Statoil Gives Go-Ahead to Smorbukk South Extension Project

Statoil reported Wednesday that, along with its partners, it has decided to go ahead with the Smørbukk South Extension project on the Åsgard development, offshore Norway.

The extension holds estimated recoverable reserves of 16.5 million barrels of oil equivalent and will be developed with a new subsea template that will be connected to existing infrastructure in the area.

Recovered gas will be re-injected into the reservoir in order to maintain pressure as oil is drained out of it. The field will be connected to the Åsgard A FPSO installation.

Astrid Helga Jørgenvåg, Statoil's asset owner for Åsgard, commented in a company statement:

"We've matured a profitable project out of a discovery from 1985. Experience from Åsgard operations, existing infrastructure and a bit of patience have contributed to an investment decision for this project.

"In addition we will consider the use of a new well technology that will increase the recovery from this type of reservoir. Smørbukk South Extension is a strategically important project that emphasizes our ambitions to increase recovery from mature areas."

The extension project will use standard equipment, and Statoil has already made investments to minimize the time from project sanction to production start-up, the firm said.

Statoil will now award several contracts for the development, it added.

Drilling operations are planned to begin in early 2015, with production start-up planned for September 2015. Total investments for the project are estimated to be around $595 million.

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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Statoil Gives Go-Ahead to Smorbukk South Extension Project

Statoil reported Wednesday that, along with its partners, it has decided to go ahead with the Smørbukk South Extension project on the Åsgard development, offshore Norway.

The extension holds estimated recoverable reserves of 16.5 million barrels of oil equivalent and will be developed with a new subsea template that will be connected to existing infrastructure in the area.

Recovered gas will be re-injected into the reservoir in order to maintain pressure as oil is drained out of it. The field will be connected to the Åsgard A FPSO installation.

Astrid Helga Jørgenvåg, Statoil's asset owner for Åsgard, commented in a company statement:

"We've matured a profitable project out of a discovery from 1985. Experience from Åsgard operations, existing infrastructure and a bit of patience have contributed to an investment decision for this project.

"In addition we will consider the use of a new well technology that will increase the recovery from this type of reservoir. Smørbukk South Extension is a strategically important project that emphasizes our ambitions to increase recovery from mature areas."

The extension project will use standard equipment, and Statoil has already made investments to minimize the time from project sanction to production start-up, the firm said.

Statoil will now award several contracts for the development, it added.

Drilling operations are planned to begin in early 2015, with production start-up planned for September 2015. Total investments for the project are estimated to be around $595 million.

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

Statoil Gives Go-Ahead to Smorbukk South Extension Project

Statoil reported Wednesday that, along with its partners, it has decided to go ahead with the Smørbukk South Extension project on the Åsgard development, offshore Norway.

The extension holds estimated recoverable reserves of 16.5 million barrels of oil equivalent and will be developed with a new subsea template that will be connected to existing infrastructure in the area.

Recovered gas will be re-injected into the reservoir in order to maintain pressure as oil is drained out of it. The field will be connected to the Åsgard A FPSO installation.

Astrid Helga Jørgenvåg, Statoil's asset owner for Åsgard, commented in a company statement:

"We've matured a profitable project out of a discovery from 1985. Experience from Åsgard operations, existing infrastructure and a bit of patience have contributed to an investment decision for this project.

"In addition we will consider the use of a new well technology that will increase the recovery from this type of reservoir. Smørbukk South Extension is a strategically important project that emphasizes our ambitions to increase recovery from mature areas."

The extension project will use standard equipment, and Statoil has already made investments to minimize the time from project sanction to production start-up, the firm said.

Statoil will now award several contracts for the development, it added.

Drilling operations are planned to begin in early 2015, with production start-up planned for September 2015. Total investments for the project are estimated to be around $595 million.

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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UK Regulator Gives OK to Total on North Sea Elgin Restart

LONDON - The regulator of the U.K.'s offshore oil and gas industry said Wednesday that it has accepted the safety case submitted by French oil company Total SA for the restart of the Elgin gas field in the North Sea, which was shut down because of a gas leak a year ago.

"It will now be for Total to decide when to restart operations," said the U.K. Health and Safety Executive in an emailed statement.

The HSE said it is still investigating the incident on March 25 last year, but that it was satisfied that Total has, "re-evaluated the risks associated with operating the installation."

The timing of the restart of production at the Eglin-Franklin facilities, which contributed around 9% of the U.K.'s oil and gas production before the shutdown, is important for the U.K. economy as it teeters on the brink of its third recession in five years.

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

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Kreuz's Expanded Fleet Gives 430% Boost to 4Q Profit

Singapore-listed Kreuz Holdings posted Friday a fourth quarter profit ended Dec. 31, 2012, of $5.7 million, up 430 percent from the same period last year. In 4Q 2011, Kreuz reported a net profit of $1.07 million.

