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Oil Discoveries News

18 Mar 2024

CEO Says Exxon Mobil Not Trying to Buy Hess

Source: Hess

Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods on Monday said his company is trying to establish it has rights over Hess Corp's Guyana assets in its dispute with Chevron, not buy the company itself.In his first public remarks on the company's pursuit of an arbitration case that could block Chevron's $53 billion deal for Hess, Woods said Exxon would not have waited for Chevron to announce its Hess deal if it had wanted to buy Hess."We're basically standing up for what we believe is a fundamental right," Woods told Reuters at the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston.

23 Feb 2024

The APAC Offshore Market: Riding the Wave of Success into 2024 and Beyond

Copyright Peter Hermes Furian/AdobeStock

2023 was the first year of real recovery for owners in the offshore supply market and yet we have barely skimmed the surface of what’s to come.The market is still on an upward trajectory with charter rates accelerating month-by-month, availability changing day-by-day, leading to earnings doubling and, in some segments, tripling since the lows of 2020. Current rates will remind many of the glory days of pre-2014 with the demand for OSVs projected to remain elevated for years to come.In general…

11 Dec 2023

Plans in Progress for New North Sea Wells

Source: COSL

Esgian has published its Week 49 Rig Market Roundup highlighting new drilling activity in the North Sea and a new licensing deal in Morocco.Drilling Activity and DiscoveriesSerica Energy is continuing with plans for its four-well drilling campaign in the UK North Sea, scheduled for 2024 and early 2025. The campaign will be carried out using the semisubmersible COSLInnovator. All four wells are production wells. The first well in the campaign will be a sidetrack of an existing well (B1z) on the Bittern field.

07 Apr 2023

World Court says it Can Rule on Guyana-Venezuela Border Dispute

©Oleksii/AdobeStock

Judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Thursday ruled they had jurisdiction over a long-running border dispute between Guyana and Venezuela, which could determine which country has rights to territory rich in oil and gas.Guyana in 2018 asked the ICJ, also known as the World Court, to confirm that the border was laid down in an 1899 arbitration between Venezuela and the then-colony of British Guiana. Venezuela, while boycotting much of the procedure, tried to stop the case from moving forward by arguing the United Kingdom should be involved as Guyana was a British colony in 1899…

06 May 2022

Guyana in 'No Rush' to Draft New Offshore Oil Production Sharing Agreement

An FPSO offshore Guyana - (File photo: Hess Corp.)

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…

14 Feb 2022

Liza Unity: Exxon's Second FPSO in Guyana Produces First Oil

 Liza Unity is Guyana's second FPSO in production. - Image Credit: SBM Offshore

Exxon Mobil Corp on Friday said it is accelerating output at its Guyana offshore oil development, starting a new production vessel that will bring total capacity to more than 340,000 barrels per day.An Exxon-led consortium started production in the South America country in 2019 and is responsible for all oil and gas output in Guyana. Exxon and partners Hess Corp and CNOOC Ltd. have discovered some 10 billion barrels of oil.Production at the Liza Unity floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel is expected to reach 220,000 barrels of oil per day later this year, Exxon said.

05 Jan 2022

ExxonMobil Makes Two Oil Discoveries Offshore Guyana. Liza Unity FPSO on Track for First Oil in 1Q

Oil and gas major ExxonMobil on Wednesday announced two new oil discoveries offshore Guyana, at Fangtooth and Lau Lau wells, adding to previous recoverable resource estimate of 10 billion oil-equivalent barrels.The Fangtooth-1 well, drilled with the Stena DrillMAX drillship, encountered approximately 164 feet (50 meters) of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs. The well was drilled in 6,030 feet (1,838 meters) of water and is located approximately 11 miles (18 kilometers) northwest of the Liza field. The Lau Lau-1 well, drilled by the Noble Don Taylor drillship, hit around 315 feet (96 meters) of high-quality hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone reservoirs.

