Condensate News

Esgian provides an update on new contract awards for floating rigs in its Week 37 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.Report SummaryContractsTransocean Ltd. has secured a 365-day contract for the 12,000-ft drillship Deepwater Atlas with bp in the US GOM.Norwegian operator Aker BP has extended the contract for Saipem’s 10,000-ft semisub Scarabeo 8 in Norway.Drilling Activity and DiscoveriesEquinor has found hydrocarbons at the Sitka C-02 exploration well in the Flemish Pass area offshore Newfoundland & Labrador…

TotalEnergies has launched a pilot project consisting of a floating wind turbine to supply renewable power to the Culzean offshore platform in the UK North Sea.Culzean is a high-pressure, high-temperature gas condensate field located in Block 22/25a in the East Central Graben area.The 3MW floating wind turbine will be located 2km west of the Culzean platform, 220km off the eastern coast of Scotland. This turbine, expected to be fully operational by end 2025, will supply around 20% of Culzean’s power requirement…

A U.S.-sanctioned gas tanker that picked up a cargo from Russia's new Arctic LNG 2 plant this month has been spotted carrying out a ship-to-ship transfer, suggesting Moscow is managing to continue some exports from the project.Monitoring service TankerTrackers.com said in an X post on Monday that the Pioneer had conducted a transfer to the Palau-flagged, UAE-owned and Indian-managed New Energy tanker north of the Suez Canal.The Arctic 2 LNG plant, which was planned to be Russia's largest…

Santos said on Thursday growth projects were making good progress, with flagship Barossa natural gas development now 77% complete as Australia's second-largest fossil fuel producer makes attempts to speed up its ambitious forward strategy.Barossa in offshore Australia has faced criticism and opposition, with the company having to fight regulators and litigations which might potentially delay the project's start in 2025.Santos cannot resume production at Darwin LNG operations, which shut down in 2023…

Esgian provides an update on rig activity and discoveries in its Week 28 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.Report SummaryDrilling Activity and DiscoveriesThe Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority (Havtil) has given Equinor consent for exploration drilling in blocks 32/4 and 32/7 in the North Sea.Operator LLOG Exploration Company is currently drilling its fifth well at the Buckskin field in the US GOM.Equinor and its partners Petoro, Vår Energi, and TotalEnergies started production from…

Esgian provides an update on exploration drilling in its Week 25 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.Report SummaryDrilling Activity and DiscoveriesOslo-listed BlueNord announced on Monday the start-up of drilling operations on the Harald East Middle Jurassic well (HEMJ) in the Danish North Sea.Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) encountered non-commercial hydrocarbons at the Orange #1 exploration well on Mississippi Canyon Block 216 in the US GOM and the well has been plugged and abandoned.

The commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard's navy said on Tuesday Israel's presence in the United Arab Emirates was viewed as a threat by Tehran and it could close the Strait of Hormuz if deemed necessary.Iran has threatened to retaliate for suspected Israeli airstrikes on its consulate in Syria's capital on April 1 that killed seven Revolutionary Guards officers including two senior commanders - stoking tensions between the arch enemies already heightened by the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza."We do not get hit without striking back…

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…

QatarEnergy has named the first LNG carrier to be delivered as part of its new LNG fleet expansion program as Rex Tillerson, in recognition of the former Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil, who also served as the 69th United States Secretary of State.During his 10-year term as Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil, Tillerson oversaw the consolidation of relations with the State of Qatar and its energy sector, resulting in strategic partnerships and significant investments in Qatar’s LNG industry.While making his mark on the global energy scene…

Disruption to shipping in the Red Sea region will impact QatarEnergy's deliveries of liquefied natural gas (LNG) but not its production, CEO Saad al-Kaabi said on Monday."It's only going to take longer to get it there. But it will not reach a point where we have to stop production because there isn't any ship.

The third and the last train of the Arctic LNG 2 project in Russia has been put on hold but the second train is likely to be installed, the head of stakeholder TotalEnergies' said.The liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the Russian Arctic has faced challenges from U.S. sanctions imposed on the project last November over the conflict in Ukraine, and subsequent force majeures by shareholders.At the end of 2023 Arctic LNG 2 started tentative production at its first train, which is yet to deliver a first cargo.

