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The drilling report was produced with data from the Texas Railroad Commission, from April 28 to May 4. The following counties were searched: Anderson, Angelina, Camp, Cass, Cherokee, Dallas, Ellis, Freestone, Gregg, Harrison, Henderson, Houston, Kaufman, Leon, Limestone, Marion, Nacogdoches, Navarro, Panola, Rains, Robertson, Rusk, San Augustine, Shelby, Smith, Upshur, Van Zandt and Wood. For information aboutthe drilling report contact Business Editor Casey Murphy at cmurphy@tylerpaper.com or 903-596-6289.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Drilling Report, May 12
Click HERE to read a PDF of the May 12, 2013 Tyler Courier-Times--Telegraph Drilling Report
New CFO for Faroe Petroleum
North Sea and Norway-focused junior explorer Faroe Petroleum announced Friday that it has appointed a new Chief Financial Officer.
Faroe’s new financial director, Jonathan Cooper, previously served as CFO at oil and has engineering firm Lamprell. In the past he has served as a director at both Gulf Keystone Petroleum and Sterling Energy.
Cooper takes up the role of CFO at Faroe on July 1. His predecessor, Iain Lanaghan, will remain in the role of CFO until June 30.
Faroe Chairman John Bentley commented in a company statement:
"I am very pleased to welcome Jonathan Cooper to the board of directors of Faroe Petroleum. His knowledge of the sector and business pedigree is first rate and his appointment strengthens the team as we move to an exciting new phase of growth.”
Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.Karoon Gas Increases Size of Oil Discovery Offshore Brazil
SYDNEY - Karoon Gas Australia Ltd. Friday raised the size estimate of its Bilby-1 oil discovery off the coast of Brazil, increasing the likelihood of a commercial development.
Further testing has indicated the well has a proven gross oil column of 320 meters and a potential column of 560 meters, up from an initial estimate of 200 meters, Karoon said in a statement.
The net oil-bearing reservoir, or the parts of the column that contain oil, is estimated around 70 meters, with porosity levels, which indicate the oil's ability to flow from rock, up to 23%, Karoon said.
The Australian company has discovered oil in two out of three wells drilled in the Santos Basin, located south of Rio de Janeiro, with joint venture partner Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. Karoon owns 65% of the venture and analysts expect it to sell more of its interest if there is enough oil to underpin a multibillion dollar development.
The Bilby-1 discovery follows the success of the Kangaroo-1 well offshore Brazil. However, the Emu-1 well was a dry hole.
Karoon is planning to test the Kangaroo and Bilby discoveries with appraisal wells.
Copyright (c) 2013 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.Investigation Underway Into Utah Drilling Site
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Uintah County Fire Department and the Uintah County Sheriff's Department are investigating an explosion that occurred Tuesday evening at a Newfield Exploration Co. site in Uintah County, Utah, a county official told Rigzone.
A contractor working for Newfield, Tyson Lee Boren, was killed. Another worker was injured and treated at a local hospital, John Laursen, chief deputy for Uintah County.
A grinder found at the scene is suspected to be behind the explosion, Laursen said. The incident occurred when a 400-barrel tank at the site had started to leak. When workers went to fix the tank, someone accidentally hit it with a grinder, causing the production water to explode.
The site of the incident is located 15 miles south of Myton, Utah and 65 miles from the Uintah County seat of Vernal.
Newfield is also conducting its own investigation into the matter, according to media reports.
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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Hess Corp. said it is prepared to add two of Elliott Management Corp.'s nominees to the energy company's board after the dissident hedge fund scrapped an unorthodox bonus plan.
Elliott, which is seeking seats on Hess's board, earlier Monday ditched a plan to pay bonuses to its nominees if the company's shares outperform competitors.
It is the latest about-face in a hard-fought proxy battle for five seats on the 14-member board of Hess, an international energy company whose stock performance has sagged in recent years. The move comes after New York-based Hess said Friday that Chief Executive John Hess would give up his chairmanship and the company would appoint an independent chairman, a reversal of its previous position. The proxy contest will come to an end at its annual shareholders meeting in Houston on Thursday.
Hess, in a statement, said it is prepared to add two Elliott nominees that the energy company would choose if all five of Hess' nominees are elected.
Elliott, which owns about 4.5% of Hess's shares, is seeking new directors because it says the current board has allowed management to destroy shareholder value. Hess has said it is in the midst of a successful transition to becoming a more profitable and focused company, and that Elliott's bid would derail that progress.
