Month: September 2017

 

 

Vroon awarded subsea vessel contract by E.On

VOS has announced that E.ON AG has contracted VOS Stone for logistics support and offshore accommodation at the Arkona Offshore Windfarm in Germany.

VOS Stone was delivered to Vroon by Fujian Southeast Shipbuilding, China in July 2017. The vessel will undergo final outfitting works in the Netherlands and be ready to commence operations in the North Sea from November 2017. The vessel is a state-of-the-art subsea-support walk-to-work vessel and sister vessel of VOS Start, currently employed at the Walney Extension Offshore Wind Farm in the Irish Sea. Both vessels have been purpose built to support offshore operations in today’s Renewable industry and walk-to-work projects in the Oil & Gas industry.

Like her sister, VOS Stone will be fitted with a motion-compensated offshore gangway and a 50T active-heave-compensated crane. She can provide accommodation for 60 client personnel. Special attention at the designing stage was paid to the client experience, resulting in comfortable cabins, recreation facilities and office spaces. Featuring a covered warehouse on the main-deck level, the vessel has the versatility to perform cargo handling and passenger transfers to and from offshore assets, such as wind turbines, offshore platforms or CTVs (crew-transfer vessels), as well as engage in subsea-support operations.

The Arkona Offshore Windfarm is located 35 kilometres northeast of the German island of Rügen. It will have a capacity of 385 megawatts (MW) generated by 60 Siemens 6MW turbines and provide electricity for up to 400,000 households in Germany from 2019.

Link     Vessel Specs

 

 

 

 

 

Geotechnical Services- Assistant Operations Manager position available

Fugro Geotechnical Services Limited is an operating company within the global Fugro Group, the world’s largest integrated geotechnical and survey company. With 13,500 people worldwide, Fugro is a stable and successful company, providing services to clients around the world in the field of oil & gas, mining and construction.

The core business areas of Fugro Geotechnical Services Ltd are geotechnical instrumentation, and geotechnical investigation (land and marine) for the construction and infrastructure industries. Whilst based in Hong Kong, the company is actively engaged in a variety of diverse and challenging projects throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

Link     Fugro Careers

 

 

 

To demonstrate efficiency-enhancing technologies at SEG 2017

Paradigm^®  will present the latest innovations in its extensive suite of geological and geophysical software solutions in booth #1535 at the SEG International Exposition and 87^th Annual Meeting in Houston, to be held September 24-29.  Demonstrations will feature integrated workflows for seismic processing and imaging, interpretation, and modeling, designed to enhance efficiency in the exploration and production of both conventional and unconventional plays.  Some of the presentations will highlight how Paradigm solutions use Machine Learning to create a revolution in the interpretation of subsurface data.

The theatre program will offer a wide range of technologies and workflows, as well as special Lunch & Learn presentations: Evolutionary Movements in Geophysics, A Machine Learning Technique for Lithology and Fluid Content Prediction from Prestack Seismic Data, and Predictive Modeling in the Cloud.

A Paradigm spokesperson said “Our booth theme this year is, ‘Using reservoir geophysics knowledge to improve economic outcomes’, said Duane Dopkin, executive vice president of Geoscience for Paradigm. “All of our demonstrations show how we have adapted new technologies to achieve a better understanding of the subsurface, in order to help our customers achieve accurate results more efficiently.  We will highlight how geoscience and computer science technologies converge to deliver these solutions to geoscientists operating in a diversity of assets and reservoirs.”

More     Link     SEG Presentation Schedule

 

 

 

 

Corporate restructure adds strength and depth

UTEC, a global survey company in subsea services group Acteon, appoints long-term employees, Cory Goodyear, Mick Elmslie and Jonathan Watt as Business Unit Directors across its Americas and Europe and Africa business units.

The announcement follows the completion of a strategic review which also sees the UTEC corporate headquarters move from Houston to within the Acteon building in Aberdeen.

Stuart Cameron, UTEC Chief Executive Officer, said: “Providing experienced employees with the opportunity to move into new positions has allowed us to add strength and depth to the organisation which will help drive UTEC into new technological and geographical areas.”

