Nalcor Energy News

The Hebron oil project off the coast of eastern Canada has produced its first oil, operator Exxon Mobil said on Tuesday, in a boost to Atlantic Canada's output after years of weak crude prices. At its peak Hebron will produce up to 150,000 barrels per day (bpd), Exxon said. It will help Atlantic Canada offshore production climb 44 percent to 307,000 bpd by 2024, according to estimates from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. The platform is located 200 miles (350 kilometres) off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador in depths of 300 feet (92 metres) and the oil field…

Teekay Offshore said it has taken delivery of Beothuk Spirit, the first of three new shuttle tankers to serve East Coast Canada, built in Korea by Samsung Heavy Industries. Heritage Class sister vessels Norse Spirit and Dorset Spirit are scheduled for delivery in the first half of November 2017 and early-2018 respectively. The three Suezmax, DP2 shuttle tankers will provide crude transportation services to the Hibernia, Terra Nova, White Rose and Hebron offshore oil fields located in St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador.

PGS has recently completed the fifth consecutive acquisition season offshore Newfoundland and Labrador as part of the ongoing joint venture (JV) with TGS. The successful 2015 season was the biggest yet with PGS operating four vessels, two 3D and two 2D vessels, all of them equipped with GeoStreamer, PGS' broadband technology. This season marked the commencement of the first MultiClient 3D programs to be acquired by the JV, as well as continued building of the regional MultiClient 2D library coverage. * Most 3D seismic ever acquired in a single season offshore Newfoundland and Labrador. The Ramform Valiant acquired 4 339 square kilometers over exploration block EL-1135 in the Flemish Pass basin.

Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) has announced that it is to build three shuttle tankers for Teekay Offshore Partners, at a total price of $365m and the contract includes an option for an extra vessel. The contract was signed in Oslo where Nor-Shipping 2015 was held. As for the contract value, while SHI says that the three tankers cost USD 330 million, for Teekay it is USD 365 million. The tankers ordered are 155,000DWT shuttle tankers that are 293m long and 49m wide, and they will be delivered by February 2018. Both SHI and Teekay Offshore have said that the tankers will be used to transport crude oil from offshore oilfields off east Canada. Shuttle tankers are oil tankers that transport crude oil extracted from marine oil fields to storage bases on the ground.

Teekay Offshore Partners L.P. informs it has entered long-term contracts to provide shuttle tanker services for a group of companies producing oil on Canada’s East Coast, including Chevron Canada, Husky Energy, Mosbacher Operating Ltd., Murphy Oil, Nalcor Energy, Statoil and Suncor Energy. The 15-year contracts, plus extension options, will initially be serviced by one of Teekay Offshore’s existing shuttle tankers, the Navion Hispania, and two to three third party-owned shuttle tankers currently operating in East Coast Canada, which will be chartered-in to Teekay Offshore’s Canadian affiliate located in St. John’s, Newfoundland, prior to the delivery of up to four shuttle tanker newbuildings.

Electromagnetic Geoservices ASA (EMGS) releases information on vessel activity and utilisation 4-5 working days after the close of each quarter. The Company defines "vessel utilisation" as the percentage of the vessel charter period spent on contracted or multi-client data acquisition. Vessel utilisation for the second quarter 2014 came in at 75% compared with 78% for the second quarter 2013. In the second quarter this year, the Company's vessels were allocated 38% to contract and 37% tomulti-client programmes, whereas the allocation was 32% and 46% respectively in the corresponding quarter last year. EMGS recorded 12.0 vessel months this quarter, compared with 11.5 in the second quarter of 2013.

EMGS has signed a multi-client license agreement with Nalcor Energy, the Provincial Energy Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador, for the acquisition of up to 13,500 square kilometers, in a multi-season campaign. The CSEM survey is expected to begin in June of this year and will target the Flemish Pass Basin, where recent major oil discoveries have been made. The survey will collect 4,000 km2 of 3D EM data calibrated to these discoveries and will image key prospects in nearby areas. Integrated data delivery will be available in early 2015. This survey is supported by industry pre-funding. "We are very pleased to have Nalcor Energy invest in this important project for Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Hebron field development offshore Newfoundland and Labrador was sanctioned by operator ExxonMobil and its co-venturers. Located approximately 350 km offshore Newfoundland, the Hebron platform will be a concrete Gravity Based Structure (GBS) in 95 meters water depth. The Hebron field is estimated to produce more than 700 million barrels of oil. The platform is being designed for an oil production rate of 150,000 barrels of oil per day. For Statoil, which holds a 9.7% share in Hebron, this is a significant component in the growth of the company’s Canada East Coast operations.