Totalfinaelf News

In an advisory, Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources Inc. Houston, Texas)reports that Girassol, the Angolan offshore, deepwater oil project run by TotalFinaElf is set to raise the country's daily output by over 25% from 750,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 950,000 bpd. 200,000 bpd. It is estimated that a number of the wells could produce 40,000 bpd. Partners in Block 17 with TotalFinaElf are Exxon-Mobil, BP, Statoil from Norway and Norsk Hydro with stakes ranging from 10% to 20%. Claiming that the 1,300m riser tower is the tallest offshore structure in the world, the company has installed a floating storage and production vessel (FPSO) with a capacity of two million barrels of crude.

Keppel FELS, a member of the Keppel Group, has successfully established a foothold in Azerbaijan through its joint venture yard, Caspian Shipyard Company. The world leader in the construction of jack-up rigs celebrates the first operating birthday of its rig built in the Caspian Sea. Keppel FELS retraces its trailblazing record as the first Singaporean company to build jack-up rigs there. “This is not business as usual, but it’s our business. We conduct it with a ‘can do’ attitude…. “Caspian Shipyard Company has established an industry capability that will have long term benefits to the country and the Caspian Region… It is the industry expectation that Caspian Shipyard will continue on to become a strong regional player…

Global Marine today announced it received a letter of commitment from Elf Petroleum Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of TotalFinaElf, for two-year contracts for both the Glomar Adriatic I and Glomar Baltic I jackup rigs to work on the Amenam/Kpono field offshore Nigeria. Producing Nigeria Unlimited operates this field development project. The contracts for the two units include key rig upgrades, which are anticipated to cost about $23 million in total. The two contracts are expected to generate combined revenues of approximately $121 million to Global Marine. for extension of up to one year. four operating offshore Nigeria," Marion Woolie, president of Global Marine Drilling Company, said. 410 feet of leg.

Stolt Offshore reported that, following the TotalFinaElf announcement of first oil production from the Girassol field, that a major milestone had been reached on this unique field development on which Stolt Offshore has been working for four years. The operator of the field is TotalFinaElf with a 40 percent interest. Other partners are Esso Exploration Angola (Block 17) Limited (20 percent), BP (16.67 percent), Statoil (13.3 percent) and Norsk Hydro (10 percent). Girassol is being developed under a production sharing agreement with Sonangol, the national oil company of Angola. Stolt Offshore has been involved in two parts of the development.

Leif Hoegh and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, have entered an agreement with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., for the construction of a 145,000 cubic meter LNG carrier. An agreement was also made with Statoil on behalf of the Snoehvit field partners (excluding TotalfinaElf and Gaz de France) for the chartering of the vessel for 20 years plus two 5- year options. The vessel specification is high both for operation in North Atlantic waters and to meet strict safety and environmental requirements. The vessel will primarily be employed for the transportation of LNG under gas sales agreements entered into with El Paso in the U.S. and Iberdrola in Spain. The vessel is expected to be operated by Leif Hoegh Ltd., and as the bareboat charter it will be financed through a U.K. lease.

Exxon Mobil Corporation announced today its first oil production in Angola with the start-up of the Girassol development in the deepwater offshore area known as Block 17. of Luanda in water depths of 4,500 feet (1,350 meters). The development consists of subsea wells tied back to a Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel. processing 200,000 barrels of oil per day and has a two million barrel storage capacity. subsea wells are planned, and drilling is expected to continue until 2003. development. It is an important milestone with a promising future for ExxonMobil in Angola. development offshore West Africa. 250,000 barrels per day. First oil from Kizomba A is scheduled for late 2004. world. acres.

Stolt Offshore S.A. has secured a contract from Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Nigeria for the ForcadosYokri offshore development in the Niger Delta. The $245 million contract has been awarded to a consortium of Stolt Offshore and the Nigerian company Suffolk which is part of the Adamac group. The Stolt Offshore share of the contract is $110 million. The Forcados Yokri project includes the expansion and refurbishment of existing shallow water oil and gas production and process facilities and the fabrication and the installation of a new production platform with a 250 tonne jacket and 1,300 tonne topsides. Stolt Offshore is responsible for all of the engineering…

ENSCO International said last week that the ENSCO 7500, an ultra-deepwater, semisubmersible rig owned and operated by a wholly owned subsidiary, has returned to work as scheduled after successfully completing hull repairs. The rig is back on a TotalFinaElf drilling location and has resumed earning day rate revenue, under an assignment of a long-term contract with Burlington Resources.

