Dale

No tequila toast for Cairn’s first offshore Mexico well

04/11/2019 Posted by Dale

Cairn Energy has hit a dry well in the first well of its drilling program offshore Mexico, where the exploration target of the Alom-1 well on Block 9 failed to prove hydrocarbons, the UK-based independent oil and gas company said.

The company said the well would now be permanently plugged and abandoned after data collected and preliminary analysis had indicated over 500m of “high quality water bearing sands across multiple targets”.

“This information will help Cairn calibrate the seismic data and geological models and is being integrated to improve Cairn’s understanding of the petroleum system offshore Mexico,” the company added.

Norway tops oil and gas discoveries in Q3

28/10/2019 Posted by Dale

Of the 38 global oil and gas discoveries made in the third quarter of 2019, six were located in Norway, according to analytics and data company, GlobalData.

This was followed by Colombia with five discoveries, Egypt and Trinidad with four each and Guyana and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with three each.

The company’s latest report, Q3 2019 Global Oil and Gas Discoveries Review – South America and Europe Dominate with Highest Number of Discoveries in Quarter, notes that 21 of the discoveries made in the quarter were conventional oil discoveries, while 15 were gas.

Searcher Seismic Northern Basins Press Release

Searcher completes Northern Basins Prospectivity Study in PNG

28/10/2019 Posted by Dale

Searcher Seismic has announced the expansion of its modern offshore data library with the completion of its Northern Basins Prospectivity Study in Papua New Guinea.

Searcher, in conjunction with Discover Geoscience, has compiled the Northern Basins Prospectivity Study following its successful acquisition of the Solomon Sea Broadband Non-Exclusive 2D seismic survey in 2017.

Searcher said the study offers the industry a detailed understanding of the basins and hydrocarbon potential of the region, with extensive coverage of the Cape Vogel, Bougainville and New Ireland Basins.

The Northern Basins Prospectivity Study contains an assessment of the Sequence Stratigraphic Framework, with Chronostratigraphy unified with that from Searcher’s Gulf of Papua Prospectivity Study.

Natural gas is powering Queensland’s economy

28/10/2019 Posted by Dale

The natural gas industry contributed around $55 billion to Queensland’s economy over a seven-year period, according to a new report released recently by Lawrence Consulting.

In reaction to the findings, APPEA said the report underlines the importance of the sector for jobs and economic wealth creation for the state, particularly in regional areas such as Gladstone, Toowoomba, Roma, Chinchilla and Dalby and highlights that Brisbane is the state’s biggest gas town and relies on the industry for jobs and spending.

Almost $5 billion was spent on wages state-wide during the period with the industry employing around 4600 full-time employees, according to the Economic Impact of Queensland’s Petroleum and Gas sector 2011-18 report.

Beharra Springs into life with a gas discovery

28/10/2019 Posted by Dale

BEACH Energy has reported a new gas discovery at the Beharra Springs Deep-1 well in the Perth Basin and told the ASX that it had delivered a net gas pay of 36 metres across the Kingia sandstone.

Beach, operator and 50% interest holder in the licence with Mitsui E&P holding the balance, said the Kingia Sandstone reservoir was comparable to Waitsia-4 and preliminary interpretation had indicated reservoir porosities of up to 21%.

Wireline activities are continuing, after which the well is expected to be completed for production testing over the coming weeks.

The well was drilled to a total depth of 4,170 metres and intersected a 65-metre thick reservoir interval of the Kingia Sandstone at a depth of 3,935 to 4,000 metres, with estimated net gas pay of 36 metres.

Chevron, Total win blocks offshore Brazil

15/10/2019 Posted by Dale

Chevron and Total have been awarded blocks offshore Brazil in the country’s 16th bidding round.

The US supermajor and its partners, Wintershall Dea and Repsol, picked up acreage in the Santos and Campos basins comprising blocks S-M-766 and C-M-845, which contain pre-salt targets and a work program intended to conduct 3D seismic acquisition and prospect maturation.

French Total and co-venturers Qatar Petroleum and Petronas won the C-M-541 deep offshore block in the Campos Basin, which sits in water depths of 3000m. Total is the operator and 40% interest holder with Qatar weighing in with a 40% stake and Petronas 20%.

Bunbury Energy takes off with South-West aerial survey

15/10/2019 Posted by Dale

Bunbury Energy has commenced a three-day aerial survey spanning 675km2 of the South West.

CGG Aviation will fly a light aircraft about 500 feet above the exploration area to assess subsurface geology in a project across the Shires of Capel, Dardanup and Donnybrook-Balingup and parts of Bunbury and Busselton.

This fulfils a long-standing aim of Bunbury Energy to investigate acreage in the South Perth Basin to reprocess data previously gathered in the 1950s and ‘60s with newer technologies.

Exploration has indicated that the area is not suited to hydraulic fracturing and the company is pursuing conventional gas reserves in a region where fracturing is not allowed under current state legislation.

New domestic gas supplies in the pipeline for North Queensland

14/10/2019 Posted by Dale

Blue Energy has signed a non-binding MOU with North Queensland Gas Pipeline No.1 Pty Ltd and North Queensland Gas Pipeline No. 2 Pty Ltd (together referred to as NQGP) to facilitate bringing new domestic gas supplies into the strong Townsville market.

NQGP is North Queensland’s only source of natural gas. The 391km onshore natural gas pipeline system transports gas from the existing Moranbah Gas Project in the Bowen Basin to power and industrial users in Townsville, Queensland.

Blue Energy said that as part of the MOU, NQGP will facilitate introductions to potential customers in Townsville for Blue Energy’s Northern Bowen Basin gas reserves in the Sapphire Block of ATP814P, which is located in close proximity to the NQGP.

Santos-ConocoPhillips’ $2.2 billion deal underpins a ‘bright gas future’

14/10/2019 Posted by Dale

Santos has snapped up a big basket of onshore and offshore ConocoPhillips assets in a $2.2 billion deal motivated by the Adelaide-headquartered oil and gas company’s big vision for future gas demand in Australia.

“We see a big future for gas,” Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher said as details of the purchase emerged.

“Through to 2040 it is the fastest-growing energy source and that’s why there’s such demand for our product across Asia.”

ConocoPhillips and Santos already have a long-standing partnership in the Northern Territory, the former as operator and major stake holder in the Darwin LNG plant, which gets feedstock from the Bayu-Undan offshore field in which Santos has an 11.5% share.

PGS welcomes a bumper northern hemisphere winter

07/10/2019 Posted by Dale

PGS says it is fully-booked for seven vessels in the fourth quarter of 2019. PGS has now committed to a MultiClient program in West Africa for the eighth active vessel. The program is expected to last more than 100 days and has strong industry funding. PGS said: “As a consequence, PGS will operate all eight active vessels also over the winter period and Sanco Swift has commenced transit from Norway to West Africa.