Tullow News

Esgian reports that offshore drilling contractors secured additional backlog in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Egypt, Nigeria, and Brazil and operators confirmed new discoveries in Indonesia, Côte d’Ivoire, and China in its Week 10 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.ContractsDiamond Offshore has executed a two-year contract extension with a subsidiary of bp in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico for the 12,000-ft drillship Ocean BlackHornet.Shelf Drilling’s 250-ft jackup Rig 141 has secured a two-year…

Esgian reports rig-related updates from Dolphin Drilling, Diamond Offshore, and Seadrill in its Week 9 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.Report Outline:ContractsDespite Tullow Oil’s recent announcement that it would take a break from drilling offshore Ghana, Noble Corp. has stated that there has been no contract termination announcement and that its 12,000-ft drillship Noble Venturer is currently still contracted to Tullow into March 2025.Masirah Oil Ltd has signed a rig contract with…

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…

A 12m workboat built by Strategic Marine has completed sea trials and was delivered to Tullow Ghana Limited.The vessel will be deployed to offshore deepwater projects in the Gulf of Guinea.To this end the vessel has been fitted with an advanced marine propulsion system, with waterjets designed to provide superior manoeuvrability.The workboat is designed to be launched and retrieved from a larger mothership with a single point lifting hook and will primarily perform line handling and crew transfer duties.

A newly launched multipurpose vessel is destined for for the Gulf of Guinea where it will be utilized for international oil company (IOC)-related assignments as well as escort patrols for larger vessels that have experienced an escalation of pirate attacks within 200 nautical miles of the West African coastline.The new flagship of shipbuilder and maritime services provider Nautic Africa, the 35-meter vessel is the second in the Sentinel class, fully compliant to the standards…

Fifty-eight workers tested positive for COVID-19 at an oil production facility run by Tullow Oil off Ghana's Atlantic coast, the company said in a statement on Friday,Fifty-seven workers tested positive on a support vessel for a floating production and storage (FPSO) unit.

Danish offshore drilling contractor Maersk Drilling is set to mothball several offshore drilling rigs, and as a consequence, reduce the number of offshore workers, citing low oil prices and the impact of COVID-19 pandemic as the reason."The COVID-19 pandemic and the lower oil price environment are impacting offshore drilling activity. Some tenders and projects are being delayed or canceled which adversely affects commercial prospects," Maersk Drilling said Friday.As previously reported, Tullow Oil in March sent an early termination notice for the Maersk Venturer drillship in Ghana.

Australia exploration company Karoon Energy has signed an agreement with the drilling contractor Stena Drilling and oil company Tullow Oil to contract the Stena Forth drillship for Karoon’s Marina-1 exploration well located offshore Peru."The Stena Forth has been contracted to drill one well, being the Marina-1 exploration well, in Karoon’s 40% owned and operated Block Z-38 in the Tumbes Basin in Peru with drilling scheduled to commence early in the 1st quarter 2020," said a press release from Karoon.The Marina-1 well sits in water depth of approximately 350 metres and is targeting a gross prospective resource of 256 million barrels (102 million barrels net to Karoon).In the case of success in Marina-1…

Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) led globally among companies in the third quarter (Q3) 2019 in terms of the highest number of oil and gas discoveries, said GlobalData.Of the total 38 discoveries made worldwide, EGPC had four, all being onshore discoveries. Of these, three were conventional oil discoveries while the remaining was a conventional gas discovery, said a report from GlobalData.Soorya Tejomoortula, Oil and Gas Analyst at GlobalData, explained: “Of the three conventional oil discoveries made by EGPC in Q3 2019, two are in the Western Desert Basin and the remaining is in the Gulf of Suez Basin. This lone conventional gas discovery was made in the Nile Delta Basin.”“Aker BP…

