Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Petroceltic to Farm Out More of Isarene

North Africa and Mediterranean-focused Petroceltic International reported Friday that it is close farming out a further 18.375-percent interest in its Isarene Permit, onshore Algeria. The Isarene Pemit contains the Ain Tsila gas and condensate field.

Petroceltic said the farm-out process is "substantially complete", but is still subject to partner and regulatory approvals that could take several months. The firm also said that it would be seeking to complete the farm-out prior to it transferring its shares to the official lists of the UK Listing Authority and the Irish Stock Exchange in order to make the farm-out process smoother.

Petroceltic Chief Executive Brian O'Cathain commented in a statement:

"The second Ain Tsila farm-out is a major commercial milestone for Petroceltic. The company's decision to give it priority over the listing at this time is a prudent measure to help ensure the farm-out moves forward smoothly in the months ahead. We are still fully committed to the listing."

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Energy Department Approves Freeport Natural-Gas Export Permit

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration on Friday cleared the way for broader natural gas exports by approving a $10 billion facility in Texas, a milestone in the U.S. transition into a major supplier of energy for world markets.

The decision shows how the boom in U.S. natural-gas production has caused a 180-degree shift in a key area of energy trade.

Five years ago, many companies built natural-gas import terminals, anticipating greater U.S. demand for imported fuel. Now a group of private investors that includes ConocoPhillips (COP) plans to turn one of those terminals--in Quintana Island, Texas--into an export facility to ship natural gas to Japan and other nations. The project, known as Freeport LNG, is expected to require more than $10 billion in investment, according to the owners.

In giving Freeport the green light, the Department of Energy signaled that it found the prospective benefits from exporting energy outweighed concerns about possible downsides for the U.S. economy.

Proponents of greater exports, including the oil and gas industry, say that exporting inexpensive natural gas from the U.S. will help the U.S. trade balance, help advance the adoption of clean-burning fuels around the world and shore up energy-poor U.S. allies.

Opponents counter that exports may cause domestic prices to rise, hurting consumers and some industries such as chemicals that have benefited from cheap natural gas.

Dow Chemical Co., which has vocally opposed unrestricted gas exports, said it supported the DOE's decision because it reflected a careful approach to export approvals rather than the blanket approvals some proponents have called for.

"Dow will adopt a wait-and-see approach regarding further approvals," the company said. It maintained that using natural gas for domestic manufacturing creates "far more" value "than exporting it as a fuel."

The American Petroleum Institute urged the Energy Department to approve the remaining applications without delay "so that the U.S can achieve its full energy and economic potential."

The Department of Energy said it had given preliminary authorization to the Freeport project to export up to 1.4 billion cubic feet per day of liquefied natural gas. The approval is needed for exports to countries with which the U.S. doesn't have a free-trade agreement, a category that includes major trading partners in Europe and Asia. The project still requires final approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The Freeport terminal is the second export facility approved by the Obama administration. Cheniere Energy Inc.'s (LNG) Sabine Pass facility in Louisiana won approval in May 2011 to export LNG to the countries without free-trade agreements.

The first approval got relatively little notice, but the issue gained prominence as export applications piled up and leading companies on both sides of the issue began to clash over the merits of exports. The Department of Energy spent much of 2012 waiting for a report it commissioned on the issue, which was released in December 2012 and concluded that exports would benefit the U.S. economy overall.

Friday's decision is an important harbinger for the remaining 19 applications to export gas to non-FTA countries. That's because according to law, gas exports are presumed to be in the public interest unless shown otherwise.

Freeport LNG has signed preliminary 20-year contracts to sell much of the export facility's capacity to Chubu Electric Power Co., Osaka Gas Co. and BP Energy Co., and the company says it expects to announce a deal for the rest of the capacity this summer. Chubu Electric and Osaka Gas, both major Japanese utilities, have a partial stake in the portion of the facility that is feeding the Japanese demand.

The combination of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling has unleashed a natural-gas bonanza that made the U.S. the world's largest natural-gas producer.

The Freeport permit approval opens up the dam for other pending applications, but the pace of upcoming decisions is still unknown, said Randy Bhatia, an analyst at Capital One Southcoast.

"This is an encouraging step," Mr. Bhatia said. "But you need more than one to get a better idea of what pace we can expect them to process the remainder of that queue."

