ATR Seeks Potential Acquisitions at OTC

ATR is seeking potential acquisitions at the world's largest oil show in Houston this week at the 2013 Offshore Technology Conference.

Buoyed by recent contract wins and extensions totaling GBP 2 million and strong growth in the last 18 months, the Aberdeen-headquartered business will be seeking out complementary companies to add to its growing capability and fleet of rental equipment.

The new business with Subsea 7, Dong and Marathon has bolstered ATR's first quarter results and the company is on track to reach turnover of GBP 29 million this financial year.

Following investment from NBGI Private Equity, ATR embarked on its ambitious growth strategy with the acquisition of Underwater Engineering Services (UES) in June 2012. This was followed by NBGI's acquisition of Cosalt Offshore earlier this year to combine its technical leadership in offshore lifting and comprehensive offshore inspection, testing and safety service with ATR's highly complementary global equipment rental service offering to the offshore maintenance sector. Planning for the integration of the ATR and Cosalt Offshore businesses is underway and will be complete by the end of 2013.

"We are well on-track with our organic growth strategy and, as the integration of ATR and Cosalt Offshore picks up pace, we are starting to seriously explore further potential acquisitions. OTC is an excellent platform to gather valuable market intelligence, sound out possible acquisition targets, seek out relevant vendors and speak to the corporate finance community," Chief Executive Keith Moorhouse said.

ATR is also planning on doubling last year's GBP 3 million investment in its rental fleet in 2013, with a focus on equipment vital to exploration and production operations offshore.

The market leader in the rental of specialized tools and equipment for the offshore oil and gas industry maintenance market, ATR operates throughout the North Sea and UKCS, and the Caspian region.

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Madalena Reports Shale Resource Potential at Argentina Basin

Madalena Ventures Inc. provided information on the Company's unconventional shale resources on its three land blocks within the Neuquen basin, Argentina.

These resources were evaluated by Ryder Scott Petroleum Consultants Ltd. in a report dated effective December 31, 2012. All of the Company's international properties, which are located within the Neuquen basin, Argentina, were reviewed in the Resource Report although not all of the potential resources and formations were evaluated. All values disclosed herein are net to Madalena's interest.

Madalena holds 135,000 net acres on the Coiron Amargo (35,027 net acres), Curamhuele (50,400 net acres) and Cortadera (49,600 net acres) blocks within the Neuquen basin, respectively;The main zones of interest for the independent resource evaluation focused on the Vaca Muerta shale, Lower Agrio shale and Basal Quintuco with the evaluated resources based on data from 19 delineation and discovery wells on the blocks, 3D or 2D seismic coverage and core analysis.

The following are summary results of the independent evaluation completed by Ryder Scott for all three blocks held by Madalena.

Best Case P50 total petroleum initially in place (PIIP) of 34.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) (51% crude oil and natural gas liquids (NGL)), comprised of: Best Case P50 discovered PIIP (DPIIP) of 257.4 million boe (95% crude oil and NGLs); andBest Case P50 undiscovered PIIP (UPIIP) of 34.6 billion boe (50% crude oil and NGLs);Best case P50 contingent plus prospective recoverable resources of 2.9 billion boe (45% crude oil and NGLs), comprised of: Best case P50 contingent recoverable resources of 19.4 million boe (95% crude oil and NGL); andBest case P50 prospective recoverable resources of 2.8 billion boe (45% crude oil and NGL).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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Potential Gas Discovery at North Kendang-1

South East Asia-focused Salamander Energy reported Thursday that it has suspended its North Kendang-1 exploration well, offshore Indonesia, as a potential gas discovery.

The NK-1 well – located in the South East Sangatta production sharing contract – was spud by the Ocean General (mid-water semisub) rig on February 10. So far, the well has been drilled to approximately 8,318 feet.

Salamander said the well drilled through a predominantly shale-prone section throughout the Pliocene and – on reaching the first Upper Miocene reservoir target at 8,310 feet – the well took "a significant kick from an influx of high pressure hydrocarbon gas" into the well bore at a wellhead pressure of around 4,000 pounds per square inch.

As a result of encountering high pressure gas, the well experienced what Salamander described as operational challenges that ultimately led to its suspension before evaluating the reservoir section. The gas has been sampled and is being analyzed with initial results pointing to a wet gas, while pressure data indicate a potentially significant column height.

Salamander is reviewing the option to return to NK-1 as part of the current drilling campaign, in order to drill ahead and evaluate the Upper Miocene section.