Cory, who previously headed up the Europe and Africa business unit will move to Houston to take over the role of Business Unit Director of Americas, as Dave Ross, who has led the Houston office for the past decade retires from the business. Cory has worked for UTEC for 10 years, and is familiar with operations in Houston, having previously held the role as General Manager.

Mick Elmslie and Jonathan Watt have been appointed to jointly lead operations in Europe and Africa as joint Business Unit Directors.

Mick has been with UTEC for seven years, working in projects, operations and later as business development lead in UTEC’s Australian office.  Earlier this year Mick moved to Aberdeen where he has spent the last six months as projects director for the Europe and Africa region.

Jonathan joined UTEC’s global team in December 2016 in the role of Global Commercial Manager having worked within the Acteon Group for the previous two years.

Stuart, said “UTEC continues to be one of the largest global surveying businesses with the addition of more than 30 people to our onshore and offshore organisation this year. Together with the new leadership team I look forward to building on UTEC’s global presence whilst remaining focused on providing our clients with a quality service.”

Link

 

 

 

 

 

Last week in World Oil

Prices

–       Crude prices rose as key refineries and pipelines in the US Gulf resume operations after being shut for Hurricane Harvey. WTI prices recovered to US$48/b, as refining centres around Corpus Christi, Houston and Port Arthur avoided major damage and resumed crude intake. Brent also gained, moving up to US$53/b, maintaining its premium against WTI.

Upstream

–       Total’s attempt to begin exploration in the Foz do Amazonas basin in Brazil has been rejected by environmental regulator Ibama, which demanded Total provide additional information to its environmental impact study or risk its licence suspended. The five blocks held by Total, together with BP and Petrobras, contain up to 14 billion barrels of oil.

–       Libya’s see-saw battle with production continues. Armed brigades have blockaded pipeline and closed the major Sharara, El Feel and Hamada oilfields in the last week, causing a 360 kb/d drop in production. This has provided some momentum to global crude prices, but the continued on-off swings will hamper OPEC efforts to support crude prices.

–       India’s ONGC announced plans to acquire some oil-and-gas exploration blocks put up by Israel in November 2016. With the auction closing on 15 November, India wants to leverage its deep military ties with Israel into the energy sector to tap into Israel’s new-found hydrocarbon potential.  This would in turn feed into ONGC’s stated aim to acquire foreign assets to bolster its own upstream output, in line with India’s stated aims.

–       The US active rig count rose by three last week, with closures in the Gulf and inland Eagle Ford shale play due to Hurricane Harvey offset by gains in the Permian basin and in Alaska. Additional gains are expected in the coming weeks as storm-hit sites resume operations.

Natural Gas and LNG

–       Israel had given approval for Energean Oil & Gas’ offshore Karish-Tanin natural gas field to go ahead. FID for the project – which will bridge the Karish and Tanin gas field with a newbuild FPSO – is expected by end-2017, with an expected cost of US$1.3-1.5 billion. Estimated recoverable resources at the fields are expected to be 2.7 trillion cubic feet of gas, along with 41 million barrels of oil equivalent. Initial production at the FPSO, the first in the eastern Mediterranean, is expected at 400 mcf/d, with first gas scheduled to flow in 2020.

–       The US is looking to fast-track approval of smaller-scale LNG exports, as producers aim to target markets in the Caribbean and Latin America. For most part, the US LNG industry has been centred around large-scale VLGC volumes to long-haul destinations in Asia and Europe; but the US Department of Energy now wants to open up routes to South America that require regular shipments of smaller cargoes.

–       ExxonMobil is planning to spend some US$200 million to boost natural gas output at the Vaca Muerta shale play in Argentina, asking for a 35-year unconventional production concession in return. The Vaca Muerta shale play, roughly the size of Belgium, is one of the world’s largest unconventional gas reserves, and ExxonMobil is aiming to spend more then US$10 billion over 20-30 years to be the major player here.

Last week in Asian oil

Upstream

–       Saudi Aramco is giving the Empty Quarter another go, after previous joint ventures failed to discover recoverable volumes of oil and gas. New seismic technology, however, could be a gamechanger, with Aramco aiming to deploy the new technology in the 15,400 square kilometres around Turayqa, a conventional onshore gas field discovered in 2013. The move is not out of necessity – Saudi Arabia’s proven resources are already vast, at 261 billions barrels – but out of projection. Any big new find would allow Saudi Arabia to maintain its current reserves estimate for the foreseeable future, particularly as it comes under scrutiny ahead of its planned IPO next year.

