Cooper Energy has signed a new gas supply agreement with AGL Energy from its Sole (Gippsland Basin) and Casino Henry (Otway Basin) offshore gas operation. Cooper said the Sole gas field is poised to become south-east Australia’s newest source of gas supply when it starts production on completion of the Orbost Gas Plant upgrade currently being undertaken by APA Group. Cooper Energy has completed the construction of the offshore development of the Sole gas field and APA is expected to conclude the plant upgrade works and commence commissioning and delivery of sales gas within the September 2019 quarter.
Company Updates
Senex begins Surat Basin drilling campaign
Senex Energy has begun its integrated natural gas drilling campaign, representing a major step towards full-scale production from its Surat Basin development projects. The drilling campaign comprises approximately 110 wells across Roma North and Project Atlas that will deliver natural gas to the 16 TJ/day (~6 PJ / 1 mmboe p.a.) processing facility at Roma North and the 40 TJ/day (~15 PJ / 2.5 mmboe p.a.) processing facility at Project Atlas. Drilling began at Roma North and will continue to the end of Q1 FY20 when the rig will start drilling at Project Atlas.
NW of Shetlands insight with new generation of blended seismic
Step-change in source deblending enables bespoke, high-density acquisition designs to address difficult geological scenarios, CGG revealed in a recent release, highlighting advancements in seismic developments and a new world opening up in related spin-offs. Among many recent seismic technology advances, there has been a step-change in source deblending. This has enabled the design of surveys, which use multiple sets of simultaneous sources to provide bespoke imaging solutions for a range of challenging environments. Typically, this includes a dramatic increase in source density and the collection of additional offset-azimuth coverage without losing fold and near offset coverage.
Searcher announced expansion of Argentina Data Library
Searcher has announced the expansion of the Argentina Super-Tie 2D Reprocessing Project. Following the success of phase 1 which specifically targeted the recent offshore bid round, the project has now been extended to include all available offshore 2D seismic data in the Malvinas and Austral Basins, Searcher said. The reprocessing effort will utilize a modern broadband and AVO compliant workflow to both improve imaging quality and provide regionally consistent data coverage.
CGG and Lundin Norway win NCS Exploration Innovation Prize 2019 for TopSeis
CGG and Lundin Norway AS have been awarded the NCS Exploration Innovation Prize 2019 for TopSeis™, a next-generation marine source-over-spread acquisition and imaging solution that delivers a step-change in imaging by providing massively increased near-offset coverage from a split spread with zero offsets. The Exploration Innovation Prize is “awarded to a license group, company, team or person who, during the last couple of years, has given a courageous and innovative technological contribution in exploration for oil and gas on the Norwegian continental shelf.
Shell gets NOPSEMA approval for Bratwurst-1 well
Shell has won approval from NOPSEMA to drill the Bratwurst-1 exploration well in AC/P64 offshore Western Australia. The original plan was submitted by Shell in January this year for a well which is located within the Northern Browse Basin in Commonwealth Waters in water depths of approximately 155 meters. The plan was officially approved by NOPSEMA on May 15. Shell will target gas/condensate and has plans to deploy a semi-submersible rig for the operation.
CGG Begins First Multi-Client Ocean Bottom Node Survey in Mississippi Canyon, Gulf of Mexico
CGG has announced commencement of its first multi-client ocean bottom node (OBN) survey, taking CGG’s offshore data library to the “next level of excellence”. Located in the north-central region of the Gulf of Mexico, this dense OBN survey will provide well-sampled, full azimuthal coverage with long offsets, to deliver exceptional data for imaging the geologically complex structures in Mississippi Canyon, CGG said. Acquisition services are being provided by Seabed Geosolutions and the data will be processed by CGG Geoscience’s Subsurface Imaging in Houston.
Oil price spike boosts Bass Oil’s bottom line, despite shutdowns
Australian-based, Indonesian oil producer, Bass Oil has released a monthly operations update for April 2019 production from the Tangai-Sukananti field onshore Indonesia of 20,273 barrels of oil (11,150 barrels of oil net to Bass). Bass said monthly oil production and sales were down slightly during March with April production rates averaging 676 bopd. However, oil prices were up 8% during April. The average monthly realised oil price was US$67.39 compared with a monthly average oil price of US$62.49 per barrel recorded in March.
Anadarko signals imminent FID for giant Mozambique LNG gas project
Anadarko Petroleum is weeks away from an anticipated final investment decision for its Mozambique LNG project next month. Chevron exited takeover talks with Anadarko last week, but the company is still being wooed by Oxy and said that FID for the Mozambique offshore gas project would be made on June 18. Anadarko CEO Al Walker said: “With commitments for financing in place, off-take secured, and all other issues under negotiation successfully addressed, we are excited to take the next step with the expected announcement of a Final Investment Decision (FID) for the Mozambique LNG project on June 18.
Otto acquires available interest in Gulf of Mexico lease
West Perth-based Otto Energy has acquired the remaining 50% working interest in the VR 232 license located in the US Gulf of Mexico from Byron Energy. Otto announced that the lease is subject to a 12.5% Federal Government royalty and the lease rental is US$31,681 per annum. The lease expires in June 2023. VR 232 is adjacent to South Marsh Island Block 71 (SM 71) oil field and production platform, which is operated by Byron with partner Otto holding a 50% interest. The platform has capacity to produce up to 5,000 bopd from up to six wells.