Salamander Chief Executive John Menzies commented in a statement:

"Finding wet gas at North Kendang is highly encouraging for continued exploration in the North Kutei basin, though further drilling will be required to determine reservoir quality and a range of hydrocarbon volumes. As the well results are integrated into the geological model and technical evaluation continues, we will drill the Bedug prospect with a view to returning to North Kendang thereafter."

Salamander said the Ocean General rig is now being mobilized to the Bontang PSC to drill the Bedug-1 exploration well, the third well in the firm's multi-well program in the North Kutei basin.

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Hess Cites Potential Governance Issues in Dissident Holder's Plan

Hess Corp. (HES) again urged shareholders to support its slate of board candidates as the exploration-and-production company continued its criticism of dissident investor Elliot Management Corp.'s efforts to elect five board members and directly pay them bonuses based on how Hess shares perform.

In a letter to shareholders Tuesday, Chairman and Chief Executive John Hess outlined support for Hess's multiyear plan to transform into a pure-play exploration and production company as well as the company's board nominees. The letter provided a list of quotes from Wall Street analysts in recent weeks and also touted the company nominees' qualifications in the key areas such as restructurings and alternative shale drilling.

In the letter to shareholders, Mr. Hess stated, "We find the prospect of Paul Singer, a shareholder, potentially paying directors millions of dollars in contingency fees for pre-determined outcomes to be highly troublesome from a governance perspective, and have concerns about the Singer directors' ability to act as fiduciaries on behalf of all Hess shareholders."

Elliott, a hedge-fund manager that controls 4.4% of Hess' shares, wants to split Hess into two companies in a bid to boost the stock, which has lost 47% of its value since peaking in 2008.

Hess reiterated that Elliott's plan to pay bonuses to its board nominees--in addition to the regular compensation they would receive as directors from Hess-- means they wouldn't be truly independent from the hedge-fund manager, a claim Elliott has disputed.

The outcome of the contest is being closely watched in the energy industry amid a rise in shareholder activism that has forced changes in recent months at natural-gas producers Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) and SandRidge Energy Inc. (SD). The meeting is set for May 16.

Hess shares closed Monday at $70.44 and were inactive in recent premarket trading.

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

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Hess Cites Potential Governance Issues in Dissident Holder's Plan

Hess Corp. (HES) again urged shareholders to support its slate of board candidates as the exploration-and-production company continued its criticism of dissident investor Elliot Management Corp.'s efforts to elect five board members and directly pay them bonuses based on how Hess shares perform.

In a letter to shareholders Tuesday, Chairman and Chief Executive John Hess outlined support for Hess's multiyear plan to transform into a pure-play exploration and production company as well as the company's board nominees. The letter provided a list of quotes from Wall Street analysts in recent weeks and also touted the company nominees' qualifications in the key areas such as restructurings and alternative shale drilling.

In the letter to shareholders, Mr. Hess stated, "We find the prospect of Paul Singer, a shareholder, potentially paying directors millions of dollars in contingency fees for pre-determined outcomes to be highly troublesome from a governance perspective, and have concerns about the Singer directors' ability to act as fiduciaries on behalf of all Hess shareholders."

Elliott, a hedge-fund manager that controls 4.4% of Hess' shares, wants to split Hess into two companies in a bid to boost the stock, which has lost 47% of its value since peaking in 2008.

Hess reiterated that Elliott's plan to pay bonuses to its board nominees--in addition to the regular compensation they would receive as directors from Hess-- means they wouldn't be truly independent from the hedge-fund manager, a claim Elliott has disputed.

The outcome of the contest is being closely watched in the energy industry amid a rise in shareholder activism that has forced changes in recent months at natural-gas producers Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) and SandRidge Energy Inc. (SD). The meeting is set for May 16.

Hess shares closed Monday at $70.44 and were inactive in recent premarket trading.

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

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Kogas Hires Advisor on Potential Sale of GLNG Stake

SEOUL - South Korean state-run utility Korea Gas Corp, or Kogas, said Thursday it has selected Samsung Securities to advise on the potential sale of a stake in Australia's $18.5 billion GLNG liquefied natural gas project.

The process - to be jointly run by Rothschild - will consider the sale of two-thirds of Kogas' 15 percent stake, which the Korean company acquired in late 2010 for 665 million Australian dollars (US $688 million), a person familiar with the matter added.

The move comes as projects like GLNG that aim to convert coal seam gas (CSG) to LNG for export are facing headwinds from rising labor and equipment costs and a high Australian dollar, eroding potential returns for investors. Confidence in the sector is also being overshadowed by competition from potential new gas exporters like the U.S. and Canada, which are preparing to ship LNG to Asia.

