TOPICS OF INTEREST
Drones Take Off in the Oil Field, but How High Will They Fly?
Unmanned aerial vehicles are creeping up on ubiquity in the oil and gas industry, but their potential still firmly outweighs the actuality. A panel at the 2019 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition took a close look at the benefits of drones and at the tethers still holding back their use.
Santos Acquires ConocoPhillips Australian Assets for $1.39 Billion
The deal for ConocoPhillips’s northern Australian portfolio will help the Australian company boost its position in the country’s gas market, as it gains majority ownership in a set of key assets including Darwin LNG and the Barossa project.
Total Expands Partnership With Adani on India’s Gas Market
The agreement—in which Total will reportedly pay $600 million for a 37.4% stake in the Indian gas conglomerate—boosts the supermajor’s LNG market access in India and neighboring countries. It is the latest move in Total’s aggressive expansion of its LNG portfolio.
FERC Delays Jordan Cove Environmental Review
The US Forest Service, which is working with FERC to prepare the review of the export terminal off the Oregon coast, said it only recently received critical information needed to complete amendments to its land and resource management plans. First gas is scheduled for 2025.
Kongsberg To Build Digital Twin for Shell’s Nyhamna Gas Facility
As part of the $11-million deal, Kongsberg will establish a dynamic virtual representation of the plant, which serves as a gas processing and export hub for the Shell-operated Ormen Lange in the Norwegian North Sea.
ExxonMobil Eyes Sale of Malaysian Offshore Assets
A month after it got out of Norway, Bloomberg reports that the company is working with advisers on a potential Malaysian sale, which could raise as much as $3 billion. ExxonMobil plans to divest around $15 billion in nonstrategic assets by 2021.
Goodnight Midstream Lands Big Investment To Expand Water Operations
After a planned acquisition of Goodnight fell through, private equity firm Tailwater Capital is boosting its total investment in the water midstream company to more than $500 million. Goodnight recently signed five long-term contracts with producers in the Delaware Basin and the Bakken.
Qatar Petroleum Takes Over Pair of Offshore Fields from Oxy
As Oxy looks to divest billions in assets and focus more on its prime US shale fields, it sheds itself of the ISND and ISSD fields off the eastern coast of Doha. In announcing the lease loss last year, Oxy said the fields need significant infrastructural investment.
Production Starts From Johan Sverdrup
Phase 1 of the North Sea megaproject—Norway’s largest offshore development since the 1980s—has come on stream. Johan Sverdrup is expected to produce 660,000 BOPD at its peak.
Bandwidth of Nanotechnology in the Oil Field Widens
Nanotechnology has great potential to reduce cost, increase production, and even improve the sustainability of E&P operations. But, where do we stand in terms of potential vs. reality? And, is the industry ready and willing to use the technology?
German LNG Terminal Narrows List of Potential EPC Contractors
Four companies are now under consideration for the EPC deal, which will include the building of a jetty with two berths for LNG carriers. Located near the Port of Hamburg, Germany's first LNG terminal is scheduled to start up by the end of 2022.
Equinor Awards Milestone Wireless Subsea Drone Contract
The $43-million deal with Saipem will utilize a wireless underwater intervention drone and an ROV for intervention work on the Njord field in the Norwegian North Sea. Equinor said the contract is the first ever from an operator for advanced wireless drone services.
Norway Approves Valhall West Flank Startup for Aker
Aker BP expects the unmanned facility, a further development of the Valhall field in the Norwegian North Sea, to recover 60 million BOE. Startup is expected sometime this fall.
NGL Acquires Hillstone, Adds to Delaware Water Infrastructure
The $600-million deal sees NGL net around 580,000 B/D in disposal capacity and 680,000 B/D in transportation capacity via 19 saltwater disposal wells and a network of produced water pipelines. Hillstone also holds an aggregate of more than 110,000 acres in the Delaware Basin.
Var Energi Seeks NCS Portfolio Boost From ExxonMobil Sale
With its $4.5-billion acquisition of ExxonMobil’s remaining portfolio on the Norwegian Continental Shelf now official, Var Energi says it hopes to realize its ambitious growth plans.