Hess aimed much of its criticism at an unusual arrangement in which Elliott's nominees, if elected, would receive bonuses from the hedge fund based on how the company's shares performed against peers. The hedge fund would pay those directors $30,000 for every percentage point the company's stock outperformed a group of peers over three years, up to $9 million. Hess has said the plan compromises the nominees' independence while rewarding strategies to boost its stock in the short term.
The hedge fund's nominees said Monday they had amended their contracts to waive their right to the bonus payments, calling the pay plan a "distraction" but maintaining it was appropriate. The only payment they will receive from Elliott is the $50,000 they were paid when nominated in late January.
Elliott said it supported its nominees' decision. "The shareholder nominees have taken this distraction off the table," a spokesman said.
John Mullin, currently Hess's lead independent director, said in a statement Monday that Elliott's shift on the pay plan "makes it clear that shareholders agree that Elliott's scheme was unacceptable, and exposed Elliott's campaign for what it is, short termism at the expense of all shareholders."
Elliott's plan to pay its nominees for the company's stock performance had drawn criticism--even from some who had endorsed them. Proxy adviser Glass Lewis, for instance, recommended its clients vote for Elliott's nominees but expressed a concern that paying them differently than current directors could create discord on the board.
Relational Investors LLC, which owns about 3% of Hess's shares, has described concerns about the bonuses as overblown.
David Batchelder, a principal at Relational, said in an interview last week that the pay program wouldn't encourage Elliott's nominees to take action at the expense of long-term gains.
"Every day, a stock trades on a multiple of future cash flow," Mr. Batchelder said. "Every day it trades on its long-term value."
Copyright (c) 2013 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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Norwegian oilfield services firm Aker Solutions reported Friday that it has won a five-year, $150 million contract with Husky Energy to support Husky's activities at the White Rose field offshore Canada.
Aker said the project will employ around 70 management and engineering employees onshore, as well as 20 people on rotation offshore. The scope of the work includes studies, modifications and campaign maintenance services. There is also an option to extend the contract for as many as 10 one-year periods.
"We are delighted that Husky has chosen us as their preferred partner for offshore engineering services at the White Rose field," said Tore Sjursen, head of maintenance, modifications and operations at Aker Solutions.
"Our presence in North America is increasing and the award will be a good foundation for further growth in Canada."
The White Rose field is located approximately 215 miles southeast of St. John's, Canada, and uses a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.
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ROME - Eni SpA expects the much-delayed Kashagan field in Kazakstan to start producing before October and to average 75,000 barrels a day the first month and twice that within three months, a senior official of the Italian energy company said Friday.
Claudio Descalzi, head of the exploration and production division, said ENI expects output to soar in the second half of 2014. In the third quarter of next year, it will reach 370,000 barrels a day on average, he said at a press conference in Rome after a shareholders meeting.
Output will "certainly" start by the end of September, the deadline agreed with Kazak authorities, he said, adding that it may start as early as July. Earlier this year, the Italian company said it expected to start pumping in June.
The Kashagan project, which includes large oil companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Total SA, is years behind initial schedule, with cost overruns in the billions of dollars.
Copyright (c) 2013 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.Nymex Crude Falls as Dollar, Weak Fuel Demand Weigh
Crude-oil futures fell Friday on a stronger U.S. dollar and new indications of sluggish global fuel demand.
Light, sweet crude for June delivery settled 35 cents or 0.4% lower at $96.04 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures traded as low as $93.37 a barrel early in the session, but pared more than $1 of the early losses in the last half-hour of trading.
Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange fell 75 cents to trade $103.72 a barrel.
Futures were stung by gains in the dollar against its largest trading partners, which also weighed on broader commodities markets. The Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index was recently down 1.1%.
Additionally, a report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries suggested global oil demand remains weak.
"It was a whipsaw session," said Peter Donovan, a broker at Vantage Trading, who said that worries about China's growth and economic weakness in the euro zone have kept some investors on edge. "Some of the bulls are on the defensive."
In its monthly outlook, OPEC kept its 2013 oil-demand outlook unchanged from last month, when it predicted demand would increase by 800,000 barrels a day compared to last year. But the group said demand growth was weaker than expected in the first quarter, and warned that slowing growth in China and economic weakness in the euro zone are threatening to further slow the global economy.
"The OPEC report today is not encouraging for demand in the second half of this year," said Andy Lebow, an oil broker at Jefferies Bache in New York. "We need a significant increase in demand to get oil above the top of this trading range."
After rallying to end 2012, U.S. oil prices have been stuck below $98 a barrel since the beginning of the year, and fell as low as $86 in April.
Analysts and traders say that without an improvement in the broader economy, fuel usage will remain sluggish. And increasing production, particularly in the U.S., is leading to rising stockpiles.
