Offshore Oil Company News

China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) has awarded 16 billion yuan ($2.42 billion) worth of contracts to build 12 liquefied natural gas tankers, the largest of their kind in the country, the company said on Thursday.China is the world's largest buyer of the super-chilled gas, while CNOOC is the country's largest importer of the fuel and among the state majors leading a drive to expand their LNG fleet to meet rising import needs and facilitate fast-growing global trade.

China more than halved the volume of export quotas for refined fuel, predominantly gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel, under the first allotment for 2022, while raising the allowances for low-sulphur fuel oil by 30%, industry sources said on Tuesday.The deep cuts to refined fuel, largely expected by the market, was in line with the Chinese government's recent policy to curb excessive domestic refinery production amid a broad plan to reduce carbon emissions, the sources said.Quotas for refined fuel exports totalled 13 million tonnes under the batch…

Major Chinese energy companies are in advanced talks with U.S. exporters to secure long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG)supplies, as soaring gas prices and domestic power shortages heighten concerns about the country's fuel security, several sources said.At least five Chinese firms, including state major Sinopec Corp and China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) and local government-backed energy distributors like Zhejiang Energy, are in discussions with U.S. exporters, mainly Cheniere Energy and Venture Global…

ABS said Wednesday that the new FPSO ordered by China National Offshore Oil Company Energy and Technology Services  Company (Cenertech) to serve the Lu Feng 12-3 Oilfield would be built to ABS Class.The 100,000 DWT FPSO is the center of a development plan for the field which also comprises a new Well Head Platform (WHP) with a modular drilling rig; connected to the FPSO through a three-kilometer-long subsea cable and pipeline. ABS has been chosen by Lu Feng 12-3 operator, SK Innovation…

China National Offshore Oil Company, or CNOOC, said on Tuesday its gas and power unit would fuel 50 gas-powered vessels to be built by a state-run shipping group as part of the country's gasification push.The vessels, all for dry bulk shipments and scaled at 2,000 - 3,000 dead-weight tonnages, will be powered purely by liquefied natural gas, CNOOC said.CNOOC, China's top importer of the super-chilled fuel, has also been a leader in pushing for its use as ship fuel.In a separate pact, China State Shipbuilding Corporation Ltd agreed to build the 50 vessels for Guangdong Province Navigation Holdi

China's low-sulphur marine fuel exports rose by a third in April compared with March to the highest level yet after it waived export taxes for domestic refiners to meet shipping demand, Chinese customs data showed.Chinese refiners began exporting in January very low sulphur fuel oi (VLSFO) with a maximum sulphur content of 0.5% to comply with emission rules for ships from the International Maritime Organization.Data from China's General Administration of Customs showed April exports of the ship fuel reached nearly 1.43 million tonnes…

China is set to release its first-ever quotas to export very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) with total volumes of 10 million tonnes for this year, six industry officials with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.The quotas, which came in the wake of Beijing’s policy in January to offer tax sweeteners to boost local production of the fuel, paves the way for Chinese refiners to almost fully cover the demand from its coastal bonded marine fuel market of 12-14 million tonnes annually.The quotas will be issued to four state-run firms - Sinopec Group, CNPC, China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOO

Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC), a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company, has successfully launched its first offshore pipeline integrity management system (PIMS) in the Iranian oil industry.According to IOOC, the system was launched in order to comply with international and national requirements for the standard, safe and continuous operation of the Salman Oilfield’s gas pipelines with a Norwegian company and the Pipeline Technology Company.The project is dubbed as the first of such projects in the Iranian offshore oil industry, said a report in Iran News.A Pipelines Management System (PMS) provides a clear process, with tasks and responsibilities…

China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) started operating a new import facility in southern China for liquefied natural gas (LNG), state media reported on Wednesday.The terminal in the city of Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, on Wednesday received a 93,000-tonne LNG cargo from Qatar, Securities Daily reported, making it the state firm's ninth LNG terminal in operation.The new facility has four tanks each sized 160,000 cubic meters and a berth able to dock 266,000 cubic-meter tankers, with annual handling capacity of 4 million tonnes, according China Environment News.CNOOC's press office was not a

Iran has placed orders worth around $2.4 billion with South Korean shipyards for the construction of ships to carry Iran’s oil and petrochemical products, The Wall Street Journal says. The orders have been placed by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) and the oil producer Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC). The Korean companies involved in the case are Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, which is a subsidiary of shipbuilding giant Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, as well as Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Company. It has signed a memorandum of understanding with Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, a subsidiary of shipbuilding company Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, for as many as 10 petroleum-product tankers and at least six so-called handysize bulk carriers.

A Chinese oil rig whose deployment to waters claimed by Vietnam early this month triggered a rupture in ties has a good chance of finding enough gas to put the area into production, Chinese industry experts said. That would give China its first viable energy field in the disputed South China Sea, as well as make it a source of friction with Hanoi for years to come. For now, China has said nothing about the potential of the area. The first round of drilling had been completed, the rig operator said on Tuesday, without giving any results from the tapped wells. The $1 billion deepwater rig owned by state-run China National Offshore Oil Company Group (CNOOC Group), parent of flagship unit CNOOC Ltd, is scheduled to explore until mid-August.

Kongsberg Oil & Gas Technologies (KOGT) signed a significant software contract with Chinese National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) to deliver the class-leading SiteCom real-time drilling information solution to six regional centers. The contract with CNOOC is a result of KOGT’s strategic decision to invest in the rapidly growing Chinese market and was won with support from KOGT local partner, Chinese Automation, in Beijing. Kongsberg says SiteCom facilitates safer, faster and better-informed drilling decisions by integrating real-time data, historical data, reports, files and communication from all sources on the rig and makes them available to a wider community of professionals and stakeholders at the company offices or in other remote locations.

