Independent Oil and Gas: Awarded two year extension at the Harvey Licence

 

 

Independent Oil and Gas: Awarded two year extension at the Harvey Licence

Independent Oil and Gas plc (“IOG” or the “Company”), the development and production focused Oil and Gas Company, is pleased to announce that the Oil & Gas Authority (“OGA”) has agreed a two-year extension to the initial term for licence P2085 that includes Harvey.  The licence will be extended to 20 December 2019.

Highlights

  • IOG has made a firm commitment to drill a well on the Harvey structure, commencing by 20 September 2019
  • Rig contract to be in place by 20 November 2018
  • The gross best case unrisked prospective gas resources for the Harvey structure of 114 BCF, makes the licence potentially the largest in IOG’s 100% owned portfolio

Mark Routh, CEO and Interim Chairman of IOG commented: 

We are pleased to have received a 2-year extension to the Harvey licence as it further validates our commitment to drill the well on what has the potential to become our largest gas asset.  We will now progress to finalise our plans to drill the well and look forward to providing details in due course.

Harvey Overview
Harvey lies directly between IOG’s Blythe and Vulcan Satellites hubs.  Upon successful appraisal, Harvey gas could be exported via the nearby Thames Pipeline, in line with IOG’s hub strategy.

An independent Competent Persons Report has estimated the Low/Best/High case unrisked gross prospective gas resources on the Harvey structure to be 45/114/286 BCF (36/90/226 BCF on licence).  The fully risked EMV for the 100%-owned Harvey licence is £79 million.

A Harvey development would be likely to have significant economic synergies with IOG’s two nearby gas hubs.

Link

CGG: Contracted by SDX for 2018 Morocco shoot

 

CGG: Contracted by SDX for 2018 Morocco shoot

SDX Energy will see a seismic survey launched in Morocco during 2018. The company recently completed a tender for a 240 sq km 3D seismic acquisition as part of its work commitment for its Gharb Center exploration permit in the North African country.

The contract has been awarded to CGG with acquisition and processing targeted for mid-2018. On completion of the interpretation of the 3D seismic results, SDX will select the drilling locations that will target up to 20 Bcf (unrisked) of conventional natural gas leads identified within the permit.

Link

Greenpeace: Texan oil giant at centre of anti-protest legislation quits

 

 

 

Greenpeace: Texan oil giant at centre of anti-protest legislation quits

Greenpeace says it’s time for the new Government to administer the coup de grâce to the oil industry after Texan oil giant, Anadarko, has pulled the plug on its New Zealand operations.

It is reported that Anadarko will surrender its final remaining permits held off the Canterbury Coast of New Zealand.

What fuel source was used to get me here?

Greenpeace climate campaigner, Kate Simcock, says the move comes after years of protest, public pressure, iwi opposition and oil industry instability.

“There is no future in oil and it’s time for our new Government to dump oil exploration and drilling in New Zealand. We can’t afford to burn most of the fossil fuel reserves we know about if we’re to stabilise our climate – searching for more makes no sense,” she says.

“Jacinda Ardern says climate change is her generation’s nuclear free moment. If going nuclear free meant New Zealand standing up to the nuclear superpowers, then taking action on climate change needs to see us standing up to the fossil fuel corporations.

“Fossil fuel corporations have actively funded climate science denial and lobbied governments around the world to protect the industry at the expense of protecting people.”

In 2013, controversial legislation designed to stop protest against oil ships at sea, dubbed the ‘Anadarko Amendment’, was passed. This amendment to the Crown Minerals Act was rushed through over the Easter break without public notification, and followed years of protest and opposition to oil exploration in New Zealand.

At the time, Anadarko was preparing to search for oil off the Raglan coast. It’s the only company to actually do exploratory drilling in the deep sea over the past decade, and has never found any oil.

Simcock says the exit of Anadarko could be our symbolic line in the sand.

“We’d like Jacinda Ardern to know that thousands of people up and down the country, iwi, and local governments have her back when it comes to ending oil in New Zealand. Now is the time to be bold and brave,” she says.

Councils including Auckland, Christchurch City, Environment Canterbury, Dunedin, Kaikoura and Gisborne have all previously voted to oppose offshore oil exploration and drilling.

Over the weekend, the world’s largest seismic exploration ship arrived in New Zealand waters.

