Proppant players cut workforces

A rapidly declining market for proppant in major US basins has led some suppliers to reduce staff in recent weeks. Most recently, Canadian outfit Select Sands said this week it had furloughed more than two dozen workers at its Sandtown facility in Arkansas. The Vancouver-based company said 26 employees were affected by the temporary measure "until further notice". Meanwhile, local media reports

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Caroline Evans

Nine Energy Service in deal to buy Magnum

US oilfield services provider Nine Energy Service has agreed an acquisition worth nearly $500 million less than a year after it went public. The company is buying Magnum Oil Tools International for $334 million in cash and 5 million shares of Nine common stock valued at $159 million. The deal also allows for potential future contingent payments to Magnum. Nine intends to fund the deal with the

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Caroline Evans

Aspen plans Texas pipeline

Private US player Aspen Midstream is planning to build a new pipeline system to service the growing Austin Chalk play of east Texas. The Encap Flatrock Midstream-backed company aims to develop a large-diameter residue pipeline as well as a lean and a rich gas gathering system in the Giddings field in Texas. The system is supported by about 150,000 acres offering long-term dedicated supply from mu

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Caroline Evans

Egina and Preowei data hunt

French major Total is on the hunt for seismic contractors to gather sub-surface data over its Egina and Preowei fields off Nigeria, writes Iain Esau. The surveys required are 3D and 4D node acquisitions covering an area of about 279 square kilometres in OML 130, where the Egina floating production, storage and offloading vessel is about to come onstream and Preowei is viewed as a subsea tieback t

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Iain Esau

OMV campaign is approved

OMV has been granted approval from the New Zealand environmental regulator for its planned multi-well exploration and appraisal programme off Taranaki. The Austrian operator has also been granted a two-year extension of its drilling commitment in the frontier Great South basin, where it operates Block PEP 50119. The environmental approval relates to a programme of up to nine exploration wells an

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Russell Searancke

Platforms under way for Lukoil

Private Russian oil producer Lukoil has started construction of the production and living quarters platforms that will be used in its development of the Rakushechnoye field in the Caspian Sea, writes Vladimir Afanasiev. Lukoil expects that Moscow-based fabrication contractor CNGS Engineering will be able to complete construction of the two platforms by October 2022, with oil and gas production fr

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Vladimir Afanasiev

No bids in Sila Sibiri line pipe tender amid price concerns

A tender by Russian gas giant Gazprom for the supply of large diameter pipes for the second phase of its Sila Sibiri gas export pipeline is reported to have received no bids, writes Vladimir Afanasiev. In a quickly arranged tender that was announced in early September, Gazprom said it was prepared to pay a total of 47.4 billion roubles ($700 million) for pipes that are required to be laid along t

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Vladimir Afanasiev

Operators concerned about Colorado's Proposition 112

The oil and gas industry in the US state of Colorado is closely watching a state measure that would increase setback distances between wells and buildings, and could potentially shut in production for some operators at new developments. Under Proposition 112, new oil and gas developments would have to be located a minimum of 2500 feet from urban areas, staying clear of residences, schools, hospit

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Julia Martinez

Players in US Gulf venture

Brazilian state-controlled company Petrobras and US independent Murphy Oil are joining forces to create a joint venture in the US Gulf of Mexico in a deal potentially worth more than $1 billion, writes Fabio Palmigiani. As part of the transaction, both companies will contribute with their producing oil and gas assets in the region, with Murphy overseeing operations with an 80% stake in the new co

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Fabio Palmigiani

Cooper planning campaign

Australian independent Cooper Energy has started planning a potential multi-well offshore drilling campaign in south-east Australia's Otway and Gippsland basins, writes Russell Searancke. In its latest quarterly financial results, the company alluded to potential drilling of a development well at its Henry pre-development project in the Otway basin and two exploration wells in the nearby Block Vi

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Russell Searancke

Gazprom pipeline approval

State-controlled Russian gas monopoly Gazprom has been given government backing to continue spending billions of dollars on building new pipelines, with the Cabinet approving the company's plan for development of the trunk infrastructure network to 2024, writes Vladimir Afanasiev. The plan foresees Gazprom building third phases of the Bovanenkovo-Ukhta and Ukhta–Torzhok trunk gas pipelines alongs

