E&P Highlights: Dec. 9, 2024

From production restarts to major contracts, below is a compilation of the latest headlines in the E&P space.

Activity headlines

Petrobras and Ecopetrol Confirm Most Significant Gas Discovery in Colombia’s History

On Dec. 5, Petrobras and Ecopetrol confirmed local volumes of over 6 Tcf in place at the Sirius-2 well, making it Colombia's most significant gas discovery ever. This discovery may increase Colombia's current reserves by 200%.

The Sirius-2 well lies in block GUA-OFF-0, 77 km off the coast of Santa Marta, in 803 m of water. Drilling on the well started in June 2024.

The consortium formed by Petrobras and Ecopetrol will start gathering oceanic metadata to facilitate the installation of the pipeline that will carry natural gas from the field to the onshore gas treatment unit, including the installation of subsea production systems. The consortium is expected to invest $1.2 billion in the exploratory phase and $2.9 billion more in the production development phase.

Natural gas production is projected to start within three years of securing all environmental licenses, aiming for a 2027 launch if the discovery proves commercially viable. Through four producing wells, the expected production is roughly 13 MMcm/d for 10 years.

Petrobras International Braspetro’s Colombia Branch operates the field with a 44.44% stake. Ecopetrol holds the remaining 55.56%.

Norway’s Trym Field Resumes Production After Five Years

DNO ASA’s Trym field in the Norwegian North Sea license PL147 is back on production after a five-year shutdown, the Norwegian oil and gas operator announced Dec. 9.

Commissioned in 2011, Trym was shut down in 2019 due to TotalEnergies’ major redevelopment of the Tyra field infrastructure to which Trym is tied back. Back online, Trym is expected to contribute 3,000 boe/d to DNO at plateau. Remaining reserves are estimated at 2 MMboe net to DNO.

Available capacity at the Trym subsea template represents further opportunities. DNO has identified two nearby exploration prospects that might extend the field's lifetime. The company is also assessing a development of the 2013 Trym Sør discovery, which contains recoverable resources of around 2 MMboe, possibly adding production from early 2027.

DNO operates Trym with a 50% stake, while Sval Energi holds the remaining 50%.

Contracts and company news

Shell, Equinor JV to Create UK’s Largest Independent Oil, Gas E&P

The U.K. subsidiaries of Equinor and Shell are combining their offshore oil and gas assets to form a new company that would be the country’s largest North Sea producer, Shell said Dec. 5.

The joint venture will produce more than 140,000 boe/d in 2025, Shell said. Subsidiary Equinor UK Ltd. currently averages 38,000 boe/d. Shell U.K. Ltd. averages 100,000 boe/d, Shell said.

The new company, based in Aberdeen, Scotland, will invest in individual oil and gas fields and platforms to help extend the life of the sector. The JV will include Equinor’s equity interests in Mariner, Rosebank and Buzzard; and Shell’s equity interests in Shearwater, Penguins, Gannet, Nelson, Pierce, Jackdaw, Victory, Clair and Schiehallion. A range of exploration licenses will also be part of the transaction.

Equinor will retain ownership of its cross-border assets, Utgard, Barnacle and Statfjord, as well as its offshore wind portfolio. It will also retain the hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, power generation, battery storage and gas storage assets. Shell U.K. will retain ownership of its interests in the Fife NGL plant, St Fergus Gas Terminal and floating wind projects under development—MarramWind and CampionWind. Shell U.K. will also remain technical developer of Acorn, Scotland’s largest carbon capture and storage project.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. The deal, expected to close by the end of 2025, will form a new, independent producer owned 50-50 by Equinor and Shell.

AIQ, ADNOC, Baker Hughes and Corva Announce AI-ROP Project

In collaboration with ADNOC, Baker Hughes and Corva, Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence company AIQ announced the launch of the AI rate of penetration (ROP) optimization initiative on Dec. 5. The initiative aims to use AI to enhance drilling performance across ADNOC fields.

“This project marks a significant development in AIQ’s mission to collaborate with industry innovators to drive technological innovation in the energy sector. By working with ADNOC, Baker Hughes and Corva, we are bringing together the best minds in the industry to make drilling activities faster, safer and more cost-effective,” Magzhan Kenesbai, acting managing director of AIQ, said in a press release.

