Month: January 2018

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ROSGEO: Postpones the idea of new seismic survey ship construction

ROSGEO State Corporation reports that in the near future the Corporation will be focused on purchasing specialized ships from the market, but later the orders may be placed for new ship construction.

ROSGEO State Corporation intends to purchase the second seismic survey ship from the market, according to Kommersant. Consequently, the Corporation seems to postpone the previous idea of new ship construction. In 2017, ROSGEO purchased a ship of this type from Schlumberger. According to the State Corporation head, Roman Panov, ROSGEO has a ‘turnkey’ solution of purchasing a ship for operation on the Russian shelf. This solution will depend on quantity of orders for seismic surveys from private or public companies.

It may happen that, if available funds are sufficient, ROSGEO will purchase ships for 2D and 3D seismic survey from Zvezda shipbuilding facility in Primorski Krai.

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Magseis: Awarded contract for leasing of MASS nodes

Magseis is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a smaller contract for the lease of its proprietary MASS nodes for a project in South East Asia.

Magseis will mobilise a light handling system and field technicians for the project. The contract will commence during Q1. This award is a milestone for Magseis’ agnostic approach to the market and demonstrates flexibility in business and revenue models.

Per-Christian Grytnes, CEO comments:

“We are delighted with entering into our first Lease Agreement. It is a major first step in adding further flexibility to our business model. The MASS node is highly competitive and we are further broadening deployment capabilities to enable more projects with low OPEX and attractive economics”.

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MOL Group: Awarded New Hydrocarbon Exploration And Extraction Permits In Norway

Hungarian oils and gas company MOL has been awarded new hydrocarbon exploration and extraction licences in Norway, meaning it now has permits with relation to 20 hydrocarbon fields, as a result of which it could significantly reinforce the position of Europe’s hydrocarbon market’, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in a telephone statement to Hungarian news agency MTI on Tuesday following negotiations in Tromsø, Norway.

‘MOL will be spending 500 million dollars on exploration in Norway over the next five years. The new exploration licences off the coast of Norway conceal over 750 million barrels of geological wealth, and the latest Norwegian licences mean the MOL Group’s global exploration portfolio has doubled’, the Minister added.

‘As one of Europe’s largest exporters of natural gas (some one third of Europe’s gas consumption comes from the Scandinavian country), Norway could also play an important role in assuring Hungary’s gas supply in future’, he said.

‘Good cooperation was already established with Statoil in 2016, and we would like to be able to count on Norwegian gas in future as one of the new sources of the diversification of Hungary’s gas supply. This requires Central European infrastructure to be callable of accepting and using liquid natural gas (LNG)’, he said. Mr. Szijjártó confirmed that Hungary could count on Norway as another source of natural gas if the Polish LNG terminals are expanded or the Croatian LNG terminal at Krk is finally operational. ‘Our Norwegian negotiating partners were fully open to this’, he declared.

‘Norway is one of the world’s most highly developed and richest countries thanks to its unique natural wealth, and accordingly the fact that energy is now being placed at the focus of cooperation between the two countries is extremely advantageous to Hungary’, he noted.

During his visit to Tromsø, the Minister met with his Norwegian counterpart, Foreign Minister Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide. The parties agreed that the two countries will be mutually supporting each other’s endeavours within the United nations, and accordingly Hungary will be supporting Norway’s bid for membership of the Security Council for the 2021-22 session.

At the invitation of the Norwegian Foreign Minister and the Minister for Oil and Energy, Mr. Szijjártó held a lecture at this year’s international conference on the sustainable development of the Arctic region.

‘What happens in the Arctic region not only affects the Arctic, but the whole world, and primarily Europe. Although a new trade route could open up if the Arctic Sea route become fully navigable, global warming and the melting of the Arctic ice cap and the resulting rise in sea levels is affecting the whole world’, he said.

Hungary has committed itself to both increasing competitiveness and protecting the environment in a balanced manner. ‘We are developing Hungary’s economy to enable the continuous improvement of its competitiveness, but responsibility for the future is also part of our economic strategy. This was clearly indicated by our performance during the drawing up of the Paris climate agreement, and by the fact that Hungary was the first country to ratify the Kyoto Protocol’, Mr. Szijjártó highlighted.

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Geokinetics: Lower Burrell to be ‘thumped’ to test for natural gas fracking sites

Oil and natural gas exploration and production company Huntley & Huntley, Inc. is using two companies to conduct seismic testing in Lower Burrell.