The 125-metre long Amazon Warrior, is owned by the world’s largest oilfield services company, Schlumberger, and plans to seismic blast for oil in the Taranaki Basin, right in the middle of blue whale habitat.

Simcock says the Government must turn the ship around.

Last summer the ship was also in New Zealand, and faced mass opposition as it searched for oil on behalf of Statoil, Chevron, and OMV off the Wairarapa Coast.

In April, Greenpeace activists, including Executive Director Dr Russel Norman and volunteer Sara Howell, swam in front of the Amazon Warrior 60 nautical miles out to sea, stopping it from seismic blasting for the day.

The activists and Greenpeace were charged under the Anadarko Amendment for the first time in New Zealand history. They face a year in jail and up to $300,000 in collective fines.

They have pleaded Not Guilty and will face trial in April next year.

Link

Schlumberger: Transforming Knowledge

 

 

 

Schlumberger: Transforming Knowledge

Collaborative enterprise knowledge-sharing leadership recognized as international benchmark.

For the 12th consecutive year, Schlumberger has been recognized as a leader in the Global Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises (MAKE) study—an international benchmark for world-class knowledge organizations.

Companies’ overall rankings are based on performance in eight knowledge sharing categories, and this year Schlumberger was cited as the leader for creating an environment for collaborative enterprise knowledge-sharing.

The MAKE leaders are chosen by a panel of global Fortune 500 senior executives, as well as internationally recognized knowledge management and intellectual capital experts. The study is managed by Teleos, an independent knowledge management and intellectual capital research firm.

The panel rates companies in knowledge performance dimensions such as creating a knowledge-driven culture, developing knowledge workers through senior management leadership, maximizing enterprise intellectual capital, creating a learning organization, delivering value based on stakeholder knowledge, and transforming enterprise knowledge into shareholder value.

“Schlumberger has long been committed to having a culture of collaboration with a focus on knowledge-sharing, technical innovation, and teamwork,” notes Susan Rosenbaum, director, discipline career management and knowledge management. “Teams are encouraged to share their expertise across a vast expanse of time zones, technologies and services using well-defined processes and well-managed internal information systems to foster ongoing networking and learning opportunities for everyone.”

Link       The KNOW Network

Myanmar: Joint-venture between British and Myanmar firms eyes oil and gas sector

 

 

 

Myanmar: Joint-venture between British and Myanmar firms eyes oil and gas sector

A British company has created a joint-venture with a Myanmar firm to enter the marine industry as well as oil and natural gas sector.

Representatives from the UK firm, James Fisher and Sons, and the Myanmar firm Royal Marine Technology Co Ltd, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at the Sule Shangri-La Hotel on March 20.

Nick Henry, chief executive officer at James Fisher and Sons, said that the reason for entering into Myanmar is to assist with the country’s development of the crude oil and natural gas market, which has recently gained attention internationally.

He added that the company will continue to provide services and support to oil and natural gas extraction companies, offer technological assistance, and educate local engineer graduates in the country.

“The offshore services are going to expand in Myanmar quite soon. That’s why … we have signed a first-step agreement to collaborate with our domestic companies. The UK firm is working with our company to settle here,” said U Myint Aung, managing director of Royal Marine Technology.

James Fisher and Sons will be providing resources such as container ships, and even submarines. It will also supply gas and oil pipeline-related construction equipment, along with repairs and maintenance machinery and apparatus.

“There are marine-related services provided in the country, but a company offering large-scale services, such as this one, has [not yet arrived in Myanmar].

“When the oil extraction companies need assistance, they have to look to expertise abroad,” U Myint Aung explained.

If local oil and natural gas enterprises grow and develop, that will create a lot of employment opportunities. These foreign companies have a foresight, so they are coming here to settle their businesses, he added.

The local Royal Marine Technology Co Ltd was founded two decades ago as a firm offering repairing services for ships. In recent years, the company has provided engineering services for offshore oil and natural gas stations and for the construction of a power plant.

The oil and gas sector in Myanmar is a hotspot for exploration and has become an area of interest among international firms.

According to research firm IHS Global Insights, Myanmar is estimate to possess 3.2 billion barrels of oil and 18 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas reserves. In fact, the country’s unproven and unrecorded resources may be vastly greater.