Department of Energy Invests $4.6 Million in Produced Water Treatment
The projects are intended to accelerate the development and commercialization of treatment technologies to reduce waste water that is being injected into disposal wells and increase water supplies for reuse.
Work Continues on Liza Unity FPSO
SBM Offshore began construction on the vessel following ExxonMobil’s sanction of the Liza Phase 2 development offshore Guyana in May. It is designed to produce 220,000 BOPD after it starts up in 2022.
Japan Pledges $10 Billion in LNG Infrastructure
The decision follows a previous $10-billion investment in LNG the country made in 2017. While that investment focused on outside energy supply sources, this one will be used to develop infrastructure in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent.
Excelerate Energy Approved for Philippines Project
Located offshore the city of Batangas, approximately 2 hours south of Manila, the Luzon LNG project will include a fully integrated turnkey FLNG terminal, arranging the necessary supply of LNG and distribution of natural gas across the island of Luzon.
TechnipFMC, DNV GL Partner on Digital Twin Integrity Benchmark
The service company and independent verifier are aiming to develop a methodology for qualifying the integrity of digital twins, which they say will help level the industry’s varying technical definitions of, and expectations towards, the technology.
How Do Companies Find the Best Strategy for Integrating IoT?
The industrial Internet of Things (IoT) is changing the way the oil and gas industry operates, but are companies leveraging it to its full potential? What strategies are being employed to handle the obstacles to implementation? Finding value in people plays a role in integrating IoT into operations.
ModuSpec Divests From Lloyd’s Register, Becomes Independent Service Organization
ModuSpec, a drilling rig inspection, auditing, and training services company, re-emerges as an independent operating company following a strategic restructure of Lloyd’s Register. It will focus on the Middle East and Asia, as well as Egypt, Uganda, and Kenya.
Tellurian Signs $7.5-Billion Deal With India’s Petronet LNG
India’s Petronet LNG Ltd. signed a $7.5-billion agreement to buy into Tellurian Inc.’s proposed LNG terminal in Louisiana in what is described as potentially one of the largest foreign investments in the US to ship shale gas abroad.
Eagle LNG Receives FERC Approval for Jacksonville Facility
The small-scale facility in northern Florida will support the export of LNG to markets that cannot be served by large LNG carriers, including a number of ports in Caribbean nations. Up to 100 LNG carriers are expected to run through the Jacksonville LNG export terminal each year.
Chevron Sanctions St. Malo Waterflood Project
The project aims to contribute an estimated ultimate recovery of more than 175 MMboe from one of the company’s signature deepwater projects in the US Gulf of Mexico.
Corrosion Will Occur, Whether You Like It or Not
Just like Houston’s summer heat, corrosion of metal surfaces will occur—whether you like it or not. To help you better understand corrosion, these papers describe using water surveys in a production/injection plant, testing the effectiveness of mitigation, and data evaluation using machine learning.
Artificial Pipeline Model Enables Comparison of Biocides in a Dynamic System
To facilitate testing and comparison of products that attenuate microbially influenced corrosion under field conditions, a method using microorganisms from a low-tide, anoxic North Sea sample was developed that allows corrosion measurements to be made for corroding biofilms grown on steel surfaces.
ExxonMobil Looking To Exit Key Australian Basin
As the operator seeks to raise $15 billion from asset sales through 2021, it sees a viable opportunity in its Gippsland Basin upstream portfolio, which could fetch up to $3 billion in a sale. Wood Mackenzie anticipates strong interest, but the age of the field may prove problematic.
HDPE Liner in Carbon Steel Pipe Manages Flowline Corrosion in Giant Onshore Field
Internal corrosion has caused ADNOC to suffer loss of containment in oil flowlines in a giant onshore field. This paper describes the successful 5-year field trial program and confirmation that HDPE liner application in carbon steel pipe can be a cost-efficient way to mitigate internal corrosion.
Machine Learning Enhances Evaluation of Oil and Gas Assets
Using machine learning (ML), image recognition, and object detection, the use of ML on algorithms to recognize objects and describe their condition were investigated—offering new possibilities for performing inspection and data gathering to evaluate the technical condition of oil and gas assets.
