The Palaszczuk Government in Queensland has announced that it is “moving rapidly to boost gas supplies for industry” with confirmation that a Queensland company is the preferred tenderer for a Petroleum Lease on land in the Surat Basin released to supply the domestic market. Minister for Natural Resources and Mines Dr Anthony Lynham said he was very pleased to see emerging gas producer Senex secure the rights to supply such a critical resource for our market. “The Palaszczuk Government is leading the nation with practical measures to increase domestic gas supplies and support local jobs,” the Minister said.
Company Updates
NPD names new exploration director
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NDP) has appointed Torgeir Stordal as their new exploration director, a position he stepped into on September 1. Stordal, 55, studied applied geophysics and has a Master of Science from the University of Bergen. He has worked for Shell since 1989 where his roles included geophysicist and geologist within exploration and field development. In more recent years, he has held several management positions within exploration. During the period 2009-2013, he was the exploration manager in Norske Shell and has since held a global role within resource evaluation at Shell’s headquarters in the Netherlands.
CGG STARTS ESPIRITO SANTOS IV SURVEY OFF BRAZIL
CGG has announced the start of work on Espirito Santo IV, a large BroadSeis™ 3D multi-client survey in the deep and ultra-deep waters of the Espirito Santo Basin offshore Brazil. The Oceanic Champion is acquiring the survey which is expected to take seven months and will cover 10,300 sq km and be processed at CGG’s Rio de Janeiro Subsurface Imaging center. ‘The high-end broadband sequence will include the latest 3D deghosting, Full-Waveform Inversion (FWI) velocity modeling and Tilted Transverse Isotropy (TTI) imaging. Fast-Track PSDM products will be delivered six months after completion of the acquisition,’ CGG said.
Giant Ichthys Venturer FPSO is moored
The INPEX-operated Ichthys LNG Project’s floating production, storage and offloading facility (FPSO) has been safely moored in the Ichthys Field, 220 kilometres off the north coast of Western Australia. INPEX announced that the 336-metre long FPSO, named Ichthys Venturer, longer than three soccer fields and designed for 40 years of operations without being dry docked, had reached Australia in mid-August and was moored on August 24.
AGL to sell gas assets to China
AGL Energy Limited is selling its North Queensland gas assets to a consortium comprising Chinese gas distribution company Shandong Order Gas Co and Australia energy investment company, Orient Energy. The assets comprise AGL’s 50% interest in each of the Moranbah Gas Project Joint Venture and the North Queensland Energy Joint Venture and AGL’s participation rights in the ATP1103 exploration licence located in the Bowen Basin. The Chinese investor backed Orient Energy is believed to also have acquired gas assets in the Roma region of Queensland from Santos last year.
Woodside brings Persephone online
Woodside has brought its Persephone project online six months ahead of schedule. This was announced by BP, one of six partners with a 16.67% interest in the project along with BHP, Chevron, Shell, Mitsubishi-Mitsui and Woodside. BP said production from five of seven major upstream projects targeted for production in 2017 were now online, with Juniper, offshore Trinidad, and the Woodside-operated Persephone the latest to begin production. This followed the start-ups of the first phase of the West Nile Delta development in Egypt, the Trinidad Onshore Compression project and the Quad 204 redevelopment in the UK.
Magseis goes back to black in second quarter
Norwegian ocean bottom Seismic services provider Magseis returned to profitability in the second quarter of 2017 as revenues rose to $19.4 million from work done in Saudi Arabia and Norway. The company said its survey for Saudi Aramco with the Artemis Athene vessel in the Red Sea, as well as OBN work for ConocoPhillips in the Eldfisk field, off Norway, had booted revenue substantially compared to prior year’s 2Q revenue of $7.7 million. Magseis posted a profit of $3.3 million for the quarter, compared to a net loss of almost $4 million a year ago.
Woodside to shut down Enfield oil field
Woodside has begun the process of ceasing production from the Enfield oil field in production license WA-28-L off Western Australia and remove the Nganhurra FPSO from the area. The Perth-headquartered oil and gas company has submitted an environmental plan with NOPSEMA to cease production and decommission, dismantle and remove facilities from the oil field, located approximately 52km north-west of Exmouth. Developed using subsea wells, manifolds and flowline systems tied back to the Nganhurra floating production, storage and offloading system (FPSO), the Enfield field has been in production since 2006.
Spectrum increases revenue and slashes losses
Spectrum has substantially increased revenue and slashed losses in the second quarter of 2017, the Norwegian company has revealed in its quarterly report. Spectrum said that its net loss had dropped to $2.98 million in this year’s second quarter from $10.99 million in the corresponding period a year ago. The company’s net multi-client revenues increased by 130% to $30.4 million in the second quarter of 2017 from $13.2 million in the same period of 2016. The greatest portion of multi-client revenues, 71%, was derived from Africa. Prefunding recognized in the quarter also increased totalling $22.2 million versus $5.
AWE strikes gas at Waitsia in the Perth Basin
AWE Limited has toasted the taste of hydrocarbons with its appraisal of the Waitsia gas field north of Perth successfully encountering gas at the first target level. The company reported that the Waitsia-4 appraisal well has successfully intersected the Kingia formation, with good gas shows observed and wireline logs to be acquired to confirm reservoir quality. The well is now drilling towards the second primary target, the High Cliff Sandstone, and is expected to take five weeks to complete.