashagan FEED contract
AKER Solutions, in joint venture with WorleyParsons and CB&I, has received a letter of intent to the value of $31million for the Kashagan Full Field Development FEED (front-end engineering and design) contract from Agip KCO, operator of the Kashagan consortium, Kazakhstan North Caspian Operation Company.
Global banking crisis benefits China’s NOCs
Where this will take the country's energy strategy from here is unclear, but some observers believe China is unlikely to push too aggressively in other areas of possible controversy, such as the widely disputed Spratley Islands (Nansha islands, in Chinese) in the South China Sea, and the Diaoyu (Senkaku, in Japanese) islands, over which it contests ownership with Japan, in the East China Sea.
Targeting deep offshore
LAST year, PetroChina announced its Jidong Nanpu discovery in Bohai Bay, which could be China's biggest oil find in 50 years, at an estimated 7billion barrels.
National energy security – what’s that?
Meanwhile, the NOCs have been investing heavily in expanding their refinery capacity away from a dependence on light sweet crude, the mainstay of domestic production, so as to take advantage of a wider range of resource investments around the globe.