Sunday, March 24, 2013

Technip Wins Subsea Contract in Malaysia

French oilfield services firm Technip announced Monday that it has been awarded a subsea contract for two oil fields offshore Malaysia.

Technip reported that Sarawak Shell Berhad has awarded it an engineering, procurement, installation, construction and commissioning contract for two new gas-export lines at the Laila and D12 fields. Laila is located some 30 miles northwest of Miri at a water depth of 245 feet, while D12 is approximately 85 miles from Bintulu at a water depth of 165 feet.

The contract covers the design, fabrication and installation of a three-mile and a six-mile flexible pipes with respective diameters of seven and 12.8 inches, as well as the installatyion of riser clamps at both jacket platforms, pre-commissioning of flowlines and project management.

Technip's operating center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, will execute the contract, which is scheduled for completion in the first half of 2014. Technip's new Deep Orient multipurpose vessel will be used for the installation.

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BMT Cordah Advises on 27th Licensing Round

BMT Cordah reported Tuesday that it has recently advised several major companies in applications for the latest UK oil and gas licensing round.

BMT Cordah – a subsidiary of maritime, environmental and engineering consultancy BMT Group – said it provided environmental support for UK Continental Shelf operators, including Endeavour Energy UK, bidding for licenses in the UK's 27th Offshore Oil and Gas Licensing round. This included the preparation of screening assessment, which are required to summarize the sensitivities and potential environmental impacts of seismic and exploration drilling activities in license areas the firms were interested in.

To enable the UK Government’s Department for Energy and Climate Change to assess environmental competence, BMT assisted customers with their submission under four key environmental areas: Pollution Liability; Environmental Regulations and Organisation; Legislative Compliance and Environmental Sensitivities and Issues.

BMT Cordah Managing Director Norman Di Perno commented in a statement:

"A comprehensive understanding of the relevant environmental regulations, directives and international agreements is key when supporting our customers through this detailed application process."

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CB&I Receives Landmark Aasta Hansteen Project

CB&I will perform detailed engineering design and procurement services for the spar topside of Statoil's Aasta Hansteen field development project off the coast of Norway. The contract, valued at $180 million, was granted by Hyundai Heavy Industries.

The company's scope of work is slated to commence in the first quarter of 2013. The spar platform will consist of a large-diameter, single vertical cylinder supporting a conventional deck with processing facility, accommodation quarters and other facilities. The installation will fix to the seabed.

The Aasta Hansteen development concept will include two subsea templates with four wells on each and one satellite template with one well. The platform will house accommodation quarters for a permanent crew, a storage unit for condensate and a gas processing facility with a capacity of 812 million cubic feet per day.

We are pleased to work with HHI on this landmark project," said Lasse Petterson, executive vice president and chief operating officer, in a press release. "The award builds on our extensive work history engineering offshore topsides and our successful track record on the Norwegian Continental Shelf."

The Aasta Hansteen gas field, formerly Luva, is located on Blocks 6706/12, 6707/10, roughly 186 miles (300 kilometers) from land in 4,265 feet (1,300 meters) of water in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. Statoil serves as the operator, holding a 75 percent interest, OMV holds 15 percent and ConocoPhillips holds the remaining 10 percent interest.

With more than 10 years of journalism experience, Robin Dupre specializes in the offshore sector of the oil and gas industry. Email Robin at rdupre@rigzone.com.

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Petrobras Begins Oil Production at Bauna Field

BRASILA - Petroleo Brasileiro, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, said Tuesday it began production in the Bauna offshore field and plans to ramp up output in the coming months.

The Bauna field is located in the BMS-40 block of the Santos basin. The production platform is currently connected to just one well, 9-SPS-88, but will be linked to another 10 wells in the coming months, the company said.

It was the third new production unit started up by the Rio de Janeiro-based company so far in 2013.

Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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Norwest's Arrowsmith-2 Well Flows Promising Amount of Early Gas

Norwest Energy said Tuesday that flow-back and testing of primary shale target, the Carynginia Formation, has started in the onshore Arrowsmith-2 well, and early results are promising with a maximum gas rate of 350,000 standard cubic feet per day (scf/d) recorded on several occasions since the well started flow-back Feb.15.

In its statement, Norwest disclosed that the Carynginia Formation only had a limited period of flowback in the original 2012 hydraulic fracture stimulation program due to a tight operational timeline, and as a result there is still a significant percentage of the frac fluid remaining on the formation.

"Despite this, the Carynginia is demonstrating a strong early gas rate from this zone; a very encouraging sign," Norwest said in a statement.

The Carynginia Formation is considered a primary target in the well; it is the most typical "shale" formation in the basin, is demonstrated to be laterally extensive, and is approximately 820 feet (250 meters) thick in the vicinity of the well. The Kockatea Shale, classified as an oil producing zone, has been marked Norwest as a secondary target in the exploration program.

Arrowsmith-2 first flowed gas from the High Cliff Sandstone at a maximum rate of 777,000 scf/d in July last year. The well was temporarily shut-in in September when Norwest discovered oil being produced to surface in the early stages of flow back and testing of the Kockatea Shale, and again in December for pressure build up monitoring works, according to separate statements released by Norwest last year. Operations at the well were restarted in January this year.

Following testing of the Carynginia Formation, operations will continue with the testing of the Irwin River Coal Measure and High Cliff Sandstone intervals. In total, testing works in the three zones will take up to four months, Norwest revealed.