GLNG, operated by Australia's Santos and also counting Malaysia's Petronas and France's Total as major shareholders, has already overrun its budget by 16 percent from an original forecast of $16 billion.

Analysts think further overruns are inevitable, not least because the budget was put together when the Australian dollar was at a lower rate against the U.S. dollar. In a December report, Goldman Sachs predicted it will cost $20.6 billion to build.

The GLNG project is one of four multibillion dollar gas-export projects under construction or planned at Gladstone, a port city in eastern Australia's Queensland state. BG Group is leading development of the Queensland Curtis LNG project, while the Australia Pacific LNG venture of Origin Energy, ConocoPhillips and China Petrochemical Corp, or Sinopec, is targeting first exports in 2015. Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina are yet to decide whether to begin building their Arrow Energy LNG project.

"No final decisions have been made on whether to divest the stake in the Gladstone project," a Kogas spokesman said by phone. Any decision will be made based on recommendations by the advisers, he said, declining to comment further.

The GLNG project involves building two processing units, known as trains, capable of producing a combined 7.8 million metric tonnes of LNG a year. Kogas will take 3.5 million tonnes of this, a similar amount will be delivered to Petronas and the remainder is to be sold on the spot market.

The move comes two years after Kogas, the world's largest corporate buyer of LNG, said it may sell around a 10 percent stake in the Gladstone project to Korean or Japanese companies. It has been seeking ways to alleviate its hefty debt burden, an obstacle that has held the firm back from aggressively expanding its overseas gas assets.

According to the company's latest financial statement, it had a debt ratio of 361 percent as of end-September 2012.

One of the company's most successful ventures has been a Mozambique gas project with Italian major Eni. Kogas has said it would like to increase its current 10 percent stake in the offshore gas field given good prospects that more reserves will be found.

A Kogas executive, however, has said Kogas would need strategic partners to help finance any further stake increase, given the wide scope of other projects it needs to pay for and execute.

Corporate activity among LNG projects at Gladstone remains high, even though none of the projects is expected to ship LNG this year.

BG Group last year sold an additional 40 percent interest in the first production facility at its Queensland liquefied natural gas project to China National Offshore Oil Corp for $1.93 billion, giving the Chinese company known as CNOOC a half-share in the plant.

Origin and Conoco are currently seeking a buyer for a combined 15 percent stake in APLNG, which would reduce their holdings to 30 percent each.

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

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Report: 47 Tcf Gas Potential at Buru's Canning Permits

Buru Energy revealed Friday that RISC, an independent evaluation group, has completed an assessment of the prospective resources for all of the company's onshore permit areas in the Canning Superbasin.

The evaluation report confirmed that the Basin Centred Gas System in the Laurel Formation, spanning around 6,708 square miles (17,373 square kilometers), contains an unrisked gross recoverable volume of 47 trillion cubic feet of gas and 1,177 million barrels of condensate.

RISC has only considered the reservoirs in the overpressured part of the Laurel Formation in their analysis, Buru noted in a statement.

More work is required to quantify the resources in the extensive overlyinggas accumulation in the normally pressured section, generally above 8,202 feet (2,500 meters), Buru added.

RISC also stated its view that the existing analysis identified reservoirs which are a combination of conventional and unconventional reservoirs; the latter will likely to require stimulation.

Buru, in a joint agreement with Mitsubishi Corp, owns five permits that lie on the onshore Canning Superbasin. In November last year, the company signed an agreement with Western Australia's state government for EP 71, 391, 428, 431 and 436. The contract runs for 25 years, and comes with a separate 25-year extension option.

Buru said in November last year that the agreement provides a framework for the development of a project to deliver gas to a liquefied natural gas facility in the Pilbara, once sufficient gas has been identified to sustain domestic consumption. The JV is required to submit a proposal for the development of a domestic gas project and pipeline by June 30, 2016.

Quintella has reported on the upstream and downstream oil and petrochemicals markets from 2004. Email Quintella at quintella.koh@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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Report: 47 Tcf Gas Potential at Buru's Canning Permits

Buru Energy revealed Friday that RISC, an independent evaluation group, has completed an assessment of the prospective resources for all of the company's onshore permit areas in the Canning Superbasin.

The evaluation report confirmed that the Basin Centred Gas System in the Laurel Formation, spanning around 6,708 square miles (17,373 square kilometers), contains an unrisked gross recoverable volume of 47 trillion cubic feet of gas and 1,177 million barrels of condensate.

RISC has only considered the reservoirs in the overpressured part of the Laurel Formation in their analysis, Buru noted in a statement.

