IS - Projects advance, assets hit the market amid volatility - June 2020Although the oil and gas industry is still nowhere near where it was at the beginning of the year, there are signs that companies are starting to take cautious steps forward as pandemic restrictions ease and oil prices begin to recover. Senex Energy announced it completed its $280 million Surat gas project with 30 fewer wells than it originally thought it would need (PG.1). Canada loosened restrictions on exploratory drilling off Newfoundland (PG.1), where Equinor reportedly made a discovery in...
Jun 22, 2020
IS - CNOOC brings another oil project online in China’s Bohai Bay - June 2020CNOOC Ltd. began production from first phase of its shallow-water Qinhuangdao
33-1S oil field in China’s west-central Bohai Bay. The field is being produced via a newly
built wellhead platform in 21-meter water depth. The project, which CNOOC operates with
100% WI, will ultimately involve nine production wells and four water injectors.
Expected peak output of 6,000 bo/d starting in 2021 will bring existing facilities
at the Qinhuangdao 33-1 and Qinhuangdao 32-6 oil fields to full...
Jun 22, 2020
A&D - Asian companies reportedly eye Exxon’s Caspian Sea assets - June 2020ExxonMobil has reportedly relaunched the effort to sell its stake in the BP-operated Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli field in the Caspian Sea offshore Azerbaijan, with the sales process led by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Asian oil and gas companies, including CNOOC, ONGC and Indonesia’s Pertamina, have expressed interest, banking and industry sources told Reuters for a May 19 report. Exxon first attempted to divest its 6.8% WI in the field in 2018, when Chevron launched the sale of its 9.87%...
Jun 12, 2020
OFS - Maersk Drilling sees four contracts terminated since March - June 2020Total and CNOOC delivered notices of early termination to Maersk Drilling jackups, bringing the driller’s total to four contracts cancelled since the end of Q1. As it reported Q1 earnings on May 27, Maersk Drilling also reaffirmed its May 7 financial guidance update, which includes no new contracts with financial impact in 2020. “Most of the opportunities we saw in the beginning of 2020 have now been pushed into 2021,” CEO Jørn Madsen said on the May 27 conference call. The Maersk...
Jun 10, 2020
IS - Asian companies reportedly eye Exxon’s Caspian Sea assets - May 2020ExxonMobil has reportedly relaunched the effort to sell its stake in the BP-operated Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli field in the Caspian Sea offshore Azerbaijan, with the sales process led by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Asian oil and gas companies, including CNOOC, ONGC and Indonesia’s Pertamina, have expressed interest, banking and industry sources told Reuters for a May 19 report.Exxon first attempted to divest its 6.8% WI in the field in 2018, when Chevron launched the sale of its 9.87% WI...
May 29, 2020
IS - Petrobras discovers 420 meters of oil reservoir in two wells - May 2020Petrobras confirmed two new pre-salt discoveries near producing fields in the Santos and Campos basins off Brazil. The first well was drilled in the southeast area of the Búzios block in 2,108 meters of water and 210 km southeast of Rio de Janeiro. Petrobras is still drilling ahead in the well but has already identified 208 meters of reservoir containing oil with the same quality found in other existing wells on Búzios field. The second well was drilled on the Albacora block in 450...
May 29, 2020
IS - Shell-PetroChina JV sanctions Phase 1 of 5 Tcf Surat project - May 2020Coal seam gas producer Arrow Energy, a 50:50 JV between Shell and PetroChina, has sanctioned Phase 1 of the Surat gas project in southern Queensland, Australia. Construction is expected to begin this year with first gas coming in 2021. Phase 1 will expand Arrow’s current operational areas in Daandine and Tipton, and it will supply gas to the Curtis Island LNG facility under a 27-year gas supply agreement that was signed in 2017. Curtis Island is operated by the Shellled venture...