The international contractor of offshore deepwater drilling services Ocean Rig UDW  has entered into a new drilling contract with Chariot Oil & Gas Limited for a one-well drilling program, for drilling offshore Namibia.The contract is expected to commence in direct continuation of the previously announced program with Tullow Namibia Limited in the third quarter of 2018 and will be performed by the Ocean Rig Poseidon.Ocean Rig has entered into a Letter of Intent (LOI) with a European Major Oil Company for a firm two-wells program plus two optional wells, for drilling offshore West Africa.The contract is expected to commence in direct continuation of the program with Chariot Oil & Gas Limited in the fourth quarter of 2018 and will be performed by the Ocean Rig Poseidon…

Tullow Oil is interested in new oil blocks off Ghana's coast as part of the British explorer's plans to consolidate its operations in the West African nation, Chief Executive Paul McDade said. Tullow is leading two operations offshore Ghana, including the country's flagship 100,000 barrel-per-day Jubilee field, which began commercial production in late 2010. Ghana's energy ministry said this month it would award nine new upstream oil blocks for commercial exploration off its coast beginning this year. "We as a company want to consolidate our presence in Ghana after our investments in Jubilee and TEN (Tweneboa, Enyenra, Ntomme). We don't want to stop there but keep growing," McDade told reporters in Accra, where he was meeting investors.

The production vessel at Tullow's flagship Jubilee oilfield off Ghana's west coast will shut down next week for 21 days while it undergoes repairs, the country's power utilities said on Monday. The planned shutdown next Monday of the Kwame Nkrumah production vessel, which currently produces both oil and gas, will result in a cut to offshore gas supply, the companies said in a statement. They said any loss of power generation would be offset by generating additional power from the eastern port of Tema area. Tullow did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ghana is set to award nine new upstream oil blocks for commercial exploration off its western coast beginning this year, the energy ministry said on Thursday.The West African country plans to award six of the nine blocks this year while the remaining three will be given out next year through a mix of open competitive tender and direct negotiations, the ministry said in a statement.It said state oil company Ghana National Petroleum Corporation will acquire one of the blocks to explore in partnership with a strategic partner to develop its technical capacity and become an operator.Ghana, which b

Flintstone Technology Ltd said it has secured a contract with MODEC for its in-line tensioning and pull through connection mooring system to be deployed off West Africa.The system will be used on Tullow Oil’s Kwame Nkrumah MV21 floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel located on the Jubilee field off the coast of Ghana.The mooring system will allow the conversion of the FPSO to a spread moored configuration.The Kwame Nkrumah MV21 is installed in approximately 1,100 meters water depth on the Jubilee Field, which is one of the largest oil fields discovered offshore West Africa in the past 10 years.Earlier this month, Flintstone…

Ocean Rig UDW, an international contractor of offshore deepwater drilling services, today announced that it has signed a new drilling contract with Tullow Namibia, for a one-well drilling program plus options for drilling offshore West Africa. The contract is expected to commence in the third quarter of 2018 and to be performed by the Ocean Rig Poseidon. Pankaj Khanna, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, said: "We are pleased to announce additional work for the Ocean Rig Poseidon. Ocean Rig is an international offshore drilling contractor providing oilfield services for offshore oil and gas exploration, development and production drilling, and specializing in the ultra-deepwater and harsh-environment segment of the offshore drilling industry.

Norwegian offshore shipowner  GC Rieber Shipping has entered into a time charter agreement with Deepocean BV for the SURF vessel Polar Onyx for a fixed period of three years with options to extend by up to two years. The Polar Onyx will be used in Ghana to support Deepocean's contract with Tullow Oil. Commencement is immediately and mobilization has begun. "We are very pleased to have secured a long-term charter agreement with Deepocean where we maintain a position to benefit from improving market conditions. The Polar Onyx proves yet again its market attractiveness being selected for the first long term subsea charter in a while. We look forward to servicing Tullow Oil in close cooperation with our client Deepocean", said GC Rieber Shipping CEO, Christian W. Berg.