–       China’s CNOOC and South Korea’s SK Innovation have begun work on Block 17/08 in the South China Sea, a shallow water block at the mouth of the Pearl River. The PSC for the block names SK at the operator, with CNOOC having a right to acquire up to a 51% stake if it moves into development phase. With Chinese upstream production dwindling, CNOOC has been attempting to attract more foreign participation to help boost domestic output.

Downstream & Midstream

–       China continues its crackdown on its independent teapot refineries, as it seeks to tame wanton growth in the sector. The National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC) announced new guidelines that would penalise the teapots from contravening import/trade permit rules. This includes unapproved expansion of refining capacity and reselling of crude oil. State refiners Sinopec and PetroChina have been pushing for the government to get tougher on the teapots, alleging widespread abuse of their import quotas, and this will be another step in bringing some structure to a previously unscrutinised segment of the industry.

–       ExxonMobil has completed its acquisition of Singapore’s Jurong Aromatics. This will add the JAR refining/petrochemical plant, which has struggled in a low price environment since it opened in 2014, to ExxonMobil’s vast refining complex in Singapore. JAR will add some 3.5 mtpa of aromatics capacity to ExxonMobil’s production slate, alongside 65,000 b/d of refined fuel output.

Natural Gas & LNG

–       ExxonMobil expects to begin development of its Blue Whale gas project in Vietnam in November. With an estimated 150 bcm of natural gas reserves, the project is key to Vietnam’s ambitions to move away from coal-fired power generation to natural gas. ExxonMobil expects first gas from the field, also known as Ca Voi Xanh, in 2023. Production from the field in the deepwater Block 118 could potentially hit 375 million cubic feet of natural gas and 3,000 barrels of condensate per day.

–       China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) will be piloting a methane hydrate project in the South China Sea, with the provincial government of Guangdong and the national Ministry of Land and Resources. Commercial development of the resource – known as ‘flammable ice’ – from the offshore Shenhu area is very far in the future, beyond 2030, although a test drilling platform offshore Zhuhai managed to produce 309,000 cbm of natural gas for 60 days, hinting at the potential of the resource.

Link

 

 

 

 

Penn Hills permits seismic testing

Penn Hills Council flip-flopped Monday, voting to allow seismic testing on municipal-owned property two months after banning it.

In July, the mayor and council members voted to prevent an oil and gas company from performing the tests. Texas-based Geokinetics USA Inc. wanted to do seismic testing on 37 municipal-owned properties, totaling around 390 acres. Council members J-LaVon Kincaid and Gary Underwood abstained from voting.

This time around, council members voted unanimously, 5-0, in favor of the testing. Craig Alexander, Penn Hills’ solicitor, said a potential lawsuit over the matter was not one the municipality could win.

Alexander said he received a letter from an attorney from Steptoe and Johnson, a law firm that specializes in energy, labor & employment, litigation and transactional law, shortly after council voted against seismic testing on municipal properties.

“It was very upsetting for mayor and council, but we believe we had no other choice – we had to present it again,” Mayor Sara Kuhn said during Monday’s meeting.

More     Link

 

 

 

 

Completion of OGIF Acquisition

Sound Energy, the African and European focused upstream gas company, is pleased to announce the completion of the Company’s previously announced acquisition by the Company of the interests of Oil & Gas Investment Fund S.A. (“OGIF”) in Eastern Morocco (the “Acquisition”) following receipt of final approvals in relation to the Anoual and Tendrara licence areas.

As a result, the Company now holds:

·     An operated 75% position, of which 27.5% is shared with Schlumberger resulting in a net 47.5% position for the Company, in the Tendrara petroleum agreement; and

·     An operated 75% position, of which 27.5% is shared with Schlumberger resulting in a net 47.5% position for the Company, in the Anoual petroleum agreement (formely the Meridja reconnaissance area); and

·     An operated 75% position, of which 27.5% is shared with Schlumberger resulting in a net 47.5% position for the Company, in the Mararka reconnaissance exploration licence (covering the previously relinquished Tendrara acreage).

