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.

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Group’s new oil shale report contains wildly inaccurate claims

The Institute for Energy Research (IER), recently posted a blog about oil shale that doesn’t have its facts straight.

The IER blog falsely claims that the federal government put oil shale resources ‘under lock and key’. Oil shale companies have been awarded billions in taxpayer-funded subsidies and received research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) leases on publicly owned lands that don’t require the payment of bonuses, rents, or royalties.

Despite more than a century of failed oil shale projects and billions of dollars risked, taxpayers are still subsidizing oil shale research and development. Currently, there are seven such RD&D leases being pursued in Colorado and Utah.  The companies include: Shell, American Shale Oil (AMSO), Enefit, ExxonMobil, and Natural Soda Holdings.

Chevron also had an RD&D holding, but abandoned it last February in order to focus on viable energy sources – hardly the first oil shale experiment to go

bust. On Black Sunday, Exxon closed its Colony oil shale project, which put more than 2,000 out of work and devastated the economy of Colorado’s western slope for years.

Arial photo of a pile of oil shale ‘ash’ in Estonia. Source: EcoCrete Project.

In their blog, IER also highlights Estonia, considered the world leader in oil shale, as the prime example of successful oil shale development – but that’s no

t factual either. Oil shale isn’t economically viable in Estonia, has caused significant water, air and land pollution, and is highly controversial.

The head of Estonia’s biggest oil shale company, Eestia Energia – known as Enefit in the U.S. – has admitted that oil shale is not profitable without large taxpayer subsidies. Underscoring this point was Moody’s recent move downgrading Enefit’s credit rating to negative, over concerns that they can’t make oil shale profitable.

In addition, oil shale is a dirty, polluting fossil fuel that’s responsible for 80 percent of all of Estonia’s pollution.  Enefit’s track record includes contaminated groundwater, creating 600-foot high mountains of oil shale waste that spontaneously ignite, and causing the emission of “lots of carbon dioxide.”

IER’s blog also boasts that there are huge oil shale deposits in the U.S. But these projections are irrelevant because oil shale isn’t a viable energy source and fails the basic economic test. In other words, the return on oil shale doesn’t outweigh the investment. The amount of energy and water that it takes to superheat, mine and process oil shale – which is actually fossilized algae – is more than the energy that oil shale provides. If you need more evidence just look to the billion dollar oil and gas industry, which has almost limitless resources, and has 100 plus years of failed oil shale experiments to show for their efforts.

The IER can spin oil shale all day, but it won’t change the cold hard fact that oil shale isn’t ready for prime time.

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SandRidge CEO Sells Shares Days After Truce With Activist Investor

HOUSTON - SandRidge Energy Inc. Chief Executive Tom Ward sold about 13.5% of his SandRidge stock days after the company reached a truce with an activist investor that could lead to the executive's departure.

Mr. Ward sold 3.7 million shares of SandRidge in two transactions Friday and Monday, netting about $21 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He still owns nearly 23.5 million shares, or close to 5% of SandRidge's shares according to figures from the company's website.

The move came in the wake of the partial success last week of a months-long campaign by hedge fund TPG-Axon Capital Management, which sought to replace SandRidge's board, including Mr. Ward. The campaign ended in a settlement, under which four of the fund's nominees would join the board.

Under the deal, Mr. Ward will keep his position as chief executive and board chairman for the time being, but the board will have to decide his fate by June 30. If it keeps him in place, three current SandRidge board members will have to leave and an additional nominee by TPG-Axon will join, giving the activist investor a majority of the seats on the board.

If Mr. Ward is terminated, current chief financial officer James Bennett will become interim chief executive and the board will conduct a search for a successor.

A spokesman for SandRidge did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The board's decision will come after a review of the company's strategy and costs, including an independent firm's review of land deals the company entered with entities controlled by relatives of Mr. Ward, according to the settlement announced last week.

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

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Gov. Hickenlooper fails to fine company responsible for toxic Parachute spill

Yesterday, Gov. Hickenlooper’s department of public health and environment (CDPHE) announced that they won’t levy fines against Williams Cos. for spilling 10,000 barrels of natural gas and toxic waste into Parachute Creek and the surrounding area in western Colorado.

Earlier this month, the Governor lobbied to water-down legislation to toughen fines for oil and gas companies who pollute, despite Colorado’s well-documented problems of spills, and lowest in the nation fines. The Governor’s actions ultimately led to the death of the legislation.

The Parachute spill, which occurred in the winter but wasn’t reported until the spring, has polluted water with cancer-causing benzene. In early May, benzene levels in the creek exceeded the federal safe drinking water standard.

In their statement, CDPHE said that they aren’t fining Williams because the spill “was not due to negligence but to accidental equipment failure.” So now Gov. Hickenlooper’s department of public health and environment only “protect[s] and improve[s] the health of Colorado’s people and the quality of its environment” part of the time? We didn’t find that caveat in their mission statement.

This isn’t the first time that the Hickenlooper Administration has failed to hold polluters accountable. A 2011 Suncor spill that polluted the South Platte River is still being cleaned up nearly two years later – and yet Suncor hasn’t been fined for dumping toxic levels of benzene into the river.

Unfortunately, it appears that the Hickenlooper Administration is fine with oil and gas companies polluting our water and communities with waste and toxins – otherwise, why not hold them accountable for polluting by enforcing fines?

