Premier Reaches Out to Xodus for Catcher FEED Study

Premier Oil has reached out to Xodus Group to conduct a subsea Front End Engineering Design study for the Catcher project in the Central North Sea. Catcher is situated on Block 28/9. The oil field was discovered in June 2010.

Xodus will develop and engineer field and subsea architecture, flow assurance processes, subsea control systems, pipelines and tie-ins, as well as providing technical safety and risk support. The company will also assist in the FEED for the three riser systems for each of the wells, to allow production from the field through the subsea tieback.

Work for the FEED contract will be developed in two phases. Premier stated in a release that a review of previous and current studies, preliminary process flow diagrams and investigative work to identify structural functional requirements, will lay the foundations for the subsequent select phase.

Premier Oil and partners formally agreed on a development concept and have moved into the design phase, which should be completed by the end of September.

"Xodus is proud to be involved in the Catcher project which is a significant development in the North Sea," said Andrew Wylie, senior consultant at Xodus Group in a statement. "Our fully independent, integrated and highly technical service will deliver a wealth of knowledge to this project. Xodus is committed to Aberdeen and the North Sea market and our breadth of capability and multidisciplinary service makes us a preferred partner for FPSO projects. From risers to pipelines, and design to pre-commissioning, we have a proven track record."

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Dejour Energy Reaches TD at Kokopelli Well

Dejour Energy Inc., an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company operating in North America's Piceance Basin and Peace River Arch regions, announced it has now reached total depth of 8130 feet in the Federal 6-7-15-21, the fourth and final well in the current Kokopelli drill program targeting production from multiple horizons of the NGL-rich Williams Fork in this 2Q 2013 drilling operation. Again, ample gas shows, as expected, were observed. The hole has now been cased and cemented.

Following demobilization of the drilling rig and completion of the gas sales line tie in to our facilities, Haliburton will begin turnkey operations to stimulate and complete all four wells for production. Initial production (IP) is scheduled to commence prior to the end of 2Q 2013.

Dejour operates this Kokopelli project and enjoys a 72 percent WI in the initial well drilled in 4Q 2012 and a 100 percent WI in the three wells currently being drilled, all subject to a previously announced agreement with a Denver based drilling fund.

With the realization of firmer gas prices to date in 2013, Dejour is now modeling Kokopelli for the next wave of development targeted for 4Q 2013. The Company estimates the potential to drill at least 27 deeper Mancos/Niobrara wells and more than an additional 200 Williams Fork wells on its two leases that comprise a total of 2200 gross acres.

The Company will report its 1Q 2013 financial results after the market close on May 15, 2013.

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Max Petroleum Reaches TD at Zhana Makat Well

Max Petroleum Plc, an oil and gas exploration and production company focused on Kazakhstan, announced that the ZMA-A24 development well in the Zhana Makat Field has successfully reached a total depth of 2,858 feet (871 meters), encountering hydrocarbons in Jurassic sandstone reservoirs in line with expectations.

The Company plans to complete the well and then place it on production as soon as practicable. The Zhanros ZJ-20 rig will now move to drill the ZMA-E5 development well in the Zhana Makat Field.

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Uganda Reaches Deal With Oil Companies Over Refinery

KAMPALA, Uganda - The Ugandan government has reached an agreement with oil companies operating in its oil-rich Lake Albertine rift basin over the construction of a 30,000 barrels-a-day refinery, ending a nearly two-year deadlock that has largely been blamed for delaying the development of the country's oil fields, the Ugandan presidency said over the weekend.

The refinery agreement brings the two parties closer to a final deal on the basin-wide oil development plan, where companies are expected to invest more than $12 billion to develop the country's nascent oil sector.

A presidential spokeswoman said in a statement the refinery agreement was reached following a meeting on Saturday between President Yoweri Museveni and representatives of companies operating in the country--U.K.-based Tullow Oil PLC, France's Total SA and China's CNOOC Ltd. "The parties agreed to start with the refinery size of 30,000 barrels per day" the spokeswoman said, adding that Mr. Museveni noted that oil production in the country was long overdue because a lot of time has been wasted in negotiations and formulation of oil production documents. "We have wasted too much time. We are now with the issue of oil for seven years. We need to make our final decisions," Mr. Museveni was quoted as saying.

With an estimated 3.5 billion barrels of untapped oil, Uganda is expected to join Nigeria, Angola and Sudan among sub-Saharan Africa's major crude producers. But the government had withheld consent for the development of the fields since last year, due to a spat with oil companies over development plans, chief among them the size of the refinery. While the companies have been pushing for a pipeline to export crude on the open market, government has been insisting on the construction of a large refinery, with the capacity to refine as much as 180,000 barrels-a-day of crude into fuel products, initially for domestic consumption and then for regional export.

