1-Subsea FEED Under Way for Senegal Field
Woodside Energy and its partners have agreed to initiate front-end engineering design (FEED) for the deepwater SNE oil field development offshore Senegal.
This follows the award of the subsea FEED contract for Phase 1 of the project to the Subsea Integration Alliance of OneSubsea, a Schlumberger company and Subsea 7.
Woodside, recently approved to assume the role of operator by the Senegalese Minister of Petroleum, expects further FEED contracts to follow in early 2019.
The FEED work involves activities required to finalize the costs and the project’s technical definition ahead of a final investment decision, targeted for mid-2019.
SNE will produce through a 100,000 b/d-capacity FPSO and subsea infrastructure, with the facilities designed to accommodate future development phases, including options for gas exports to shore and subsea tiebacks from other reservoirs and fields.
Phase 1 will target around 230 MMbbl of oil from the lower, less complex reservoirs and an initial phase in the upper reservoirs, with 11 producing wells, 10 water injectors and two gas injectors. Start-up should follow in 2022.
In parallel, the Rufisque Offshore, Sangomar Offshore and Sangomar Deep Offshore joint venture continues to progress project financing and the environmental and social impact assessment.
2-CNOOC to Ramp Up Exploration Offshore
Wood Mackenzie has issued more details on CNOOC’s announcement that it has signed strategic cooperation agreements with nine international oil companies.
According to research director Andrew Harwood, these cover two offshore areas in the Pearl River Mouth basin of the South China Sea, considered prospective for ultra-deepwater, high-pressure/high-temperature, or low porosity/low permeability reservoirs.
The IOCs - Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Equinor, Husky, KUFPEC, Roc Oil, Shell, SK Innovation, and Total - all have existing E&P operations in the country, and the agreements underline their commitment to involvement in China’s energy sector, Harwood said.
Should the agreements be converted to full exploration contracts, CNOOC will retain operatorship. Wood Mackenzie expects the company to increase its domestic exploration expenditure and to become more active in exploration in 2019.
“The Pearl River Mouth basin is believed to hold significant deepwater gas and shallow-water oil potential,” Harwood said, adding that the bulk of future exploration investment is likely to target this area.
“CNOOC has set its sights on raising gas reserves by 50% by 2025 and developing further its deepwater expertise. These agreements will help the company achieve its targets and hone its technical skills set.”
3-Noble Wins Three Contracts Offshore Australia
Noble Corp. has issued an update on its offshore drilling rig fleet.
In the Gulf of Mexico, W&T Offshore has contracted the drillship Noble Sam Croft. Drilling is expected to start in 1Q 2019 and end in 2Q 2019.
Offshore South America, an undisclosed operator awarded the Noble Sam Croft a one-well, firm term contract. It is expected to start in mid-2019.
Offshore Australia, the jackup Noble Tom Prosser has received three contracts. The contract with Santos is expected to start in March/April 2019 and end in October 2019. It includes 2x1 well options. CarbonNet/AGR’s contract is expected to last from November to December. Esso’s contract is expected to start in January 2020 and end in April 2020. It includes 6x1 well options.
In the UK North Sea, Spirit Energy has extended the contract for the jackup Noble Hans Deul into late July 2019.
Saudi Aramco has extended the contract for the jackup Noble Joe Beall to late April 2019. In addition, Aramco has extended the contract for the jackup Noble Gene House to late December 2018.
4-Petrobras Foresees Steep Production Growth
Petrobras anticipates growing its oil production in Brazil next year by 10% and 7% globally, due to start-up of five new production systems this year and three more in 2019.
During 2019-23, it expects to start up 13 new systems, with its oil and natural gas production in this period rising on average by 5% per year.
Cost efficiency measures and presalt lifting costs of less than $7/boe should drive the company’s average lifting cost to less than $10/boe from 2020 onwards.
Further divestments are likely as the company continues to pursue active portfolio management, and these could realize $26.9 billion in sales over the five-year period.
5-Sverdrup Process Topsides Head to Norway
The topsides for the Johan Sverdrup processing platform in the Norwegian North Sea is setting sail from the Samsung Heavy Industries yard on Geoje Island, South Korea.
Aker Solutions was responsible for engineering and procurement management for the topsides. According to Johan Sverdrup operator Equinor, since construction finished in May, there have been numerous tests to ensure the processing facility is completed to the fullest extent possible prior to installation next spring at the field location.
“Having built this as a complete topside gave us a unique opportunity to test a lot of systems that we normally wouldn’t have been able to test prior to installation offshore,” said Jill Sale, project manager for the processing platform and responsible for the Johan Sverdrup project in South Korea.
“This has given us a better picture of the quality of the work undertaken and helps safeguard the plan towards start-up of the field next year.”
The topsides is now sailing to Norway onboard the heavy-transport vessel Boskalis Vanguard. Its initial destination will be the Kværner yard on Stord, off western Norway, where two pedestal cranes will be mounted, and where further preparations will follow before the structure is lifted into position in one single lift by the Pioneering Spirit.
Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority has approved Equinor’s request to undertake drilling and well operations on the Fram field in the northern Norwegian North Sea, 20 km (12 mi) north of Troll and in 350 m (1,148 ft) water depth.
Next month the semisubmersible Deepsea Atlantic will start drilling three production wells with the program set to last 300 days.