E&P Notes (December 2019)
Authors: JPT staff _ 
Published: November 2019

E&P Notes

ExxonMobil, Hess To Start Production Off Guyana By Year End

The first phase of oil production from the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana will start up before year end, ahead of the previously scheduled first-quarter 2020 date, partner Hess said in its third-quarter earnings release.

First oil from the 120,000-B/D Liza Destiny floating production, storage, and offloading vessel (FPSO), which arrived on the block in late August, is targeted for December. It is expected to take 3 months before the FPSO ramps up to full capacity. The development consists of four subsea drill centers and 17 wells, of which eight are production wells, six water injection wells, and three gas injection wells.

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Hess To Tie Back Deepwater US Gulf Oil Discovery

Hess will tie back its Esox-1 oil discovery in the deepwater US Gulf of Mexico to its Tubular Bells facilities and begin production in the first quarter of 2020.

Drilled in 1405 m of water, the Esox-1 well encountered 58 m of high-quality oil-bearing Miocene reservoirs, the company said. Esox-1 is located on Mississippi Canyon Block No. 726 and is•10 km east of the Tubular Bells production facilities.

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EIA: US Gulf Oil Output To Continue Record Pace

US crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico will continue to set production records in each of 2019 and 2020, according to projections from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Based on expected production levels at new and existing fields, annual US gulf oil output will increase to 1.9 million•b/d in 2019 and 2 million B/D in 2020. The estimates include shut-ins related to Hurricane Barry in July and adjustments for additional hurricane-related shut-ins this year and next.

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BP Discovers Gas with Orca-1 Well Offshore Mauritania

BP’s operated Orca-1 exploration well in the BirAllah area off Mauritania encountered 36 m of net gas pay in excellent quality reservoirs while targeting a previously untested Albian play, partner Kosmos Energy said.

The well, drilled in 2,510 m of water to a TMD of 5,266 m, also extended the Cenomanian play fairway by confirming 11 m of net gas pay in a down-structure position relative to the original Marsouin-1 discovery well, which was drilled on the crest of the anticline. The Orca-1 location, 7.5 km from the crest of the anticline, proved both the structural and stratigraphic trap of the Orca prospect, which has an estimated mean gas initially in place of 13 Tcf.

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Eni, EGPC Fast-Track Gulf of Suez Appraisal Well

Eni and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) will fast-track production of an appraisal well on their Abu Rudeis Sidri development lease in the Gulf of Suez off Egypt.

The Sidri 36 appraisal well confirmed the downdip westward extension of the Sidri 23 discovery announced last July by the Italian major. Sidri 36 encountered a 200-m hydrocarbon column in the clastic sequences of the Nubia formation.

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ADNOC, Russia Advance Oil and Gas Partnerships

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) signed separate agreements involving oil and gas industry collaboration with Russian oil and gas giants Lukoil and Gazprom Neft and the Russian Energy Agency (REA).

In two pacts, ADNOC awarded a 5% stake in the Ghasha Concession to Lukoil, and the companies along with the Russian Direct Investment Fund agreed to explore future cooperation on the concession, which is a gas, oil, and gas condensate development targeting nine shallow-water fields in the Arabian Gulf west of Abu Dhabi.

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C&J Energy, Keane To Become NexTier Oilfield Solutions

The merger of C&J Energy Services and Keane Group closed 31 October, at which point the combined firm became known•as NexTier Oilfield Solutions.

Shareholders of both companies approved the deal on 22 October. The new well completion and production services company will rank just behind Halliburton and Schlumberger in terms of total US hydraulic fracturing horsepower.

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ONGC Makes Discoveries in Colombia, Brazil

ONGC Videsh, the international subsidiary of India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), has made oil and gas discoveries in South America.

In Colombia’s onshore Llanos Basin, the ONGC Videsh-operated Well Sol-1 on the CPO-5 block encountered 8 m of oil-bearing sands at a depth of 2852 m. The well confirmed the extent of oil pay on the southern portion of the block following the company’s Mariposa-1 and Indico-1 discoveries in 2017–2018. Those wells are currently on production.

ONGC Videsh holds a 70% interest in•the CPO-5 block.

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Chevron, Repsol Awarded Most Blocks in Brazil’s 16th Round

Ten companies from nine countries were awarded whole or partial stakes in 12 blocks as part of Brazil’s 16th Round, the country’s National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas, and Biofuels (ANP)•reported.

Signature bonuses in the auction, which involved the offshore Campos and Santos Basins, totaled $2.17 billion.

Chevron and Spain’s Repsol secured the most blocks with four each; Qatar Petroleum subsidiary QPI Brasil and Malaysia’s Petronas each gained three blocks; Shell, BP, and Wintershall DEA each added two blocks; and Total, ExxonMobil, and Petrobras were awarded one block each.