Last week, Mr. Museveni said that the two sides were close to agreeing an oil and gas extraction plan that is "optimal" for both government and oil companies. Following the meeting with oil companies, government also agreed to the construction of an export pipeline, the presidency said. In February, Total said that its project in Uganda would stall, unless government approved the construction of a pipeline. Negotiations over the final development plans for the oil basin are continuing and the two sides expect a final deal in the next few weeks, according to government officials. There was no immediate reaction from company officials.

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

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Sinopec Reaches $3 Billion Asset Deal

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. agreed to form a joint venture that will acquire $3 billion in oil and gas assets held by its state-owned parent in countries including Kazakhstan, Colombia and Russia.

The joint venture between Sinopec Corp., as China's largest oil refiner is known, and parent China Petrochemical Corp. will be called Sinopec International Petroleum E&P Hongkong Overseas Ltd.

Sinopec also reported a 13% decline in profit for last year.

China Petrochemical holds a 73.86% stake in Sinopec. Since 2010, the parent has invested $34 billion in oil and gas deals in the U.K, the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Argentina and Australia, according to data provider Dealogic.

Two people familiar with the talks said in January that $8 billion in assets would be acquired by Sinopec in April. It wasn't clear Sunday whether further purchases will follow the announcement of the $3 billion deal.

The acquisitions are aimed at putting Sinopec on par with integrated global energy companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell by helping it build up its relatively small reserves to complement its network of refineries.

"The transactions will facilitate Sinopec Corp.'s strategic objective of becoming a more internationalized oil company with significant oil and gas assets," the company said Sunday.

After the transaction, Sinopec's overseas proven reserves will rise more than fourfold to 330.2 million barrels of oil equivalent. Its overseas production will more than double to 58.7 million barrels of oil equivalent. Sinopec's only current overseas asset is a stake in an oil field off Angola's shore.

The arrangement has been spearheaded by Sinopec Chairman Fu Chengyu. Mr. Fu said last year that Sinopec planned to acquire its parent's overseas exploration and production assets, partly to limit the damage on earnings posed by China's caps on domestic fuel prices.

Sinopec primarily is a refining company so is more vulnerable than its rivals to the gap between global prices for crude oil and domestic prices for refined products.

When Mr. Fu ran Cnooc Ltd., the company developed the greatest international reach of China's top-three state-owned oil companies, acquiring assets from North America to Nigeria to Iraq. He left Cnooc for Sinopec in 2011.

Sinopec reported on Sunday that net profit fell to 63.88 billion yuan ($10.28 billion) last year from 73.23 billion yuan in 2011, hurt by higher crude-oil costs and caps on retail prices.

Analysts had projected net profit of 62.6 billion yuan for last year, according to Thomson Reuters.

Operating losses from Sinopec's refining business narrowed to 11.4 billion yuan from 35.8 billion yuan.

The company plans to refine 238 million metric tons of crude oil this year, up from 221 million tons last year.

State-run PetroChina Co., the country's largest oil company by capacity, on Thursday reported a 13% decline in net profit.

Cnooc, China's third-largest oil producer, recently reported a 9.3% decline in 2012 net profit. Cnooc, which is digesting its $15 billion purchase of Canada's Nexen Inc., has few refining assets.

Analysts have forecast that earnings for PetroChina and Sinopec will improve this year, assuming the implementation of planned changes by the National Development and Reform Commissionin the system for pricing refined products and natural gas.

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

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Max Petroleum Reaches TD at Zhana Makat Well

Max Petroleum Plc, an oil and gas exploration and production company focused on Kazakhstan, announced that the ZMA-A20 development well in the Zhana Makat Field has successfully reached a total depth of 3,032 feet (924 meters), encountering hydrocarbons in Necomian and Jurassic sandstone reservoirs in line with expectations. The Company plans to complete the well and then place it on production as soon as practicable. The Zhanros ZJ-20 rig will now move to drill the ZMA-A22 development well in the Zhana Makat Field.

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Jimbolia-100 Well Reaches Target Depth

Romania-focused Zeta Petroleum announced Thursday that the Jimbolia-100 appraisal well has reached its target depth of 8,500 feet.

Spud Dec. 31, the well is located on the Jimbolia concession near the Romanian-Serbian border. It is targeting the Jimbolia Veche oil discovery, which has two hydrocarbon-bearing intervals and a current contingent resource of 1.7 million barrels.

Now that it has reached target depth, the well will be logged and a seven-inch liner will be run into the bottom section of the hole. A decision to test the well will be made on receipt of the logging results, said Zeta.

Zeta holds a 39-percent interest in the Jimbolia-100 well. The well is operated by NIS Petrol SRL, which holds a 51-percent stake.

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