There are 2,511 identified pending, probable and possible subsea production wells forecast (base case) worldwide over the next six years. Some 18 percent of these subsea completions will be installed in North America, 30 percent in Africa/Mediterranean, eight percent in Asia-Pacific, 26 percent in the North Sea and 18 percent in Brazil. These subsea projects are in various development stages, including: 23 percent at the pending/construction stage, 11 percent bidding, 9 percent in detailed engineering, 16 percent at the front-end engineering design (FEED) stage, 16 percent of the wells probable and 26 percent possible indicating possible development in the future.

The integration of Keppel Corporation’s offshore and marine businesses has contributed to a $16 million (S$29 million) swamp barge contract clinched as a result of the synergy of the offshore and specialised shipbuilding divisions. Furthermore, with the integration and Keppel’s sharper focus on specialised shipbuilding, especially support vessels, the offshore and marine group has also won a new contract worth S$21 million from Keppel Smit Towage for three 60-ton tugs which are due for delivery in mid 2003. These tugs, a utility boat and two terminal tractor tugs, will be deployed by Keppel Smit Towage in Brunei for charter to Brunei Shell Petroleum Company.

Stolt Offshore S.A. announced the award of the $660 million Sanha Condensate contract from CABGOC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Chevron Texaco, to a consortium of Stolt Offshore and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd. (DSME), of which the Stolt Offshore share is $240 million, $15 million of which is expected to be in 2002. The contract is for an EPIC project for the engineering, fabrication and installation of five offshore platforms with two linking bridges, the modification of three existing platforms and the installation of 100 kms of subsea pipelines ranging in diameter from four to thirty inches, in an average water depth of 100 meters. A substantial part of the platform fabrication work will be undertaken in the Stolt Offshore managed Sonamet yard at Lobito in Angola.

Thousands of protesters from western France marched through Paris on April 1 to demand tighter shipping laws in the wake of the Erika oil tanker spill which devastated parts of their region. The march was called by action groups from western France along with local politicians and environmentalists. Police estimated 2,000 people attended. TotalFina, which chartered the Erika, was targeted by protesters in two separate incidents before the march. On the day of the protest, activists dumped sand and oil in front of what they believed was the home of TotalFina boss, Thierry Desmarest. According to police, they left the scene upon realizing that they had the wrong address.

TotalFinaElf picked Coflexip Stena Offshore and Stolt Offshore to pump oil from the tanker Erika, which sank off France's Atlantic coast. TotalFinaElf, which has faced widespread criticism in France for the disaster, has agreed with the government to pump up to 15,000 tons of heavy fuel still believed to be trapped in the holds of the tanker. The difficult operation, involving two ships with pumps and a tanker to carry the recovered oil to the Donges refinery near Nantes, is scheduled to begin next month. It is expected to be completed in September. TotalFinaElf has estimated the cost of the operation at $57 million.

The first of five pollution-fighting vessels was to arrive in the French port of Brest on Monday to prepare to pump out tons of viscous fuel oil still lying in the hold of the sunken tanker Erika. TotalFinaElf is bringing in the vessels as part of a massive clean-up program after the Erika, the Maltese-registered tanker it contracted to transport 25,000 tons of thick fuel oil, broke up and sank last December. As part of a clean-up operation costing the company about $70 million, TotalFinaElf is now starting work on removing the oil still lying in the hull of the sunken tanker.

Pumping began on Sunday to remove an estimated 6,000 tons of fuel from the stern of a sunken tanker Erika. The same volume of fuel was pumped from the front half of the Erika in operations that ended on July 16. The two halves of the vessel are on the ocean bed 10 km (six miles) apart. Four ships hired by the French-Belgian oil company TotalFinaElf, which chartered the Erika, started the pumping operation on July 3.

Clean-up vessels have completed pumping oil from the sunken tanker Erika off France's Atlantic coast, the French Transport Ministry said on Tuesday. "Today, risks of pollution linked to the sunken ship Erika have been eliminated," the ministry said in a statement. It added that TotalFinaElf, the oil giant that chartered the tanker and was in charge of the pumping, had recovered a total 11,235 tons of heavy fuel oil from the ship since the beginning of the operation on July 3. The Maltese-registered Erika broke in half in stormy seas on December 12, 1999, and spewed up to 15,000 tons of oil onto the rocky shoreline. The two sections of the ship lie about 70 km (40 miles) offshore.

