Murphy Oil Corp News

Energy companies on Monday began evacuating offshore oil platforms as the 25th named storm of the year formed in the Caribbean and was forecast to become a major hurricane before it entered the Gulf of Mexico and threatens the U.S. mainland.Tropical Storm Delta was expected to rapidly strengthen and become a Category 3 hurricane with up to 120 mile per hour (194 kilometers per hour) winds. It was about 160 miles south southwest of Negril, Jamaica, on Monday evening and moving west at 8 mph.Delta will bring rain…

Energy companies, ports and refiners raced on Monday to shut down as Hurricane Sally grew stronger while lumbering toward the central U.S. Gulf Coast, the second significant hurricane to shutter oil and gas activity over the last month.The hurricane is disrupting oil imports and exports as the nation's sole offshore terminal, the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP), stopped loading tanker ships on Sunday, while the port of New Orleans closed on Monday.The U.S. government said 21%…

Energy companies on Monday began preparations to resume oil and gas production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, a day after Tropical Storm Cristobal blew through with high winds and heavy rains.Producers had evacuated 182 offshore facilities and shut in about a third of oil and gas production in U.S. Gulf of Mexico wells as of Monday.Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Murphy Oil Corp and BP Plc were among the companies that said on Monday they were starting to resume normal operations and return…

Exxon Mobil Corp is selling its entire stake in the Terra Nova oil project off the eastern coast of Canada, though the world's largest publicly traded oil producer said it was committed to remaining an investor in the region. The project, located about 217 miles (350 km) off Newfoundland and Labrador, produced about 5,000 barrels of oil per day in 2016. Exxon is selling all of its 19 percent stake in the project and initial bids are due March 30, according to data and a document from Schlumberger's oil and gas asset sale business.

At least two offshore oil platforms halted operations on Tuesday in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico after a fire at a natural gas processing plant in Mississippi shut a crucial pipeline that brings output onshore, several companies said. The fire at Enterprise Products Partners plant in Pascagoula was brought under control, but officials were still forced to close the 225-mile Destin gas pipeline system that can carry 1.2 billion cubic feet per day from offshore fields to Pascagoula. Destin, majority-owned by BP with Enbridge Inc a minority partner, said it was declaring force majeure, a legal clause that allows it to scrap commitments, as a result of the fire.

The operator of Canada's largest synthetic crude project said on Saturday it is investigating the causes of an early morning fire at an upgrading plant. Firefighters extinguished the blaze, at Syncrude Canada's Mildred Lake upgrading complex in northern Alberta, and no one was injured, said company spokesman Will Gibson in a phone interview. The fire broke out a few hours after the province's energy regulator announced it was shutting in 95 pipelines operated by Nexen, one of the partners in the project, because of safety issues identified following a large oil-related spill in July. But he said it was too soon to know how production would be affected.

Oil and gas explorer and producer Samson Energy Company LLC is selling its offshore Gulf of Mexico assets that could fetch more than $1 billion, according to people familiar with the situation. The Tulsa, Oklahoma-based company has tapped Jefferies LLC, the New York-based investment bank, to assist with the sale effort, these people said, asking not be named because the talks are private. A representative for privately-held Samson confirmed Jefferies was working on a sale process for the portfolio of wells and leases, but declined to provide further details. A Jefferies representative declined to comment. The assets up for sale include a portfolio of federal leases as well as investments in wells operated by third parties, according to the people familiar with the matter.

Gulf of Mexico deepwater oil explorer Venari Resources LLC said on Wednesday it had raised $1.3 billion from original backers Warburg Pincus LLC, Kelso & Co, the Jordan Company and Temasek Holdings, as well as new investors. GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, and BlackRock Inc's private equity arm participated in the new round of equity commitments, joining private equity firms Warburg Pincus, Kelso and Jordan, as well as Singapore state-owned investment firm Temasek. The four original investors formed Venari in 2012 with $1.1 billion in equity commitments. The new funds will be used to help develop assets Venari has discovered since 2012, as well as bolster the company's exploration program, Venari Chief Executive Brian Reinsborough said in an interview.

According to reports, Murphy Oil Corp said it is in negotiations with Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas), the state oil company, for the sale of gas from its fields offshore Sarawak. Last month, Murphy Oil and Petronas Carigali signed a deal to sell natural gas to Petronas from blocks SK309 and SK311 at an initial rate of 300 million cu ft per day for up to 15 years. Initial deliveries are scheduled for 2008. Source: NSTP

J. Ray McDermott, Inc., a subsidiary of McDermott International, Inc., has been awarded a turnkey engineer-procure-construct-install contract to provide a spar platform for the Medusa Field Development Project, a deepwater development for Murphy Oil Corp. in the Gulf of Mexico. Financial terms of the contract are not being disclosed. SparTEC, Inc., a subsidiary of J. Ray McDermott, will act as the general contractor and overall project manager for the design engineering, procurement, fabrication, installation and commissioning of the Medusa offshore production facility, which will be located in 2,223 ft. of water in Mississippi Canyon Block 582. “We are extremely honored and excited to be selected by Murphy to bring Medusa to fruition,” said Bobby Rawle, president of J. Ray McDermott.