Seismic testing is often tied to natural gas exploration.

The testing began earlier this month and will take place through the end of February.

It consists of placing data collection devices called “geophones” across a large area, which record sound waves made by “thumper” trucks that pound the surface to send vibrations through the ground in order to provide information about the geological conditions at a location.

“Huntley & Huntley Energy Exploration has contracted with GeoKinetics and Cougar Land Services to conduct a seismic survey in portions of Lower Burrell (as) part of a larger program to collect geologic data to support a natural gas drilling program in Westmoreland and Allegheny counties,” Paul Burke, vice president and general counsel for Huntley & Huntley said in a statement. “The companies have worked with local government officials and property owners in Lower Burrell to provide information about this work, and have obtained permission from property owners to place geophones and other equipment on their land to complete the survey.”

The testing will move steadily from east to west, toward the border with Plum.

The trucks will operate between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Other work is limited to daylight hours, seven days a week.

Burke said all the testing equipment will be removed when the testing is completed, and there is no impact to the land, houses or other structures associated with the testing.

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WesternGeco vs ION Geo: Rumbling on….

4 Jan 18: The $93.4 Million Question: Can Patent-Holders Recover Profits Lost On Contracts To Be Performed Outside The U.S.?

Is a patent-holder precluded from recovering lost-profits damages for patent infringement if those profits would have been earned on contracts for services to be performed outside of U.S. territory?  That is the $93.4 million question presented by the cert petition in WesternGeco L.L.C. v. ION Geophysical Corp., No. 16-1011 and that the Supreme Court is set to consider at its Friday, January 5 conference.

The petition stems from an opinion of the Federal Circuit in which a divided panel affirmed a jury verdict of patent infringement and its damages award of $12.5 million in reasonable royalties but reversed the additional award of $93.4 million in profits that the jury found WesternGeco would have otherwise made on ten contracts that it lost to ION Geophysical’s (“ION”) customers.  Those contracts were for performing marine seismic surveys, which were the subject matter of the patents that ION was found to have infringed under 35 U.S.C. § 271(f) by exporting components to customers who assembled the system and then used it to perform surveys.  However, the lost survey contracts were for work to be performed on the high seas, i.e. outside U.S. territory.

The Federal Circuit panel majority found that this fact disqualified those contracts as a permissible measure of damages.  The dissenting judge (Judge Wallach), however, argued that ordinary common-law damages principles should apply, which would require only proximate causation between any U.S. infringement and the lost profits.  Judge Wallach relied on a trio of Supreme Court cases dating from the 1800s and early 1900s as supporting recovery of lost profits in the circumstances of this case.

On December 6, 2017, the U.S. government filed a brief in support of the cert petition that largely echoed Judge Wallach’s views.  The government writes that “because patent infringement is a species of tort . . . [the] traditional common-law principle . . . [of] compensatory damages” should apply.  That traditional principle is, according to the government’s brief, “just as borderless as the common-law exhaustion principle” that the Supreme Court recently applied in Impression Prods., Inc. v. Lexmark Int’l, Inc., 137 S.Ct. 1523 (2017) to find that a patentee’s foreign sale of a patented article exhausts the patentee’s domestic patent rights in that article.  The government also agreed with Judge Wallach that Supreme Court precedent, “although not squarely hold[ing]” that “foreign lost profits attributable to domestic acts of patent infringement” are recoverable,  “suggests that the Federal Circuit’s approach is mistaken.”

In a supplemental brief filed on the same day the case was distributed for conference, ION argues, among other things, that the Supreme Court must deny the petition because the parties and the government do not agree on whether the question presented for Supreme Court review should focus on 35 U.S.C. § 271(f) (inducing the infringing combination of components outside the U.S.) or on 35 U.S.C. § 284 (damages).  The Court will decide on Friday whether or not it agrees with that objection.

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U.S. Supreme Court To Decide Whether Patent-Holders Can Recover Foreign Lost Profits

On January 12, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in WesternGeco L.L.C. v. ION Geophysical Corp., No. 16-1011.  The case stems from an opinion of the Federal Circuit in which a divided panel affirmed a jury’s verdict of patent infringement and its damages award of $12.5 million in reasonable royalties but reversed the jury’s additional award of $93.4 million in profits that would have been earned on contracts to be performed outside of U.S. territory.

