SNC-Lavalin to Perform Detailed Design Work on Gina Krog Jacket

HFG Engineering Europe B.V. (HFGE) awarded SNC-Lavalin a contract to carry out part of the detailed design of the jacket for Statoil's Gina Krog, formerly Dagny field, development in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.

The engineering project will be executed as a joint effort of HFGE and SNC-Lavalin. Work on the 16,000-tone, barge-launched jacket is set to commence immediately.

"We worked with HFGE on the record-breaking Valemon jacket for Statoil, and we are pleased to have the opportunity to support them once again," said Hafez Aghili, Senior Vice-President and General Manager, SNC-Lavalin UK, in a released statement. "This most recent award is a testament to the expertise of our offshore engineering team for both lifted and barge-launched jackets."

Gina Krog, an oil, gas and condensate field located on Block 15/5, will be developed using a fixed platform tied into the Sleipner field for gas export with oil offloaded to shuttle tankers. The field was discovered in 2008, commenced development in 2012 and is expected to come online in the first quarter of 2017.

The field has resources in the range of 35 million cubic meters per day, and the recoverable oil resources can be increased substantially assuming that gas injection is selected in the development solution, according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.

With more than 10 years of journalism experience, Robin Dupre specializes in the offshore sector of the oil and gas industry. Email Robin at rdupre@rigzone.com.

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Expro Opens Aberdeen Office

The Rt. Hon. Dr. Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has officially opened international oilfield services company, Expro's new well intervention facility in Aberdeen.

The Carnegie and Young facilities, located in Dyce, Aberdeen, will enhance the company's growing well intervention business, housing a team of approximately 200 employees. Combined with the forthcoming renovation of the Bruce building, which will house the subsea qualification facilities, this represents nearly $7.6 million (GBP 5 million) investment over the next 12 months.

Expro's offices in Aberdeen house a number of products/business, including; well intervention, well integrity, well testing and well services; subsea safety systems; drill stem testing and tubing conveyed perforating. To meet increasing business demand, the company has employed more than 150 new employees in the UK over the past year, bringing the total headcount to over 1100 people locally. Expro continues to support employees through a range of specialized development programs, aimed at technician, graduate, ex-armed forces and management.

The investment in people and infrastructure builds on Expro's announcement today, that the company is also investing $20 million (GBP 13 million) in new build well testing equipment, bolstering its fleet within Europe / CIS Region to support business and market growth across the region.

As part of the investment, driven by prolific discoveries in 2011/12 and the forecast increase in rig activity over the next three to five years, Expro will be adding to its existing fleet in UK and Norway to meet the demand from its customers.

Keith Palmer, Expro's Europe CIS region director, said: "As we celebrate our 40th anniversary this year, we continue to see a strong period of growth in the region. The considerable investment in Expro's facilities, equipment and people will enable us to enhance our services and meet the demands for our global client base.

"Norway and the UK's oil and gas sectors are heading in to a challenging but exciting period of expansion. As a leading service provider in this sector, we are delighted to continue in our commitment to provide optimal, innovative long-term solutions to enhance our well intervention, well testing, subsea and associated activities."

Business Secretary Vince Cable said: "We want to work with companies like Expro to maintain investment and production in the North Sea for many decades to come. That's why I'm pleased to open this new facility at Expro on the same day as we launch our oil and gas industrial strategy.

"Today's strategy will help us increase stability, encourage growth and create more jobs and apprentices in a very important UK industry."

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Mexico's Grupo R Orders Additional Jackups from Keppel FELS for $820M

Keppel FELS, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M), has secured contracts from Mexican drilling company, Grupo R, to build four jackups worth $820 million.

The jackups will be built to Keppel's proprietary KFELS B Class design and are scheduled for delivery progressively from 2Q 2015 to 4Q 2015.

When completed, Keppel FELS will have built ten KFELS B Class jackups for Mexican customers since 2012, including two for PEMEX.

