Specialist Energy Group Boosts Order Intake

Pump supplier Specialist Energy Group reported Wednesday that it ended last year with an order intake of $54.5 million (GBP 34.5 million) – an almost 10-percent increase over the end of 2011.

The UK-based firm, whose wholly-owned subsidiary Hayward Tyler supplies specialist pumps and motors to the oil and gas industry as well as the power generation sector, also reported a strong second-half performance thanks (in part) to steps taken during 2012 to improve operational efficiencies and expand its market penetration, it said.

Specialist Energy said that it had seen notable growth in international oil and gas markets during 2012, where it has seen orders valued at nearly $11 million (GBP 7 million) for its range of seawater life and firewater pumps.

Specialist Energy CEO Ewan Lloyd-Baker commented in a statement:

"Significant steps have been taken over the last twelve months to improve the operational efficiencies within our core manufacturing activity so that we can better leverage Hayward Tyler's growing international order book. As a consequence, we are now seeing a genuine momentum within Hayward Tyler which the board believes will be healthily reflected in our full year results."

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Yokogawa Wins ICSS Contract for Cygnus Project

GDF Suez announced Thursday that it has awarded Yokogawa Europe Solutions a contract to supply integrated control and safety systems (ICSS) for the Cygnus offshore development project in the UK North Sea.

The Cygnus gas discovery, located in the North Sea’s Southern Gas Basin, is estimated to hold approximately 635 billion cubic feet of gas.

Under the contract, Yokogawa will supply the complete ICSS comprising of the following systems: process control, process shutdown, emergency shutdown, fire & gas detection (complete with associated field devices), process data historian, and field device asset management.

Yokogawa will also be supplying an operator training system (OTS).

The ICSS will be distributed across the Cygnus complex, which currently consists of a total of four greenfield offshore platforms. Three platforms are bridge linked (Alpha WHP, PU, and UQ) and a second remote drilling centre is located on the fourth platform (Bravo WHP). The planned export route is through the ETS pipeline system to the Perenco Bacton Gas Terminal in North Norfolk.

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The Philippines Challenges China's Maritime Claims at UN Tribunal

The Philippines will challenge China's claim to most of the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea at a United Nations tribunal, its Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) disclosed in a statement Tuesday.

The row between Manila and Beijing escalated in April last year, when government vessels from both sides faced off for several weeks at the Scarborough Shoal. The area around the Scarborough Shoal is widely believed to contain massive gas reserves, and has consequently drawn strong interest from both the Philippines and China.

"This afternoon, the Philippines has taken the step of bringing China before an arbitral tribunal under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in order to achieve a peaceful and durable solution over the West Philippine Sea," the DFA said.

"The Philippines has exhausted almost all political and diplomatic avenues for a peaceful negotiated settlement of its maritime dispute with China. We hope that the arbitral proceedings [will] bring this dispute to a durable solution," the DFA added.

Manila told Beijing's ambassador Tuesday about its decision to take China to arbitration under UNCLOS.

It is however clear that China is unwilling to participate in the process. The country, through the state-controlled Xinhuanet, emphasized that it wants to continue on bilateral negotiations.

"China has stressed bilateral talks with the Philippines to settle the island dispute. The Chinese Government has always stood for a negotiated settlement of international disputes through peaceful means. In this spirit, China has solved territorial disputes and demarcated borders with some neighboring countries through consultations and negotiations in an equitable, reasonable and amicable manner," Xinhuanet reported Wednesday.

UN leader Ban Ki-moon told reporters Wednesday that the two countries should seek to resolve their issues through dialogue in a peaceful and amicable way.

"The UN is ready to provide technical and professional assistance, but primarily all these issues should be resolved by the parties concerned," Ban said, careful to avoid backing any country involved. 

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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Bechtel Bags FEED Contract for Mozambique Proj.

Bechtel has been selected by Anadarko Mocambique Area 1, Limitada to perform a front end engineering and design (FEED) for a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in the Republic of Mozambique. This is the first LNG project in the country.

"The Mozambique LNG FEED award builds on Bechtel's extensive experience in LNG and in Africa, where we have worked for more than 50 years," said Jack Futcher, president of Bechtel's Oil, Gas and Chemicals business unit. "We are excited by the prospect of working with Anadarko and its partners to develop a world-class facility that will bring jobs and economic development to Mozambique."