Maersk Drilling has been awarded a four year contract for the deep-water drillship Maersk Venturer by Tullow Ghana Ltd. The contract, which was signed December 2017, is expected to commence in February 2018 and covers development drilling on the Jubilee and TEN fields offshore Ghana. Maersk Venturer is currently in transit for the job offshore Ghana thereby further strengthening Maersk Drilling’s presence in the region. ”I am very pleased that Maersk Drilling will be mobilising another deepwater rig for this significant job in a strategically important region. It is our first contract with Tullow Ghana and it is a testament to our successful operational track record in Ghana.

Hess Corporation has entered into an agreement to sell its interests in offshore Equatorial Guinea to Kosmos Energy and Trident Energy for a total consideration of $650 million, effective January 1, 2017. “This sale is a further step in our strategy to focus our portfolio by investing in higher return assets and divesting more mature, higher cost assets,” CEO John Hess said. “Proceeds from asset sales, along with cash on our balance sheet, are expected to fund the development of our truly world class investment opportunity offshore Guyana. During the first half of 2017, net production from the company’s assets in Equatorial Guinea averaged 28,000 barrels of oil per day. Hess holds an 85 percent paying interest and is operator.

Statoil has signed a farm-in agreement with Tullow to acquire a 35% working interest in offshore exploration block 15 in the Pelotas basin, deepening its position in Uruguay. "With this transaction, we are increasing our exposure to the upside potential of this untested geological setting. This is in line with Statoil' exploration strategy of access at scale," says Nicholas Alan Maden, senior vice president of Exploration. Recently Statoil announced its entry into Uruguay as partner in exploration block 14. By accessing the adjacent block 15 Statoil continues to pursue this regional geological trend. Block 15 covers an area of more than 8,000 km2 and sits in water depth of 2,000-3,000 meters. Tullow Uruguay Limited.

Noble Corporation has been awarded new contracts for one of its drillships under which the unit will operate in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and later Suriname. The 2013-built drillship Noble Bob Douglas has been awarded a contract with Murphy Oil, which will last from early to late July. The rig’s dayrate has not been disclosed. After completion of the project, the ship will start a contract with Tullow Oil offshore Suriname from early October 2017 to early November 2017 again at an undisclosed rate. Tullow is planning to drill the high-impact Araku prospect, a large structural trap containing a potential more than 500 MMbo. Meanwhile, Shell has taken an early termination option on the Noble Hans Deul, which has been working for Shell in the UK North Sea since August 2016.

Ghana began pumping crude from a second offshore field operated by British company Tullow Oil on Thursday, hoping the additional revenue will boost its flagging economy. The Tweneboa, Enyenra and Ntomme (TEN) field expects to average around 23,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2016, eventually reaching 80,000 bpd along with associated gas to be harnessed to ease a domestic power deficit. President John Dramani Mahama opened the valves on the $1 billion Floating Production, Storage and Offloading vessel, the Prof John Evans Atta Mills, named after Ghana's former president who died in 2012.

Kenya on Saturday inaugurated the first part of a new container terminal at Mombasa which is expected to boost by 50 percent the volume of cargo handled by East Africa's largest seaport. Construction of the 30 billion shilling ($296.74 million)terminal began in March 2012 and was completed in February this year. The project was financed by a loan from Japan through the Japan International cooperation agency (JICA), and Kenya will repay the loan over a 40-year period. A gateway to East and Central Africa, the Indian Ocean port funnels imports of fuel and consumer goods as well as exports of tea and coffee from landlocked neighbours such as Uganda and Rwanda.

Sea Trucks Group said it has secured a contract award from Tullow Ghana Limited for the provision of a Construction Support Vessel (CSV) providing Accommodation and Heavy Lift services to the turret moored FPSO Kwame Nkrumahe, located in the Jubilee Unit Area, 60 km offshore Ghana. The scope of work covers accommodation for up to 120 company pax. The scope also includes the heavy lift of two 50 Ton fairlead chain stopper foundation block structures, a 34 Ton mooring pull-in winch and other smaller lifts.