A report on the oil and gas sector authored by the then-UK Trade and Investment Department (the predecessor organisation of the UK Department of Trade) states that Myanmar’s proven reserves are almost on a par with those in its neighbour, India, which possesses 5.7 billion barrels of oil and 18 trillion tcf of natural gas and is ranked 16th internationally in terms of the value of its resources by British Petroleum’s 2013 statistical review of world energy.

In June 2014, the Myanmar government awarded 20 international firms preliminary rights to explore and produce offshore blocks.

More recent onshore and offshore bidding rounds have brought some of the world’s biggest oil and gas companies to Myanmar. A number of companies which secured onshore and offshore exploration licenses in the 2013 offshore round were British companies including Shell, BG Group and Ophir Energy.

According to the British Chamber of Commerce’s publication, Oil & Gas, Electric Power and Renewable Energy Market Snapshot published in September 2016, a total of US$4.8 billion in foreign investment was approved for the oil and gas sector in 2015-16, slightly more than 50% of total FDI for all sectors approved during the year.

There are currently four offshore areas in operation.

The oldest is Yadana, run by a consortium led by French firm Total. Yetagun is operated by Malaysia’s state giant Petronas, Shwe by the South Korean firm Daewoo International, and Zawtika by Thai company PTTEP. Shwe Gas links Myanmar and China via a cross-border pipeline to southern China.

As of September 2016, many of the companies recently awarded offshore blocks were still conducting their initial stages of surveying and assessments. Many of the international corporations have partnered with local firms, particularly in shallow-water blocks, and domestic businesses in Myanmar are likely to benefit through improved skills and expertise.

The British Chamber report states that onshore oil and gas projects have generally become smaller in scale in recent years than the offshore industry, though there are still plenty of opportunities for international investors.

Initially the offshore gas industry was developed with an export focus. However, domestic electricity consumption is increasing rapidly. Hence, gas-fired generation is likely to be an essential part of Myanmar’s generation mix in the future.

At present, the country’s local capacity is limited, which means there is a demand for international suppliers across the entire supply chain and in many different areas.

According to the UKTI report, this is because of the lack of local capacity in terms of skilled personnel, and that the business community is keen to diversity their commercial partners. Sectors in demand include infrastructure and equipment, security, risk analysis, training and skills accreditation, legal and professional services, health and safety analysis, as well as environmental and social impact assessment consultancy services.

Apart from British and western companies, Chinese corporations have also been expanding their reach in the sector.

Yesterday, Reuters reported that a US$1.5 billion oil pipeline project to pump oil 770km (480 miles) across Myanmar to southwest China is set for imminent start-up, with a supertanker nearing the port of Kyaukphyu, marking the beginning of a new oil trading route. The deal was made despite simmering tensions between the Myanmar and Chinese governments.

An agreement made between Myanmar’s government and China’s state-owned PetroChina will allow the Chinese energy corporation to import oil from overseas via the Bay of Bengal and pump it through the pipeline, which is expected to supply a new 260,000-barrels-per-day (bpd) refinery in China’s landlocked Yunnan province, according to Reuters.

Link

Geokinetics: Cleared for seismic testing on Monroeville roads – Federal court challenge settled

 

 

 

Geokinetics: Cleared for seismic testing on Monroeville roads – Federal court challenge settled

Monroeville and a seismic testing company have reached a settlement in a federal court case challenging the municipality’s recently passed regulations related to gas and oil development.

Texas-based Geokinetics had been seeking a preliminary injunction in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh to allow it to perform seismic testing on Monroeville roads. The municipality in June denied a request by the company to use its roads for the testing, then passed more stringent regulations regarding oil and gas development. Geokinetics filed its lawsuit in October, a month after the new law was put in place.

The law requires companies to pay $1,000 to obtain a permit, notify nearby property owners in advance of testing and have a $2 million liability insurance policy.

As part of the settlement, Geokinetics agreed to comply with around 90 percent of the municipality’s ordinance, said Monroeville Solicitor Robert Wratcher. He said a settlement was necessary because Geokinetics applied for permits to use municipal roads before Monroeville’s ordinance became effective.

“If they prevailed (in court), Geokinetics had the right to seismic test without regulations because they applied prior to Monroeville passing the ordinance,” Wratcher said.

According to Wratcher, Geokinetics under the settlement:

• Will not be allowed to perform seismic testing on roads that are within 50 feet of any structure. The existing set-back was 100 feet.

