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.

BP Statistical Review shows strength of global energy

The BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2014 – launched today at the World Petroleum Congress meeting in Moscow – reveals how the world of energy echoed broader global themes in 2013. Emerging differences in global economic performance, geopolitical uncertainty and ongoing debates about the proper roles of government and markets are all reflected in its data.

Global energy demand accelerated in 2013 but, reflecting the weakness of the global economy, growth of 2.3% remained slightly below the historical average. Within this global picture, however, shifts in energy consumption mirrored those in the world’s economic patterns.

Energy consumption in the emerging economies grew below their long-term average rate, rising by 3.1%, driven by slower growth in China. However, consumption in the mature economies of the OECD grew by a higher-than-average rate of 1.2% - entirely as a result of strong growth in the US. As a result the gap between growth in the OECD and non-OECD narrowed to levels not seen since 2000.

Nonetheless, the emerging economies continue to dominate the growth in global energy demand, accounting for 80% of growth last year and nearly 100% of growth over the past decade.

The Review – the publication’s 63rd annual edition – also illustrates how geopolitical events in a number of countries continued to impact oil production in 2013, with Libya suffering the largest single decline in the face of renewed civil unrest. Those disruptions, however, were offset by a big increase in oil production in the US – driven by the massive investment in production from shale and other ‘tight’ formations. As a net result, average oil prices remained unusually stable – albeit at levels exceeding $100 per barrel for a third consecutive year.

Speaking at today’s launch in Moscow, BP Group Chief Executive Bob Dudley said: “The Review again demonstrates the strength of the flexible global energy system in adapting to a changing world. The major disruptions to production seen throughout 2013 were balanced by continued rises in production elsewhere. This underlines the importance of continuing to secure these new supplies through continued access to new resources, policies to encourage markets and investment, and the application of new technologies worldwide.”

The developments also highlighted the critical importance of both policy and market forces in delivering new supplies.  As BP Chief Economist Christof Rühl also noted, “The huge investments seen in the US have been encouraged and enabled by a favourable policy regime. And this has resulted in the US delivering the world’s largest increase in oil production last year. Indeed, the US increase in 2013 – up by 1.1 million barrels a day - was one of the biggest annual oil production increases the world has ever seen.”

Elsewhere, the impact of policy on energy was also seen in continued robust growth in renewable energy – albeit from a low base. Renewables now account for more than 5% of global power output and, including biofuels, for nearly 3% of primary energy consumption. However, the challenge of sustaining expensive subsidy regimes has become visible where penetration rates are highest, namely in the below-average growth of Europe’s leading renewable producers, who are grappling with weak economic growth and strained budgets.

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.

Pura Vida upgrades reserve estimate for Nkembe block

Pura Vida Energy has announced an upgrade to its prospective resource assessment of the Nkembe PSC, offshore Gabon. Further technical work undertaken by the company has revealed a significant new play in the pre-salt within the Syn-rift interval where carbonate Coquinas reservoirs are anticipated to be present.

The inclusion of newly identified prospects increases the total gross mean unrisked prospective resources on block to 1,680 mmbo, 1,344 mmbo net to Pura Vida. The carbonate play is analogous to similar plays that have resulted in the discovery of several billion barrels of discovered oil offshore Angola and offshore Brazil. Pura Vida’s technical work has also identified several areas which contain multiple stacked prospects that have the potential to be attractive drill candidates that could be tested with a single vertical well.

Based on new interpretation on recent reprocessed seismic data undertaken by Pura Vida, the estimated net mean prospective resources on the Nkembe block has increased from 815 mmbo to 1,344 mmbo.
 
Pura Vida has identified several areas within the Nkembe block that contain multiple stacked targets. The drilling of stacked targets provides the ability to test prospects at differing stratigraphic levels through a single vertical well. Intersecting multiple prospects saves on drilling costs, increases the overall chance of making a commercial discovery, and in the event of success, allows for potential aggregation of resource potential.

The Moveni region in the south-western part of the block contains stacked prospects at the Gamba, Dentale and Syn-rift carbonate levels which have a net mean prospective resource un-risked potential of 286 mmbo and 603 mmbo respectively. A single well at this location has the potential to test a combined net prospective resource of 890 mmbo.