More work is required to quantify the resources in the extensive overlyinggas accumulation in the normally pressured section, generally above 8,202 feet (2,500 meters), Buru added.

RISC also stated its view that the existing analysis identified reservoirs which are a combination of conventional and unconventional reservoirs; the latter will likely to require stimulation.

Buru, in a joint agreement with Mitsubishi Corp, owns five permits that lie on the onshore Canning Superbasin. In November last year, the company signed an agreement with Western Australia's state government for EP 71, 391, 428, 431 and 436. The contract runs for 25 years, and comes with a separate 25-year extension option.

Buru said in November last year that the agreement provides a framework for the development of a project to deliver gas to a liquefied natural gas facility in the Pilbara, once sufficient gas has been identified to sustain domestic consumption. The JV is required to submit a proposal for the development of a domestic gas project and pipeline by June 30, 2016.

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

View the original article here

Report: 47 Tcf Gas Potential at Buru's Canning Permits

Buru Energy revealed Friday that RISC, an independent evaluation group, has completed an assessment of the prospective resources for all of the company's onshore permit areas in the Canning Superbasin.

The evaluation report confirmed that the Basin Centred Gas System in the Laurel Formation, spanning around 6,708 square miles (17,373 square kilometers), contains an unrisked gross recoverable volume of 47 trillion cubic feet of gas and 1,177 million barrels of condensate.

RISC has only considered the reservoirs in the overpressured part of the Laurel Formation in their analysis, Buru noted in a statement.

More work is required to quantify the resources in the extensive overlyinggas accumulation in the normally pressured section, generally above 8,202 feet (2,500 meters), Buru added.

RISC also stated its view that the existing analysis identified reservoirs which are a combination of conventional and unconventional reservoirs; the latter will likely to require stimulation.

Buru, in a joint agreement with Mitsubishi Corp, owns five permits that lie on the onshore Canning Superbasin. In November last year, the company signed an agreement with Western Australia's state government for EP 71, 391, 428, 431 and 436. The contract runs for 25 years, and comes with a separate 25-year extension option.

Buru said in November last year that the agreement provides a framework for the development of a project to deliver gas to a liquefied natural gas facility in the Pilbara, once sufficient gas has been identified to sustain domestic consumption. The JV is required to submit a proposal for the development of a domestic gas project and pipeline by June 30, 2016.

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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Survey Confirms Significant Oil Potential off Northern Ireland

Irish explorer Providence Resources reported Thursday that an airborne survey carried out over its P1885 and PL 5/10 licenses in the Rathlin Basin, offshore Northern Ireland, has confirmed significant oil potential in the area.

Providence said it acquired data from a 'Full Tensor Gradiometry' (FTG) and magnetic airborne survey, carried out by Bell Geospace, and that initial processing of these data revealed the presence of five FTG anomalies that were deemed prospective for hydrocarbon exploration. The company added that the primary FTG anomaly, the 'Polaris' prospect, which lies in the Rathlin Sound just off the coast of Northern Ireland, is coincident with a significant structural feature imaged on vintage 2D seismic data. This prospect also lies structurally on-trend with the onshore 2008 Ballinlea-1 well, which successfully recovered good quality oil to the surface during testing.

Providence that further processing of its newly-acquired gravity data indicates that the Polaris feature is a large areally-extensive structure covering around 12 square miles. An initial P50 volumetric estimate, based on gravity and offset well data, indicates an in-place prospective resource potential of approximately 530 million barrels of oil for the prospect.

Providence Technical Director John O'Sullivan commented in a statement Thursday:

"We continue to be very encouraged by the results of the recent FTG programme, which has exceeded our pre-survey expectations. The Rathlin Basin has always been considered prospective due to the presence of a rich oil prone source rock, however poor seismic imaging has historically rendered it difficult to determine the basin's true hydrocarbon entrapment potential. We believe that our application of new technologies such as Full Tensor Gradiometry should allow for a complete re-assessment of this frontier basin. We have now commenced planning for a future drilling programme in 2014, which includes necessary site investigations, local permitting requirements together with regulatory and local stakeholder liaison."

Providence had plenty of success around Ireland last year, where it proved up significant resources at its Barryroe discovery off the south coast and saw progress with several other exploration projects. O'Sullivan confirmed Thursday that drilling operations planned for 2013 include the upcoming deepwater exploration well on the Dunquin prospect, an appraisal well on the Spanish Point gas condensate discovery and an exploration well in the Kish Bank Basin.

"In 2014, we plan to drill an exploration well on the Polaris Prospect and an appraisal well on the Dragon gas field," he added.

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.

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