For the full year ended Dec. 31, 2012, Kreuz booked a profit of $39.6 million, up 49 percent from one year ago.

Kreuz said in its earnings report that the acquisition of a dynamic positioning construction class diving support vessel in April last year contributed to an increase in gross profit margin, as it reduced the company's reliance on third party vessels.

"The subsea sector is maintaining its current trend of continued growth in the shallow, medium and ultra-deep waters as subsea technology becomes an economically viable solution for increasingly remote or ultra-deepwater fields," the company noted in its disclosure.

"The high demand expected in the subsea sector along with the need to reinvigorate aging offshore fields augur well for Kreuz's subsea construction and installation services, and inspection, repair and maintenance," the company added.

In the Southeast Asian region, oil-rich countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia are placing a renewed emphasis on reinvigorating their aging offshore oil fields. Both of these countries are also looking at promoting exploration deeper offshore and on their smaller oil fields.

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

Kreuz's Expanded Fleet Gives 430% Boost to 4Q Profit

Singapore-listed Kreuz Holdings posted Friday a fourth quarter profit ended Dec. 31, 2012, of $5.7 million, up 430 percent from the same period last year. In 4Q 2011, Kreuz reported a net profit of $1.07 million.

For the full year ended Dec. 31, 2012, Kreuz booked a profit of $39.6 million, up 49 percent from one year ago.

Kreuz said in its earnings report that the acquisition of a dynamic positioning construction class diving support vessel in April last year contributed to an increase in gross profit margin, as it reduced the company's reliance on third party vessels.

"The subsea sector is maintaining its current trend of continued growth in the shallow, medium and ultra-deep waters as subsea technology becomes an economically viable solution for increasingly remote or ultra-deepwater fields," the company noted in its disclosure.

"The high demand expected in the subsea sector along with the need to reinvigorate aging offshore fields augur well for Kreuz's subsea construction and installation services, and inspection, repair and maintenance," the company added.

In the Southeast Asian region, oil-rich countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia are placing a renewed emphasis on reinvigorating their aging offshore oil fields. Both of these countries are also looking at promoting exploration deeper offshore and on their smaller oil fields.

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

Kreuz's Expanded Fleet Gives 430% Boost to 4Q Profit

Singapore-listed Kreuz Holdings posted Friday a fourth quarter profit ended Dec. 31, 2012, of $5.7 million, up 430 percent from the same period last year. In 4Q 2011, Kreuz reported a net profit of $1.07 million.

For the full year ended Dec. 31, 2012, Kreuz booked a profit of $39.6 million, up 49 percent from one year ago.

Kreuz said in its earnings report that the acquisition of a dynamic positioning construction class diving support vessel in April last year contributed to an increase in gross profit margin, as it reduced the company's reliance on third party vessels.

"The subsea sector is maintaining its current trend of continued growth in the shallow, medium and ultra-deep waters as subsea technology becomes an economically viable solution for increasingly remote or ultra-deepwater fields," the company noted in its disclosure.

"The high demand expected in the subsea sector along with the need to reinvigorate aging offshore fields augur well for Kreuz's subsea construction and installation services, and inspection, repair and maintenance," the company added.

In the Southeast Asian region, oil-rich countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia are placing a renewed emphasis on reinvigorating their aging offshore oil fields. Both of these countries are also looking at promoting exploration deeper offshore and on their smaller oil fields.

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

Israel Gives Go-Ahead to Drilling on Golan Heights

JERUSALEM - Israel said Thursday that it has awarded the first license to drill for oil in the disputed Golan Heights to a local subsidiary of U.S.-listed explorer Genie Energy Ltd.

Genie Israel Oil and Gas Ltd. has been granted exclusive rights to drill in an area of about 397 square kilometers, or about one-third of the Golan Heights total area, the Energy Ministry said.

In recent months, there have been several incidents of artillery fire from the civil war in Syria spilling into the Golan region, which has been an internationally patrolled demilitarized zone since the end of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Israel first occupied Golan during the 1967 six-day war, and annexed it in 1981. The U.S. government has previously called on Israel to rescind the latter move, saying it has "no validity" and is "a stumbling block in the way of achieving a just, comprehensive, and lasting peace in the region."

A spokesman for Israeli Energy Minister Uzi Landau declined to comment on how the political situation in Syria, or what many consider the occupied nature of the Golan Heights, could affect the project. The U.S. State Department didn't immediately offer comment.

"I can tell you that the process [for granting the license] was all professional and was made by the oil and gas council in the office," the Israeli spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires.

Genie said in a statement that preliminary tests show that the newly-licensed area likely contains "significant quantities of conventional oil and gas in relatively tight formations, the development of which would entail significantly different technical approaches and project time lines than other projects."

Significant quantities of natural gas have been found in recent years off Israel's coast, including at the giant Leviathan field, potentially setting up Israel as an exporter of energy.

The news wasn't enough to lift the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, which was trading negatively Thursday.

