Oil and Gas Community

A survey released today of 5000 North Sea oil and gas workers has found that 75% believe the Governments decision to scrap the Health and Safety Executive’s offshore division will undermine offshore safety. The survey, released by OilandGasPeople.com, the world’s largest oil and gas jobs board, also found 62% were worried that the scrapping of the unit would lead to another Piper Alpha disaster. The oil and gas workers questioned the timing of the decision to close the division two months before the 25th anniversary of the Piper Alpha Disaster. The setting up of the dedicated HSE offshore division was a key recommendation of Lord Cullen’s report into ways to prevent another disaster taking place. The decision also comes at a time when oil and gas workers are feeling more at risk. 72% believe that it is the worst possible time to close the Health and Safety Executive’s offshore division, given recent concerns over ageing platforms and closures of platforms due to safety issues, such as the recent leak at the Cormorant Alpha platform. The survey also found that workers were concerned about a range of issues affecting safety. • 42% were concerned by lack of skilled workers • 44% were concerned by insufficient training • 44% were concerned by ageing platforms and assets off shore • 43% were concerned by complacency  “While there is no doubt that safety on North Sea oil and gas rigs has improved immeasurable since Lord Cullen’s report into the Piper Alpha disaster, our survey clearly shows that rig workers are concerned by the timing of the decision to cut one of Lord Cullen’s key recommendations, in the year of the 25th anniversary of the disaster itself,” said Kevin Forbes, CEO of Oilandgaspeople.com. “What’s more, the decision comes at a time when workers are feeling greater concern because of ageing platforms and recent leaks, such as on the Cormorant Alpha platform. It isn’t surprisingly that the combination of the cutting of the HSE dedicated offshore division and ageing platforms has left many offshore workers feeling more at risk,” he said. “With pressure of cuts from central Government taking their toll on many services across the country, many oil and gas workers will feel less inclined to believe the HSE that the scrapping of the service is about pooling skills because of emerging new technologies. Most see it simply as a cost-cutting exercise that will reduce the efficacy of the Health and Safety Executive to monitor rigs. Most can’t believe the insensitivity and clumsy way with which this has been introduced in the very year of the 25th anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster,” he said.   For more details and an interview with Kevin Forbes, please contact: Bill Little Unlimited Communications 07940 924555

Shell Iraq Petroleum (Shell) has awarded a commissioning services contract to Wood Group-CCC (WGCCC), a company equally owned by Wood Group PSN (WGPSN) and Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC), providing operations and maintenance services to the oil and gas and petrochemical industries in the Middle East. The contract is to commission the first phase of the Majnoon field, near Basra in Southern Iraq.Majnoon is one of the world's largest oil fields, estimated by the Iraqi government to hold about 38 billion barrels of oil. It is being executed by Shell Iraq Petroleum, as project operator with other partners Petronas and Iraqi Ministry of Oil.The one-year contract is effective June 2013. WGCCC will be responsible for the provision of skilled resources, tools, services and test equipment to assist the start-up, commissioning and testing of the new production facilities in the Majnoon field. New production facilities include well site facilities, a central production facility and all new-build facilities and utilities required to operate the field, including pipelines and infrastructure.WGCCC will employ approximately 200 personnel to service the contract. This workforce will be based onsite at the Majnoon facilities, approximately 70km from Basra.David Buchan, WGPSN's Middle East director and board director of WGCCC said: "We will be supporting Shell on the start-up and commissioning of its facilities in the Majnoon field until steady state operations are achieved and the facilities begin operations."This is a significant contract for WGCCC and marks our continued expansion across the Middle East. We are currently deploying up to 200 new personnel to service the contract, demonstrating the strength of WGCCC's ability to make expertise available to our customers' wherever they need it."Employing more than 3,300 people, WGCCC brings together WGPSN's global engineering, operations and maintenance expertise with CCC's engineering and construction capabilities and substantial regional resource base in the Middle East, to deliver services to operators throughout the region.This is WGPSN's second contract in Iraq in the last six months after the company announced its support to DNO for the development of the Tawke field in the Kurdistan region of Iraq at the end of 2012.Source: Wood Group