Wong Kok Seng, managing director (Offshore) of Keppel O&M and managing director of Keppel FELS, said, "Mexico is an important market for us and we are glad that Mexican operators have chosen the KFELS B Class as their preferred rig design and Keppel as the preferred shipyard. We look forward to support Grupo R as they expand their fleet of premium jackup rigs for the Mexican market, with safe, on time and on budget deliveries."

Customized to Grupo R's requirements, the rigs will be able to operate in water depths of up to 400 feet and drill to depths of 30,000 feet.

PEMEX, the Mexican national oil company has announced investment plans of $25.3 billion for 2013, of which $20 billion will be targeted at upstream activities. On a visit to Keppel FELS on 30 January 2013, Mr Emilio Lozoya Austin, CEO of PEMEX, said that the company is embarking on its most ambitious drilling program in decades and plans to add between eight and 12 offshore platforms to its fleet.

Ramiro Garza V., CEO of Grupo R said, "PEMEX have indicated their aim to operate the biggest fleet of jackup rigs in the world and Grupo R is well positioned to support them with four premium jackup rigs. We chose the KFELS B Class jackup design for our first shallow water rigs because of their high specifications and their proven success for PEMEX. In choosing Keppel FELS, we are also partnering a shipyard which is able to meet the needs of our customers in terms of cost-effectiveness, time, technology, quality, and safety with environmental considerations. This will further enhance our capabilities as the leader in Mexico's onshore and offshore drilling industry."

Developed by Keppel's technology arm, Offshore Technology Development, the KFELS B Class rigs incorporate Keppel's advanced and fully-automated high capacity rack and pinion jacking system, and Self-Positioning Fixation System. It provides maximum uptime with reduced emissions and discharges. For its environmental-friendly features, the KFELS B Class design was bestowed the prestigious Engineering Achievement Award from the Institution of Engineers Singapore in 2009.

The above contracts are not expected to have a material impact on the net tangible assets or earnings per share of Keppel Corporation Limited for the current financial year.

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TNK-BP Boosts Production, Reserves

Russia's TNK-BP reported results for 2012 Thursday in which the firm revealed that its oil and gas production increased by 1.8 percent during the year to 2,023 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. The firm said that its total proved reserves reach 9.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent, representing a 210-percent reserve replacement ratio.

Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Muir commented in a statement:

"We have been successfully moving our Yamal greenfields to the execution stage, with Suzunskoye the first field ready for launch and the Rospan natural gas project moving to Phase 1 full-field development."

Muir added that all of TNK-BP's international projects showed "positive momentum" with incremental production being achieved in Vietnam and Venezuela, along with gas discoveries in Brazil.

"We continue to focus on business fundamentals and bottom line enhancement and will carry out our operations safely and with minimum damage to the environment," he said.

The takeover of TNK-BP by Rosneft is scheduled to be complete by the end of this month now that the Russian state oil company has bought out BP and the Alfa-Access-Renova consortium, which together previously owned the business.

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Hess Closes ACG Stake Sale with ONGC Videsh

Hess Corporation announced it has completed the sale of its 2.72 percent interest in the Azeri, Chirag and Guneshli Fields (ACG) and its 2.36 percent interest in the associated BTC pipeline to ONGC Videsh Ltd. for $1 billion. Adjusting for net cash flow received since the Jan. 1, 2012 effective date of sale, after tax net proceeds are $884 million.

The BP operated ACG fields, located in the Caspian Sea approximately 62 miles (100 kilometers) east of Baku, commenced production in 1997.

"This sale is another step in the execution of our strategy to become a more focused, higher growth, lower risk pure play exploration and production company," said Chairman and CEO John B. Hess. "Consistent with our announcement on March 4, the after tax net proceeds from this sale will be used to pay down an equivalent amount of short term debt."