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Vladimir Afanasiev

Azeri parliament gives approval for drilling at Block D230

The parliament of Azerbaijan has given UK supermajor BP approval to start exploration work on offshore Block D230, writes Kama Mustafayeva. BP signed a production sharing agreement with state-owned oil company Socar covering the block in April. As operator, BP plans to begin exploration next year in D230, which covers an area of 3197 square kilometres in the northern portion of the Azeri sector

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Kama Mustafayeva

Bid delay for Eurasia stake

The Russian government commission on foreign investments, headed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, has delayed a decision on a proposal from international oilfield services giant Schlumberger to take a stake in Russia's Eurasia Drilling. At a meeting of the commission last week in Moscow, representatives of Russian ministries reportedly agreed with a set of conditions that Schlumberger should co

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Vladimir Afanasiev

Crondall signs on at Cambo

UK-based Crondall Energy has secured a frame agreement contract with Siccar Point Energy to provide support on the private equity-backed operator’s Cambo development to the west of the Shetlands, writes Rob Watts. Crondall said the agreement initially covers the identification and evaluation of FPSO options for the project and pre-front-end engineering and design technical assurance of the subsea

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Rob Watts

FPSO bound for Lancaster

The upgraded Aoka Mizu floating production, storage and offloading vessel has set sail for Europe where it is intended to produce oil in an early production phase at Hurricane Energy’s Lancaster development in UK West of Shetland waters. Hurricane confirmed that the Bluewater-owned FPSO had left the Drydocks yard in Dubai where it underwent repair, upgrade and life extension work. The vessel wil

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Global Mediator

Oceaneering and JDR in battle to secure CNOOC Ltd job

Houston-based Oceaneering and UK-based cables supplier JDR are in a two-way race for contracts from Chinese operator CNOOC Ltd to provide umbilicals and flexible pipelines for the Liuhua oil development in the Pearl River Mouth basin of the South China Sea, writes Xu Yihe. Bids were apparently originally opened in June, with sources suggesting that JDR offered the lowest bid at $18 million for th

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Xu Yihe

Creating a path towards a stronger home base

Norway’s Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) has spent much effort organising workshops across Africa, often led by the charismatic Willy Olson, formerly head of Statoil UK and senior advisor to Norwegian Oil & Gas Partners (Intsok), prescribing strategies and warning of pitfalls, writes Barry Morgan. Norway has blazed the trail, says Kwame Acquah, managing drector of Ghanaian contractor R

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Barry Morgan

SeaOne’s new route for gas

Houston-based SeaOne has introduced a technology that the company claims can deliver West Africa’s remote, stranded gas reserves of up to 5 trillion cubic feet using basic processing technology at a quarter of the cost of mainstream LNG refrigeration while delivering twice the volume, writes Barry Morgan. Using the company’s patented compressed gas liquids technology, SeaOne offers the possibilit

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Barry Morgan

Floaters central to anchoring key developments

With three floating production, storage and offloading vessels currently on stream and two more likely to be in the offing, Ghana appears to be West Africa’s current FPSO hot spot, writes Iain Easu. Two floaters on Tullow Oil’s Jubilee and Ten fields are expected to produce about 180,000 barrels per day between them in 2019, and they were joined last year by Eni’s Sankofa-Gye Name vessel. Tokyo-

Focus Editions  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Iain Esau

Pressure for local content

With gas from Eni’s 1.45 trillion cubic feet non-associated Sankofa-Gye Nyame gas field complex on the Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) block on stream since July and ramping up through to 2028, pressure is on Ghanaian officials to pass a comprehensive gas bill next year to provide dedicated exploration and production incentives, writes Barry Morgan. The OCTP gas development plan has just been a

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Barry Morgan

Big Oil poised for a scramble as tasty looking acreage on offer

Senegal President Macky Sall knows he cannot get a full draft of the long-awaited petroleum law presented to Parliament before the end of the year, but will instead start a series of roadshows next month designed to prefigure provisions devoted to local content and local participation, writes Barry Morgan. Sall will stress the need for indigenous downstream players to step up to the plate, while

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Barry Morgan

Acreage contracts finalised

US supermajor ExxonMobil and its partners have finalised concession contracts in Mozambique for three offshore licences in the Angoche and Zambezi basins. Three years after being selected as the preferred bidder, a group comprising ExxonMobil and Russia’s Rosneft have finally agreed terms with the Ministry of Mineral Resources & Energy for areas A5-B, Z5-C and Z5-D. Mozambique’s government is al