In December, the U.S. government filed a brief arguing that there is no bar to recovering “foreign lost profits attributable to domestic acts of patent infringement” if the damages were proximately caused by the infringement and that the Federal Circuit panel’s decision is not supported by Supreme Court precedent.

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To be continued …..

 

 

 

Statoil: Awarded 31 exploration licenses on Norwegian shelf

Statoil has been offered interests in 31 exploration licences on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS), 17 of these as operator, and 14 as a partner, Norway’s exploration and production company said.

“The NCS is the core of Statoil’s business- licenses awarded through the annual predefined areas (APA) licensing rounds give access to acreage that can provide important resources,” said Jez Averty, Statoil’s senior vice president for exploration in Norway and the UK.

Statoil made a significant discovery in the Norwegian Sea – Cape Vulture in a licence awarded in the 2015 round.

“New discoveries are needed in order to offset the declining production on existing fields on the NCS,” Averty said, adding that the new award is on level with the 2015 and 2015 APA awards, both of which significantly increased Statoil’s license portfolio.

 The offer this year includes three commitment wells, while two of these wells are in the North Sea and one in the Norwegian Sea, the company said.

Through drilling the Gladsheim prospect in license PL921, Statoil will test if oil has moved eastward from the Troll area.

In PL942 in the Norwegian Sea, it aims to discover by drilling of the Ørn prospect, whether new resources can be produced through the Norne installation. Statoil is also participating in the drilling a well in the PL916 at the Utsira High operated by AkerBP.

“Over the past two years we have replenished our portfolio with a number of interesting prospects. This enables us to maintain and increase the exploration efforts. We will this year drill or participate in between 25-30 exploration wells on the NCS. This is an increase from the 19 we operated or participated in in 2017,” Averty said.

In APA 2017 Statoil was awarded new production licences in all of the three provinces on the NCS.

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Angus Energy announces agreement to acquire a 25 percent interest in the Balcombe Licence (PEDL244)

Angus Energy, a conventional oil and gas production and development company, has entered into a definitive agreement to form a new partnership with Cuadrilla Balcombe (‘Cuadrilla’) and Lucas Bolney (‘Lucas’). Subject to satisfaction of the terms of the agreement, the Company will join the partnership through the acquisition of a 25.0% interest in licence PEDL244 which includes the entire Balcombe field discovery.

 

On behalf of the partnership, Angus Energy will, subject to Oil and Gas Authority (‘OGA’) approval, assume Operatorship of the Balcombe licence. The Company will commence a fully approved well test program of the Balcombe-2Z horizontal well at the earliest opportunity. Angus Energy will also establish a local Community Liaison Group and contact local residents, at the appropriate time, before work commences.

Under the terms of the agreement, Angus Energy will pay a cash amount in two parts as set out below along with the costs of the well test program of Balcombe-2Z. If the results of the well test are determined successful, the Company will assume the associated costs of a Field Development Plan (‘FDP’) submission to the Oil & Gas Authority (‘OGA’).

The Acquisition has been unanimously approved by the Board and will require additional sources of capital. Accordingly the Board is reviewing several financing options and is in the final stages of selection. An update will be provided in due course.

All operations at Balcombe will be performed through conventional production. There will be no hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’.

Terms of the Acquisition

Under the terms of the Acquisition, Angus Energy Weald Basin No.3 Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Angus Energy, has conditionally agreed to acquire the 25% interest in PEDL244 on a pro-rata basis from Cuadrilla and Lucas (the Sellers) on the following terms. The current ownership of PEDL244 is 75% Cuadrilla and 25% Lucas:

• Pay within 20 working days of 20 January 2018 £2,000,000 less £150,000 already paid under a confidentiality agreement with the Sellers;
• Pay £2,000,000 following consent from the OGA for the Acquisition; and
• Carry out and pay for the well test of a horizontal well test program of the Balcombe-2Z (the “Well”) to achieve the following objectives:
  • Measure the Well flowing production rates for oil and natural gas;
  • Measure flowing bottom hole and wellhead Well pressures;
  • Determine the gas oil ratio (GOR) of production from the Well;
  • Collect and analyse Well oil, gas and water samples; and
  • Measure and record Well shut-in bottom hole pressure over approximately one month.

Should the OGA not approve the Acquisition, the initial £2.0 million payment is refundable.

The Company notes a fully approved test program of Balcombe-2Z Well will require minimal preparation as the Well is drilled and ready for testing.

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