A unit of Williams has announced that it has commissioned a new production handling platform in federal waters approximately 60 miles south of Mobile Bay, Ala. Gas production from approximately 35,000 acres of federal leases is dedicated to the platform. Construction of Williams' Canyon Station -- a fixed-leg platform in 300 feet of water in East Main Pass Block 261 -- was completed on schedule at the end of June. The jacket was installed in October 2001, followed by the deck and all of the topsides equipment in May 2002. Phil Wright, president and chief executive officer of Williams' energy services unit, said, "The deck is set, the generators are running and we're raring to go.

Oil major Royal/Dutch Shell's unsuccessful start in Egypt's deepwater drilling is likely to set back Egyptian licensing exploration bids even further, according to industry sources. They said Shell hit two dry wells in succession at the start of its drilling program in its North East Mediterranean Deepwater (Named) concession. Exxon/Mobil has a 25 percent stake in the block. Shell, which has yet to announce the drilling results, confirmed two wells had been drilled and operations completed, but a spokesman declined further comment. "Everyone, from the (Egyptian) president to the oil minister was expecting good news to get the ball rolling. This is a bit of a blow," said a source in Egypt.

Bouygues Offshore, through its Saibos CML subsidiary, has signed with Saipem Inc. a pipelaying contract for the Canyon Express project in the Gulf of Mexico for TotalFinaElf E&P USA Inc. The $30 million contract (USD 15 million for Bouygues Offshore) consists in: Commenting on this contract, Herve Le Bouc, Chairman & CEO of Bouygues Offshore stated: "It will be the first time in the world that one put down rigid pipe in such water depths. After Canyon Express, the Saibos FDS(R), a dynamically positioned vessel especially designed for deep water fields developments, will set sail for West Africa to start the Girassol project."

Kazakhstan's first deputy prime minister expects OKIOC, a consortium exploring the giant offshore Kashagan oil deposit, to appoint a project operator within two weeks. Kashagan is seen as potentially the largest oil find in the world in the last 30 years, and could make the vast Central Asian nation of 15 million a leading world oil producer within the next 20 years. But development of the field is still years away, and the nine-member Offshore Kazakhstan International Oil Company (OKIOC) has yet to name an operator for the project. First Deputy Prime Minister Danial Akhmetov said he saw some progress on issue. "I believe the decision on the operator can be expected within the next 15 days," he said.

The Maltese-registered tanker Erika, which sank off the French coast a year ago releasing a huge oil slick, was in a state of more or less advanced corrosion, the official disaster report said. "The vessel would not have fallen apart if it had been as seaworthy as it was claimed to be by classification societies as late as 20 days before it broke up on December 12, 1999, the report said. There was excessive corrosion, beyond norms that are considered acceptable by classification societies and the sub-standard welding was noted on the ship. Erika broke in half in stormy seas, spewing up to 15,000 tons of oil onto the rocky shoreline of western France. The two sections of the ship lie on the seabed about 70 km (40 miles) offshore.

Ships sent to pump out oil trapped in the holds of the wrecked tanker Erika, which sank off France's northwest coast last December, have completed their task, French oil giant TotalFinaElf said. The French government announced earlier this week that it had decided to leave the broken wreck where it was, some 70 km (40 miles) off the coastline, saying that to try to move it further out to sea or raise it was too risky. The Maltese-registered Erika broke in half in stormy seas on December 12, and spewed up to 15,000 tons of oil onto the rocky shoreline. Thousands of tons of oil remained trapped in two sections of the ship, and the government ordered a clean-up during the summer months when the seas were normally calm.

Keppel Corporation Limited, through its offshore and marine units in Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M), has clinched contracts worth a total of $41 million from repeat customers. Three contracts over $28 million are for the upgrades of jack-up rig Ensco 81 and barge drilling unit Ensco 1 from Ensco Offshore Company (ENSCO), and swamp barge Maera from PT Apexindo Pratama Duta, an Indonesian drilling contractor. Another contract is for a new Anchor Handling Tug/Supply (AHTS) vessel for Pacific Richfield Marine Pte Ltd, owner and operator of offshore support vessels in the Asia and Pacific region. Tong Chong Heong, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of Keppel O&M said, “Shipyards usually become involved in a job only after the design and engineering work is completed.