Offshore Oil Development News

Guyana is in "no rush" to draft a new production sharing agreement (PSA) for offshore oil development, its Natural Resources minister told Reuters, reversing a year-long drive to devise new rules for future output.The government of South America's newest crude oil producer said in 2021 it was planning a new agreement to revamp terms and boost royalties for future oil and gas projects. The proposed document was expected to improve terms for Guyana of a 2016 contract with Exxon Mobil and its partners for the prolific Stabroek block.But the tiny nation…

Exxon Mobil Corp on Friday said it is accelerating output at its Guyana offshore oil development, starting a new production vessel that will bring total capacity to more than 340,000 barrels per day.An Exxon-led consortium started production in the South America country in 2019 and is responsible for all oil and gas output in Guyana. Exxon and partners Hess Corp and CNOOC Ltd. have discovered some 10 billion barrels of oil.Production at the Liza Unity floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel is expected to reach 220,000 barrels of oil per day later this year, Exxon said.

The conversion of a VLCC into an FPSO bound for Woodside's Sangomar project in Senegal has recently kicked off in China, the Australian oil firm said in a recent report.The 323 meters-long very large crude carrier (VLCC) Astipal in February arrived in China, where it will, in Woodside's words, undergo "a metamorphosis" into the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) facility for the Sangomar field. Japanese firm MODEC is responsible for the delivery of the FPSO for the Sangomar field, Senegal's first offshore oil development. The FPSO conversion will take around two years.

Japanese FPSO contractor Modec has won a contract with Woodside for the operations and maintenance of the Sangomar FPSO in Senegal.The deal follows a contract signed in January for Modec to deliver the FPSO for Sangomar field development  - Senegal's first offshore development.The operations and maintenance contract will cover all in-country installation and commissioning activities following which an initial 10-year operations and maintenance term will begin. Extension options…

U.S. oil major ExxonMobil has reached a final investment decision on a $9 billion offshore oil development project in Guyana, following the approval by the government.To remind, Reuters last Friday reported that Guyana was close to reaching a deal with Exxon to green-light the project "after the company committed to stricter environmental restrictions on gas flaring and wastewater."The project, called Payara, will target an estimated resource base of about 600 million oil-equivalent barrels.

Alaska Governor Bill Walker said on Tuesday he has asked U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to pare back a Trump administration plan for oil and gas leasing off the state's coast. While Walker supports offshore oil development, he said the Interior Department should focus on the most prospective areas off Alaska – the Beaufort and Chukchi seas in the Arctic and Cook Inlet in southern Alaska – and drop all others from the leasing plan. In asking for proposed lease sales to be dropped…

Two of the major British players in Falkland Islands offshore oil development, Premier Oil and Rockhopper Exploration, cancelled a joint venture contract with Ocean Rig UDW. In June 2014, the companies entered into a contract with Ocean Rig for the provision of the Eirik Raude for an exploration drilling campaign in the Falkland Islands. However, following a number of material "operational issues" with the rig, Premier and Noble Energy issued a termination notice to Ocean Rig on Thursday, terminating the contract with immediate effect. "As a result, Premier will no longer be drilling the Chatham exploration well during the current campaign.

Former USCG Admiral Thad Allen is a transformational leader in the history of the service, a rock through thick and thin. Today he talks about resource allocation, risk management and homeland security. As part of Booz Allen Hamilton’s Justice and Homeland Security business group, Executive Vice President and former U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen leads the development of thought leadership and client engagements regarding the future direction of law enforcement and homeland security. The Coast Guard is under pressure to either pare its mission mix or downscale what it does.

A year after Irving Shipbuilding Inc.’s successful bid to build $25B worth of combat vessels for the Royal Canadian Navy and ships for the Canadian Coast Guard, the largest procurement contract ever awarded in Canada, a positive economic buzz continues to grow across the province and throughout the Atlantic region. It’s an optimism not generated by any other project in many years. The multi-billion dollar package provided through the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS)…

Acquisition combines leaders in marine radar signal processing. Rutter Inc. (TSX: RUT) is pleased to announce it has acquired OceanWaveS GmbH of Lüneburg, Germany, a recognized industry leader in the development and supply of radar-based wave and surface current measurement technology. Rutter’s sigma S6 and OceanWaveS’ WaMoS are respected within the industry for discrimination of ice, oil, small targets, waves, currents and bathymetry from conventional navigational X-band radar. Combining OceanWaveS’ wave and current measuring capabilities with Rutter’s sigma S6 Ice Navigator will give Rutter a competitive edge in a growing offshore and coastal monitoring market.

According to Reuters, STX expects top South Korean shipyards to jointly win offshore project orders from Brazil's Petrobras. Petrobras is expected to issue large tenders for offshore oil development vessels, including drillships and floating product storage and offloading units. In April, Petrobras executives visited South Korea and held individual meetings with shipbuilders on vessel orders worth a total $25 billion-$30 billion.

According to an April 20 report from Reuters, the chief financial officer of Brazil's Petrobras said the company is seeking about 240 offshore oil development vessels in the next five to six years. The vessels would include drillships, storage units, supply vessels, transportation vessels and others. (Source: Reuters)

Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) and Norcontrol IT entered into a three-year maintenance contract that covers the offshore VTMIS system at the Bay of Campeche oilfield located in the Gulf of Mexico off the Yucatan Peninsula. The Bay of Campeche is the largest oilfield in Mexico and the world's largest offshore oil development project. The VTMIS system installed by Norcontrol IT consists of two control centers and seven radar sites, all of which are covered by the maintenance contract. A large capacity, flexible and reliable VTMIS system is required at the Bay of Campeche for several reasons. The coverage area contains between 200-300 vessels per day, all of which have to be monitored to protect the pipelines: Especially important as the bay is only 40-50 m deep in most areas.

SK Corp. bought a 25 percent stake in an offshore oil development project in Vietnam to better tap the fast-growing energy demand in Southeast Asia. According to the Korea Herald newspaper, SK took over the shares in the 15-1/05 oil field from Vietnam Oil and Gas Corp., or Petrovietnam, the Southeast Asian country's state-run oil monopoly. The purchase is SK's second energy investment in Vietnam. The Korea's largest refinery currently holds a 9 percent stake in the neighboring 15-1 reserve, which has secured about 300m barrels of crude oil and over 3 trillion cubic feet of gas. SK also plans to set up a branch in Hanoi in a further effort to expand its overseas exploration businesses.

Citing environmental concerns, Florida senators sought to scale back oil and gas drilling plans for a part of the Gulf of Mexico, hoping to push development farther from the state's coast, the Washington Post reported. But the Republican chairman and top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee indicated they would press ahead with legislation that would open more of the area to gas development at least 50 miles closer to Florida. Proponents of the exploration say the area offers the best chance for significant new natural gas production in the next five years. The bill would require the Interior Department to begin selling leases for oil and gas development in the "181 area" of the central Gulf within a year.

The Senate on Thursday backed a White House compromise that drastically reduced proposed oil and natural gas drilling off Florida's Gulf Coast, rejecting a bid by the state's Democratic senators to temporarily block development of the tract. Voting 67-33, the Democratic-led Senate rejected an amendment pushed by Florida Sens. Bill Nelson and Bob Graham to delay for six months oil and gas leasing in a lucrative tract in federal waters off the coasts of Florida and Alabama. After the Republican-led House of Representatives voted last month for a six-month ban on the leasing, President George W. Bush agreed to shrink the tract by 75 percent and keep it at least 100 miles away from Florida's beaches. Florida lawmakers, including Gov.