Oil And Gas Output News

Guyana has called for proposals to design, finance and build a 30,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) oil refinery, the first for the South American country as it becomes a force in crude oil production. Construction work on the facility, to be located on public land near the Berbice river, is expected to begin by the first half of 2023 with project completion two years after. Requests are due in mid-December. An Exxon Mobil-led consortium has ramped up oil and gas output to almost 400,000 bpd this year, a rapid increase for a country that only inaugurated crude production in 2019.

Edward Heerema is founder and president of Allseas, which brought the world’s largest construction vessel, Pioneering Spirit, to the market. The company, which also brought innovation to the pipelay sector, has added its latest trick to Pioneering Spirit – its jacket lift system. But Allseas is also targeting deepsea mining and has its sights on the offshore wind market. Elaine Maslin caught up with Edward Heerema to find out more.The first time I met Edward Heerema was at the company’s offices in Delft, in the Netherlands.

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.

Hurricane Nicholas on Tuesday took another swipe at U.S. Gulf Coast energy facilities, cutting offshore oil and gas output gradually recovering from the last storm and disrupting power to onshore pipeline, gas and chemical plants.Royal Dutch Shell halted production its Perdido offshore oil platform due to heavy winds, and U.S. liquefied natural gas producer Freeport LNG said processing at its Texas coast facility was halted, likely due to a power outage.Power losses briefly cut Colonial Pipeline's main gasoline and diesel lines out of Houston…

Royal Dutch Shell on Monday began evacuating staff from a U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil platform, and other energy companies began preparing for hurricane-force winds from a second Gulf Coast storm in as many weeks.Tropical Storm Nicholas was about 105 miles (115 km) south of Port O'Connor, Texas, and moving north with winds of 60 miles per hour (97 kph). It could become a hurricane just ahead of landfall on Monday, according to the National Hurricane Center.Waves stirred up by Nicholas neared 12 feet (3.7 m) in height were reported outside of Port Aransas…

Energy trader Gunvor Group aims to cut its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 40% in absolute terms by 2025, the company said on Tuesday, and has set up a new subsidiary to invest in non-hydrocarbon projects.The Geneva-based firm, which is among the top five global oil traders, aims to cut emissions it produces directly, and those from the electricity it uses, against its 2019 total of 1.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.Its new unit will invest in biofuel, renewable power projects such as solar and biomass…

In just a few months, the U.S. will be fully energy independent and by 2030, the country's total primary energy production will outpace primary energy demand by 30 percent.According to the Norwegian market research consultancy Rystad Energy, this milestone follows a strong period of growth in both hydrocarbon and renewable resources."We forecast that the US will have primary energy surplus – and not a deficit – by February or March 2020, depending on the intensity of the winter season,” says Sindre Knutsson, vice president on Rystad Energy’s gas markets team.“Going forward, the United States will be energy independent on a monthly basis, and by 2030 total primary energy production will outpace primary energy demand by about 30%,” Knutsson added.These developments are already in full swing.

U.S. shale energy companies are cutting their spending levels in 2019, but they're still planning on increased oil and gas output."US shale companies expect to deliver an average of 15% growth in oil production in 2019 vs. 2018. At the same time, operators say they will cut capital spending by 5% this year," said an analysis from Rystad Energy.The  energy research and business intelligence company has analyzed the recently released earnings reports for the fourth quarter of 2018 from 45 US operators, which also included their guidance for production and capital expenditure in the year ahead.“Earnings and guidance confirm that most US shale operators aim to moderate drilling and completion activity this year…

Oil companies evacuate workers as storm takes aim at Texas. Royal Dutch Shell, Anadarko Petroleum and Exxon Mobil announced they were curbing some oil and gas output on Wednesday at facilities in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of a storm expected to hit the Texas coast later this week. The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) issued a hurricane watch Wednesday for much of the Texas coast, calling for slow-moving Tropical Depression Harvey to intensify as it nears landfall. Shell said it was evacuating all personnel from the roughly 100,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Perdido oil and gas production platform as a precaution. Anadarko said it had shut in production and was evacuating workers from its Boomvang, Gunnison, Lucius and Nansen platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Texas Gulf Coast was getting ready for the tropical storm Harvey to make landfall by Friday, bringing with it strong winds, heavy flooding and torrential rains. Hurricane, tropical storm and storm surge watches were in effect for counties on the eastern coast of Texas as the storm moved across the Gulf of Mexico, where it may strengthen into a hurricane. Winds up to 75 mph (120 kmh) and 15 inches of rain (40 cm) were forecast, according to the National Weather Service. "Now is the time to check your emergency plan and take necessary actions to secure your home or business. Deliberate efforts should be under way to protect life and property," the weather service said in an statement early on Thursday.

Algeria's state energy company Sonatrach will renew a deal with French gas and power group Engie to supply 10 billion cubic meters of LNG per year, a source at Sonatrach told Reuters on Wednesday. The signing ceremony will take place in France, likely before the end of March, and Algeria's Energy Minister Nouredine Bouterfa will attend, the source said. No further details have been provided on the length of the contract, which will replace one that has just expired. But Sonatrach's CEO Amine Mazouzi said recently that new contracts will be for at least 10 to 15 years but no longer than 20 to 25 years. Sonatrach has opted for a dual approach that mixes its traditional preference for long-term contracts with spot market deals to get the maximum out of them at a difficult time for Algeria…

Brazil's oil and gas output reached a record 3.36 million barrels per day of oil equivalent in September, according to a report released by the government's petroleum industry regulator ANP on Friday.   Oil production was 2.67 million bpd in September, 2.4 percent more than in August and 11.5 percent above the year-earlier output, ANP said. (Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira Editing by W Simon)

