E&P Highlights: Aug. 21, 2023

From first oil to a decommissioning contract, below is a compilation of the latest headlines in the E&P space. 

Activity headlines

Anita Garibaldi FPSO Receives First Production

On Aug. 16, the Anita Garibaldi FPSO received first production from the post-salt and pre-salt Marlim and Voador fields offshore Brazil, Petrobras announced.

Located in 670 m water depth in the Campos Basin, the FPSO can handle 80,000 bbl/d and 7 MMcm/d and can store 1 MMbbl of crude. 

"The Anita Garibaldi and Anna Nery platforms, which also started operating in 2023, will be key to increasing the longevity of the Campos Basin and expanding its production,” Petrobras CEO Jean Paul Prates said in a press release.

The Marlim and Voador revitalization project, together with complementary Campos Basin Renewal Plan development and revitalization projects, will contribute to increasing production in the Campos Basin. The project aims to increase production to 920,000 boe/d in 2027 from an average 565,000 boe/d currently, the operator said.

The Anita Garibaldi FPSO—the 16th that MODEC has supplied to Petrobras—is under a 25-year time charter contract, MODEC said in an Aug. 21 press release.

MODEC was responsible for its engineering, procurement, construction, and mobilization, including topsides processing equipment as well as hull and marine systems. MODEC company SOFEC was responsible for the design and procurement of the spread mooring system for the FPSO.

With a total overall weight of more than 40,000 tons, the topside is the largest the company has installed to date. The FPSO is also MODEC’s first to use the separation tank concept using the vessel’s cargo oil tanks in order to handle up to 270,000 bbl/d of produced water in the oil/water separation process.

DNO Opens Taps at Tawke

DNO ASA reported on Aug. 17 that production from its flagship Tawke Field in Kurdistan has resumed following a four-month shut-in triggered by the closure of the Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline export route. 

DNO said production restarted in July to conduct well integrity tests and synchronize reservoir models and has continued in response to strong demand for Tawke oil. Field output is currently averaging 40,000 bbl/d. The nearby Peshkabir Field, on the same license, remains closed.

Half of Tawke’s production is delivered to the Kurdistan regional government with the rest sold by DNO to local trading companies.

DNO operates the field with 75% interest on behalf of partner Genel Energy International Ltd. with 25%.

Contracts and company news

PTTEP Exits Block, INPEX, TotalEnergies Buy In

TotalEnergies and INPEX have signed agreements to acquire the 100% interest held by PTTEP in the AC-RL7 permit in Australia, the two companies announced Aug. 21.

Under the terms of the agreement, which is subject to approval by the relevant authorities, TotalEnergies will acquire a 26% interest in the permit in line with its equity in Ichthys LNG, while INPEX will acquire the remaining 74% and assume operatorship. 

The permit covers 418 sq km in water depths of 120 m to 240 m in the Timor Sea, 250 km northeast of the Ichthys offshore facilities. The permit includes the Cash and Maple gas and condensate fields which were appraised by several wells after their discovery. The development of these fields is expected to contribute to the long-term supply of the Ichthys LNG natural gas liquefaction plant, in which TotalEnergies is a 26% partner while INPEX and other Asian minority shareholders hold the remaining 74%.

Tenaris Buying Mattr’s Pipecoating Business

Tenaris SA is buying all of Mattr Infratech’s shares in its Bredero Shaw International BV pipe coating subsidiary for $166 million, the companies announced on Aug. 14. 

The business being acquired from Mattr include nine plants located in Canada, Mexico, Norway, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates and the U.S. Several mobile concrete plants are part of the deal. The business also includes R&D facilities in Toronto and Norway.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals in Mexico and Norway. Closing is expected to be completed in about six months.

Strohm Installs Liza Field Jumper

Strohm said Aug. 16 it had installed a deepwater high-pressure thermoplastic composite pipe (TCP) jumper in the Exxon Mobil-operated Liza Field offshore Guyana. 