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Iain Esau

Seismic specialist lands jobs

Norwegian seismic specialist Shearwater GeoServices has been awarded a pair of contracts for separate 3D seismic surveys in South-East Asia and the Mediterranean Sea. The South-East Asia survey, which will be carried out for an an unnamed player, will cover 8000 square kilometres and be performed by the vessel Polar Duchess. The contractor, a 50:50 joint venture between Oslo-listed GC Rieber Shi

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Steve Marshall

Hess work for Barakah

US independent Hess has awarded Malaysian contractor Barakah Offshore a five-year contract to provide maintenance, construction and modification services on its assets off Peninsular Malaysia. The contract, which will run from 2018 to 2023, will see Barakah carry out maintenance, construction and modification work for structures and facilities for Hess’ oil and gas fields. Barakah said the value

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Mark Hillier

Equinor opens up Oseberg H

Norwegian operator Equinor has turned on the taps at the Oseberg Vestflanken 2 project, the country’s first field to be developed with an unmanned wellhead platform, writes Beate Schjolberg. The new Oseberg H platform is the first of a new generation of simple wellhead platforms to come on stream off Norway. Their main function is to save costs by allowing well equipment to be positioned on the s

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Beate Schjølberg

Contractors hope for tougher regulations

Ghanaian contractors are counting on beefed up local capacity and tougher regulations to help indigenous companies get a fair share of renewed oil and gas activity in the country, writes Barry Morgan. Scott Thomson, operations director for local contractor Harlequin International, part of an oil and gas group that aims to expand regionally, hopes to see a significant rise in engineering work as t

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Barry Morgan

Enbridge restarts line in British Columbia after explosion

Canadian pipeline operator Enbridge has restarted a natural gas transmission line in British Columbia that was shut in as a precaution after an adjacent line was rocked by an explosion last week. The company said it had received approval from Canada's National Energy Board on 10 October to restart the 30-inch line, and began a multi-hour process to return it to service. "This restart approval fo

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Caroline Evans

Going with the flow...

Impact Oil & Gas has named Siraj Ahmed chief executive, while Geraldine Murphy has left the board Australian independent Tap Oil has appointed Chris Newton as chairman, replacing Damon Neaves Upstream Production Solutions has appointed Mick Evans regional manager for Western Australia Keiji Magase has replaced Keiji Miyake as America & Africa E&P general manager at Inpex, with the latter moving

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Eoin O'Cinneide

Sevan gets a name change

Sevan Marine is no more. But no need for shareholders of the Norwegian company to unduly worry, as it has merely changed name – to Magnora ASA. The Oslo-listed outfit started trading on Monday under the new name and ticker MGN. The name change was voted through at an extraordinary general meeting at the end of last week, with a number of amendments to the Articles of Association, one reading: “T

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Eoin O'Cinneide

Gazprom seismic deal

Russian gas monopoly Gazprom has awarded a new contract to state-owned service provider Rosgeologia to shoot 3D seismic data on the shallow- water North Kharasaveysky block in the Kara Sea. According to Gazprom, Rosgeologia will collect some 1875 square kilometres of 3D data during the ice-free season in the Kara Sea in 2019 under a 924 million rubles ($14.2 million) contract. Gazprom said that

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Vladimir Afanasiev

Topsides to be installed as D28 nears first oil for Petronas

Malaysia’s state-owned oil and gas company Petronas expects to achieve production start-up in November from its shallow-water D28 field off Sarawak, writes Amanda Battersby. The wellhead platform’s topsides has sailed away from local contractor OceanMight’s Kuching yard and is set to be installed later this month. OceanMight also built the platform’s jacket, which was installed in August at the

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Amanda Battersby

Vermilion in Wandoo push

Vermilion Energy is absorbed in an offshore drilling campaign at its Wandoo oilfield in Western Australia. The Canadian operator has the jack-up rig Ensco 107 on contract for two wells with completion planned later in the year. The drilling effort is aimed at bringing production back up to a level approaching 6000 barrels per day of oil — current output is around 4100 bpd. Production at Wandoo

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Russell Searancke

McDermott to build storage tanks

US contractor McDermott has been awarded a contract worth up to $50 million to build storage tanks in Texas that will receive oil from the Permian basin. McDermott said its CB&I Storage Tanks division has landed the engineering, procurement and construction deal from an unidentified client for three external floating-roof tanks to be situated in Taft, Texas. McDermott said the contract value is

