Unconventional Oil News

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) said that it has launched the second exploration bid round for five new oil and gas blocks.The bidding will be for both conventional and unconventional resources, and the successful bidders will enter into agreements granting them exploration rights, ADNOC said in a statement.The new blocks are three offshore and two onshore.The five new blocks open for are known as Offshore Block 3, Offshore Block 4, Offshore Block 5, Onshore Block 5 and Onshore Block 2, with the latter offering two separate licensing opportunities for conventional and unconventional oil and gas, respectively. In total, the five blocks comprise an area of approximately 34…

Senior oil and gas professionals in the United States are among the world’s most confident about the outlook for the sector in 2019, as companies prepare for significant increases in capital expenditure (capex) over the coming months.According to a new research published by DNV GL, 85% of sector leaders in the US are optimistic about the industry’s growth prospects in the year ahead, up sharply from 60% in 2018. This compares with three quarters (76%) reporting confidence among respondents globally.Full of confidence, and buoyed by favourable government energy policies, the majority (71%) of senior oil and gas professionals in the US agree that more large…

Malaysian oil and gas company Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) through its subsidiary, Petronas LNG Ltd (PLL) and Vitol Asia Pte Ltd (Vitol) announced the signing of binding Heads of Agreement (HOA) for long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) sale and purchase (SPA) agreement.Under the terms of the agreement signed on 1 October 2018, the LNG supply to Vitol commencing in 2024 will be approximately up to 0.8 million tonnes per annum for a period of up to 15 years on both Delivered Ex-Ship (DES) and Free on Board (FOB) basis, said a press release from the global energy and commodity trading company, which is also one of the largest and most experienced independent traders of LNG.The primary supply to Vitol will come from LNG Canada as well as from other PLL’s global LNG supply portfolio.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has awarded a 40 per cent stake in the Ruwais Diyab gas concession to French energy major Total.Adnoc group, for which the award is an important milestone to reach the target of 1 Bcfd of unconventional gas production before 2030, said in a press release that it will retain a 60% stake in the concession.Under the terms of the agreement, Total will explore, appraise and develop the concession area’s unconventional gas resources.The agreement includes a six to seven-year exploration and appraisal phase which will then be followed by a 40-year production term. It was signed in ADNOC’s Thamama Subsurface Collaboration Center, by Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, ADNOC Group Chief Executive Officer, and Patrick Pouyanné, CEO and Chairman of Total.

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has awarded contracts worth AED 5.88bn (US $1.6bn) for the world’s largest continuous 3D onshore and offshore seismic survey, covering an area up to 53,000 square kilometres, as the company continues to identify and unlock new opportunities and maximize value from its hydrocarbon resources and deliver on its 2030 smart growth strategy.Adding to the 2D and 3D seismic data already acquired across Abu Dhabi, the new seismic survey will cover an area of up to 30,000 km2 offshore and 23,000 km2 onshore.The contract has been awarded by ADNOC to BGP Inc., a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Company (CNPC)…

There are a number of exciting LNG liquefaction prospects around the world in 2016, both under construction and prospective. The question is whether the demand of East Asia is strong enough to support the economics of an abundant supply of liquefaction opportunities. A report by Visiongain tackles that question, forecasting the feasibility and likelihood of further liquefaction and regasification investment around the world. In doing so, it makes judgement calls about individual projects under construction and in planning; both in terms of the EPC costs and how likely they are to proceed. As more LNG infrastructure is constructed, an increasingly complex global LNG trade is evolving; one that is becoming ever more important to the shape of the global energy industry.

Canada’s role in the oil industry has changed dramatically in recent years driven by synthetic crude oil production in the oil sands of Alberta. New plans for Energy East, a cross-Canada West to East pipeline with a capacity of 1,100kb/day are being put forward to allow the movement of diluted domestic oil from the West to the import dependant Eastern provinces. With a light sweet requirement in the Eastern provinces the question might be raised on why there is a need for a pipeline to transport the heavy bituminous oil sands from the West if Eastern refineries could not process them. Suncor are looking to add a coker to their Montreal refinery which would allow for oil sand processing and for East Canada…