The FEED is for the initial phase of the onshore LNG facility that will be built in the Cabo Delgado province in the northeast of the country. Bechtel will develop a design for a multi-train liquefaction plant with a nominal train capacity of five million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) of LNG, and an overall LNG park plan that will allow for future expansion of the facility to approximately 50 MMTPA. First commercial LNG sales from the facility are planned for 2018.

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Genel: Taq Taq Field Hits 109,000 Barrels per Day

Kurdistan-focused Genel Energy announced Friday that production from its onshore Taq Taq field hit a high Jan. 4 of 109,000 barrels of oil per day. The company added that during the first two weeks of January production from Taq Taq has averaged 89,000 bopd.

Genel, reporting an operational update, said that it expects to complete its current exploration program in the Kurdistan region of Iraq during the first half of 2013. This program comprises three high-impact wells that are targeting a gross un-risked resource of more than 750 million barrels of oil equivalent. Tawke Deep and Chia Surkh 10 are currently drilling on schedule with results expected by the end of the first quarter. A third well (Taq Taq Deep) will spud during the next couple of months.

Capital expenditure for 2013 is expected to be between $400 million and $500 million. The firm spent approximately $230 million in 2012, which was fully funded by cash generated from current operations in Kurdistan.

Genel said that its average net working interest production for 2012 was 44,500 bopd, compared with 42,000 bopd in 2011. The company said that it began reducing exports of oil in mid-November, switching sales of production back into Kurdistan's domestic market, in response to the uncertainty regarding the receipt of the second payment for historic exports owed from the Federal Government of Iraq.

Meanwhile, Genel started exporting crude oil from Taq Taq into Turkey by truck earlier this month.

Genel Chief Executive Tony Hayward commented in the statement:

"2012 saw a strong production performance and a materially expanded exploration portfolio which will provide us with significant opportunities in 2013, both in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Africa. We expect revenues to be ahead of previous guidance and all development and exploration activities in Kurdistan to be funded from cash flow generated locally in line with our stated strategy. We are today exporting oil to Turkey in accordance with the authority granted to us by the Kurdistan Regional Government and as the largest independent operator in Kurdistan, are well placed to take advantage of regional opportunities for a broader export market as the political situation continues to develop." 

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Pacific Drilling Orders Eighth UDW Drillship

Pacific Drilling S.A. announced Tuesday that its wholly-owned subsidiary exercised an option to construct its eighth ultra-deepwater drillship with Samsung Heavy Industries.

"We are extremely pleased to announce the order of our eighth ultra-deepwater drillship," stated Pacific Drilling CEO Chris Beckett. "The strong market for deepwater drilling, attractive construction cost, strength of relationships with our preferred vendors, and robust operating performance of our in-service rigs support the decision to invest in the further expansion of our fleet."

The drillship will have a rated water depth of 12,000 feet, be equipped for 40,000 feet drilling depth, have accommodation for 200 personnel and be equipped to support dual gradient drilling. The total cost, excluding capitalized interest, will be approximately $620 million and delivery is scheduled for March 16, 2015. Financing for the construction of this rig is expected to be provided by a combination of cash flows from ongoing operations and long-term debt.

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EnQuest Buys 8% of Alba Field

North Sea-focused independent EnQuest has made an agreement that will see it acquire an 8 percent interest in the Alba oil field. The deal is being achieved by the firm's subsidiary EnQuest Britain Limited acquiring two of CIECO Energy's affiliate companies, which together hold 8 percent of the field.

EnQuest will pay $29.6 million (GBP 18.75 million) cash, along with a further deferred cash consideration of up to $790,000 (GBP 500,000) contingent on project milestones being achieved. The eight percent interest in Alba means that EnQuest is gaining net 2P reserves of 5.9 million barrels of oil equivalent.

The Alba field contains around 1 billion barrels of oil in place and has so far produced around 400 million barrels. It produces heavy oil from Eocene turbidite sandstones in block 16/26 in the UK North Sea and produces from the Alba Northern platform. The field is operated by Chevron, which has a 23.37-percent interest.

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