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Eoin O'Cinneide

Fafalu 2D shoot to tap under-explored onshore potential

An onshore seismic acquisition campaign is under way in Timor-Leste across the country's two existing petroleum permits. The Fafulu 2D seismic survey will cover 308.4 kilometres across Blocks TL-OT-17-08 and TL-OT-17-09. The two permits were awarded in April last year to a 50:50 joint venture between Timor-Leste’s national oil company Timor GAP and Timor Resources, part of the Nepean Group. It i

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Russell Searancke

Public to get chance to comment on huge seismic proposal

Members of indigenous groups in Canada and the general public have until the end of this month to submit their comments on a huge proposed seismic data gathering campaign off Nova Scotia, writes Iain Esau. Multi-Klient Invest (MKI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) has entered into an agreement with TGS to carry out this work between 2019 and 2028. MKI’s outline descripti

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Iain Esau

Drilling plans in spotlight

The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) started evaluating comments late last week filed by the public and indigenous groups on a plan by ExxonMobil to drill multiple wells off south-east Newfoundland, writes Iain Esau. After scrutinising these comments, the agency will decide whether an environmental assessment is required. ExxonMobil wants to secure approval to drill multiple probe

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Iain Esau

Nigeria plans gas strategy

Nigeria aims to develop gas resources beyond the traditional plays of the Niger Delta, spurred on by construction of the proposed Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline to develop industrial and domestic consumption, writes Barry Morgan. Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Ibe Kachikwu’s technical adviser on upstream and gas, Gbite Adeniji, told the Nigerian Gas Association conference this week

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Barry Morgan

Protests as Cuadrilla begins UK fracking

Shale explorer Cuadrilla Resources has restarted fracking operations in the UK for the first time since 2011 in the same week that three campaigners jailed for protesting against its operations were freed on appeal after a judge ruled an initial sentence imposed on them was excessive, writes Anamaria Deduleasa. Simon Roscoe Blevins, Richard Roberts, and Richard Loizou were convicted of causing a

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Anamaria Deduleasa

Carlyle buys EnerMech

US-based Carlyle Group has acquired services company EnerMech Group from fellow private equity player Lime Rock Partners, writes Anamaria Deduleasa. Aberdeen-based EnerMech, which employs 3500 staff, works on large-scale projects across the oil and gas, liquefied natural gas, renewables, defence, power, infrastructure and petrochemicals sectors. Under the deal, Carlyle will support EnerMech’s pl

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Anamaria Deduleasa

Riley calls off $100 million IPO - after less than a week

US oil company Riley Exploration-Permian has called off a $100 million initial public offering less than a week after announcing its plans to go to the market. The Oklahoma City-based private company said this week the attempt at a flotation is being delayed "as a result of unfavourable equity market conditions”. The company, which is focused on the prolific US shale patch of the Permian basin,

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Caroline Evans

M&P moves on Urdaneta

Pertamina-controlled French upstream player Maurel & Prom has confirmed it is working on plans to acquire Shell’s stake in the producing Urdaneta West oilfield in Venezuela. Maurel & Prom has signed a share sale and purchase agreement with Shell to acquire for some 70 million Euros (US $46.2 million) the Anglo-Dutch supermajor’s 40% interest in Urdaneta West, which it describes as having “large r

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Amanda Battersby

Anadarko secures new Mozambique offtake

Anadarko Petroleum has secured a new offtake agreement for its proposed Area 1 liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique, writes Eoin O'Cinneide. Japan’s Tohoku Electric Power has committed to taking a maximum of 280,000 tonnes per annum of LNG from the Gonfinho-Atum (Dolphin-Tune) scheme, which remains on track for a final investment decision in the first half of next year. The deal, which fo

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Eoin O'Cinneide

Imports of gas set to double

China’s Petrochina International has agreed to double its rate of gas imports from Kazakhstan from January 2019 in anticipation of commissioning of additional gas pumping stations to increase its exporting capacity, writes Vladimir Afanasiev. According to Kazakhstan's state-owned gas pipeline operator KazTransGaz, it has signed an agreement with Petrochina to increase gas deliveries to China to 1

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Vladimir Afanasiev

Equinor lines up seismic

NORWEGIAN operator Equinor is planning to acquire 3D seismic data using ocean-bottom node (OBN) technology on Carcara, a huge pre-salt discovery in Brazil’s Santos basin, writes Gareth Chetwynd. Environmental permitting applications outline plans for a proprietary survey covering the part of the Carcara field located on the BM-S-8 concession and also North of Carcara, a contiguous area located on

Weekly  upstreamonline.com 18 Oct 22:00 GMT Gareth Chetwynd