Indonesia's state-owned Pertamina, Royal Dutch Shell, and Malaysia's Petronas  were among the companies awarded 11 Indonesian oil and gas blocks last year, government officials said on Wednesday. Indonesia offered a total of 16 conventional and unconventional oil and gas blocks last year, Wiratmadja Puja, acting director general of oil and gas at the Indonesian energy and mines ministry said. Government officials previously put the number at 21. "We will bid (another) 12 oil and gas blocks this year -- two conventional blocks and 10 shale gas blocks," Naryanto Wagimin, director oil and gas upstream at the Indonesian energy and mines ministry said, referring to 2015. "We want more realistic (bids) and prioritize the more credible companies." Reporting by Wilda Asmarini

At present we are seeing lower oil prices as a function of softer demand growth in both Europe and China combined with recent output increases from OPEC, particularly Libya, together with the ongoing surge in US production, notes Douglas-Westwood in the latest 'DW Monday'. In the short-term, supply could start to be taken out of the market quite quickly if lower price levels are sustained – we have earlier noted that returns for most E&P companies have been eroded by rapidly-rising costs. This has pushed hurdle rates for new projects higher often to around $80/bbl, indeed many are described by our E&P clients as 'marginal' at $100/bbl, which means that we could start to see a major shift in oil company strategy if prices fall much further.

Speaking at this year’s Offshore Northern Seas (ONS) Conference and Exhibition, Khalid A. Al-Falih, Saudi Aramco president and CEO, addressed the challenges facing the industry and gave insights into Saudi Aramco’s strategy for turning these into opportunities, informs the Middle East energy major. In his speech, Al-Falih outlined some of the chief challenges that major producers such as Saudi Aramco face, including rising project costs, critical manpower shortages, global economic weakness and political turmoil in many oil producing regions, including Africa, the Middle East and the former Soviet Union. Al-Falih said, focusing on long-term strategies for meeting the growing global need for energy and enhancing “our industry’s resilience to the kinds of shocks…

Argentina's state oil company YPF agreed Friday to extend its operation until 2027 in partnership with a local unit of China's Sinopec oil in an area of ​​a province in the center-west of the country, which represent an investment of $ 300 million, the company said in a statement. The new agreement between the two firms, whose contract expired working together in late 2016, provides for a change in the participation of society, with 70 percent by YPF and 30 percent for Sinopec Argentina versus ratio prior 60-40. It is the exploration and development in the productive area La Ventana, located in the province of Mendoza Argentina and has an area of ​​480 square kilometers. The area currently produces about 6,000 barrels a day.

Along the way, ATBs gain speed, efficiency, safety – and popularity. Operators of articulated tugs and barges, or ATBs, say they like the maneuverability, weather reliability, stability, speed of these units, and the manner in which the tug pushes the barge. As a marine transportation concept, they can also simply be described as versatile. ATBs move petroleum, chemicals, coal, grain, containerized cargo and rail cars for customers on the U.S. coasts, rivers, the Great Lakes and overseas. As a result, demand for articulated units expanded in the last two decades with new technology.

Currently, 320 oil/gas floating production units are now in service, on order or available for reuse on another field. FPSOs account for 65% of the existing systems, 76% of systems on order. Production semis, barges, spars and TLPs comprise the balance. Total oil/gas inventory is down two units since last month – two off-field FPSOs have been scrapped. Another 27 floating LNG processing systems are in service or on order. Liquefaction floaters account for 15%, regasification floaters 85%. No liquefaction floaters are yet in service – all four are on order.

The IEA’s Medium-Term Oil Market Report 2014 will be officially launched during a Press webinar on Tuesday, June 17, 2014, 11 a.m. Paris time. In addition, a web-based technical briefing will take place on June 17, at 16:30 Paris time where journalists will have an opportunity to put questions to the team that produced the Medium-Term Oil Market Report 2014. The unconventional supply revolution that has redrawn the global oil map will likely expand beyond North America before the end of the decade…

Rosneft and BP signed an agreement on Saturday to jointly explore for hard-to-recover oil in Russia, the first major deal for the state-run Russian oil company since the West imposed sanctions over Ukraine in March. Rosneft chief executive Igor Sechin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, has been targeted by U.S. sanctions along with some other members of Putin's so-called inner circle following Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in March. Western energy bosses saved the St Petersburg International Economic forum from a complete failure by effectively standing by Russia as heads of top banks and many other firms did not show up for fear of reprisals over the sanctions.