Newark, N.J.-based Genie is also working on developing two oil shale projects, one in California and one in Israel, near Jerusalem.

Former U.S. vice president Dick Cheney sits on the advisory board of Genie Oil and Gas, as does Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corp., parent company of Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

Copyright (c) 2012 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.

View the original article here

Israel Gives Go-Ahead to Drilling on Golan Heights

JERUSALEM - Israel said Thursday that it has awarded the first license to drill for oil in the disputed Golan Heights to a local subsidiary of U.S.-listed explorer Genie Energy Ltd.

Genie Israel Oil and Gas Ltd. has been granted exclusive rights to drill in an area of about 397 square kilometers, or about one-third of the Golan Heights total area, the Energy Ministry said.

In recent months, there have been several incidents of artillery fire from the civil war in Syria spilling into the Golan region, which has been an internationally patrolled demilitarized zone since the end of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Israel first occupied Golan during the 1967 six-day war, and annexed it in 1981. The U.S. government has previously called on Israel to rescind the latter move, saying it has "no validity" and is "a stumbling block in the way of achieving a just, comprehensive, and lasting peace in the region."

A spokesman for Israeli Energy Minister Uzi Landau declined to comment on how the political situation in Syria, or what many consider the occupied nature of the Golan Heights, could affect the project. The U.S. State Department didn't immediately offer comment.

"I can tell you that the process [for granting the license] was all professional and was made by the oil and gas council in the office," the Israeli spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires.

Genie said in a statement that preliminary tests show that the newly-licensed area likely contains "significant quantities of conventional oil and gas in relatively tight formations, the development of which would entail significantly different technical approaches and project time lines than other projects."

Significant quantities of natural gas have been found in recent years off Israel's coast, including at the giant Leviathan field, potentially setting up Israel as an exporter of energy.

The news wasn't enough to lift the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, which was trading negatively Thursday.

Newark, N.J.-based Genie is also working on developing two oil shale projects, one in California and one in Israel, near Jerusalem.

Former U.S. vice president Dick Cheney sits on the advisory board of Genie Oil and Gas, as does Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corp., parent company of Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

Copyright (c) 2012 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.

View the original article here

Kreuz's Expanded Fleet Gives 430% boost to 4Q Profit

Singapore-listed Kreuz Holdings posted Friday a fourth quarter profit ended Dec. 31, 2012, of $5.7 million, up 430 percent from the same period last year. In 4Q 2011, Kreuz reported a net profit of $1.07 million.

For the full year ended Dec.31, 2012, Kreuz booked a profit of $39.6 million, up 49 percent from one year ago.

Kreuz said in its earnings report that the acquisition of a dynamic positioning construction class diving support vessel in April last year contributed to an increase in gross profit margin, as it reduced the company's reliance on third party vessels.

"The subsea sector is maintaining its current trend of continued growth in the shallow, medium and ultra-deep waters as subsea technology becomes an economically viable solution for increasingly remote or ultra-deepwater fields," the company noted in its disclosure.

"The high demand expected in the subsea sector along with the need to reinvigorate aging offshore fields augur well for Kreuz’s subsea construction and installation services, and inspection, repair and maintenance," the company added.

In the Southeast Asian region, oil-rich countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia are placing a renewed emphasis on reinvigorating their aging offshore oil fields. Both of these countries are also looking at promoting exploration deeper offshore and on their smaller oil fields.

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

Kreuz's Expanded Fleet Gives 430% boost to 4Q Profit

Singapore-listed Kreuz Holdings posted Friday a fourth quarter profit ended Dec. 31, 2012, of $5.7 million, up 430 percent from the same period last year. In 4Q 2011, Kreuz reported a net profit of $1.07 million.

For the full year ended Dec.31, 2012, Kreuz booked a profit of $39.6 million, up 49 percent from one year ago.

Kreuz said in its earnings report that the acquisition of a dynamic positioning construction class diving support vessel in April last year contributed to an increase in gross profit margin, as it reduced the company's reliance on third party vessels.

"The subsea sector is maintaining its current trend of continued growth in the shallow, medium and ultra-deep waters as subsea technology becomes an economically viable solution for increasingly remote or ultra-deepwater fields," the company noted in its disclosure.

"The high demand expected in the subsea sector along with the need to reinvigorate aging offshore fields augur well for Kreuz’s subsea construction and installation services, and inspection, repair and maintenance," the company added.

In the Southeast Asian region, oil-rich countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia are placing a renewed emphasis on reinvigorating their aging offshore oil fields. Both of these countries are also looking at promoting exploration deeper offshore and on their smaller oil fields.

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

Retired Marine who gives holiday toys to kids is sex offender

Font ResizeLocal NewsBy Kieran Nicholson
The Denver Postdenverpost.comPosted: 12/21/2012 01:21:38 PM MSTDecember 21, 2012 10:55 PM GMTUpdated: 12/21/2012 03:55:40 PM MST


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