In consideration, the Company will now issue 272,000,000 new ordinary shares to OGIF (the “Consideration Shares”). The issue of the Consideration Shares, which represent 27.0% of the Company’s issued ordinary share capital, as enlarged by the issue of the Consideration Shares, was approved by Sound Energy shareholders on 15 March 2017.

More     Link

 

 

 

Essel Group Middle East (EGME) have signed an agreement with Bell Geospace to conduct a comprehensive airborne FTG (Full Tensor Gravity Gradiometry) survey across Simba’s exploration block in Liberia.

The contract will see Bell Geospace fly Full Tensor Gravity Gradiometry (FTG) surveys across 2,962km2 of the onshore coastal strip of Liberia lying within the known extent of the Roberts-Bassa basin.

Bringing its considerable strength in high resolution gravity technology, Bell Geospace will commence survey flights during last quarter 2017 and early 2018.   The outcome of the surveys will provide processing and interpretive surveys resulting in 3D imaging of the complex sub-surface geology of this highly prospective exploration block.

Bell Geospace will use a Basler BT-67 flying at low altitude to conduct the survey.

More     Link

 

 

 

 

Autonomous Vehicles Benefit From 3-D Seismic Arrays

The use of autonomous marine vehicles (AMVs) for offshore oil and gas activity continues the trend of exploiting robotics technology to support safety, lower costs, and improved data acquisition and quality. In particular, AMVs combined with a 3-D sensor array (3DSA) have proven effective for seismic acquisition in many environments and operating conditions to complement the proven towed streamer technology. These applications include shallow water, infill around obstructions as close as 100 m (330 ft), environmentally sensitive areas such as coral reefs, acquisition of long-offsets as long as 30 km (18.6 miles), rough terrain, deep water—to avoid using an ROV—and acquisition of full-azimuth data for velocity model-building.

Recent field tests conducted offshore Abu Dhabi and in the Green Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico show comparable data quality between data acquired with the 3DSA platform and data acquired by other methods like towed streamer, ocean-bottom nodes (OBN) or ocean-bottom cables (OBC).

AMV design

The AMV used in seismic application comprises a surface float and a subsurface glider connected by an umbilical. The propulsion system works on a combination of wave and mechanical energy and thus requires no onboard fuel. As the surface float rises on the crest of a wave, the vertical wave motion is transferred via the umbilical to the glider section. This causes the glider’s wings to move up and down, which provides constant forward motion. The surface float includes solar panels and a battery, GPS and a communication link, a vertical management computer, and a mini-acquisition system for acquiring and storing high-density seismic data.

AMVs can be programmed to receive commands via satellite from a pilot in an onshore operations center. Typically, they can hold station simulating a “floating node,” and once acquisition is complete, the entire fleet can be ordered to move to the next position through a series of waypoints. Based on survey type, AMVs can either be held in a grid formation or a receiver line every few hundred feet apart. While the AMV used in this survey was wave-powered, other AMVs are coming on the scene that use other forms of energy such as wind, solar and battery power.

More     Link

 

 

 

Harvey may pinch some Gulf Coast refining, chemical projects

Oil and petrochemical plants along the U.S. Gulf Coast intend to go ahead with plans for near record spending on expansions next year, despite Hurricane Harvey driving up labor costs and slowing work, experts said.

Harvey largely spared oil and petrochemical plants along the U.S. Gulf Coast from significant damage but thousands of homes and businesses were not as fortunate. Refiners and recovery projects will compete for the same labor, driving up costs or causing labor shortages.

Industrial investment in the Gulf Coast is expected to hit $51.9 billion next year, near the 2015 peak, requiring an army of pipefitters, ironworkers and other craftsman, said Industrial Information Resources (IIR), which tracks labor supply for refiners and other industrial companies.

“We had a labor shortage before Harvey, but now it’s significantly worse,” said IIR’s Anthony Salemme. “It’s going to spread to soft crafts like painters and insulators.”

Investments have soared in recent years because the shale revolution fed off an existing infrastructure. The region’s deep water ports and expanding pipeline and storage networks offer an easy outlet to global markets. It also boasts a welcoming regulatory climate and skilled workforce.