An EPC contract for a production unit can easily exceed $1 billion – and $3 billion for an FPSO has recently been breached. Overall, this is a $20 to $30 billion annual market. But, as described below, the sector is hitting some headwinds that could impact future business opportunities. 243 floating production projects are in various stages of planning as of beginning May. Of these, 57% involve an FPSO, 16% another type oil/gas production floater, 23% liquefaction or regasification floater and 5% storage/offloading floater.

Argentina's Neuquen province expects major global energy companies, including Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron Corp and Exxon Mobil Corp , to bid in a May auction of 11 oil blocks, its energy minister said on Wednesday. The exploration and development blocks include conventional and unconventional oil and gas resources, most of them in the vast Vaca Muerta shale formation, considered one of the world's biggest shale deposits. The results are expected for August. "For unconventionals, the players will be the majors," Neuquen Energy Minister Guillermo Coco said in Houston on a road show to attract foreign capital. "Chevron, Exxon, Shell have shown interest in Vaca Muerta.

Floating production has been one of the most significant developments in the oil and gas industry over the past four decades. Since the first floating production unit (Argyll) was installed in 1975, more than 350 offshore fields too deep, too remote or too small for fixed platforms have been developed using floating production facilities. Looking forward, the future of the sector continues to look very promising, but some barriers and threats to growth have appeared. Three hundred and twenty (320) oil/gas floating production units are now in service…

Class A common stock. The oil and natural gas company filed confidentially with U.S regulators for the proposed IPO in December. Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs & Co, J.P. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a preliminary prospectus on Friday. Southeastern New Mexico. The filing did not reveal how many shares the company planned to sell or their expected price. proceeds from the offering to reduce debt and for general corporate purposes. The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filing is used to calculate registration fees. final size of the IPO could be different.

Speakers set to fuel energy debate at Unconventional Gas Aberdeen 2014. Leading figures from industry and government speaking at Unconventional Gas Aberdeen 2014 will tomorrow highlight the impact U.K. shale development could have on reducing costly gas imports but admit that more needs to be done to reassure communities on aspects such as fracking. With more than 50 percent of U.K. gas supplies now coming from imports, predominantly from Norway and the Middle East, shale gas is being promoted as part of the solution in creating a secure and affordable energy mix.

Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released revised underground injection control (UIC) program permitting guidance for wells that use diesel fuels during hydraulic fracturing activities. EPA developed the guidance to clarify how companies can comply with a law passed by Congress in 2005, which exempted hydraulic fracturing operations from the requirement to obtain a UIC permit, except in cases where diesel fuel is used as a fracturing fluid. EPA is issuing the guidance alongside an interpretive memorandum, which clarifies that class II UIC requirements apply to hydraulic fracturing activities using diesel fuels, and defines the statutory term diesel fuel by reference to five chemical abstract services registry numbers.

Global stakeholders in the unconventional arena will meet to identify and overcome the barriers to all types of unconventional gas developments at the third Unconventional Gas Aberdeen conference and exhibition March 25-26, 2014. Dan Byles, MP and leader of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Unconventional Oil and Gas (APPG UG), will address hundreds of delegates at the two day event at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Center. He is joined by other distinguished speakers including Duarte Figueira, head of the new Office of Unconventional Gas and Oil at DECC and Ken Cronin, CEO of U.K.

PetroChina Company signs agreements with ConocoPhillips to take interests in W. Australian exploration assets & a JSA in China. Under these agreements, PetroChina will acquire 20% interest in the Poseidon offshore discovery in the Browse Basin, and 29% interest in the Goldwyer Shale onshore Canning Basin. In addition, PetroChina and ConocoPhillips will enter into a Joint Study Agreement (JSA) to study unconventional gas resource in the Neijiang-Dazu Block in China’s Sichuan Basin. The agreements still require government and partner approvals. The signing of these agreements marks a significant step toward increased global collaboration between PetroChina and ConocoPhillips.