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Gazprom Could Bail Out Cyprus in Gas Deal

Russian state gas giant Gazprom may be in talks with the Republic of Cyprus government about a bailout of the cash-strapped country in return for exploration concessions in its offshore territories, according to reports.

Cyprus' parliament rejected a European Union bailout package Tuesday that included a measure that would have seen everyone with a savings account in the country take a one-off levy of up to 9.9 percent on savings of more than $25,800 (EUR 20,000). Many savers in the country include Russian expats.

Instead, Cyprus could make a deal with Gazprom, which has offered the Republic of Cyprus a plan in which Gazprom would undertake the restructuring of the tiny country's banks in exchange for exploration rights for natural gas in the country's Exclusive Economic Zone, according to the Greek Reporter website.

However, although Russian and Cypriot finance ministers have been holding talks over the Mediterranean island's financial crisis, Gazprom has not confirmed whether or not it is involved.

Cyprus has already granted concessions to several companies in its EEZ, including Italy's ENI, Korea Gas Corporation, Total and Noble Energy. In December 2011, Noble discovered the Aphrodite gas field, which it estimates holds up to 9 trillion cubic feet of gas.

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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UK Budget: Decom Tax Relief Welcomed by Oil, Gas Sector

Measures announced by the UK Chancellor in his 2013 Budget to guarantee tax relief on the decommissioning of oilfields on the UK Continental Shelf have been welcomed by the UK oil industry.

Oil & Gas UK Chief Executive Malcolm Webb commented in a statement:

"The industry has been working closely with the Treasury since the 2011 Budget to resolve the long-standing problem of uncertainty on decommissioning tax relief. The measures announced today will for the first time ever give companies the certainty they need over the tax treatment of decommissioning.

"At no cost to the Government, it will speed up asset sales and free up capital for companies to use for investment, extending the productive life of the UK continental shelf."

Decom North Sea (DNS), a forum specializing in UK decommissioning, said the new measures will boost the sector by giving increased certainty, in turn leading to new jobs and investment in new technology. DNS pointed out that decommissioning expenditure in the North Sea is forecast to top $1.5 billion (GBP 1 billion) within a few years.

"The Chancellor's confirmation of tax relief through Decommissioning Relief Deeds will help ease one of the greatest concerns facing the North Sea industry and lead to investment and ultimately more jobs," DNS Chief Executive Brian Nixon said.

"Once assets have been recognized as nearing the end of their economic lives, we believe the Budget will lead to operators being able to move forward with their decommissioning plans, which will in turn help to reassure the hundreds of supply chain companies and encourage them to consider investment in new equipment or tooling or to attract new staff."

Meanwhile, Derek Leith – head of oil and gas taxation at Ernst & Young in Aberdeen, Scotland – pointed out that the announcement would act as a gateway to greater investment in the North Sea, creating an active market that is attractive to companies across the oil and gas industry, from super majors to niche operators.

"Cementing the promise of contracts that guarantee tax relief on costs associated with deactivating and dismantling oilfields during the lifetime of this, and future parliaments, removes another layer of fiscal uncertainty from the UK Continental Shelf and should facilitate the transfer of assets," Leith said.

"Smaller companies that had previously been priced out of potential deals will now be in a position to maximise recovery from existing infrastructure, while larger players will be able to free up capital to fund further exploration and production."

In his Budget, the Chancellor also announced that he would introduce a "generous" new tax regime designed to stimulate early investment in the UK's burgeoning shale gas sector.

The new shale gas tax regime will include a field allowance. Meanwhile, new planning guidance on shale gas projects, along with specific proposals to help local communities to benefit from shale drilling, would follow later in 2013, he said.

"Shale gas is part of the future and we will make it happen," Osborne said in his Budget statement to Parliament.

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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The Maine Players Attacking Renewable Energy: The Koch Brothers

In a new report, the Maine Conservation Alliance asks: are we debating renewable energy, or the Koch brothers’ profits?”

Maine’s renewable energy standards have been the prime target of the Koch Machine – front groups, think tanks, and legislators with financial ties to Koch Industries and its two billionaire owners: the Koch brothers.

The Renewable Portfolio Standard, which requires utilities to provide 30% of their energy through renewable sources, has led to $2 billion in investment and over 2500 local jobs. It has proven to be great for Maine’s economy – but it threatens the profit margins of fossil fuel companies like Koch Industries, which pumps 300 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere every year.

To dismantle the RPS, the Koch brothers have been extending influence through a legislative front group – the American Legislative Executive Council (ALEC). ALEC has contributed over $750,000 to political action committees, candidates, and parties in Maine. Senator Mike Thibodeau, one of the anti-RPS bill’s co-sponsors, has received over $15,000 from ALEC-affiliated organizations.

It is the civic duty of Mainers to decide for themselves what is best for the state’s environment and economy, not an out-of-state corporate interest. The Maine Conservation Alliance affirms that the economy is not for sale.

Filed under Uncategorized Tagged with Energy, oil, gas, clean energy, Renewables, Koch Industries, Fossil Fuels, Koch Brothers, ALEC, RPS, American Legislative Exchange Council, Koch, Maine, Renewable Energy Standard, Renewable Energy, electricity

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