At the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, held from May 5 to 9, Total was honored with the Distinguished Achievement Award for Companies for its Pazflor deep offshore development. The prestigious award is presented annually to the company that has advanced deepwater oil expertise and technology as part of a major project.“Total is delighted with this award for Pazflor, which cements our position as an industry leader both in the deep offshore and in managing large-scale international projects," said Yves-Louis Darricarrère, Upstream President at Total. “Above all, it is well-deserved recognition for the teams that took part in the project, meeting stringent safety, environmental, scheduling, budget and quality specifications. They are all to be sincerely congratulated.”Begun in December 2007 and covering an area of 600 square kilometers offshore Angola, in water depths ranging from 600 to 1,200 meters, Pazflor represents an important milestone in the development of Total-operated Block 17. Production currently averages 220,000 barrels per day, and more than 45 million barrels have been produced since first oil in August 2011.The Pazflor project integrates major technological breakthroughs in bringing challenging deepwater fields on stream. The technological feat - a world first - consisted of installing subsea separation units and pumps to boost the liquids from the three Late Miocene reservoirs, near the production wells.This technological achievement is also a people-led success. A significant part of the Pazflor development was carried out in Angola, as part of Total’s commitment to increasing local content in its projects. As many as 4,500 people on four different continents were involved in the project at the same time, for a total of 32 million hours worked, including 3.8 million in Angola. With total capital expenditure of $9 billion, the Pazflor project benefited the entire Angolan economy through the participation of the country’s leading oil industry contractors.Total has been present in Angola since 1953. In 2012, the Group became the country’s number one operator, with operated production averaging 604,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d). Its SEC* equity production amounted to 180,000 boe/d, mainly from Blocks 17, 0 and 14.Total's main asset in Angola is deepwater Block 17, which it operates with a 40% interest. The block contains four major hubs. The first three, Girassol, Dalia and Pazflor, are currently in production and the fourth, CLOV (Cravo, Lirio, Orquidea and Violeta) is under development, with first oil scheduled for 2014.The Group also operates the ultra-deepwater Block 32, in which it holds a 30% stake. Twelve discoveries have confirmed the block's potential for oil production, and conceptual development studies are underway on a first production area in the central southeastern sector of the block (Kaombo project).In addition, the Angola LNG project to build a liquefaction plant near Soyo to bring the country’s natural gas reserves to market is under construction. Total has a 13.6% interest in the project. Scheduled for commissioning in 2013, the plant will initially be supplied with associated gas from fields on Blocks 0, 14, 15, 17 and 18.Source: Total

Petrobras announces that it has signed today a Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) for the sale of the 20% stake the company holds in exploratory blocks KC 49, 50, 92, 93, 94 and 138 in the US Gulf of Mexico. These blocks make up the asset known as Gila, and the operator is British Petroleum (BP).Petrobras will receive US$ 110 million for the transaction and additional equity in an exploratory block adjacent to an existing Petrobras GOM deepwater discovery Tiber.This transaction is part of Petrobras’ divestment program, outlined in the 2013-2017 Business & Management Plan, and is subject to third party preferential rights and approval by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).Source: Petrobras

Mojix® Inc., the leading provider of wide-area passive RFID solutions, announced that industry leader BP appointed Mojix to deliver track-and-trace technology for the Clair Ridge oil platform construction that will operate in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland. This solution provides real-time visibility of oil platform components moving from suppliers located around the globe to the platform’s construction site. BP is using this solution to monitor and manage the supply chain which includes tracking crates, Heavy Lift and Out Of Gauge equipment, containers and vessels to improve the efficiency and safety during the construction. Mojix’s STAR 3000 System delivers next-generation wide-area passive radio frequency identification (“RFID”) technology at warehouses and yards, creating supply chain visibility resulting in cost savings and risk mitigation for the Oil and Gas industry giant.“Mojix is pleased to have been selected by one of the world’s largest companies to monitor all critical assets in a complex project such as the Clair Ridge project”“Mojix has delivered a complete and innovative tracking solution that allows BP to monitor its cargo throughout the whole supply chain process, this ensures that we can manage our materials in a more planned and efficient manner,” said Andy Dovey, Material management PSCM team lead for BP Clair Ridge. “Mojix is pleased to have been selected by one of the world’s largest companies to monitor all critical assets in a complex project such as the Clair Ridge project,” said Dr. Ramin Sadr, CEO and founder of Mojix. “Our technology brings significant new efficiencies, risk mitigation and cost savings to the entire supply chain that supports an offshore platform construction. We are pleased BP recognizes the value our technology brings to this important project.”BP deployed the Mojix STAR 3000 System as the cornerstone of its global track-and-trace of the supply chain for the construction of the Clair Ridge platform in Asia. Two different types of tag technology are used by BP including passive EPC Gen 2 RFID tags on all materials and components and Global Positioning (GPS) sensor telemetry tags on containers and heavy equipment. The passive tag and GPS location information is consolidated from around the globe into Mojix’s centralized, web-based, visibility platform. Finally, commercial ocean vessel tracking information is integrated to the same centralized visibility platform giving BP an unprecedented single-point of view of the location and flow of goods on roads, oceans, and warehouses. Mojix’s track-and-trace solution along with its STAR 3000 provides BP with 24 by 7 continuous visibility of all materials needed to construct the new Clair Ridge platform.Source: Business Wire