May 08, 2020
IS - CNOOC cuts 2020 production forecast by 3%, capex by 10% - May 2020CNOOC reduced its net production guidance for 2020 from 1.42-1.45 MMboe/d to 1.38-1.41 MMboe/d and its capex budget from RMB 85-95 billion ($12.0-13.4 billion) to RMB 75-85 billion ($10.6-12.0 billion). CEO Xu Keqiang said that the company would continue to implement more stringent cost controls and strengthen cash flow management this year. CNOOC’s capex during Q1 was RMB 16.9 billion ($2.4 billion), up 20.1% YOY because of increased workloads. Overall Q1 production averaged 1.45...
May 08, 2020
IS - Total gets Tullow’s Lake Albert stake but not Oxy’s Algeria - May 2020UK-listed Tullow Oil is departing Uganda after striking a $575 million deal with Total to sell its stakes in the Lake Albert development project, which contains Tilenga and Kingfisher fields. The deal ends the Africa-focused E&P company’s challenging time in the country caused by tax disputes with the government over a farm-out agreement with Total and China’s CNOOC. That deal fell apart last August. Under the new deal, Total will acquire Tullow’s 33% WI in blocks 1, 1A, 2 and...
May 08, 2020
QP - The Week in Crude Oil Markets - May 4, 2020June WTI settled at $19.78/bbl last Friday, up 17.5% from last Monday’s open. Prices were supported by smaller-than-expected US inventory builds as well as early indications that production cuts are beginning to take effect globally. Despite the recent easing in the rate of inventory builds, physical markets still remain oversupplied. Supply pressures persist even as refined product demand begins to come out of its vegetative state, and it is likely to take some time before demand recovers to...
May 04, 2020
A&D - Total picks up Tullow Oil’s Uganda assets in $575MM deal - May 2020UK-listed Tullow Oil is departing Uganda after striking a $575 million deal with Total to sell its stakes in the Lake Albert development project, which contains Tilenga and Kingfisher fields. The deal ends the Africa-focused E&P company’s challenging time in the country caused by tax disputes with the government over a farm-out agreement with Total and China’s CNOOC. That deal fell apart last August. Under the new deal, Total will acquire Tullow’s 33% WI in blocks 1, 1A, 2 and 3A—in...
May 01, 2020
OFS - Borr loses five contracts early, but two rigs pick up work - April 2020Borr Drilling saw its backlog decline by $16 million as five contracts were terminated. On the positive side, two jackups received letters of award for contracts starting in Q3. The LOAs with an unnamed customer are for work in the Asia Pacific for two Borr premium jackups, of which one is a newbuild being activated. The contracts’ estimated duration, excluding options, will be for 365 days and 200 days, respectively. The rigs are expected to commence contracts in Q3. While Borr...
Apr 29, 2020
MI - Woodfibre LNG postpones Squamish plant construction to 2021 - April 2020Woodfibre LNG Ltd. will start building its Squamish, British Columbia, facility in the summer of 2021, according to new plans. It has applied to the province’s environmental assessment office for a five-year extension to its certificate, which expires in October. The delay was caused in part by the coronavirus pandemic, which has created uncertainty and work stoppages, like the shutdown of a Chinese fabrication yard that was producing material for the project. Its contractor for engineering,...
Apr 17, 2020
IS - CNOOC finds 20 meters of gross oil pay in Bohai Sea - March 2020CNOOC said it made a discovery at Kenli 6-1 field in the Bohai Sea, expected to be the first “large-sized” oil field found in the Laibei lower uplift. The KL6-1-3 well reached a total depth of 1,596 meters, encountered oil pay zones with a gross thickness of 20 meters and tested at 1,178 bo/d. The discovery is in an average water depth of 19.2 meters. CNOOC said the discovery helped prove the exploration potential of the Neogene lithologic reservoir in Laizhou Bay, which is in the southern...
Mar 24, 2020
A&D - Shell MLP to give $3.9B in stock for pipe stake, IDR elimination - March 2020Shell Midstream Partners will no longer need to pay incentive distribution rights following a $3.9 billion simplification agreement with sponsor Royal Dutch Shell. The $3.9 billion all-stock deal will also give the master limited partnership a majority stake in the Mattox pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico and its first logistics assets inside a Shell refinery. In exchange for the assets and the elimination of IDRs, Shell will receive 160 million newly issued SHLX common units, which closed...
Mar 19, 2020