12 Nov 2021

Report: Exxon, SBM Offshore in Talks to Build Fourth FPSO for Guyana

Illustration only - An SBM Offshore FPSO - File image: SBM Offshore

Exxon Mobil is in discussions with Dutch contractor SBM Offshore NV to build a fourth multibillion-dollar production unit to develop its Guyana oil discoveries, two people close to the negotiations said.The talks include the potential for some future platform assembly in Guyana, the people said. Guyana hopes to develop an oil industry infrastructure to boost the economy and job growth. Officials are under pressure to show the potential oil bonanza will be shared with its citizens.The South American country is home to the world's biggest offshore discoveries in years…

08 Feb 2021

VIDEO: BP's Argos Platform Sails Away from S. Korea

Credit: Boskalis

Oil major BP has informed that its Argos oil platform, built by Samsung Heavy Industry, has set sail from South Korea and is en route to Texas.The platform, which will be capable of producing up to 140,000 gross barrels of crude oil per day from up to 14 production wells, will be deployed in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico as part of the Mad Dog 2 development.As previously reported, the Argos platform weighing almost 70,000 tons was in January loaded on Boskalis' semi-submersible heavy transport vessel BOKA Vanguard preparation for the sailaway.Announcing the sailaway…

29 Jan 2021

Gallery: BP's Giant Argos Platform Loaded on BOKA Vanguard in South Korea

Credit: Boskalis

BP's giant Argos offshore platform, to be used for the Mad Dog 2 development in the Gulf of Mexico, was this week loaded on Boskalis' BOKA Vanguard vessel in South Korea and is preparing set sail for the U.S.According to Boskalis, the Dutch marine services contractor, the giant Argos floating production unit weighing nearly 70,000 tons was floated onto Boskalis' semi-submersible heavy transport vessel BOKA Vanguard on Tuesday."The vessel was submerged well over 29 meters to make this happen.

18 Sep 2020

US, Guyana to Launch Joint Maritime Patrols Near Venezuela

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with Guyanese President Irfaan Ali (Photo: Secretary Pompeo / Twitter)

The United States and Guyana will begin joint maritime patrols aimed at drug interdiction near the South American country’s disputed border with crisis-stricken Venezuela, the U.S. secretary of state and Guyana’s new president said on Friday.The agreement comes as U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil Corp, as part of a consortium with Hess Corp and China’s CNOOC Ltd, ramps up crude output from Guyana’s massive offshore Stabroek block, a large portion of which is in waters claimed by Venezuela.“Greater security…

21 Aug 2020

Three Firms in Dorado FPSO FEED Contract Race

Credit: Carnarvon Petroleum

Three FPSO specialists are competing for Santos' Dorado FPSO front end engineering design contract, set to be awarded later this year.This is according to Carnarvon, Santos' partner in the Dorado field discovered offshore W. Australia in 2018, and dubbed one of the gas-rich country's largest oil discoveries of the century.Santos and Carnarvon have envisioned the development to include an FPSO and a Well Head Platform that will support the production and ancillary wells and connect to and supply the FPSO.

05 Nov 2019

EGPC Leads Oil, Gas Discoveries in Q3 2019

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…

24 Dec 2018

Venezuela Navy Confronts Exxon Vessel in Guyana Border Dispute

File Image: CREDIT: AdobeStock / © DonvictoriO

Venezuela's navy "intercepted" a ship exploring for oil on behalf of Exxon Mobil Corp in Guyanese waters over the weekend, Guyana's foreign ministry said in a statement, while neighboring Venezuela said the incident occurred within its territory.The latest incident in a century-old border dispute comes after a series of offshore oil discoveries have given Guyana the potential to become one of Latin America's largest producers. In OPEC member Venezuela, by contrast, crude output has tumbled to the lowest levels in nearly 70 years amid an economic crisis.The Ramform Tethys vessel…

24 Dec 2018

Venezuela Navy intercepts ExxonMobil Oil Explore Ship

The Venezuela's navy on Saturday "intercepted" a ship exploring for oil on behalf of Exxon Mobil Corp. in Guyanese waters, neighboring Guyana's foreign ministry said in a statement, in the latest incident in a century-old border dispute.A series of offshore oil discoveries in recent years have given Guyana the potential to become one of Latin America's largest producers. In OPEC member Venezuela, by contrast, crude output has tumbled to its lowest levels in nearly 70 years amid an economic crisis.The Ramform Tethys vessel, which belongs to Norwegian company Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) and was conducting seismic survey work on behalf of Exxon…

23 Jul 2018

Exxon Expects More Oil from Guyana's Offshore Block

Exxon Mobil Corp and its partners now expect the large Stabroek oil block offshore Guyana to contain about 25 percent more recoverable resources than estimated, they said on Monday.Exxon and U.S.-based partner Hess Corp said more than 4 billion barrels of oil equivalent could be recovered from the Stabroek block, which is part of one of the biggest oil discoveries in the world in the last decade.The previous estimate was 3.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent, Exxon, the world's largest publicly traded oil producer, said.Besides Exxon and Hess, China's CNOOC is also part of the consortium that is interested in Guyana's Atlantic coast resources.Exxon said production from Stabroek could reach over 750…