The jumper is used for Water Alternating Gas (WAG) injection and was installed in depths over 1,700 m of water.  

Strohm has already announced contracts for the supply of WAG TCP jumpers for Uaru and Yellowtail. These projects will be delivered under Strohm’s Jumpers on Demand approach, where a single length of pipe is delivered on a single reel to the client’s location and the pipe is spooled off to the desired jumper length, cut, terminated, tested and mated with a connector system. 

Strohm’s newly created Field Service Group recently secured the service contract to support onsite termination operations in-country and deliver on the termination scopes of work for pre-first oil for Yellowtail.  

Archer Wins Repsol Decommissioning Contract

Repsol Sinopec Resources UK Ltd. has awarded Archer a $165 million decommissioning contract, Archer announced Aug. 15.

Under the contract, Archer will plug and abandon 30 wells in the Fulmar Field and two wells in the Halley Field. 

ABB, Samsung Collaborate in Saudi Arabia

ABB announced on Aug. 17 it will collaborate with Samsung Engineering on engineering and procurement activities in Saudi Arabia. 

Under the collaboration, ABB becomes a single-source vendor for gas analyzer system integration for Samsung in Saudi Arabia. ABB is building a 10,000 sq m integration facility for analytical systems in Dammam to support the collaboration. 

ABB’s analytical systems portfolio includes direct-read continuous gas analyzers, online gas analyzers using laser analytical techniques, rapid response process gas chromatographs and more. In addition to analytical systems, ABB provides gas analyzer system integration with fully customized analytical systems and solutions—from initial engineering through fabrication, testing, field start-up and support.

TGS Partnering with ROGII for Data Access

TGS announced a strategic partnership with ROGII Inc. on Aug. 17 to jointly provide an integrated solution that allows engineers and geologists to access TGS licensed well data within ROGII’s cloud-based platform, Solo Cloud. 

The partnership will enable customers to identify the right data for their geosteering and well planning workflows. TGS well data can be accessed within ROGII’s Data Manager application by enabling the TGS wells layer on the map to observe the diversity of the dataset. Logging into the user's respective TGS account provides access to importing data directly into a project within the company’s Solo Cloud account or examining it with the gun barrel plot feature.

PGS Collaborating with in April

PGS announced Aug. 18 it has entered a one-year strategic collaboration with in April for the hybrid towed streamer and ocean bottom node market.

PGS said the collaboration expands PGS’ service offering and capabilities in the contract and multiclient acquisition segments. 

Subsea7 Runs ROV Offshore Brazil from Scotland Center

Subsea7 announced Aug. 21 it fully operated a workclass ROV offshore Brazil from a remote operations room in Scotland. 

The project involved a remote piloting upgrade of the workclass ROV system on board an ROV support vessel. Real-time remote control was achieved via a secure, high-speed, communications link to Subsea7’s Aberdeen Onshore Control Centre. 

The operations phase, which included pipeline inspection and light intervention tasks, was part of an ongoing contract to provide inspection, repair and maintenance services for Petrobras.

“The maturity of our remote piloting systems has been demonstrated here and shows how new technologies alongside new ways of working, can lead to more sustainable operations,” Alan Gray, Subsea7’s ROV and autonomy manager, said in a press release. “Subsea7 has deployed remote piloting systems on ROVs in the North Sea region, but this demonstration was our first remote piloting operation conducted for Brazil.” 

Sentinel Subsea Monitoring System Wins Contracts

Sentinel Subsea announced on Aug. 16 it had won a contract for its WellSentinel Coral wellhead solutions for use offshore Western Australia and in the North Sea.

The system passively monitors subsea wellheads without the use of active subsea power or ongoing data communication. In the North Sea, newly-drilled wells will be left suspended before being fully completed, and the wellheads will be fitted with a WellSentinel Coral system for continuous monitoring.

Sentinel also reported that a major operator is adopting the use of WellSentinel Clam subsea Christmas tree monitoring solution for use on producing horizontal Christmas trees in multiple locations around the world.