East African energy boom investments to take focus in budgets

Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania plan to allocate money in their annual budgets to spur investment in infrastructure to exploit oil and natural gas from deposits that companies including Tullow Oil are developing.

Ugandan and Kenyan oil discoveries, made in 2006 and 2012 respectively, and new gas finds off the coast of Tanzania that have boosted reserves to as much as 46 Tcf have seen East Africa become a frontier for petroleum exploration.

The three countries, along with Rwanda, which are all members of the East African Community, will present their budget statements for the financial year starting July 1.

The Kenyan Finance Ministry said in its 2014 budget policy statement that the government wants to “fast track” building a pipeline to export the crude.

Kenya also expects to increase its spending on infrastructure by 15% $2.9 billion in 2014-15 from a year earlier, according to the Treasury’s budget policy statement.

Tanzania is building the $1.23 billion Mtwara gas pipeline project with a loan from the Export-Import Bank of China, while Statoil and BG Group, are working on a project to build a LNG export plant. The government plans to present new natural gas rules to parliament in November aimed at helping the country get more benefit from its natural resources.

Providing useful resources, articles and writings on crude oil, other petroleum products, energy and gas. By Giftelyon Multi-Sevices Int'l Ltd and services, UK, online.

Total starts production at CLOV, boosts Block 17 output to 700,000 bpd

Total, operator of Block 17 in Angola, has started up CLOV, a major deep offshore development located 140 km offshore Luanda, in line with the initial project schedule.

With a production capacity of 160,000 bpd, CLOV will develop proven and probable reserves of over 500 MMbbl. After Girassol, Dalia and Pazflor, CLOV is the fourth FPSO unit on Block 17.

"CLOV will contribute to increasing the Block 17 production to 700,000 bpd while also generating significant free cash flow for the Group. Block 17 will therefore become Total’s most prolific production site and bring us a step closer to achieving our production potential of 3 MMbpd by 2017,” commented Arnaud Breuillac, President Exploration & Production at Total.

Developing four fields (Cravo, Lirio, Orquidea and Violeta), the project comprises 34 wells and 8 manifolds connected by 180 km of subsea pipelines to an FPSO unit at water depths of 1,100 to 1,400 m. Measuring 305 m long and 61 m wide, the FPSO has a storage capacity of 1.8 MMbbl of oil. The gas produced on CLOV will be exported via a subsea line to the onshore Angola LNG liquefaction plant.

Angola

A subsea multiphase pump system will be used deep offshore to enable production of two different oil qualities from the oligocene reservoirs and the more viscous miocene reservoirs. A first for Total at this depth, this system will be used to boost the commingled fluid and enhance oil recovery.

The FPSO design minimizes its environmental footprint, with zero flaring under normal operating conditions and an “all electric” concept to increase on-site energy efficiency by producing only the quantity of electricity required to operate the facilities.

As part of Total’s commitment to increasing local content in its projects, a significant part of the CLOV development work was carried out in Angola. This represents more than 10 million man hours achieved in-country to complete fabrication and assembly on Angolan yards.

Total operates the block with a 40% interest, and its partners are Statoil (23.33%), Esso Exploration Angola (Block 17) Limited (20%) and BP (16.67%). Sonangol is the concessionaire for Block 17.

Providing useful resources, articles and writings on crude oil, other petroleum products, energy and gas. By Giftelyon Multi-Sevices Int'l Ltd and services, UK, online.

Brent oil trades near three-week low on Libya supply, WTI Steady

Brent traded near the lowest price in more than three weeks as Libya prepares to increase exports and amid speculation that Iraq' s crude supplies remain safe from violence. West Texas Intermediate was steady in New York.

Futures were little changed in London after falling for a fifth day on July 4, the longest losing streak since January. Libya, the holder of Africas biggest crude reserves, lifted a force majeure at its Es Sider and Ras Lanuf terminals, National Oil Corp. said on July 6. Fighting in Iraq, OPECs second-largest producer, hasn' t spread to the south, home to more than three-quarters of its output.

"Oil is likely to remain flat," David Lennox, a resource analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney, said by phone on July 7. Youve got Libyan supply coming back and nothing seems to have happened in the south of Iraq.

Brent for August settlement was at $110.72 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange, up 8 cents, at 3.17 p.m. Sydney time. The contract dropped 36 cents to $110.64 on July 4, the lowest close since June 11. The volume of all futures traded was about 27% below the 100-day average.

WTI for August delivery was 10 cents lower from the July 3 close at $103.96 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. There was no floor trading during the Fourth of July holiday and transactions will be booked on July 7 for settlement purposes. The U.S. benchmark crude traded at a discount of $6.75 to Brent.

Libyan Supply

Brent declined 2.4% last week, erasing this years gains, as rebels seeking self-rule in Libyas east agreed to surrender the Es Sider and Ras Lanuf ports, the nations biggest and third-largest export terminals. The government in Tripoli has instructed National Oil to start marketing supplies from the two facilities, Mohamed Elharari, a spokesman for the state-run company, said by phone.

Es Sider can load 340,000 bpd while Ras Lanuf can handle 220,000 barrels, according to the Oil Ministry. Libya pumped 300,000 bpd last month, compared with 1.13 million in June 2013, ranking it as the smallest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

In Iraq, fighting has been concentrated in the north, where insurgents from a breakaway al-Qaeda group known as the Islamic State captured the city of Mosul in June and declared a caliphate in the Iraqi and Syrian territory it controls.

"Theres quite a lot of supply out there," Tom James, the managing director of Navitas Resources in Dubai, said by phone on July 6. "Prices had already started calming down last week as we didn' t see anything sparking off in Iraq that was impacting the southern crude exports, and it looks like we may be seeing some Libyan crude coming back onto the market."

Providing useful resources, articles and writings on crude oil, other petroleum products, energy and gas. By Giftelyon Multi-Sevices Int'l Ltd and services, UK, online.

Unique Hydra unveils the HYDRACraft series

Unique Hydra has received its second order this year for the company' s diving daughtercraft system, the HYDRACraft. Unique Hydra has spent the past twelve months engaging with clients to understand their diving daughtercraft operational and equipment requirements and developing a purpose built vessel which includes a fully integrated dive system.

Diving Daughtercraft systems are used in diving operations where the conventional diving DSV is not able to position itself close enough to an FPSO or offshore platform. The daughtercraft is fitted with surface supplied diving systems capable of supporting Nitrox and/or air diving operations and is assisted by an additional “support craft” that transfers personnel and supplies during the diving operations.

The mother vessel, barge or platform is outfitted with davits for the daughtercraft and support craft as well as support equipment, including the decompression chamber, gas storage and compressors.

Currently, two designs of the purpose designed diving daughtercraft are available, the HYDRACraft 1400 14m 8 man, and the HYDRACraft 1500 15m 10 man. The HYDRACraft design considers features and attributes required for safe and effective diving operations.

Providing useful resources, articles and writings on crude oil, other petroleum products, energy and gas. By Giftelyon Multi-Sevices Int'l Ltd and services, UK, online.