• Does not have to provide pre- and post-testing inspections on municipal properties.

All other provisions found in the municipality’s ordinance will be followed by Geokinetics, he said.

Attorney Kevin Gormly of the energy law firm Steptoe & Johnson, which represented Geokinetics in the case, was not immediately available for comment.

According to Monroeville’s website, there are 158 roads in the municipality on which Geokinetics could perform seismic testing. Monroeville oil and gas exploration company Huntley & Huntley hired Geokinetics this year to perform seismic tests in a 200-mile radius that includes Monroeville.

The procedure often precedes fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, a technique used to extract oil and gas from rock by injecting high-pressure water, sand or gravel and chemicals. Huntley & Huntley has said it does not plan do develop fracking wells in Monroeville, but the testing will help the company determine if drilling operations are viable in areas bordering the municipality.

Wratcher said that other companies wanting to do seismic testing will have to follow the regulations found in the ordinance.

“I think it’s a really good settlement — I’m happy that we were able to work something out,” Wratcher said.

Link

Fedor Ushakov transits Northern Sea Route unassisted in 8.5 days

 

 

 

Fedor Ushakov transits Northern Sea Route unassisted in 8.5 days

On 24 November 2017 Fedor Ushakov, a new multifunctional icebreaking standby vessel, built to order for Sovcomflot (SCF Group) to service the Sakhalin-2 project, successfully completed her first eastward passage along the Northern Sea Route (NSR). Bound for her permanent operational base on the Sakhalin Island (the Sea of Okhotsk) shelf, the vessel covered a high-latitude route without the assistance of an icebreaker, despite the late stage of the Arctic Ocean navigation season and challenging ice conditions along several route segments.

During this passage, Fedor Ushakov safely covered 2,194 nautical miles (4,063 km) from Cape Zhelaniya (the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago) to Cape Dezhnev at Chukotka, the easternmost point of Russia’s mainland. The vessel covered this distance in 8 days9 hours and 58 minutes, moving at an average speed of 10.9 knots (20.2 km/h), which tops the performance of many commercial vessels in ice-free open waters.

During the voyage, Fedor Ushakov exchanged information on the ice situation along the route with the NSR’s management, as well as Atomflot icebreakers, and was provided with all the necessary information and navigational data. During the voyage, the crew was bolstered with the addition of a second master/ice advisor, whose extensive experience in high-latitude navigation was very helpful both during the preparations for and throughout the voyage itself.

More     Link

Boskalis: Share Buyback update

 

 

 

Boskalis: Share Buyback update

In the period from 20 November up to and including 24 November, Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) repurchased own shares. The repurchases took place within the framework of the share buyback program announced on 3 July 2017.

Click here for a complete overview of all individual transactions.

Boskalis will publish a press release every Monday for the duration of the buyback program, provided shares were repurchased in the preceding week. Interested parties can subscribe to these press releases at ir@boskalis.com.  An overview of the progress of the program can be found on www.boskalis.com/sharebuyback2017.

Link

Magseis: SVP Sales & Marketing wanted

 

 

 

Magseis: SVP Sales & Marketing wanted

Are you ready to re-shape the Ocean Bottom Seismic industry?

Do you want to be an integral part of the development of the company`s revenue goals? Do you want to join a company with ambitious global growth plans? Would you like to contribute in making the company the number 1 player within Ocean Bottom Seismic? Then this could be the right opportunity for you.

The SVP Sales and Marketing shall provide leadership in developing the company’s revenue goals and is responsible for maintaining strong and accurate communication and relationships with key internal and external stakeholders. The SVP Sales & Marketing is overall responsible for achieving market access and secure backlog by establishing required infrastructure and maintain trustworthy relationships with local agents and key clients. Additionally, the VP Sales & Marketing shall provide direction and management of global S&M activities, such as developing annual strategies and KPI’s in accordance with corporate strategies and objectives and determine price levels in close discussion with the CEO and CFO. The SVP Sales & Marketing collaborate closely with Business Development.

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for a candidate with a strong background from Sales & Marketing at management level. You will have experience from the seismic market and be highly passionate about technology. In addition, we expect you to be someone who strives to make everything you do a success and someone who can deliver in relation to both external and internal stakeholder expectations.

Why is this such an interesting and unique position?

