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FairWest Energy Corporation announced that Vernon R. Fauth has resigned as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and as a director of FairWest effective Friday, February 8, 2013. FairWest extends its thanks to Mr. Fauth for his service to the Company and wishes him all the best in his future endeavours.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Archer Wins Statoil Rig Contract
Oilfield services supplier Archer announced Monday it has secured a contract with Statoil for the permanent plugging and abandonment of 12 gas wells on the Heimdal field in the Norwegian North Sea. The firm said the work will use its modular rig, the Archer Topaz.
The total contract value, including the startup, operating and decommissioning phases, is estimated at USD 115 million. Operations are expected to begin in the second half of 2014 and the contract duration is 34 months with four option periods of three months each.
Carrying out plugging and abandonment operations on a modular rig is a first for Archer and the industry as a whole. The firm said it represents a major advancement for the industry and will see safer, faster, more efficient plugging and abandonment operations with fewer people on board.
Archer said its Archer Topaz rig has been developed to meet the specific requirements of the Heimdal contract which includes flexibility for the client as regards quick installation and removal times.
Kjetil Bjørnson, Archer's general manager for the North Sea region, commented in a company statement:
"This modular rig contract for Archer in the North Sea represents an important strategic move in the direction of offshore plugging and abandonment solutions. We are excited to secure our first modular rig contract in the North Sea, which is the market the modular rig was designed for."
The rig will be operated by Statoil along with its partners Total, Centrica and Petoro.
Lundin Spuds Jorvik Exploration Well
Lundin Petroleum announced Monday that it has spud an exploration well targeting its Jorvik prospect in the Norwegian North Sea. Well 16/1-17, on production license 338, is located east of the Edvard Grieg field.
The main objective of well 16/1-17 is to prove the presence of oil-bearing sandstones and conglomerates in a basin directly east of Edvard Grieg. Lundin estimates that the Jorvik prospect contains un-risked, gross prospective resources of 46 million barrels of oil equivalent. Lundin, as operatorm, holds a 50-percent working interest in PL 338 while Wintershall Norge and OMV hold 30 percent and 20 percent respectively.
On a day that the Swedish company made a number of announcements, Lundin also revealed that it is to test appraisal well 16/3-5 on production license 501 in the southeastern part of the Johan Sverdrup discovery after it reached its target depth.
Lundin said the appraisal well has drilled through reservoir sections consisting mainly of good quality Volgian reservoir sand and Zechstein carbonates. The top of the Volgian reservoir sandstone was found at 6,210 feet below mean sea level. The total gross reservoir column is approximately 98 feet, of which 46 feet is gross Volgian reservoir.
The oil-bearing Zechstein limestone is in pressure communication with the overlying sand and provides potential upside resources, according to Lundin. Oil has been sampled in both reservoir zones and the well will now drill stem test the two zones.
The well is being drilled by the Bredford Dolphin (mid-water semisub) rig and the testing will take approximately 20 days.
Meanwhile, Lundin added that it will not provide further updates on contingent resources at the Johan Sverdrup discovery since the working operator for the field, Statoil, has indicated that it plans to release details of updated resources later in the year, once conceptual development studies are completed.
"We feel it is appropriate that the working operator of Johan Sverdrup provide updated resource numbers. As the operator of PL501 we continue with our appraisal drilling program which provides new information for both development planning and recoverable resources," Lundin CEO Ashley Heppenstall commented in a company statement.
"The results of the appraisal drilling to date taken as a whole lead us to the view that the current most likely mid case Johan Sverdrup resources located in PL501 will be within the lower half of the previously guided 800-to-1800 million barrel of oil equivalent range. We also believe that the resource calculation range remains wide."
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.
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.For More Information on the Offshore Rig Fleet:
RigLogix can provide the information that you need about the offshore rig fleet, whether you need utilization and industry trends or detailed reports on future rig contracts. Subscribing to RigLogix will allow you to access dozens of prebuilt reports and build your own custom reports using hundreds of available data columns. For more information about a RigLogix subscription, visit http://www.riglogix.com/.
Eni CEO to Rethink Structure of Saipem Relationship
NEW YORK - Eni SpA is rethinking the structure of its relationship with oil-services provider Saipem SpA in light of a criminal inquiry into the company for alleged bribes of Algerian officials, Eni Chief Executive Paolo Scaroni said Monday.
"What has happened leads us to think again and look again at the situation," said Mr. Scaroni in response to a question about Eni's stake in Saipem. "There is nothing worse than having no control and full responsibility."
Last week Milan prosecutors placed Mr. Scaroni under investigation as part of the Saipem inquiry. Prosecutors are investigating whether Saipem, which is 43% owned by Eni, paid bribes to secure billions of dollars in natural-gas contracts over a period of years leading up to 2009, according to people familiar with the investigation.
Mr. Scaroni and representatives from Eni said that they believe he is being investigated due to a series of meetings he had with Algeria's oil minister Chekib Kheli. On three or four occasions, Mr. Scaroni said, Mr. Kheli was accompanied by Farid Bedjaoui, who was introduced to Mr. Scaroni as a "personal assistant."