Dentex prospects directly overlie the larger and significant pre-salt level referred to as Palomite Deep. Of particular interest to Pura Vida is the Pompano prospect within the Palomite cluster, where stacked targets from the Batanga, Lower Anguille and the Cap Lopez lie directly above the Palomite Deep pre-salt play where the Gamba, Dentale and the Syn-rift carbonates are stacked. The combined net mean prospective resource, un-risked, potential of Pompano and Palomite Deep is 320 mmbo.

The Loba Oil Field also overlies the Loba Deep sub-salt target which provides an opportunity for a combination of a lower risk appraisal well for a production test of the post-salt Loba discovery with a test of the Loba Deep sub-salt exploration target.

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.

Tangiers Petroleum commences drilling at TAO-1 well

The TAO-1 well is located within a proven petroleum system, adjacent to the Cap Juby heavy oil discovery and has been designed to test up to three stacked objectives, Assaka (Upper Jurassic), Trident (Middle Jurassic) and TMA (Lower Jurassic, contingent upon success at Trident/Assaka).
 
The secondary objective, Assaka, and the main objective at Trident are scheduled to be intersected within approximately 2 months. Contingent upon the results at Assaka and Trident, the Joint Venture will then make a decision to deepen to the TMA objective. The well plan does not include flow testing.
 
The company expects to make additional updates as appropriate during the course of the drilling.
 
Tangiers has a 25% participating interest in the Tarfaya Offshore Block, which is being operated by Galp Energia with a 50% interest. The remaining 25% interest is held by ONHYM (Morocco’s National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines), which is carried through the exploration phase.

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.

Explorers see promise in Egypt oil, gas when subsidies eased

Explorers in Egypt expect constraints on domestic energy prices to loosen, prompting new investment in oil and natural gas fields.

Companies including Citadel Capital SAE, Circle Oil Plc and Petroceltic International Plc expect President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to make good on promises to reduce subsidies of more than $20 billion a year and ease demands that producers sell fuel on the domestic market well below international prices, they said at a conference in London on June 27.

The changes would allow the government to cut the budget deficit and pay suppliers money owed for fuel, said Mohamed Shoeib, a managing director at Cairo-based Citadel. It’s a necessary first step if Egypt wants to lure back investors driven from the country by recent turmoil as it tries to both increase exports and meet surging domestic energy demand.

The government “should tackle the problem and not escape it,” Shoeib, whose company has about $10 billion invested, mostly in Egyptian energy projects, said in an interview. “It should happen very soon.”

Egypt is poised to become a net fuel importer as authorities divert gas from export projects to meet local demand, sometimes failing to pay the suppliers. The practice prevented the UK’s BG Group Plc from meeting contracted LNG shipments this year. The company has been in talks with the government about guarantees for future exports, with receivables for gas still owed by Egypt doubling in a year to March 31.

Oil Minister

Egypt plans to pay at least $1.5 billion to energy suppliers before the end of the year, or about a quarter of its debt as of April, Reuters reported June 26, citing Oil Minister Sherif Ismail.

Egyptian General Petroleum Corp., the state energy company, “is doing the best it can” to pay off the debt, said Chris Green, CEO at Circle Oil. “The key thing is reducing subsidy.”

Sea Dragon Energy Inc. plans to acquire additional assets in the country, said CEO Paul Welch. “The time is great now to get involved in Egypt.”

Oil producers receive international prices for their products in Egypt, while gas suppliers are paid only a fraction of what they could earn from exports when they sell on the domestic market, Stephane Foucaud, a London-based analyst at FirstEnergy Capital Corp., said in an interview at the conference.

“The gas price simply has to increase” and that will “unlock exploration” because some fields are not economic to drill at the current tariff, said David Thomas, COO at Petroceltic. “The country is full of opportunity. My question is, when the race will start?”

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.

Rosneft and Mozambique’s ENH sign MoU

Igor Sechin, President & Chairman, Rosneft, Nelson Ocuane, President, Mozambique National Oil Co (ENH) and Paulino Gregorio, Director, ENH signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the 21st World Petroleum Congress on June 16, 2014.

Under the Memorandum, the parties will look into areas of mutual interest and cooperation, including joint bidding in upcoming hydrocarbons exploration and production licensing rounds in the Republic of Mozambique.

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.