Oil Price Spike Could Send Service Company Margins Higher
The recent jump in oil price could create additional momentum for margins in the service sector. With shale euphoria wearing off, service company margins are still showing some resiliance. If the price hike persists into 4Q 2019, increased activity could improve pricing further.
Water Survey Assesses Souring and Corrosion at Production/Injection Plant
At a water treatment plant for an onshore oil field in northern Germany, formaldehyde injection was started in 2015 as a biocide. The goal of this study was to understand the chemical parameters and microbial distribution in the water system and whether formaldehyde injection was effective.
Freeport LNG Launches Private Cargo Trading Storefront
The virtual storefront will allow Freeport LNG to match physical, bilateral transactions with potential offtakers in a variety of trading formats. It is expected to launch this November.
Yinson Loses $1-Billion FPSO Charter for Vietnam Project
Amidst a conflict between Vietnam and China over the South China Sea, the Malaysian company’s 10-year deal to supply an FPSO for the Ca Rong Do offshore field is now history. Repsol, the operator of Ca Rong Do, suspended the project last year in the wake of government pressure.
Energy Transfer Agrees To Acquire SemGroup for $5.1 Billion
The deal sees Energy Transfer gain, among other assets, various crude and natural gas liquids pipelines running from the Denver-Julesburg and Anadarko Basins.
GE Closes Sale of Baker Hughes Shares
As part of a deal that could net up to $3 billion, GE will lose majority control of Baker Hughes just two years after it acquired the oilfield service company.
Kvaerner Eyes Boost in FPSO Construction Contracts
As part of a plan to increase revenue to more than $1 billion by 2023, the engineering and construction company is moving away from large offshore platforms with fixed substructures, saying that it expects to win and execute a series of FPSO projects in the future.
Main Topsides Lifted Onto Leviathan Platform
One of the largest deepwater gas discoveries of the past decade moves closer to its expected startup at the end of the year, as 24,500 tonnes of topside units have been installed on the Leviathan platform offshore Israel. Operator Noble Energy expects to produce up to 1.2 Bcf/D from 4 subsea wells.
Nigeria LNG Nears FID on Train 7 Project
After failing to meet a previous 2018 deadline, the owners of the Bonny Island plant say they are close to sanctioning the expansion project following the signing of a letter of intent to a consortium of Saipem Chiyoda and Daewoo for EPC services. Train 7 will add 8 mtpa to Bonny Island’s production
Perenco Receives Approval for Pickerill Decommissioning
With production declining and a nearby terminal closed, UK authorities have given the nod for decommissioning to begin on the aging North Sea gas field. Perenco has been in operation since 1992, with Perenco taking over as operator from BP in 2003.
BP Completes North Sea Drone Methane Monitoring Pilot
The pilot used sensor technology originally deployed by NASA for the Mars Curiosity Rover to collect methane emissions data live-streamed from a drone. BP said it plans to deploy the technology to all of its North Sea assets, including ETAP and Glen Lyon, in 2020.
SeekOps Secures Venture Funding To Scale Drone-Based Emissions Systems
Equinor Technology Ventures and OGCI Climate Investments have agreed to back the tech developer, which integrates its SeekIR miniature gas sensors onto drones to detect, localize, and quantify carbon emissions.
ExxonMobil Agrees To Sale of Norwegian Upstream Portfolio
ExxonMobil confirmed an exclusivity agreement with Var Energi for negotiations of a sale that could reach $4 billion, according to Reuters. If it goes through, the deal would make Var Energi the second-largest producer on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
Natural Language Processing Enables Better Operational Risk Management
Equinor is working on a natural language processing tool that could combine data sources and help planners anticipate the issues that affect onsite operational safety.
Equinor Installs Templates for Troll, Other North Sea Fields
After seeing a significant increase in the price level for subsea equipment, Equinor says it is realizing the ways in which standardized subsea templates help build financial competitiveness. The new standard allowed for the installation of 14 templates in one month.
Novatek Sanctions Arctic LNG 2 Project
With a production capacity of nearly 20 mtpa, Wood Mackenzie says the project would be the largest single project to reach FID. Novatek plans to spend more than $21 billion to launch the project at full capacity. Startup is scheduled for 2023.
