BPC Awarded Offshore Uruguay Block
Uruguay’s national regulatory agency ANCAP has awarded Bahamas Petroleum Co. (BPC) an exploration license for the AREA OFF-1 block.
This follows a period under which BPC had to demonstrate its technical and operational credentials in order to qualify as an approved offshore operator.
During the initial four-year exploration period for OFF-1, the company will reprocess around 2,000 km (1,242 mi) of legacy 2D seismic and perform new geotechnical studies, at an estimated cost of around $200,000/yr.
There is no drilling commitment for the initial period.
ExxonMobil Joins Petronas in Suriname Block
Petronas Suriname Exploration & Production B.V. (PSEPBV) has completed the farm-down of 50% of its participating interest in block 52 offshore Suriname to ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Suriname B.V.
Block 52 covers an area of 4,749 sq km (1,834 sq mi) in the Suriname-Guyana basin. Water depths range from 50 to 1,100 m (164 to 3,609 ft).
Following the farm-down, PSEPBV as the operator of block 52 holds 50% equity, while ExxonMobil holds the remaining 50%.
Emeliana Rice-Oxley, Petronas’ vice president of Exploration, said the company plans to drill a well on the block in 3Q 2020 and acquire 3D seismic data.
UK Offshore Sector Should Step Up Net Zero Efforts
Britain’s Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has called for the UK offshore industry to move faster in helping the government achieve Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The authority said its established goal of maximizing economic recovery of the UK’s remaining oil and gas can be compatible with the transition to Net Zero, and the industry has the skills, technology, and capital needed to devise suitable solutions.
But the industry should go also go further in reducing its own carbon footprint, the OGA warned, or risk losing its social license to operate.
The OGA has opened to consultation proposed revisions to its strategy. These and concepts assessed in the UKCS energy integration project could make a significant contribution to achieving Net Zero, it claims, both through carbon capture and storage (CCS) and CCS plus hydrogen
Qatar Petroleum in Ivory Coast Farm-In Agreement
Qatar Petroleum has entered a farm-in agreement with Total to acquire a 45% participating interest in blocks CI-705 and CI-706 in the Ivorian-Tano basin offshore the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire.
The two blocks cover an area of about 3,200 sq km (1,236 sq mi), and present multi-target hydrocarbon prospects in water depths ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 m (3,281 to 6,562 ft). They are 35 km (22 mi) from shore and about 100 km (62 mi) from the Foxtrot, Espoir, and Baobab fields.
Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, president and CEO of Qatar Petroleum said, this is company’s first investment in Côte d’Ivoire.
Melbana to Operate in Offshore Australia
Melbana Energy has secured approval from Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator for a 12-month suspension of a work program on the WA-488-P permit in the Bonaparte basin offshore northwest Australia.
Permit Year 3 has at the same time extended by a year to Dec. 21, 2023.
The permit includes the Beehive prospect, a carbonate build-up with prospective resources of up to 388 MMboe, covered by 3D seismic survey. Melbana has continued planning/permitting arrangements for an exploration well, despite the withdrawals of Total and Santos from conditional farm-in agreements.