Marathon Oil News

Japanese gas buyers marked the 50th anniversary since the first cargo of liquefied natural gas arrived in Japan, now the world’s biggest importer of the fuel.On November 4th, 1969, LNG was first imported to Japan. Tokyo Electric Power Company (now JERA Co., Inc.) and Tokyo Gas, through Mitsubishi Corporation acting as a buyer’s agent, started receiving LNG in 1969 from the Alaska LNG Project with Phillips Petroleum (now ConocoPhillips) as a seller.Demand for LNG and natural gas is expected to further increase globally, especially in the emerging countries. The role of LNG and natural gas is expected to expand further in the next half century…

Total has acquired Marathon Oil Libya Limited which holds a 16.33% stake in the Waha Concessions in Libya. This acquisition will give Total access to reserves and resources in excess of 500 million barrels of oil equivalent, with immediate production of around 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) and a significant exploration potential across the area of 53,000 square kilometers covered by the Concessions in the prolific Sirte Basin. The consideration payment for the transaction is 450 million U.S. dollars. “This acquisition is in line with Total’s strategy to reinforce its portfolio with high quality and low-technical cost assets whilst bolstering our historic strength in the Middle East and North Africa region,” said Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of Total.

Oil and natural gas producers began evacuating staff at U.S. Gulf of Mexico platforms on Thursday ahead of Tropical Storm Nate, the second storm in as many months to threaten Gulf Coast oil and refining facilities. Nate, which has already killed three people in Costa Rica, according to local authorities, is forecast to scrape past Honduras and Mexico, enter the Gulf and strengthen into a hurricane before making landfall early on Sunday in Louisiana, near several major refineries. That path takes it through an area populated by offshore oil and natural gas platforms, which pumps more than 1.6 million barrels of crude per day, about 17 percent of U.S. output, according to government data. Forecasts for Nate have shifted in the past 24 hours.

Cairn announced the appointment of Eric Hathon as Director of Exploration. Dr Hathon, who has more than 25 years experience in the international oil and gas industry, will join Cairn from Marathon Oil Corporation where he held the position of Director Conventional Exploration, based at the company’s Headquarters in Houston, USA. Dr Hathon will succeed Richard Heaton, currently Cairn’s Director of Exploration, who is retiring after 23 years service with the company. Richard will step down from his role following Cairn’s Annual General Meeting in May 2017. Following a handover period, Eric will be responsible for leading all of Cairn’s future exploration activities. He will be a member of Cairn’s Senior Leadership team and will report directly to Simon Thomson, Chief Executive.

U.S. drillers this week added oil rigs for a sixth consecutive week, according to a closely followed report on Friday, despite crude prices falling to April lows below $40 a barrel this week. Some producers are still boosting spending on expectations for higher prices in the future. Drillers added seven oil rigs in the week to Aug. 5, bringing the total rig count up to 381, compared with 670 a year ago, energy services firm Baker Hughes Inc said. They have added a total of 51 rigs since the week to July 1, the longest streak of weekly additions since July-August 2015, when 37 rigs were added over six weeks. Energy firms continued to add most rigs in the Permian shale in west Texas and eastern New Mexico.

P&O Repasa, a new company formed last year by the acquisition of the majority of the shares in Spanish towage firm Repasa by P&O Maritime, has taken delivery of one Damen Fast Crew Supplier 5009. The vessel will be operated from Malabo on Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea. The Red Eagle will ferry personnel and equipment, and supply drinking water and fuel, to offshore rigs and platforms. Built for stock at Damen’s partner Song Thu Shipyard in Vietnam, shortly after the contract…

P&O Maritime has announced the rebranding of its joint venture company Repasa, the Spanish operator of offshore support vessels for the energy industry. P&O Repasa will become the official brand of the joint venture which has expanded its fleet in the offshore towage market from 8 vessels to 14 in the last year while creating a permanent offshore service hub in Equatorial Guinea in West Africa. P&O Repasa has also won a long-term contract with Marathon Oil in the United States to expand its offshore marine services at the Alba Field, Equatorial Guinea. In addition to the existing fleet of 7 tugs deployed at the LNG production facility, P&O Repasa will provide two Fast Support Vessels (FSV’s) to enable crew changes, field supply and platform standby activities..