Total's chief executive will travel this week to northwest Siberia to visit Russia's showcase $27 billion Yamal gas project in which the French oil major owns a 20 percent stake, a Total spokeswoman said. It is Patrick Pouyanné's first visit to the facilities - slated to supply 16.5 million tonnes per year of liquefied natural gas early next decade - a sign Total still regards Russia as an important source of future production growth. Russia's top independent oil and gas producer Novatek owns 60 percent of the project…

Brazil's state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA said on Monday it had found "excellent quality" oil in an off-shore well known as Pudim, or pudding, in the Espirito Santo basin. Drilling confirmed oil at around 4,670 meters, the company known as Petrobras said in a securities filing. A previous test had confirmed oil at between 4,305 and 4,383 meters at 35 degrees on the American Petroleum Institute (API) scale. Petrobras is the operator of the consortium drilling in the basin, with a 65 percent stake. PTTEP Brasil Investimentos em Exploração e Produção de Petróleo e Gás has 20 percent, while Inpex Petróleo Santos Ltda has 15 percent.

Private jet collided with snow plow during takeoff; Total's CEO a defender of Moscow policies. Insiders Boisseau and Pouyanne long seen as potential successors. The chief executive of French oil major Total, Christophe de Margerie, was killed when his private jet collided with a snow plough as it was taking off from Moscow's Vnukovo airport on Monday night. De Margerie's death leaves a void at the top of one of the world's biggest listed oil firms at a difficult time for the industry as oil prices fall and state-backed competitors keep them out of some of the best oil exploration territory. The collision occurred minutes before midnight Moscow time as de Margerie's Dassault Falcon jet was taking off for Paris.

China and the United States appear headed for a damaging confrontation over the extent of China's territorial claims in the South and East China Seas. Now that China has become the world's largest importer of oil, and energy more generally, the country's need to develop more indigenous energy supplies has become urgent. Expecting China to put the South and East China Seas off limits to exploration and production until disputes over sovereignty can be resolved through some undefined legal or diplomatic process is unrealistic. Part of the problem is that western analysts and policymakers still fail to appreciate the strategic importance of these areas.

Committees in Mexico's lower house on Saturday approved laws fleshing out a landmark energy reform that seeks to drive private investment into the long-shuttered sector. The so-called secondary laws, which detail the implementation of the constitutional energy reform passed last year, will head to the floor of the lower house, where lawmakers will debate them beginning on Monday. If they are fully approved in the lower house, some of the secondary laws will head to the Senate for final approval. The laws passed in committees on Saturday create a new tax framework for Pemex, guidelines for contracts and tax benefits for states where extraction occurs, among other things.

Eni said on Thursday it had signed a new offshore exploration contract with PetroVietnam as the Italian oil and gas group moves to strengthen its presence in Vietnam. Eni said it had signed a Product Sharing Contract with state-owned PetroVietnam for exploration in the Phu Khanh Basin which will last 7 years. Asia represents a new frontier area for Eni which currently produces more than half its oil and gas output in Africa. (Reporting by Stephen Jewkes)

Aberdeen-based Hydro Group Plc, a global design and manufacturer of underwater cables and connectors for subsea, underwater, topside and onshore applications, sets sights on further international growth with opening of new Singapore office. Singapore currently represents Hydro Group’s second largest export market, with the Group identifying more than £1million of potential sales in the region per year. The new office will support Hydro Group’s increasing presence in Southeast Asia and offer its range of subsea optical cables…

According to a report from Bloomberg, Indonesia’s offshore oil and gas output may drop as production and shipment of the fuels using foreign-owned vessels will be banned under the cabotage rule starting May 7, the nation’s oil and gas regulator said.   (Source: Bloomberg)

Britain urgently needs its oil and gas companies to pay for a new regulatory body to encourage industry collaboration and counter plunging North Sea production rates, a government review, the first since the mid-1990s, said on Monday. Britain's oil and gas output has fallen about two thirds since its peak at the turn of the century, but reforms could lead to 200 billion pounds ($330 billion) worth of extra oil and gas being extracted, the government said. The North Sea is thought to contain billions of barrels of hard-to-reach oil but with many platforms and pipelines coming to the end of their working lives, time is fast running out to get at them. The review's task was outlining how to make that easier.

China National Offshore Oil Corp, the parent of CNOOC Ltd, said it has set an oil and gas output target for 2010 of 48 mln-50 mln tons of oil equivalent. CNOOC, the country's largest offshore oil and gas producer, said overseas oil and gas output is expected to hit 20-25 mln tons in 2010. CNOOC had oil and gas output of 40.33 mln tons of oil equivalent in 2006 with overseas output at 5.57m tons, it said in a statement. CNOOC has invested in 45 overseas oil and gas blocks in 10 countries including Nigeria, Australia, Kenya and Indonesia. Source: AFX News

Combined production of crude oil, gas and condensates in the United States is on course to a hit a record this year, passing the previous peak set in 1972. The rise in output has confounded the famous forecast made by Shell geologist M King Hubbert who predicted that U.S. oil and gas production would peak in the 1970s and then decline. Hubbert's prediction was contained in a paper entitled "Nuclear Energy and the Fossil Fuels," published in 1956, in which he argued the coming decline of oil and gas output would make the development of nuclear energy essential. Hubbert's prediction of peaking oil and gas production came to be known as "Hubbert's peak" and spawned the popular and influential theory known as "peak oil".