On Friday, Reuters first reported that the investigation into Mr. Scaroni was based on meetings with Mr. Bedjaoui, who allegedly distributed bribes to win gas contracts in Algeria.
In a statement Thursday, Eni said "Eni and its CEO declare themselves totally unrelated to the object of the investigation."
Mr. Scaroni said Monday that he and the company are fully cooperating with authorities but Eni will not conduct its own internal probe.
"We have nothing to investigate," he said. He also said that he never discusses Saipem's business during meetings with customers or other business contacts.
"Saipem has always been managed hands off completely," he said.
Mr. Scaroni said he learned in November that Saipem had a brokerage agreement in place since 2007, which could allow intermediaries to be paid to help arrange contracts.
Eni, he said, "does not have any intermediation contracts, they are forbidden." He said that when he learned of Saipem's arrangements, he "acted immediately" by contacting the chairman of Saipem.
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.Pink and purple pigments act as sunscreen for corals
7 February 2013, by Tom Marshall. http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk
The chemicals that give some corals their luminous pink and red colours also protect them from damage caused by too much sunlight, scientists have shown.
The idea isn't altogether new, but this is the first conclusive evidence for it. Corals need light to survive, but too much can kill them, so they've evolved various countermeasures.
This research adds another to their arsenal – chemicals known as chromoproteins (CPs), which turn out to absorb potentially harmful portions of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Smith, E.G., D'Angelo, C., Salih, A., Wiedenmann, J. Screening by coral green fluorescent protein (GFP)-like chromoproteins supports a role in photoprotection of zooxanthellae. Coral Reefs. DOI: 10.1007/s00338-012-0994-9
Lundin Spuds Jorvik Exploration Well
Lundin Petroleum announced Monday that it has spud an exploration well targeting its Jorvik prospect in the Norwegian North Sea. Well 16/1-17, on production license 338, is located east of the Edvard Grieg field.
The main objective of well 16/1-17 is to prove the presence of oil-bearing sandstones and conglomerates in a basin directly east of Edvard Grieg. Lundin estimates that the Jorvik prospect contains un-risked, gross prospective resources of 46 million barrels of oil equivalent. Lundin, as operatorm, holds a 50-percent working interest in PL 338 while Wintershall Norge and OMV hold 30 percent and 20 percent respectively.
On a day that the Swedish company made a number of announcements, Lundin also revealed that it is to test appraisal well 16/3-5 on production license 501 in the southeastern part of the Johan Sverdrup discovery after it reached its target depth.
Lundin said the appraisal well has drilled through reservoir sections consisting mainly of good quality Volgian reservoir sand and Zechstein carbonates. The top of the Volgian reservoir sandstone was found at 6,210 feet below mean sea level. The total gross reservoir column is approximately 98 feet, of which 46 feet is gross Volgian reservoir.
The oil-bearing Zechstein limestone is in pressure communication with the overlying sand and provides potential upside resources, according to Lundin. Oil has been sampled in both reservoir zones and the well will now drill stem test the two zones.
The well is being drilled by the Bredford Dolphin (mid-water semisub) rig and the testing will take approximately 20 days.
Meanwhile, Lundin added that it will not provide further updates on contingent resources at the Johan Sverdrup discovery since the working operator for the field, Statoil, has indicated that it plans to release details of updated resources later in the year, once conceptual development studies are completed.
"We feel it is appropriate that the working operator of Johan Sverdrup provide updated resource numbers. As the operator of PL501 we continue with our appraisal drilling program which provides new information for both development planning and recoverable resources," Lundin CEO Ashley Heppenstall commented in a company statement.
"The results of the appraisal drilling to date taken as a whole lead us to the view that the current most likely mid case Johan Sverdrup resources located in PL501 will be within the lower half of the previously guided 800-to-1800 million barrel of oil equivalent range. We also believe that the resource calculation range remains wide."
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.
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.For More Information on the Offshore Rig Fleet:
RigLogix can provide the information that you need about the offshore rig fleet, whether you need utilization and industry trends or detailed reports on future rig contracts. Subscribing to RigLogix will allow you to access dozens of prebuilt reports and build your own custom reports using hundreds of available data columns. For more information about a RigLogix subscription, visit http://www.riglogix.com/.
Private Sector Plays Bigger Role In China Energy Sector
BEIJING - Privately-held enterprises are playing a bigger role in China's energy sector, which has been long dominated by state-owned businesses, a report Sunday from state-run Xinhua news agency said.
Data from the China Petroleum and Chemical Federation showed 32 private enterprises had entered China's oil mining industry by August 2012, as well as nine in the natural-gas sector and 64 in commercial activities related to oil and gas exploitation, it said.
The higher profile of the private sector came after the State Council issued new guidelines in May 2010 to encourage private investment in the industry, a report this weekend by China National Petroleum Corp. said.
Some 877 private enterprises are involved in processing of crude oil and oil-related products, including 50 privately-owned refineries, with a combined capacity accounting for 7.1% of the country's total, the Xinhua report said.
Six private enterprises were included in the national strategic oil reserve storage system for the first time in 2011, it added.
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.
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