Johan Sverdrup Startup Approved
With Norwegian authorities giving the go-ahead for startup, oil shipments from the massive Equinor-operated North Sea field could begin as soon as October, one month ahead of schedule.
Train 2 at Corpus Christi LNG Plant Complete
Operator Cheniere now has seven completed liquefaction trains under its control, with two trains done at Corpus Christi and five at Sabine Pass. First commercial delivery from Corpus Christi is still on track for May 2020.
Woodside Produces First Oil from Greater Enfield
Australia's largest independent has commissioned production from its $1.9 billion offshore project. Greater Enfield is expected to produce 41 MMboe for Woodside, contributing to its targeted annual production of 100 MMboe next year.
FERC Gives Positive Review To Sabine Pass LNG Berth Expansion
The berth project would accomodate an increased number of carriers arriving at the LNG export terminal in Louisiana, minimizing delays caused by adverse weather or ship traffic and removing bottlenecks associated with LNG loading.
FPSO for Liza Phase 1 Arrives Offshore Guyana
Following a 42-day journey from Singapore, the Liza Destiny has arrived at the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, where it is expected to produce up to 120,000 gross boe/D from the ExxonMobil-operated deepwater project upon startup.
Subsea Pipelines, Umbilicals Installed for Nova Field
The completion of the subsea installation marks another major step for one of several projects scheduled to tie back to the Gjøa platform in the Norwegian North Sea. Production for the Wintershall Dea-operated project is expected to start up in 2021.
Building the Energean Power FPSO
Upon completion, the FPSO will be the first permanently fiber rope-moored offshore facility in the Mediterranean, processing the reservoir fluids and export sales gas from the Karish and Tanin gas fields offshore Israel.
H2O Midstream Acquires Sabalo’s Permian Produced Water Assets
The deal sees H2O Midstream increase its produced water gathering network to more than 435,000 B/D of disposal capacity and 190 total miles of pipeline. The Permian water midstream company will add more than 40,000 B/D of recycling capacity with the option to double that capacity over time.
Operating Excellence Through Benchmarking in Upstream Operations
As companies have focused on giant capital investments onshore and offshore to drive growth, they have often focused less on field operations, especially OPEX. This represents an enormous opportunity to address profit squeeze by improving overall cost efficiency in oil and gas projects.
Silicon Valley and Oil and Gas: Lessons in Patience for New Tech Development
The entrepreneurial ecosystem and the oil and gas industry are not a perfect match, but the industry has made strides in recent years to attract the startups developing innovative technologies that could usher it into a new era. How are companies bridging the gap?
TechnipFMC To Create Two Independent, Publicly Traded Companies
The transaction is planned to be structured as a spin-off of TechnipFMC’s onshore/offshore segment to create SpinCo and RemainCo. The separation is expected to be completed in the first half of 2020.
Pembina Pipeline To Acquire Kinder Morgan Canada in $4.35-Billion Deal
Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline Corp. has entered into agreements to acquire Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd. and the US portion of the Cochin Pipeline system from Kinder Morgan for a total purchase price of approximately $4.35 billion.
Subsea Markets Face High Stakes if Oil Prices Slide
In a $60 to $70 oil environment, the subsea market is poised to grow around 7% annually up to 2025. But a significant portion of this activity is at risk if the price of Brent crude falls to $50 per barrel.
Swire Seabed Completes Autonomous Pipeline Inspection for Equinor
The subsea operations company said its most recent campaign is the first fully unmanned offshore pipeline inspection completed “over the horizon,” surveying up to 100 km from the shore.
Freeport LNG Train 1 Begins Production
Freeport marks the sixth major LNG export facility to start operations in the US. Commercial deliveries are expected to begin in September, with Osaka Gas and JERA taking half of the Train 1’s offtake capacity.
Equinor Starts Up Mariner Field in North Sea
One of the largest industrial projects in the UK in recent years, Mariner marks Equinor’s first operated field on the UK Continental Shelf. It is expected to produce 70,000 BOPD at peak rates.