Norwest is the operator of Arrowsmith-2 with a 27.945 percent interest. The other shareholders are AWE and Bharat Petroleum, with shares of 44.252 percent and 27.803 percent respectively. 

Quintella has reported on the upstream and downstream oil and petrochemicals markets from 2004. Email Quintella at quintella.koh@rigzone.com.

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Murchison Drilling Schools Adds Instructor

Murchison Drilling Schools, Inc. (MDS) announced the following staff addition to the Houston Training Center.

Mark Vance has been hired as an instructor. Mark has a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M. He began his career in 1978, working for Keydril. He worked as a Roustabout, Roughneck, Derrickman, Driller, Toolpusher, and Superintendent. Mark is an accredited IADC and IWCF Instructor. He will be teaching Well Control and drilling operations courses at the MDS Houston Training Center.

For more information about Murchison Drilling Schools or to enroll in one of the two courses, visit their website.

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Bering Exploration Concludes Initial Production Test at North Edna Prospect

Bering Exploration, Inc. announced Wednesday that it has completed the initial production test conducted at the conclusion of the re-completion performed on one of its wells on its North Edna prospect. The initial test report showed that the well flowed at 400 million cubic feet per day on a #6 choke at a 2914 pressure rate with a recovery rate of 4.33 barrels per day of condensate and no water from a virgin zone in this formation. This 348 acre prospect is located in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana and has potential gross reserves of the equivalent of 1 million barrels which, based upon current prices, equates to a gross value of more than $95 million dollars.

"We are very pleased to get a positive test result," stated Steven Plumb, VP of Finance of Bering. "We are now taking bids to complete the well and establish a gas pipeline tie-in."

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MOGL Continues Prepping for Hagar Qim 1 Spud

Mediterranean Oil & Gas Plc (MOGL) announced Monday that it has signed a service order with AGR Well Management for the provision of drilling engineering and rig procurement support for the drilling of the Hagar Qim 1 well, forecast to be spud in 4Q 2013 pending sourcing a rig for the operations.

MOGL also confirmed it has received clearance from HM Revenue and Customs in respect of the application of the substantial shareholding exemption to the sale by the company of 75 percent of its shareholding in Phoenicia Energy Company Ltd to Genel Energy plc. Completion of the transaction is expected at the end of this month.

MOGL Chief Executive Dr. Bill Higgs commented in a company statement:

"We are continuing to prepare for the drilling of Hagar Qim 1 in late 2013 and we are pleased to be working with AGR on this important phase of the project. AGR has a proven track record of providing drilling support services to Operators conducting exploration drilling activities. The closing of the transaction with Genel will enable our team to fully dedicate its time to preparing for the drilling operations offshore Malta."

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Rosneft in Japan for Arctic Shelf Talks

MOSCOW - The head of Russia's state-controlled oil giant OAO Rosneft is traveling to Japan Tuesday to discuss partnerships on offshore projects, as the company tries to attract foreign firms to help tap the potentially vast but difficult-to-recover reserves on Russia's Arctic shelf.

The trip comes after Rosneft Chief Executive Igor Sechin spent two days in China for talks, including discussions on potential offshore projects with CNPC, Sinopec and CNOOC. Rosneft already has offshore partnerships with Exxon Mobil Corp., Eni SpA and Statoil ASA.

A spokeswoman for Rosneft declined to name the Japanese firms Mr. Sechin would meet with.

Russia is looking to the Arctic to maintain output in the long term as production at Soviet-era fields in western Siberia wanes.

Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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Norwest's Arrowsmith-2 Well Flows Promising Amount of Early Gas

Norwest Energy said Tuesday that flow-back and testing of primary shale target, the Carynginia Formation, has started in the onshore Arrowsmith-2 well, and early results are promising with a maximum gas rate of 350,000 standard cubic feet per day (scf/d) recorded on several occasions since the well started flow-back Feb.15.

In its statement, Norwest disclosed that the Carynginia Formation only had a limited period of flowback in the original 2012 hydraulic fracture stimulation program due to a tight operational timeline, and as a result there is still a significant percentage of the frac fluid remaining on the formation.

"Despite this, the Carynginia is demonstrating a strong early gas rate from this zone; a very encouraging sign," Norwest said in a statement.

The Carynginia Formation is considered a primary target in the well; it is the most typical "shale" formation in the basin, is demonstrated to be laterally extensive, and is approximately 820 feet (250 meters) thick in the vicinity of the well. The Kockatea Shale, classified as an oil producing zone, has been marked Norwest as a secondary target in the exploration program.

Arrowsmith-2 first flowed gas from the High Cliff Sandstone at a maximum rate of 777,000 scf/d in July last year. The well was temporarily shut-in in September when Norwest discovered oil being produced to surface in the early stages of flow back and testing of the Kockatea Shale, and again in December for pressure build up monitoring works, according to separate statements released by Norwest last year. Operations at the well were restarted in January this year.

Following testing of the Carynginia Formation, operations will continue with the testing of the Irwin River Coal Measure and High Cliff Sandstone intervals. In total, testing works in the three zones will take up to four months, Norwest revealed.

Norwest is the operator of Arrowsmith-2 with a 27.945 percent interest. The other shareholders are AWE and Bharat Petroleum, with shares of 44.252 percent and 27.803 percent respectively. 

Quintella has reported on the upstream and downstream oil and petrochemicals markets from 2004. Email Quintella at quintella.koh@rigzone.com.

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