Australia’s Talon Petroleum is making a bid for 100 % takeover of EnCounter Oil, which is the owner of two UK North Sea licenses. EnCounter, a private UK-based company, was formed in 2012 by the former executive management team of EnCore Oil and was involved in 25 wells and produced significant hydrocarbon discoveries at Breagh, Cladhan, Catcher, Varadero. EnCore was acquired by Premier Oil in 2011 for £221 million. Talon said the completion of the transaction is subject to final legal and financial due diligence on EnCounter and all required shareholder approvals.
Company Updates
Lightning strikes for Otto Energy with significant Gulf Coast discovery
Otto Energy shareholders had reason to celebrate yesterday after the ASX-listed exploration and production company announced a ‘Lightning strike’ in the Gulf that spiked its share price 69 per cent, to $0.071, before closing at $0.060 yesterday. The West Perth-headquartered company, which is already producing shallow oil from its SM 71 well, Louisiana, revealed that exploration well Green 1, which is testing the Lightning prospect in Matagorda County, Texas, had reached total depth of 15,218 feet. Otto, which has a 37.
FAR completes survey across WA-458-P permit
Late last quarter FAR concluded stakeholder engagements with CGG to join in the much anticipated Davros Extension Multiclient 3D Survey. FAR received a Notice of Start of Acquisition from CGG in mid-December as the MV Geo Coral began its mobilisation from southeast Asia. After a brief port call in Broome, the vessel commenced deployment of in-water equipment whilst on route to the survey area. Post end of the quarter, seismic acquisition across permit WA-458-Pbegan. The survey was safely and securely completed in mid-January and FAR anticipates receiving the final processed data in the second half of 2019.
AGIG Pluto facility taps into more gas for WA
The Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG) has announced the successful commissioning of the Pluto Inlet Station – the new facility connecting the Pluto LNG Project to the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline (DBNGP). The successful commissioning allows additional gas supply to reach Western Australian consumers. Woodside – which operates the Pluto LNG plant near Karratha in WA – engaged AGIG’s development group to undertake a Front End Engineering Design (FEED) study to convert an existing outlet meter station to an inlet facility, along with the required compression.
New CGG Survey Supports Gabon’s 12th Offshore Licensing Round
Building on the success of its 25,000 km2 3D BroadSeis™ survey, which led to the recent Boudji-1 and Ivela-1 oil discoveries, CGG is extending its Gabon multi-client data footprint with a 9,800-km long-offset 2D seismic survey in an unexplored deepwater area of the South Basin. A subset of the data over the offered license blocks will be available in advance of Gabon’s 12th offshore licensing round planned for June 2019. CGG said the new 2D data will help define the full extent of existing and new plays in the region.
Woodside announces Scarborough contracts
Woodside has awarded four contracts for front-end engineering design activities for the proposed Scarborough project located offshore Australia. The Perth-headquartered company said the contracts were for engineering activities related to the upstream development’s floating production unit, the export trunkline, and the subsea umbilical risers and flowlines. Woodside said each contract includes an option to progress to execute phase activities, which is subject to, among other conditions, a positive final investment decision (FID) being taken on the project by the Scarborough Joint Venture.
Schlumberger revenue beats estimates ahead of upbeat forecast for 2019
Schlumberger has reported fourth quarter net earnings of US$538 billion, or 39c a share, compared to losses of US$2.2 billion, or $1.63 per share, in the corresponding period a year earlier. Schlumberger Chairman and CEO Paal Kibsgaard commented, “Full-year 2018 revenue of $32.8 billion increased 8% year-on-year and grew for the second successive year. Performance was driven by North America, where revenue of $12.0 billion increased 26% due to the results of our OneStim® business, which grew by 41%. Full-year international revenue of $20.4 billion was essentially flat compared with 2017.
Aker BP commits to $500m exploration spend in 2019
Norwegian E&P company Aker BP is upping the ante this year with a turbo-charged exploration program in 2019 aimed at tripling production by 2025. The company said from the launchpad of a strong performance in 2018, it now plans to cut production costs from US$12 to US$7 per barrel and to significantly increase dividend payments to shareholders. “Excellent execution and rapid change towards lower cost, lower emissions and improved efficiency are key ingredients to value creation in Aker BP.
Montara back on line after maintenance shutdown
Jadestone Energy has restarted production at the Montara oil field after a shutdown for maintenance and inspection dating back to November 2018. The independent oil and gas company announced that operations had restarted at the field, located offshore north-west Australia, on January 11 and that production volumes would be ramped up while final checks are concluded. The entire facility will be restarted, including both the oil production system and the gas system, which enables gas-lift and gas re-injection so as to optimise production operations as rapidly as possible.
Norway anticipates accelerated oil and gas production
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate’s has predicted that oil and gas production will recover from a slight dip in 2019 and increase in the period 2020 to 2023 as it approaches record production set in 2004. The NPD Director General, Bente Nyland, said: “The activity level on the Norwegian Shelf is high. Production forecasts for the next few years are promising and lay a foundation for substantial revenues, both for the companies and the Norwegian society. There is considerable interest in exploring for oil and gas.