July Marks Record Month for Gas Deliveries To US LNG Export Facilities
The US EIA reports that natural gas deliveries producting LNG for export reached 6.0 Bcf/D in July. Deliveries to LNG export facilities have been the fastest growing among all natural gas consumption sectors this year.
First Kenyan Oil Exports Heading To ChemChina
Seven years after discovering commercial reserves in the northern part of the country, the Kenyan government and a group led by Tullow have accepted a bid from the Chinese trading company to purchase its first shipments of crude.
Shenzhen Gas Set to Open New LNG Terminal
The launch will make Shenzhen Gas the second Chinese city gas distributor backed by a local government to own an LNG import facility, following Shenergy Group’s Shanghai import terminal. Eni is set to deliver an initial cargo to the facility.
Equinor Gets Green Light To Start Up Utgard
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has given clearance to start up facilities at the North Sea field, which straddles the line between the UK and Norwegian sectors. Production is set to begin in September.
First Permian Crude Delivered From Cactus II Pipeline
Trafigura confirmed that it had begun shipments from the Permian to Corpus Christi via the pipeline, which has a 670,000-B/D capacity. Operator Plains All American announced last week that it had completed work on the pipeline.
ALE Completes Record Lift for Total’s Egina FPSO
At nearly 3,000 tonnes, the company said its lift of an FPSO module was one of the heaviest land-based crane lifts ever performed. ALE was contracted to lift six modules for Total’s FPSO module integration project in Nigeria.
Australia Set To Become King of LNG Exports
Exports capacity has been rising for a decade and is on track to become the world leader within a year.
Capital Discipline Drives E&P Sector as Investors Look for Better Returns
The E&P sector has maintained a strong focus on capital discipline during its recovery from the 2014 oil price downturn, as investors look for companies to generate free cash flow to help pay down debt. How will this focus affect sector growth in the near term?
Hillcore Group Acquires Major Canadian Well Services Company
The private investment firm said it will partner with Treeline Well Services, one of the largest private rig providers in Canada, to build its service fleet following acquisition of the company. Treeline’s core areas are in Alberta and British Columbia.
Kosmos on Track for Mauritania, Senegal Deal
The E&P company said that a reduction in its interests for projects off the coast of the West African nations should still happen by the end of this year. This includes the large Greater Tortue Ahmeyim LNG project, which is set to start up in 2022.
Plains Adds Fee for New Pipeline, Cites Tariffs
In a filing with the US FERC, Plains All American Pipeline said it would begin charging shippers an additional fee on its Cactus II pipeline to offset higher construction costs incurred in the wake of US steel tariffs.
Neptune Gets Nod for Decommissioning of Juliet Field
The decision comes a year after Neptune stopped production from the North Sea gas field, and 4 months after it submitted decommissioning plans to the UK authorities.
Shell Sanctions Deepwater PowerNap Project
The subsea tieback is expected to start up in 2021. This is Shell’s second major development on a tieback in the US Gulf of Mexico, following Kaikias’ startup in May.
Water Midstream Companies Strike Deals in Delaware, STACK Plays
A joint-venture agreement gives Solaris control of Concho’s produced-water infrastructure in New Mexico, and Lagoon Water Solutions closed on a deal with Continental in Oklahoma.
Johan Sverdrup Phase 1 Nearly Complete, Startup on Target
Lundin reports that the hookup and commissioning of installed facilities at the large North Sea field is progressing as planned. Phase 1 startup is still scheduled for November.
Neptune Begins Subsea Installation Work on Duva Field
The Neptune-operated project is on track to start drilling later this year, with first oil scheduled for the end of 2020. The Norwegian North Sea field is expected to produce 30,000 BOE/D at its peak.
Price and Cost Risks Drive Race To Secure FID, FEED, and Contractors for Global LNG
Approximately $200 billion in projects worldwide are racing to be approved over the next 2 years. The race is not just to make FIDs on projects, but also to enter FEED work to lock in contractors before others do.
Leviathan Partners Mulling FLNG Facility
The facility would enable exports from one of the world’s largest gas discoveries to new markets, primarily in Europe and Asia. The Leviathan partners have signed deals to export gas to Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt and Jordan.
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