According to a June 20 report from the Associated Press, in reaction to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Britain has doubled rig inspections. Bulgaria scrapped plans for a new oil pipeline. Canada's offshore regulator is tightening oversight of its deepest-ever exploration well, being drilled by Chevron off the coast of Newfoundland. Meanwhile, China's offshore oil company, China National Offshore Oil Corp., or CNOOC, said it is upgrading its blowout preventer system and diving equipment for a drilling rig being built in Shanghai. And France's Total has formed two task forces to check facilities and strengthen contingency plans for any potential major pollution. (Source: the Associated Press)

After more than 11 years in production, StatoilHydro and Chinese National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) have reached a mutual agreement to transfer full responsibility for the abandonment of the Lufeng field in the South China Sea to CNOOC. The transfer will take effect after the production shutdown later this year. Lufeng 22-1 lies some 250 kilometres south-east of Hong Kong. Lufeng 22-1 was first discovered in 1983 by Occidental. Ampolex took over in 1991 and sold its interests to Statoil in 1996. The field was brought on stream in 1997.

PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd., Canada's No. 2 oil company, could soon be on track to develop an East Coast offshore gas project to rival the huge Sable Island project, its chief executive said. PanCanadian, the oil and gas arm of conglomerate Canadian Pacific Ltd., plans to drill two appraisal wells this year near its recent Deep Panuke gas discoveries, made at the site of the exhausted Copan oil project off Nova Scotia. The wells will give the company the geological data it needs to decide whether to pursue more drilling or full development, PanCanadian CEO David Tuer said. Two recent wells drilled into the gas formation beneath the old oil reservoir tested at more than 50 million cubic feet a day each.

The one constant about the management of offshore vessel operating companies is the domination of family members of the founder. Except for the largest of these companies, Tidewater, Inc., that is a public NYSE-listed firm, most of the companies in this category, large and small, are run by the descendents of the founder. Many of these companies still bear the founder's name and most of the vessels are named after family members. In 1948, Abdon Callais converted a shrimp trawler into an offshore service vessel and that began a company that is in its third generation of providing transportation of fluids and cargo to offshore oil and gas rigs. Abdon's sons Harold and Ronald became involved with offshore oil buisness.

China will build its own deep water oil exploration fleet in three to four years. The fleet will be able to work in deep waters all over the world, except for the north pole. China's Offshore Oil Company has launched the strategy for building such a fleet. The company's spokesman, Liu Junshan, said one of their future targets would be deep sea oil exploration. They will invest up to $1.33b in the construction of modern equipment for deep sea drilling, a laboratory, and a working fleet. [Source: www.chinadaily.com]

China National Offshore Oil Company Limited (CNOOC) signed an agreement to jointly exploit energy resources including liquid natural gas (LNG) with China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO Group), China's largest shipping group. The parties agreed to transferring CNOOC shares to COSCO Group or co-funding The two companies will also cooperate on ship-building. [source: Xinhuga English]

China National Offshore Oil Company Limited (CNOOC Ltd) announced Wednesday that its parent China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) has signed two production sharing contracts (PSC) with US-based Newfield Exploration Company. The two contracts are for blocks numbered 22/15 and 16/05, both in the South China Sea. Block 22/15 in the Beibu Gulf Basin in the western South China Sea covers 5,228 square km, with water depth of 10 to 60 meters. Newfield will reprocess the two-dimensional seismic data, a technical survey containing geological clues for hidden oilfields, and conduct drilling operations. Located in the Pearl River basin, block 16/05 covers 2,064 square km.

China National Offshore Oil Company Limited (CNOOC Ltd) announced that its parent China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) has signed two production sharing contracts (PSC) with US-based Newfield Exploration Company. The two contracts are for blocks numbered 22/15 and 16/05, both in the South China Sea. Block 22/15 in the Beibu Gulf Basin in the western South China Sea covers 5,228 square km, with water depth of 10 to 60 meters. Newfield will reprocess the two-dimensional seismic data, a technical survey containing geological clues for hidden oilfields, and conduct drilling operations. Located in the Pearl River basin, block 16/05 covers 2,064 square km.

China will finish its first deep-sea drilling rig with a maximum working depth of three kilometers by 2011, a spokesman for China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) said. The maximum drilling depth will reach 12 kilometers, which means it can operate in deep-water regions in the South China Sea, Southeast Asia, Gulf of Mexico and West Africa. The project, with a total investment of $599m, will be carried out by Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co. under China State Shipbuilding Corporation. The spokesperson said China's biggest offshore oil company was planning to invest $2b to develop deep-sea oil equipment as it wanted to strengthen its exploration and development of deep-sea oil resources, which were a priority for major international oil companies.

The boards of Norway's Hydro and Statoil have urged their shareholders to approve a deal that would merge their oil and gas assets. If approved, Norway's largest offshore oil company would be created, with a combined production of 1.9 million barrels per day in 2007 and proven oil and gas reserves of 6.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Hydro's shareholders will hold 32.7% and Statoil's shareholders will hold 67.3% of the new company. Hydro's shareholders will receive 0.8622 shares in the new company for each Hydro share, and will continue as owners of Hydro. Statoil shareholders will maintain their holdings in the new company on a one-for-one basis. The Norwegian State will hold approximately 62.5 percent in the merged entity, Hydro said on its Web site.

The rental contract for 39 tugboats and vessels to speed up projects at Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC) has already been signed and the proposal to get three more is still under study, company’s manager said. All the vessels All the vessels are hired for five years with total average fee of $40m per annum, he said in conclusion. Source MNA