AFRICA

Kosmos scores again offshore Mauritania
Kosmos Energy has made a play-extending gas discovery offshore Mauritania, bolstering its confidence in the underexplored basin and laying the foundation for an LNG project. But the search is still on for oil. The Atlantic Margin-focused E&P said its Marsouin-1 exploration well in Block C offshore Mauritania hit at least 70 m (230 ft) of net gas pay in Upper and Lower Cenomanian intervals comprised of excellent quality reservoir sands. Drilled in nearly 2,400 m (7,874 ft) of water, the well is located about 60 km (37 miles) north of the Tortue-1 gas discovery that opened the basin, Kosmos said. The company’s quest could unlock a new petroleum system to help meet the world’s growing energy needs. The company, which reported on Nov. 2, 2015, that year-to-date capex was about $515 million, spent about $130 million to drill the Marsouin-1 well.

Fugro lands contract for Equatorial Guinea survey
Fugro has been awarded a contract by Ophir Equatorial Guinea (Block R) Ltd. for the provision of survey services for the development of assets and infrastructure offshore Equatorial Guinea, according to a news release. Under the contract, Fugro will deploy three of its specialist vessels—Fugro Searcher, Fugro Scout and Fugro Frontier—to perform AUV surveys as well as geotechnical, environmental and metocean surveys. The survey program will take place at the Fortuna Project west of Bioko Island, where Ophir is planning a large floating LNG installation and associated subsea structures. The surveys were scheduled to begin in November 2015, and the offshore operations are scheduled for completion in January 2016.

ASIA

Husky banking on Indonesia
Husky Energy and its partners have achieved a significant milestone in advancing the Madura Strait BD gas-condensate field offshore Indonesia toward production, Subsea Engineering News reported. The jacket and wellhead platform for the liquids-rich gas development were sailed out in October 2015 and have been successfully installed in about 55 m (180 ft) of water. Development drilling is expected to begin soon, and the project remains on target for first production in 2017. The BD Field is the first of a series of gas developments the company is advancing offshore Indonesia. Construction of an FPSO vessel to process gas and liquids production from the field is about 30% complete, and all major long-leadtime items have been ordered. Husky said it is continuing to progress a series of other gas developments offshore Indonesia that are expected to add production in 2017 through 2019. A tendering process is underway for a floating production vessel and related engineering, procurement, construction and installation contracts for the combined MDAMBH fields, also located in the Madura Strait. The MDA-MBH fields are expected to produce about 1.4 MMcm/d (49 MMcf/d) of gas at peak production. A third discovery, the MDK Field, is planned to be tied into the MDA-MBH Field infrastructure. A plan of development has been approved, and the field is expected to produce about 0.28 MMcm/d (net) (9.9 MMcf/d net) at peak.

AUSTRALIA

Northern Territory declines Palatine’s fracking plans
Australia’s Northern Territory government has shot down a company’s plans to use hydraulic fracturing to extract tight oil in the region. Palatine Energy Pty. Ltd., a privately held company, applied to explore in the Watarrka national park region four years ago, disclosing that it would need to use fracking methods to extract the tight oil contained in the permit. Due to the introduction of new oil and gas guidelines announced in November 2015, the company’s four-year-old applications had been rejected, said David Tollner, the Northern Territory’s mines and energy minister, in a statement Nov. 24, 2015. Watarrka Park, located about 320 km (199 miles) southwest of Alice Springs, contains three Aboriginal living areas and remains culturally significant to Aboriginal people. The area also contains more than 600 species of plants and numerous native animals. “Both applications were assessed as not satisfying all of the recently announced criteria,” Tollner said. Under the new measures, the Northern Territory government will refuse to grant acreage release and exploration permits where there is a land use conflict based on criteria that includes areas of intensive agriculture, high ecological value and cultural significance.

EUROPE

Maersk lands contract for Maersk Venturer drillship
Maersk Drilling received a contract for the Maersk Venturer drillship from Total, Maersk reported Dec. 1, 2015. The contract covers one exploration well (estimated duration 120 days) in Block 14 offshore Uruguay. The estimated contract value is $44 million excluding mobilization. The drilling program is scheduled to begin in March 2016. Maersk Venturer is the third in a series of four ultradeepwater drillships in the company’s fleet. The four drillships’ total investment is $2.6 billion. The other three have all secured long-term contracts. The new drillships have dual derricks and large subsea work and storage areas. They have multimachine control on the drill floor.

Norway’s oil investments could fall farther in 2016
Norway’s oil and gas investments, a cornerstone of the country’s economy, are set to fall more than previously predicted in 2016 due to a sharp decline in exploration spending, data from Statistics Norway (SSB) showed Nov. 24, 2015, according to a Reuters report. Oil and gas firms have slashed spending repeatedly in their struggle to cope with the 60% drop in oil prices since June 2014. The fresh oil survey was broadly in line with the central bank’s forecast, economists said. Overall, 2016 oil industry investments are now seen falling 11% on the year to $19.77 billion. The 2016 exploration estimate dropped by 35%. “Due to low oil prices and operators’ processes to cut rig costs, the number of active rigs on the Norwegian Shelf is expected to decrease in 2016. The decrease in the exploration estimate for 2016 should be viewed against this background,” SSB said. Statoil also said in November 2015 that it expected less exploration in 2016.

Workers rescued from damaged offshore platform
Forty-two workers were rescued from an offshore oil platform that caught fire in Azerbaijan’s sector of the Caspian Sea, Azeri independent TV ANS reported Dec. 4, 2015, according to Reuters. Azeri state energy company SOCAR was not immediately available to comment. SOCAR said in early reports that the fire started after a gas pipeline on the platform was damaged in heavy wind. It said the rescue attempt was being complicated by a heavy storm. One of the workers called a Reuters correspondent from the platform and said there were 84 people trapped. SOCAR also said earlier that workers were missing after an accident at another offshore oil platform during the storm. A search-and-rescue operation was underway, it added. Fourteen workers were killed in accidents on SOCAR’s oil and gas platforms in 2014.

RUSSIA

Rosneft, BP complete Siberian deal
Rosneft has completed its deal to sell a 20% share of Taas-Yuryakh Neftegazodobycha LLC to BP, according to a news release. The joint venture (JV) between Rosneft and BP will continue development of the Srednebotuobinskoye oil and gas condensate field, which is one of the largest fields in Eastern Siberia. The JV also will undertake the development of suitable infrastructure for further exploration and development of the region’s reserves. In addition, Rosneft plans to select a second partner in Taas-Yuryakh Neftegazodobycha.

SOUTH AMERICA

Petrobras lost 2.29 MMbbl of oil during strike
In November 2015 Petrobras said it had been unable to produce 2.29 MMbbl of oil and 48.4 MMcm (1.7 Bcf) of natural gas during a strike that began Nov. 1, 2015, Reuters reported. The company said the majority of unions representing oil workers had voted to end the strike, thought to be the most disruptive in 20 years. The largest federal union party proposed ending the strike Nov. 14, 2015, though some hold-out unions continued.

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