You will be joining the senior management team of an Oslo stock exchange geophysical company that is growing in both size and revenue. Magseis is a highly innovative company with a unique technology. You will enter a great work environment with high calibre colleagues, all of whom have a great passion for what they do. In this position you will be an integral part of creating a new and expanding company as a key stakeholder within the senior management team.

More     Link

OGA: New Government-funded ‘Frontier’ exploration data now available

 

 

OGA: New Government-funded ‘Frontier’ exploration data now available

The Oil and Gas Authority today released the results of the £20 million UK Government-Funded seismic programme to promote exploration activity in under-explored areas of UK Continental Shelf. This data will support the forthcoming 31stOffshore Licensing Round which will open in mid-2018.

This dataset is now available to industry and academia, and contains close to 19,000 km of newly acquired broadband seismic data, new gravity and magnetic surveys, approximately 23,000 km of reprocessed legacy seismic data, a rejuvenated set of digital well data, in addition to various supplementary reports.

The new marine 2D surveys, acquired during Summer 2016, cover the East Shetland Platform and South West Britain areas, with reprocessed datasets stretching along the English Channel and up the western areas of the UK as far as the Hebrides. Together with data from the 2015 seismic programme, this provides a regional exploration dataset for almost all of the UK’s under-explored offshore shelf, in regions where no substantial activity has occurred in decades.

The data have been published under open licences, and the key data packages can be downloaded for free, with complete data packages (including field data) available to order on media from www.UKOilandGasData.com. The larger data packages will be available on digital media only, for which a nominal charge will be made to recover media, handling, and delivery costs.

The OGA has also released a set of regional studies on the East Shetland Platform and SW Approaches Basin and a comprehensive set of regional maps across the Southern North Sea to supplement maps published earlier this year for the Central North Sea and Moray Firth. http://data-ogauthority.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets?q=November+Data+Release&sort_by=relevance . An updated UKCS well tops database is also available with the aim of providing these data in a more readily accessible format. (see notes section at end for further information)

The East Shetland Platform and SW Approaches studies were funded by the OGA through the 21st Century Exploration Roadmap (21CXRM) initiative and the contract for a second phase of studies in these areas, jointly funded by the OGA and an industry participant group, was recently awarded to APT.

Jo Bagguley, OGA principal regional geologist said: “The seismic acquisition programme is a vital part of the OGA’s plan to help revitalise exploration with up to £40 million already spent to provide modern coverage of nearly all underexplored regions of the UKCS. This new data will provide valuable insight to companies identifying new plays and prospects ahead of the 31st Offshore Licensing Round in 2018.

“The UKCS has a lot to play for with up to 10 to 20 billion barrels of oil still remaining. The challenge is now for industry to increase the level and quality of exploration drilling across the UKCS and work together with the OGA in maximising economic recovery.”

Katy Heidenreich, Oil & Gas UK’s operations optimisation manager said: “Improving access to quality well and seismic data is a key lever to unlocking exploration activity on the UKCS. This data release marks another key milestone in the collective drive towards improving commercial success rates and stimulating fresh interest in potential new development opportunities.”

Malcolm Fleming, chief executive of CDA, the Oil & Gas UK subsidiary which manages UKOilandGasData.com said: “The significant improvement in the quality and availability of the data over these areas will allow geoscientists to re-evaluate previous interpretations, leading to a re-think of the prospectivity and potential of the petroleum systems in place and reappraisal of discoveries previously thought to be uneconomic, as well as the discovery of new prospects for exploration drilling.”

PGS and WesternGeco were awarded the contracts to acquire and process seismic data from the East Shetland Platform and South West Britain respectively. Acquisition was completed in late 2016, mirroring the 2015 seismic programme which saw more than 40,000 km of new and reprocessed data successfully released to industry.

This second seismic acquisition programme forms part of a package of measures from the Government designed to support the oil and gas sector. The areas were selected following engagement with industry and endorsed by the MER UK Exploration Task Force.

PGS vessel the Nordic Explorer carried out seismic surveys across the East Shetland Platform which includes the East Orkney Basin, East Fair Isle Basin and Dutch Bank Basin. The WesternGeco vessel WG Magellan carried out seismic surveys around South West Britain, including; the Celtic Sea, Western English Channel, Bristol Channel, St George’s Channel and the Irish Sea.

Link