Carnarvon Petroleum has announced that 171 million barrels of oil discovered at the Dorado well represented “one of the largest oil resources ever found on the North West Shelf”. The Perth-based explorer said oil fields of this scale were not often found, with the last large field discovery on the North West Shelf occurring about 30 years ago. “It is common for additional resources to be discovered in the surrounding area after a large discovery.
Company Updates
Bass says steady oil prices piqued production in July
Melbourne-based oil and gas producer Bass Oil says continued high monthly average oil prices of US$68.52 had piqued performance at its 55%-owned Tangai-Sukananti oil field onshore Sumatra, Indonesia, in July. The company said during July production volumes had totalled 11,350 barrels of oil (6,243 barrels net to Bass) and sales volumes 11,628 barrels of oil. However, production and sales had been impacted by scale problems at production wells. Bass said a remediation program underway was expected to restore daily production levels to those achieved in May, “with a strong full year (31 December 18) of oil production still expected”.
MGPalaeo and Petrosys to expand GPinfo’s Capabilities
MGPalaeo, Australian biostratigraphic experts, and Petrosys, an industry leader in mapping, surface-modeling and data-management software solutions, have signed an agreement that will allow data from MGPaleo’s AUSTRALIS™ geological database to be made available within the GPinfo data visualisation and manipulation package. In a media release, MGPalaeo announced that from August 2018, GPinfo subscribers will be able to view a high-level summary of all available geological data (biostratigraphy, lithostratigraphy, and sequence stratigraphic picks, plus wireline logs, checkshot surveys, deviation data, and more) within MGPalaeo’s AUSTRALIS database.
Ironbark takes its Cue for a delayed crescendo
Cue Energy has been granted a 12-month extension and suspension on exploration permit WA-359-P, host to the Ironbark gas prospect offshore Western Australia, entailing work commitment deferrals. The Melbourne headquartered oil and gas company said the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator had notified it of the extension, which was to allow Cue to time for detailed well planning using newly available data and preparing for drilling the Ironbark-1 well, which is targeted for 2019.
Wood wins new contract for Scarborough gas field development
Wood has been awarded a new contract by Woodside to support the execution of concept definition for the proposed Scarborough upstream development, offshore Western Australia. Wood said secured under a long-standing master services agreement, this latest contract extends the company’s 35-year relationship with Woodside across their asset portfolio. Concept definition level engineering associated with the floating production unit, subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines, flow assurance and overall system integration of the upstream development, will be delivered by Wood’s specialist field development studies team in Houston, US and Perth, Australia.
TGS announces updates to Australian data library
TGS is pleased to announce that the purchase of the Capreolus 3D seismic survey from Polarcus has been completed. The Capreolus, full broadband 3D seismic survey is 22,130 km2 and covers two hydrocarbon provinces with proven, but underexplored, oil and gas plays both in the Beagle and Bedout sub-basins offshore north-west Australia. Capreolus 3D includes modern 3D coverage over the Phoenix South and Roc oil and gas discoveries. Additionally, Capreolus 3D also spans the Dorado-1 exploration well and Phoenix South-3 appraisal well, currently being drilled.
Phoenix South-3 slow but steady to target
Quadrant has cemented the liner to around 5,205 meters and is drilling ahead to target depth at the Phoenix South-3 well off north Western Australia. Carnarvon Petroleum, which has a 20% interest in the Phoenix project with JV partner and operator Quadrant holding the 80% balance, announced that the GSF Development Driller-1 semi-submersible rig was drilling ahead to a depth of approximately 5,500m. The previously drilled Phoenix South-2 well was unable to fully evaluate the Caley Member due to high pressures encountered in that well.
Bight offers huge benefits for State and nation
Potential Bight benefits great for State and nation Successful oil exploration in the Great Australian Bight could see the creation of more than 2,000 jobs in South Australia and generate over $7 billion in average annual tax revenue to Federal and State governments over the next four decades, a new study has found. The indirect benefits of the activity and the associated tax revenue could see almost 5,000 jobs created across Australia in the period between 2020 and 2060.
TGS and PGS commence Lewis Hill 3D multi-client project offshore East Canada
Norwegian seismic players TGS and PGS have teamed up and begun a new 3D multi-client project in East Canada. The Lewis Hills 3D Geostreamer survey will cover approximately 3,400 km² in an active Newfoundland area of the Flemish Pass Basin with data to be acquired by the PGS Ramform Sterling vessel, TGS announced in a media release on Friday. As previously announced, this vessel will also acquire approximately 2,700 km2 of additional data on the 2017 Harbour Deep and Cape Broyle 3D survey outlines.
Chevron Q2 earnings take off on the wings of soaring oil prices
Supermajor Chevron has posted more than double earnings for the second quarter of 2018 compared to the corresponding period a year earlier.
Boosted by soaring oil prices, the San Ramon-headquartered oil giant reported earnings of US$3.4 billion for the first three months of this year, corresponding with US$1.5 billion from the same period in 2017.
Sales and operating revenues during the second quarter of this year were US$40 billion, contrasting with US$33 billion a year ago.
“Second quarter earnings were up significantly from a year ago,” said Chairman and CEO Michael Wirth.