On December 19, 2014 Heerema Fabrication Group (Zwijndrecht) awarded Imtech Marine a contract to supply the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system to the 6,000-metric-ton Alba B3 Greenfield compression platform, which is currently under construction for Marathon E.G. Production Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Marathon Oil Corporation. Kees de Kruyf, Imtech Marine Sales Director Global Offshore, said, “A dedicated team from Imtech Marine is deployed on the project, many of the engineers have more than 25 years of experience.

The completion of a joint industry project (JIP) to improve existing standards and regulations around subsea lifting operations has resulted in a new recommended practice (RP). The recommended practice developed by DNV GL provides guidance on the proper design and correct operation, as well as regular inspection and maintenance, of subsea cranes and lifting appliances. The aim is to reduce the overall risk and safeguard personnel during lifting operations and to improve the integrity and efficiency of equipment throughout its lifetime.

EnerMech has secured six new or renewed cranes and lifting contracts in the UK North Sea sector valued in excess of $53.4 million. The Aberdeen headquartered mechanical engineering group agreed extensions to contracts with Apache North Sea, Maersk Oil and Marathon Oil, and first time or additional workscopes with Centrica Storage/HRL, Aker Solutions and a number of projects on behalf of Technip. The contract wins follows publication of the company’s latest accounts to December 2013 which reveal a 40% upswing in turnover, breaking the $314 million mark for the first time.

Talks that could lead to oilfield services provider Halliburton Co buying rival Baker Hughes Inc may herald increased deal-making in the energy business as companies bet on a protracted drop in oil prices, industry bankers said. Competing service companies including National Oilwell Varco Inc and Weatherford International may also be targets, bankers and lawyers said. In any deal, the incentives will be the same: consolidation would allow them to better weather the downturn and resist pressure from oil producers to slash prices. The Baker Hughes/Halliburton talks have stalled after the companies weren't able to agree on issues including price, people familiar with the matter said Friday. As oil prices fall, oil field service companies get squeezed, one industry lawyer said.

A government study on Thursday essentially supported the notion that easing the decades-old restriction on exporting U.S. crude was more likely to lower than raise gasoline prices for American motorists, a conclusion that could ease concerns among lawmakers about changing the policy. U.S. gasoline prices are mainly set by global oil prices, the Energy Information Administration said in a highly anticipated analysis. "The effect that a relaxation of current limitations on U.S. crude oil exports would have on U.S. gasoline prices would likely depend on its effect on international crude oil prices, such as Brent, rather than its effect on domestic crude prices," said the EIA.

More than a dozen U.S. oil producers have joined to lobby the federal government to reverse the 40-year-old ban on U.S. crude exports, a move that supporters hope would create jobs and boost national security, a spokesman for one of the companies and a lobbyist for another one said on Friday. Producers for American Crude Oil Exports, or PACE, is the first lobbying group to form on reversing the ban. "The end game here is legislative repeal of the ban," said a lobbyist for one of the member producers, who did not want to be named because the group was only recently formed. Congress passed the trade restriction in the 1970s after the Arab oil embargo caused fears of domestic oil shortages.

Petchem producers unlikely to buy due to impurities in oil. Big middle distillates yield, less naphtha, LPG; wide variance in API gravities in assays, samples. Tests on samples of the same type of U.S. condensate now heading to South Korea and Japan have raised questions about the ultra-light crude's suitability for use in Asia, sources said, making some potential buyers wary about taking the oil. The uncertainty could delay a rapid build-up in the flow of U.S. condensate to Asia after the arrival of the first exports of U.S. crude in 40 years. Asian refiners and chemical producers will have to first determine the best use for the ultra-light oil before starting to buy in large volumes.

A second tanker is waiting to load oil at Libya's Es Sider port, state-run National Oil Corp (NOC) said on Thursday, as the country's biggest crude export terminal swung back into action after being closed for a year. The OPEC member's oil production has risen in the past few weeks as major ports in the east have resumed work under a deal with a group of federalist rebels, adding to a crude market that is already well supplied. A first tanker has been loading oil at Es Sider since Wednesday but a second had already arrived, NOC spokesman Mohamed El Harari said. Technical problems and mistrust between the rebels campaigning for regional autonomy and the government had delayed implementing an oil port deal but output has risen to 562,000 barrels per day (bpd), NOC said on Tuesday.