U.S. oil inventories rose to 395.5 million barrels last week, the highest level in over thirty years. Additionally, output is increasing in Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter.
U.K.-based tanker tracker Oil Movements said Thursday that seaborne oil shipments from OPEC members will rise by 290,000 barrels a day in the four weeks to May 25, compared with the previous four-week period.
"This physical oversupply prevents prices from gaining at the moment," said Carsten Fritsch, commodity analyst at Commerzbank.
Front-month June reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, settled 2.48 cents, or 0.9%, lower at $2.8603 a gallon. June heating oil settled 1% lower at $2.9062 a gallon.
Copyright (c) 2013 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.Clearer Resource Law to Boost NZ Oil Gas Exploration
WELLINGTON - New Zealand's government expects a new law governing resource extraction to attract more interest from foreign companies in upcoming oil-and-gas exploration permit auctions than previous auctions have garnered.
The amended Crown Minerals Act will go into effect on May 24, the same day that bids will be accepted in the government's auction of exploration rights for 189,000 square kilometers of offshore hydrocarbon blocks and 1,500 square kilometers of onshore blocks.
"We have been much clearer [in the new law] than I think we have been in the past about our expectations from operators in terms of their permits, the work programs they must put to us and in terms of health and safety and environment standards," Minister of Energy and Resources Simon Bridges told The Wall Street Journal.
In New Zealand's most recent auction, in December, the government awarded 10 oil-and-gas exploration permits to local and overseas companies, with only one new entrant among successful bidders.
The amended law extends the period of validity for exploration permits and limits the scope for revoking one. It also sets clearer expectations regarding penalties and royalties than the current law, which was enacted in 1991.
The New Zealand government has made increasing hydrocarbon exports one of the main components of its economic agenda.
The country exported an average of 33,000 barrels of crude oil a day in the 12 months ended March 31, 2013, valued around 1.77 billion New Zealand dollars (U$1.49 billion) , according to Statistics New Zealand, ranking the sector fourth behind dairy, meat and forestry in terms of export revenue.
It is still a net crude-oil importer, however, though the government hopes that exports will exceed imports by 2030.
A handful of international oil companies are actively exploring onshore and offshore New Zealand. While U.S.-based Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and London-listed Royal Dutch Shell PLC's local unit are among the companies pursuing exploration in blocks they were awarded in the last auction, Brazilian state-run Petroleo Brasilerio SA (PBR), or Petrobras, surrendered its exploration permit for the Raukumara basin off the eastern coast of New Zealand's North Island, saying a seismic survey didn't find enough reserves to justify continuing its exploration program.
Mr. Bridges said the government is aiming for "an incremental and deepening activity by the existing international players we have," adding that he has seen "renewed interest" among companies that haven't done exploration in New Zealand yet.
Three drilling rigs are due to arrive offshore New Zealand during the southern hemisphere's next summer, which starts in December, Mr. Bridges said. They will drill around 13 offshore wells involving an investment of just under NZ$1 billion (US $837.6 million).
The government expects to announce the names of the successful bidders in the upcoming round of oil-and-gas auctions in December.
The government is also in consultations with local councils to open areas of the central North Island to gold mining and parts of the South Island to platinum mining, the minister added. The mining blocks are likely to be offered later in the financial year that ends June 30, 2014, he said, without elaborating.
Copyright (c) 2013 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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BP is withdrawing some of its staff from Libya amid potential violence in the country.
BP said in a statement Sunday that it was withdrawing non-essential overseas staff out of Libya "as a precautionary measure" following advice given to it by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. However, BP said that its Libyan staff remain in its office in the country.
Last week, the Foreign Office noted that armed groups were disrupting access to a number of government ministries in Tripoli, Libya's capital city, and that there was potential for violence and clashes between rival armed groups. The FCO advised Friday UK citizens against all but essential travel to Tripoli and against all travel to the rest of the country. It has also withdrawn a small number of its own staff who work at the British Embassy.
Also last week, Italy's ENI – the international oil major with the biggest operations in Libya – said it expects unrest to continue in the country. On Friday, ENI Chief Executive Paolo Scaroni was quoted as saying that he is optimistic that the situation in Libya will eventually improve as the country embraces democracy.
The latest violence is likely to delay further BP restarting its operations in the country. The company indicated several times in 2012 that it was looking to restart its operations after it suspended them during Libya's civil war in 2011, but even before the recent violence differences between the Libyan government and foreign firms over the use of foreign security forces in oil zones within the country are already thought to have been an obstacle to BP resuming operations.
A former engineer, Jon is an award-winning editor who has covered the technology, engineering and energy sectors since the mid-1990s. Email Jon at jmainwaring@rigzone.com.
Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.
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