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New World Raises Funds for Denmark, Belize Drilling

New World Oil and Gas has raised the money it needs to drill two wells during the next 12 months on its Danica Jutland project in Denmark if it decides not to proceed with west testing on its Rio Bravo No.1 well in Belize, the firm reported Thursday.

New World said that it has successfully placed 315 million shares in order to raise $9.5 million, the net proceeds of which it intends to use to test and appraise the Rio Bravo No.1 well subject to a successful well-logging program. To date all operations to do with the well are on schedule and under budget, the firm added, with a total depth of 8,800 feet – targeting the Upper Jurassic Margaret Creek Formation – expected to be reached by late April.

However, New World also said that if the Rio Bravo No.1 well is not tested and appraised the funds will be used for the drilling of two wells targeting the Harboe and Jelling prospects at the company's Danica Jutland project in Denmark, as well as for the seismic interpretation and competent person's report costs of the project.

The Harboe prospect has been assigned P50 un-risked prospective resources of 351.2 billion cubic feet of gas. The Jelling prospect has been assigned P50 un-risked prospective resources of 166.4 billion cubic feet.

New World added that drilling is also continuing at its West Gallon Jug prospect in Belize. This is targeting a P50 un-risked prospective resource of 113 million barrels of oil.

New World Chief Executive William Keller commented in a statement:

"Thanks to the support and interest of both existing and new shareholders, we are now in a position where we can test and appraise the Rio Bravo No. 1 well which the company is currently drilling in Belize (assuming a successful well logging programme) or, in the event the well is not tested, we are funded to drill two wells in the forthcoming 12 months on our highly exciting Danica Jutland project, targeting the Harboe and Jelling prospects, each of which could be transformative for the company.

"In all, three wells are expected to be drilled over the next 12 months targeting combined gross P50 volumetrics of 200 million barrels of oil equivalent with a success case valuation for all three of $3.62 billion net to the company's interest. These figures represent just three out of over 40 prospects/leads identified across our portfolio to date. We are delivering on our objective of exposing our shareholders to meaningful potential upside through the systematic identification and de-risking of multiple prospects to the point of drilling. We believe that it is just a matter of time before we make a commercial hydrocarbon discovery and, in the process, create significant value for all our shareholders."

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Sources: Petrobras to Auction $5 Billion of Nigeria Oil Assets

Brazilian oil company Petrobras is to auction off its stakes in Nigerian oil fields to raise cash for domestic projects, a deal that may fetch up to $5 billion, sources close to the deal said.

The state-controlled company, formally known as Petroleo Brasileiro SA, has hired Standard Chartered to run the process, which will kick off in the next two months, banking and oil industry sources said.

Asian state oil companies are expected to bid in the hopes of adding more production assets to their portfolios. Private equity funds are also interested, banking sources said.

Standard Chartered and Petrobras declined comment.

The decision to sell the Nigeria assets marks a retreat away from foreign markets once considered strategic in favor of realizing the government's goal for Brazil to become self-sufficient in energy.

Petrobras will sell its 8 percent stake in the Nigerian offshore Agbami blocks, which are operated by U.S. energy major Chevron and its 20 percent share of the offshore Akpo project, operated by France's Total.

Crude oil production from the Agbami field fields began in 2008. Output from the project can reach 250,000 barrels per day (bpd), and it holds estimated reserves of 900 million barrels.

Akpo began production in 2009 and has plateau output of 175,000 bpd of light condensate oil and 9 million cubic meters of gas. It has proved and probable reserves of 620 million barrels of condensate and more than 28 billion cubic meters of gas, according to Total.

Petrobras began operations in Nigeria in 1998 in the deep waters off the coast of the Niger Delta.

Petrobras is divesting assets and redirecting investment towards higher-return activities such as exploration and production to finance a five-year, $237 billion capital spending plan, the world's largest corporate investment program.

Petrobras hopes to more than double current oil and gas production by the start of the next decade to about 5.2 million barrels of oil equivalent a day and also help Brazil become self-sufficient in refined products as well. 

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