A second tanker is waiting to load oil at Libya's Es Sider port, state-run National Oil Corp (NOC) said on Thursday, as the country's biggest crude export terminal swung back into action after being closed for a year. The OPEC member's oil production has risen in the past few weeks as major ports in the east have resumed work under a deal with a group of federalist rebels, adding to a crude market that is already well supplied. A first tanker has been loading oil at Es Sider since Wednesday but a second had already arrived, NOC spokesman Mohamed El Harari said. Technical problems and mistrust between the rebels campaigning for regional autonomy and the government had delayed implementing an oil port deal but output has risen to 562,000 barrels per day (bpd), NOC said on Tuesday.

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.

Marathon Petroleum Corp is poised to expand its growing Midwest and Gulf Coast fuel trading operation to the East Coast with Thursday's deal to buy Hess Corp's retail network and transport contracts. The purchase will give Marathon control of Hess's gasoline stations and access to pipelines, including the capacity to ship approximately 40,000 barrels per day on the sought-after Colonial Pipeline from the Gulf Coast to the East Coast, according to the companies. The $2.9 billion deal is expected to close late in the third quarter. That likely means opening up new trading opportunities. Marathon's nearest refinery is nearly 500 miles east of New York City in Canton, Ohio, with few major pipelines in between.

Maersk Drilling advises that its second new drillship, 'Maersk Valiant', has been delivered from the Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) shipyard in Geoje-Si, South-Korea. Maersk Valiant has begun its voyage towards the US Gulf of Mexico via Singapore to commence a two year contract with ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil Corporation. Maersk Valiant is the second in a series of four ultra deepwater drillships to enter Maersk Drilling’s fleet. The four drillships represent a total investment of US$2.6-bn and will be delivered from the SHI shipyard in 2014.

Heerema Fabrication Group contracted by Marathon E.G. Production to deliver the new Alba B3 greenfield gas compression platform. The Alba Field is a gas and condensate field located approximately 20 miles north of Bioko Island. MEGPL operates the Alba Field on behalf of itself and working interest partners Samedan of North Africa, Inc. a wholly-owned subsidiary of Noble Energy, Inc.and Compania Nacional de Petroleos de Guinea Ecuatorial. The gas compression platform is to be bridge-linked to the existing Alba B2 platform.

Maersk Drilling say that their second and third ultra-deepwater drillships have been named in a ceremony held at the Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) shipyard in Geoje-Si, South Korea. Lisa Lance, wife of Ryan M. Lance, chairman and chief executive officer, ConocoPhillips had the honour of naming Maersk Valiant, and Annell R. Bay, Vice President Global Exploration, Marathon Oil Corporation  of naming Maersk Venturer. Maersk Drilling explain that the Maersk Valiant and Maersk Venturer are the second and third in a series of four ultra deepwater drillships to enter their rig fleet.

Oil and gas industry body, the Intervention & Coiled Tubing Association (ICoTA) European Chapter, has appointed Former vice-chair Kelly Murray as the new chair and vice-chair. Murray will be the first women to take the helm as chair of the organization in the chapter’s 20-year history, while fellow committee member Andrew Louden has been appointed as the new vice-chair. Murray becomes chair after spending five years as an ICoTA committee member where she has played a pivotal role increasing awareness of the organization within the industry and the wider community.

Aker Solutions sign contract with Marathon Oil Norge for the delivery of subsea trees to the Alvheim field on the Norwegian continental shelf. The contract includes the delivery of four subsea trees and associated equipment. The contract is part of the frame agreement, covering the North Sea and Europe, between Marathon Oil Norge, a wholly owned subsidiary of Marathon Oil Corporation, and Aker Solutions. "Our dedicated subsea teams in Norway and the UK look forward to execute another project on behalf of Marathon. We are very pleased to continue this positive client relationship," says Knut Røsjorde, head of Aker Solutions' subsea operations in Norway and Africa.