The Energy Department will next consider the application of a slightly larger export facility in Lake Charles, La. While there are nearly a score of outstanding applications, analysts expect that only a handful will be built, due to the high cost of gas liquefication facilities.

Moody's Investor Service has said that projects building from existing facilities, including Cove Point LNG in Maryland and Cameron LNG in Louisiana, are best placed to secure approval and financing from the private sector.

Further complicating the picture for U.S. exports are uncertainties over future global demand for LNG. Australia and Qatar, among other countries, have expanded their own gas exports in recent years and are well-placed to supply potential customers in Asia and Europe. Due to the cost of liquefying and transporting gas, U.S. exports may not be cost-competitive if domestic prices rise in coming years.

The DOE said it conducted an "extensive, careful review" which considered "the economic, energy security, and environmental impacts," and found that the project was "not inconsistent with the public interest."

The department said that in considering future export applications, it will consider market conditions, including projections about natural-gas prices, supply and demand. All remaining permit applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis, the department said, keeping in mind the cumulative amount of authorized gas exports.

Ben Lefebvre and Tennille Tracy contributed to this article.

Copyright (c) 2013 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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Transocean Inks New Contracts, Extensions; Sees More Downtime

Drilling contractor Transocean Ltd. reported late Wednesday several new contracts and contract extensions valued at approximately $662 million.

The company also increased its expected downtime estimate for this year by 117 days, Transocean reported in its fleet summary update. However, 75 percent of this downtime is related to preparations for a new ultra-deepwater award at a leading-edge day rate, according to a May 16 analysts note for Barclays Research.

This downtime includes 89 days due to shipyard acceleration into 2013 from 2014 and contract preparation for the Deepwater Millennium (UDW drillship), which has been awarded a two-year contract through February 2016 by an unnamed operator for work offshore Australia. The rig currently is drilling the Kiboko-1 well for Anadarko Petroleum Corp. offshore Kenya, according to Rigzone's RigLogix database.

Deepwater Millennium will work at a day rate of $605,000, higher than its previous day rate of $545,000. The new award represents a $442 million estimated contract backlog, Transocean said in its rig fleet summary.

Transocean also received a three-month contract through October for Jack Bates (DW semisub) from an undisclosed operator for work offshore Australia. The rig currently is drilling the Bassett West 1 well, according to RigLogix.

ConocoPhillips awarded a two month extension through February 2014 to the Transocean Legend (mid-water semisub). The rig will work at a day rate of $440,000, higher than Barclays' previous estimate of $325,000 and higher than its current rate of $293,000, Barclays analysts noted.

Transocean John Shaw (mid-water semisub) has also been awarded a one-year contract extension for work in the UK North Sea at $415,000, up from the rig's previous day rate of $360,000. The rig has been working for TAQA Bratani in the region.


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Karen Boman has more than 10 years of experience covering the upstream oil and gas sector. Email Karen at kboman@rigzone.com.

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ANP Says China's CNOOC Pulls Out of Brazil Oil-Concession Auction

Chinese integrated oil company CNOOC Ltd. pulled out of an auction of oil and natural gas exploration concessions in Brazil, the country's National Petroleum Agency, or ANP, said Tuesday.

ANP officials gave no reason for the company's withdrawal. CNOOC officials were not immediately available to comment. The ANP had approved 64 companies for the auction, the country's first since 2008.

The ANP is offering 289 oil and natural gas exploration blocks for sale at the auction.

The fresh round of bidding is expected to generate a surge in activity across Brazil's oil industry, which was running out of areas to explore in the absence of concession auctions. Oil companies had warned that exploration could dry up as soon as 2015 without new sales of exploration acreage.

The auction is the first of several sales of exploration acreage set to take place in Brazil this year, including the first sale of subsalt exploration acreage under new production-sharing agreements.

Billions of barrels of oil have been discovered in the subsalt region, where oil and natural gas were found trapped deep beneath the ocean floor under a thick layer of salt. Unconventional oil and natural gas concessions, the same type of shale and tight gas acreage that sparked an oil-industry revolution in the U.S., are also expected to be sold this year.

Many of the world's largest oil companies from 18 different countries have been cleared to participate in the auction, including Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and BP. Brazilian state-run energy giant Petroleo Brasileiro, or Petrobras, entrepreneur Eike Batista's OGX Petroleo e Gas Participacoes and startup HRT Participacoes em Petroleo also have been approved.