The project will use AI-enabled solutions at targeted onshore and offshore fields, providing real-time recommendations for drilling parameters. By training advanced AI on specialized reservoir and drilling datasets and leveraging drilling performance data, this collaboration will provide real-time input to the drilling engineer for optimizing weight on bit, rotations per minute and other critical parameters. The project aims to achieve improvements in operational efficiency, cost savings and safety.

SLB Announces Neuro Autonomous Geosteering

Global energy technology company SLB introduced its Neuro autonomous geosteering on Dec. 9.

Building on the technological foundation of SLB’s Neuro autonomous directional drilling, which drills wells to a defined well target in accordance with the well plan, Neuro uses AI to integrate and interpret complex real-time subsurface information to autonomously guide the drill bit through the reservoir.

In Ecuador, SLB deployed Neuro to drill a 2,392-ft lateral section of an onshore well for Shaya Ecuador S.A. Neuro completed 25 autonomous geosteering trajectory changes, with each interpretation and decision cycle taking only seconds. By remaining in the most productive layer of the reservoir, the well has become one of the best producers in the country.

McDermott Secures GoM FEED Contract from Repsol

McDermott has been awarded a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract by Repsol Exploración, the company announced Dec. 3.

Under the contract scope, McDermott will provide comprehensive FEED services for the Polok and Chinwol field development project in the GoM, including the engineering, procurement, construction and installation of subsea, umbilicals, risers and flowlines.

These fields are part of the Mexico Block 29 project in the Salina Basin, now in its exploration phase. Situated 88 km off the coast of Tabasco in the southern GoM, the block covers 3,254 sq km.

Repsol operates Block 29 with a 46.67% stake.

Halliburton Launches Intelli Suite of Well Intervention Services

Halliburton introduced its Intelli suite of diagnostic well intervention wireline logging services on Dec. 3. Halliburton’s Intelli suite of services provides customers with a complete diagnostic well intervention package to increase production, extend asset life and reduce operational costs.

The suite consists of the IntelliSat pulsed-neutron logging service, which provides reservoir insights either in open hole or after a well is completed, and the IntelliFlow array production logging service, which provides more accurate production profiles, precision phase analysis and dynamic flow information with the incorporation of co-located fluid ID and flow rate sensors.

Also included are the IntelliGuard corrosion evaluation services to pinpoint damage and quantify metal loss in up to seven concentric casings and the IntelliScope leak and flow diagnostic service.

These services can be combined or used separately. When integrated, the Intelli suite of services saves time and costs through data acquisition in a single run.

Kent Awarded Three-Year Global EPCm Contract With BP

BP has awarded Kent a three-year global engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCm) framework contract, the company announced Dec. 4.

The framework covers the full scope of EPCm services, supporting BP’s asset life cycle, from small and large projects to minor modifications. The framework will encompass BP’s global portfolio of offshore and onshore projects.

This contract also includes options for two additional two-year extensions.

Wood Signs Major Agreements With BP

Wood has signed three major agreements with BP to provide engineering and project delivery services for capital projects worldwide, the company announced Dec. 5. The contracts cover a new master services agreement (MSA) for engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCm) services as well as two extensions to existing long-term frameworks for the provision of conceptual engineering and pre-FEED/FEED engineering.

The new EPCm agreement will run for an initial term of three years with possible extensions, while the conceptual engineering and pre-FEED/FEED frameworks have been extended for an additional three years each.

The agreements cover all of BP’s business units. Wood will provide support for offshore and onshore assets within the upstream, midstream and downstream energy markets.

Regulatory updates

BOEM to Publish GoM Oil and Gas Leasing Environmental Impact Statement

On Dec. 6, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced it will publish a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for public comment. The GOM Regional Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Lease Sales Draft Programmatic EIS analyzes the potential effects of a lease sale in available OCS portions of the Gulf.

In December 2023, the Department of the Interior published the 2024-2029 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, which includes three oil and gas lease sales in the GoM over the next five years, but no lease sales in Atlantic, Pacific and Alaskan waters.

Publication of the draft statement will lay the foundation for holding an oil and gas lease sale in the GoM next year. It is also expected to be used and supplemented as appropriate for decisions on future proposed GoM lease sales. In addition, the Programmatic EIS would be used to support post-lease site and activity-specific OCS oil- and gas-related analyses and approvals.

BOEM will make the final Programmatic EIS available to the public at least 30 days prior to the issuance of any decision. The Notice of Availability will be published in the Federal Register in the coming days, starting a 45-day comment period. Written comments can be submitted by going to: www.regulations.gov and searching for Docket No. BOEM-2023-0046.