Russian energy company Novatek said on Sunday it had been forced to suspend some operations at a huge Baltic Sea fuel export terminal due to a fire started by what Ukrainian media said was a drone attack.The giant Ust-Luga complex, located on the Gulf of Finland about 170 km (110 miles) west of St. Petersburg, is used to ship oil and gas products to international markets. It processes stable gas condensate - a type of light oil - into light and heavy naphtha, kerosene and diesel to be shipped by sea.It was not clear how long the disruption would last…

Foreign shareholders suspended participation in the Arctic LNG 2 project due to sanctions, renouncing their responsibilities for financing and for offtake contracts for the new Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant, the daily Kommersant reported on Monday.The project, seen as a key element in Russia's drive to boost its LNG global market share to 20% by 2030 from 8%, was already facing difficulties due to U.S. sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine and a lack of gas carriers.China's state oil majors CNOOC  and China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) each have a 10% stake in the project…

Russia is hoping its shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) will offset a sharp fall in pipeline gas exports to Europe, but a shortage of gas tankers and sanctions hold back its plans, analysts and industry sources said.Russia wants to boost its share of the LNG market to 20% by 2030 from 8% now, but a force majeure declaration by top producer Novatek over LNG supplies from its future Arctic LNG 2 project due to sanctions shows the hurdles it faces.Novatek's announcement comes after the United States last month imposed sanctions on Arctic LNG 2…

A severe storm in the Black Sea region has disrupted up to 2 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil exports from Kazakhtsan and Russia, according to state's officials and port agent data.Oil loadings from Novorossiysk and the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal in nearby Yuzhnaya Ozereyevka have been suspended since last week.Kazakhstan's largest oilfields - Tengiz, Kashagan and Karachaganak - are cutting combined daily oil output by 56% from November 27 as the storm disrupts loadings at CPC…

The Israel-Hamas war has raised the spectre of a wider regional conflict which could embroil Iran and other regional factions.Analysts and market observers say the conflict could prompt the United States to tighten sanctions on Iran, which may spur Tehran to take retaliatory action against ships in the Strait in Hormuz.The Marshall Islands registry, one of the world's top shipping flags, last week flagged that vessels with links to Israel or the United States may face a heightened threat of attack within Israeli territorial waters…

Appetite for Iranian crude is growing in China, the world's biggest oil importer, after the extension of supply cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia boosted global prices, while Tehran is stepping up output and exports despite U.S. sanctions.Although China's "teapots", or small independent refiners, are stocking up on Iran's discounted oil as they exploit robust margins to fill strong seasonal demand, big state refiners are still keeping away.Iran's crude exports of about 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) stand at their highest in more than four years…

Iran's oil output and exports jumped in August despite U.S. sanctions, according to consultants and companies that track tanker shipments, as Tehran sells to buyers including China.Analysts said the higher exports appear to be the result of Iran's success in evading U.S. sanctions and Washington's discretion in enforcing them as the two countries seek better relations.The United States has sought to limit Iran's oil exports since Donald Trump exited a 2015 nuclear accord in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions aimed at curbing revenues to Iran's government.

The US National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) has released a study on global oil production emissions that finds that the greenhouse gas intensity of US oil production, particularly in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, is significantly lower than most other regions around the world.Prepared by ICF, the GHG Emission Intensity of Crude Oil and Condensate Production report, calculates that total US oil production has a carbon intensity 23% lower than the international average outside of the US and Canada.

Offshore seismic survey specialist Shearwater on Friday announced a new project with the Austrian oil firm OMV for a "pioneering" towed streamer survey with Ocean Bottom Nodes over the Berling gas and condensate discovery in the Norwegian Sea. Spanning 1040 sq.km, this hybrid survey starts in July 2023 and will last for three months. Shearwater's vessels, SW Tasman and Oceanic Vega, will lead the operations. SW Tasman will operate as an ROV node deployment vessel for first time…

Venezuela will contract with an Iranian shipyard to build two oil tankers under an existing construction agreement bedeviled by payment delays and difficulties with needed certifications, according to people familiar with the matter and documents.Venezuela’s state-run energy firm PDVSA since last year has redoubled efforts to buy and lease oil tankers to rebuild its own fleet. Its maritime operations have suffered from a long-standing lack of capital and U.S. sanctions that have…

A Kremlin aide urged the Russian government on Thursday to adopt legislation allowing foreign-flagged vessels to use the Northern Sea Route (NSR), which Moscow wants to turn into a new Suez Canal.The NSR runs from Murmansk near Russia's border with Norway eastwards to the Bering Strait near Alaska.Although the route is physically challenging, it could cut sea transport times between Europe and Asia at a time when Russia's trade with Western countries is at post-Cold War lows following Moscow's decision to send troops into Ukraine."We have been left without transit routes.

Japanese FPSO supplier MODEC has won a contract with Equinor to supply an FPSO vessel for the BM-C-33 block of the Campos Basin offshore Brazil. The order comes just days after Equinor and its partners Repsol Sinopec Brasil, and Petrobras took the $9 billion investment decision to develop the BM-C-33 project in Brazil. Located in the Campos Basin, BM-C-33 comprises three different pre-salt discoveries – Pão de Açúcar, Gávea and Seat – containing natural gas and oil/condensate…