Copyright (c) 2013 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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Kuwait: The Transformation Game

Kuwait: The Transformation Game

Kuwait's first commercial production of oil began in 1946, some 65 years ago. Up until 1990, its production had been dominated by a few reservoirs. Burgan Al Kabeer Field (Greater Burgan) had the biggest share of the total production reaching 70-80 percent.

At that time, all its production was natural flow, water free and average oil rate per well was significantly high. Reserve to production ratio was exceptionally high. In addition, Capital Investment and Operating Cost during that time were relatively low considering the high incremental production which reached almost 4 million barrels of oil per day (bopd) at one time.

However, such luxury and blessing can't continue forever. Over the past 20 years, and following the Iraqi invasion, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) has exerted much effort to re-shape the oil sector to get ready for the future.

As the era of easy oil is drawing to a close, Kuwait seems to be ready for the next phase and have already started to plan for tapping the development of difficult reservoirs as well unconventional resources in the country.

"Talking about the contribution of easy oil is decreasing, and tougher to find and difficult oil is increasing," said Sami Al Rushaid, chairman and managing director, Kuwait Oil Company (KOC).

Kuwait is currently the fourth-largest oil exporter in the world, with its population of 5 million consuming only 10 percent of its oil domestically, and is now pushing at the limit of its production capacity. By 2020, Kuwait hopes to have production capacity of 4 million bopd, and has already announced a series of ambitious projects to make this happen.

"Our investment plans are strong and schedule to deliver this capacity, and most of the growth is coming from primary and secondary recovery schemes in easy to medium complexity reservoirs," said Al Rushaid. "However, it is our strategy to not over exploits our easy oil, we plan to create a more [manageable] transition to the more difficult oil structure," he added.


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Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Total Production to Increase 3% PA to 2015

Total Production to Increase 3% PA to 2015

PARIS - French oil major Total SA's chairman and chief executive, Christophe de Margerie, Friday confirmed the group's medium-term production targets. 

Speaking during the group's annual shareholders meeting, Mr. de Margerie said Total still expects its hydrocarbon output will increase an average 3% a year between 2011 and 2015. 

Over the past two years the company has focused its strategy on an aggressive search for additional oil and gas reserves, as demand from emerging markets, notably Asia, keeps increasing. 

"Clearly in terms of exploration we decided to shift gears," Mr. de Margerie said, noting that the group recently acquired many blocks in Brazil's deep offshore fields as part of its new policy for riskier exploration locations. 

"Now we need to make discoveries," he added. 

He said he remains confident the group would be able to produce as much as 3 million barrels of oil equivalent per day by the end of 2017.

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ConocoPhillips CEO Says Production Will Start Rising by Year's End

ConocoPhillips CEO Says Production Will Start Rising by Year's End

HOUSTON - ConocoPhillips Chief Executive Ryan Lance told shareholders at the company's annual meeting Tuesday that the company's long-awaited production growth rebound will begin by the end of this year.

He said 2013 will be an "inflection point" for ConocoPhillips, as it closes on $8.5 billion in announced asset sales and reaches a production low. But production will start to ramp up again by the end of the fourth quarter and into next year as the sales put cash on the company's balance sheet to fund development and grow its dividend.

"The growth is coming," Mr. Lance said. "You don't have to wait for that growth and the margin improvement for our company."

ConocoPhillips is in the midst of a transformation facilitated by drilling technologies that have unlocked oil and natural gas within the U.S. that had been unreachable or too expensive to drill. Mr. Lance's presentation to shareholders emphasized ConocoPhillips' ability to fund its operations and deliver on its promises of 3-5% production and margin growth even as it continues to pay a high dividend.

Mr. Lance said there's a "clear line of sight" to production of 1.9 million barrels of oil equivalent a day by 2017, up from an estimated 1.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day this year. Much of that will be fueled by ConocoPhillips' acreage in unconventional U.S. shale formations--the Eagle Ford and Permian formations in Texas, and North Dakota's Bakken.

Income brought in from production in those areas will be used to fund the company's major projects around the world and exploration that is expected to fuel long-term growth. Mr. Lance highlighted the company's work in the Gulf of Mexico, where company is working to renew its presence. It will participate in five to eight wells this year, including its first operated well there in nearly a decade.

"We are back," Mr. Lance said of the Gulf.


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