Premier Oil has announced a discovery at its Bonneville exploration well and its side track in the North Sea, more than 150km offshore from Aberdeen.The company said the reservoirs were of "excellent quality".It estimated that the discovery contained approximately 30 million barrels of oil, which was in line with pre-drill predictions.In addition, Premier said it had discovered gas in the Matang well in Indonesia.It also said that testing of its Luno discovery in Norway had started.Simon Lockett, chief executive of Premier, said: "We are delighted with the strong start to our 2013 exploration drilling programme with the previously announced discovery at Luno II and now the discoveries at Bonneville and Matang."Premier has a 50% interest in the Bonneville well. Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy has a 30% stake and German oil and gas firm Wintershall has a 20% share.Source: BBC News

Statoil (OSE:STL, NYSE:STO) and partner Petoro have proven considerable additional resources in the Shetland Group/Lista Formation in the Gullfaks licence.The Shetland Group and the Lista Formation are younger and slightly shallower deposits with different properties compared to the deposits of the Brent Group where the Gullfaks main reservoirs are located.Indications of hydrocarbons in the Shetland Group/Lista Formation in the Gullfaks licence have been known for a long time, but they have not yet been developed due to poor reservoir qualities. A new well test in this interval however indicates good flow rates."The discovery provides new volumes that can give high-value production in a short time as well as new and promising perspectives for the field and the installations," says Øystein Michelsen, executive vice president for Development and Production Norway. "This is a result of Statoil's strategy for revitalisation of the Norwegian continental shelf."Production well 34/10-A-8 on the Gullfaks A platform, where the well test is carried out, currently provides a high and stable production of 7500 barrels/day. The well has produced nearly 1 million barrels since December 2012.Preliminary calculations based on interpretation, modelling, formation testing and sampling in the relevant interval indicate that the discovery contains in the range of 40-150 million recoverable barrels of oil equivalents. However, this resource estimate involves a high degree of uncertainty. Our models indicate further upside potential,data gathering and studies are currently ongoing to clarify the potential and further development of these resources.Located in the Tampen area in the northern North Sea, Gullfaks came on stream on 22 December 1986. The field development consists of three permanent installations, which have produced more than 2.4 billion barrels of oil and more than 56 billion cubic metres of gas.The licensees of the Gullfaks Field are Statoil as operator with 70% and partner Petoro with 30%.Source: Statoil

Noble Corporation (NYSE: NE) today announced that the Company has entered into two (2) three-year term drilling contracts with Plains Exploration & Production Company (NYSE:PXP) for the  Noble Sam Croft and the Noble Tom Madden, two of Noble's new ultra-deepwater drillships currently under construction at the Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. (HHI) shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea. The drillships, which are being constructed on a fixed price basis, are expected to be utilized for operations primarily in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico under these contracts.The  Noble Sam Croft is expected to be delivered in the second quarter of 2014, followed closely by the Noble Tom Madden, which is expected to be delivered in second half of 2014. The contracts are expected to commence following mobilization to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and customer acceptance. Revenues to be generated over the three-year terms are expected to total approximately $693 million per rig, including mobilization fees, representing in excess of $1.3 billion in total potential backlog.With the award of contracts for these two units, all four ultra-deepwater drillships under construction for Noble at HHI are now under contract."With the addition of these units to our U.S. Gulf of Mexico fleet, Noble will have one of the most modern and capable fleets in the  region, a fact that demonstrates the fundamental change going on across the Company," noted David W. Williams, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. "At the same time, these contracts provide us with significant additional backlog, while expanding and diversifying our customer base as we grow our relationship with an important new customer."The  Noble Sam Croft and the Noble Tom Madden are two of thefour ultra-deepwater drillships being constructed for Noble by HHI. All four drillships are based on a Hyundai Gusto P10000 hull design, capable of operations in water depths of up to 12,000 feet and offering a variable deck load of 20,000 metric tons. The  Noble Sam Croft and Noble Tom Madden will be fully equipped to operate in up to 10,000 feet of water while offering DP-3 station keeping, two complete six-ram BOP systems, multiple parallel activity features that improve overall well construction efficiencies and accommodations for up to 210 personnel. Both rigs also will also be equipped with a 165-ton heave compensated construction cranes to facilitate deployment of subsea production equipment, providing another level of efficiency during field development programs.SOURCE Noble Corporation