1-Ghana Urges Changes to Deepwater Project
Aker Energy has completed its appraisal drilling campaign on the Deepwater Tano Cape Three Points (DWT/CTP) block offshore Ghana.
The program, which started last November, comprised three wells and a side track, and was designed to improve the partners’ understanding of the area and to prove additional resources to support the Pecan field development.
Pecan-4A and Pecan South, the first and second wells, identified the deep oil/water contact and confirmed the partners’ geological model.
A side track then followed to Pecan South to test a deeper part of the structure. It encountered oil shows, but no recoverable resources due to a tight reservoir.
Initial analysis suggests Pecan South could add a further 5-15 MMboe to the Pecan field development.
The third appraisal well, on Pecan South East, found oil in a thin upper sand. The partners will assess data from the well to determine whether this accumulation too could be added to the development.
-Thai Offshore Support Vessels Ready for Service
Thai operator Unithai Offshore has taken delivery of two OSD-IMT-designed 80-metric ton (88-ton) bollard pull offshore utility vessels.
The Unithai Samui and Unithai Chumporn were built at Unithai Shipyard and Engineering in Leam Chabang, Thailand.
They will support operations around offshore oilfields and oil terminals, such as long-line towing and push-pull tasks, firefighting, SPM maintenance, floating hose and subsea hose string maintenance, anchor handling, inter-/intrafield supply operation, and pollution control.
Both vessels are 49.98 m (164 ft) long, with a beam of 15 m (49 ft), a height of 6.2 m (20.3 ft) and a molded draft of 5 m (16.4 ft). They can accommodate a crew of 22, are classed by Bureau Veritas and registered and flagged in Thailand, operating under the rules and regulations of Thailand Registry.
Features include twin Niigata ZP41 azimuth propulsion units, each coupled via a cardan shaft arrangement to a Niigata 8L28HX marine diesel engine. This arrangement provides the vessels with a free-running speed of around 13 knots.
-Maersk Wins Contract Off Australia
Maersk Drilling’s ultra-deepwater semisubmersible Mærsk Deliverer has received a three-year contract from Inpex Australia and joint venture participants for drilling at the Ichthys gas and condensate field in the Browse basin offshore Western Australia.
The estimated contract value is $300 million, including mobilization. The contract is expected to begin in 2Q 2020. It also includes two one-year options.
Delivered in 2010, the Mærsk Deliverer is currently operating offshore Timor-Leste.
Jørn Madsen, CEO of Maersk Drilling, said: “With this contract award we retain a well-balanced forward coverage in the floater market with long-term contracts while maintaining exposure to a market recovery.”
4Petrobras on Path to Debt Reduction
Petrobras’ strict focus on capital discipline and portfolio rationalization in recent years has improved its financial condition, and this should continue into the next decade, according to a report by IHS Markit.
The company started implementing measures to achieve greater financial stability in 2015, and its latest strategic business plan includes further asset sales and asset rationalization, and continued restraints on capital spending between 2019 and 2023.
Petrobras was forced to take action due to the fall-out of the oil price crash from the second half of 2014, and the huge debt the company had built up after years of overspending cashflows to fulfil corporate investment objectives in Brazil and elsewhere.
Another factor was a major corruption scandal which had a severe impact both on the company’s finances and investor trust.
The subsequent asset divestments have allowed the company to focus on key growth projects in the presalt, such as the Búzios field. IHS has identified other assets that could be candidates for divestment.
The latest strategic plans, announced last December, include a focus on portfolio rationalization, presalt volume growth, and debt reduction. In the upstream, the company will most likely offer producing shallow-water and onshore assets.
---Water Injection in North Sea Cook Field
A newly drilled water injector well on the Cook oil field in the UK central North Sea has reached TD of 13,045 ft (3,976 m) MD, according to partner Hibiscus Petroleum.
The Ithaca Energy-led joint venture sanctioned the well in order to increase reservoir pressure and maximize recovery from the field. Later this year a new subsea pipeline will be installed linking the well to the FPSO Anasuria.
Cook P1, the field’s existing production well, has delivered more than 50 MMbbl of oil since start-up in 2000.
During drilling of the latest well, reservoir pressure at the injection location was in line with predictions and the well will now be completed to provide pressure support to Cook P1.
The oil-water contact is deeper than originally anticipated. Although the implications of this may be positive, further analysis is needed before the group can assess the field’s remaining reserves, Hibiscus said.
Cook is one of four producing fields in the Anasuria Cluster originally developed by Shell.
Ping Petroleum UK is the other partner in the current joint venture.