1-Senegal Appraisal Well in Testing Phase
The latest appraisal well on the deepwater SNE oil discovery offshore Senegal has reached TD of 2,852 m (9,357 ft) below the mudline.
According to partner FAR, wireline logging and sampling have finished and a drillstem test (DST) will follow on the primary reservoir target at this location.
After completing operations, the drillship Stena DrillMAX will spud SNE-6 well. As with SNE-5, the aims are to evaluate connectivity and deliverability of the upper SNE reservoir units, via oil flow tests, including interference testing.
Operator Cairn Energy and its partners are seeking to improve their understanding of the characteristics of the upper SNE reservoir units and ensure optimal placement of potential development wells in terms of oil recovery.
SNE-5 is in the southern part of the SNE field around 2 km (1.2 mi) southeast of SNE-3.
2-India to Invest $66mn in Offshore Complex
ONGC plans to invest $66.05 million in developing the North West B-173A field to enhance production from its Western Offshore facilities off India.
The NW-B-173A field is 5 km (3.1 mi) northwest of the B-173A field, in turn around 25 km (15.5 mi) north of the Neelam field, in an average water depth of 55 m (180 ft).
In April 2014, the B-173A-8 exploratory well on NW B-173A flowed 2,246 b/d of oil during a conventional test from Mukta pay.
Development involves installation of a wellhead platform, associated pipelines, and drilling of three wells. ONGC expects the field to come on-stream in February 2019, with production reaching a peak of 2,870 b/d of oil and 56.3 MMcf/d during 2019-20.
Both oil and gas will be evacuated through the existing Neelam process facilities.
ONGC has discovered more oil and gas in the Western offshore basin on a shallow-water structure in the Panna formation.
The B154N-1 (B-154N-A) was drilled in the Bombay Offshore seven-year PML license to a depth of 3,417 m (11,210 ft), flowing around 72 b/d of oil and 16 MMcf/d through a ¼-in. choke.
The result has opened up the potential for further exploration in the area north of B154, and should facilitate conversion of the seven-year PML to a long-term regular license.
3- Chevron Secures Exploration Permit Offshore Western Australia
Chevron has paid AUD$3 million ($2.3 million) for a cash bid permit for an area offshore Western Australia, Australia’s Minister for Resources and Northern Australia Senator Matt Canavan said. The new permit number is WA-526-P, and secures that area’s exploration rights for the next six years.
The cash-bid auction for the 2016 Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release was held on 2 Feb 2017. Two companies prequalified for the auction, according to information from the Australian government’s Department of Industry, Innovation and Science.
Chevron was the sole bid received for release area W16-17, located in the Exmouth Plateau, Northern Carnarvon basin. No bids were received over release areas W16-22 and W16-25, located in the Northern Carnarvon basin’s Dampier sub-basin and Exmouth sub-basin, respectively. Those two areas have reverted to vacant acreage.
This was the first cash bid permit to be awarded since the process was re-introduced in 2014, Canavan said.
“The new permit is in a gas-rich part of the Northern Carnarvon basin very close to the Gorgon gas project and Pluto LNG, offshore of Western Australia between Onslow and Dampier,” Minister Canavan said. “The awarding of this permit is an important milestone and shows that Australia remains an attractive petroleum exploration investment destination.
“The acreage release process, where petroleum companies are awarded offshore areas for exploration based on the quality and thoroughness of their proposed work plans, has long underpinned successful exploration in Australia.
“However, the 2014 introduction of the cash-bidding system to allocate offshore petroleum exploration permits in mature areas or areas known to contain petroleum accumulations has provided an extra option for industry and immediate returns to the Australian people.”
The Department of Industry, Innovation and Science noted that after “disappointing cash bid auctions as part of the 2014 and 2015 acreage releases, it is encouraging to see an area successfully awarded this year.”
Bidding closes on March 23 for 12 areas released for Round Two work program bidding and 12 re-release areas from Round One as part of the 2016 Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release. Round 2 marks the 2016 program’s final round.
4-Excavation Tool Adapted for Offshore Mexico Pipe Trenching
James Fisher Subsea Excavation (JFSE) claims to have developed the world’s most powerful mass/controlled flow excavation tool for trenching large-diameter pipelines in a single pass.
The Twin T8000 was developed to support SapuraKencana Mexicana, which needed more than 14 km (8.7 mi) of a 36-in. pipeline with concrete coating to be trenched 1 m (3.3 ft) on top of the pipe.
JFSE applied its patented T8000 technology to devise a solution that it involved combining two units.
The Twin T8000 has a total maximum output of 16,000 liters/s and had to provide 0 mm to + 300 mm accuracy of trench on this project, with 15 crossings to negotiate.
Tomas Valdes Aldama, technical engineer at SapuraKencana Mexicana, said: “Due to there being a tight window, we required this pipeline to be trenched in a single pass.
“The results from the Twin T8000’s inaugural project have been great and it is certainly a technology we will consider utilizing again in the future.”
The Twin T8000 equipment spread was mobilized on board the offshore supply vessel, Ocean Carrier, in the Gulf of Mexico as part of SapuraKencana Mexicana’s contract for procurement and construction of a sour gas pipeline for PEMEX covering five fields.
5-Norway Petroleum Resources Largely in North Sea
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate estimates Norway’s total proven and unproven petroleum resources at around 14.3 bcmoe.
Of this, 6.9 bcmoe (48%) have been sold and delivered, and of the 7.4 bcmoe remaining, 4.6 bcmoe are proven resources.
Unproven resources, estimated at 2.9 bcmoe, account for around 39% of remaining resources.
The North Sea contains roughly 51% of what remains, with the rest spread equally across the Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea.
Much of the anticipated resources in the Barents Sea have not yet been proven.
At the end of last year, Norway had 62 producing fields in the North Sea, 16 in the Norwegian Sea, and two in the Barents Sea.