27 Mar 2018

Production Floaters Orders Are on the Rebound

© sadagus/Adobe Stock

Fifteen production floaters were contracted in 2017 – 11 FPSOs, two production semis, a wellhead TLP and an FLNG – and the number of deep water projects in the near-term planning queue indicates production floater orders are set to accelerate. This is a big change from 2016 when orders for new units totally dried up and the deepwater future looked pretty bleak. Here’s a round-up of contracts awarded last year and in January 2018. Tempera FPSO - Keppel in January 2017 received a contract from Dixstone Holdings…

31 Jan 2018

Shell Makes Big Deepwater Oil Discovery in Gulf of Mexico

Oil major Royal Dutch Shell said its U.S. unit had made one of its biggest oil discoveries in the past decade in the Whale deepwater well in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The Whale is operated by Shell and co-owned by U.S. oil giant Chevron Corp. "Evaluation of the discovery was ongoing, and appraisal drilling is underway to further delineate the discovery and define development options," Shell Offshore Inc said in a statement without giving figures. Shell has three Gulf of Mexico deepwater projects under construction -- Appomattox, Kaikias and Coulomb Phase 2. It has added more than one billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) resources in the last decade in the Gulf of Mexico.

18 Jan 2017

World Energy Trends: What’s New in Floating Production

Where FPSOs are Being Planned. (Source: IMA/World Energy Reports)

Oil pricing continues to hover in the mid-$50s, market confidence is slowly returning and the production floater fabrication market is stirring. A major order for a production semi was placed in early January -- with Samsung receiving a contract to build the production semi for BP's Mad Dog Phase 2 project. The $1.27 billion unit will have capability to produce 110,000 b/d oil from 14 production wells. It will be used to develop further oil discoveries near the original Mad Dog Spar in the Green Canyon area of the GOM.

29 Oct 2016

Woodside Buys ConocoPhillips’s Senegal interests

Woodside completed the transaction to buy 100% of the shares in ConocoPhillips Senegal B.V. The total purchase price was US$350 million plus net customary adjustments of approximately US$90 million. Woodside CEO Peter Coleman said the acquisition was an exciting addition to Woodside’s global growth portfolio. “We look forward to working with the Government of Senegal and joint venture participants Cairn Energy, FAR Limited, and Petrosen, the Senegal National Oil Company, to progress the commercial development of the SNE and FAN discoveries. “Woodside will bring to the joint venture expertise in deep water drilling, development and operation of subsea infrastructure and floating production storage and offloading vessels.

29 Jul 2015

Côte D’Ivoire Invests in O&G Safety Training

Thegrowth in oil and gas activity in Côte D’Ivoire has seen investment in standardized safety training in the region far outstrip that of other hydrocarbon-rich West African countries, according to international learning technologies company Atlas Knowledge. Uptake of International Minimum Industry Safety Training, the global standard for health and safety training, has rocketed in the country in the last two years and now accounts for almost 15 percent of the worldwide total. On a country-by-country basis, this represents the largest uptake of IMIST across Atlas’ network of international training partners. An OPITO standard, IMIST was…

10 Jul 2015

Tanzania: Dar es Salaam 2015 Port Volume to Increase

Cargo volumes at Dar es Salaam port are expected to rise as much as 25 percent this year, helped by expanded capacity and improved efficiency, Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete said in his last address to parliament before an election in October. The port, whose main rival is bigger but also congested Mombasa in Kenya, acts as a trade gateway for landlocked states such as Zambia, Rwanda, Malawi, Burundi and Uganda, as well as the eastern region of Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). "In 2014 the port handled 14.4 tonnes of cargo ... We expect it to reach 18 million tonnes this year," Kikwete said late on Thursday. "The port currently operates 24 hours a day and the speed of unloading and loading cargo has significantly increased ...

22 Oct 2014

Total Names Refining Boss to Replace de Margerie

Patrick Pouyanne (Photo: Total)

French oil company Total has appointed refining boss Patrick Pouyanne as chief executive to succeed Christophe de Margerie who was killed in a plane crash in Moscow this week. Pouyanne, 51, head of refining, had been considered as possible candidate to succeed de Margerie in the past and has a reputation as a shrewd cost-cutter. The world's fourth largest oil company also named Thierry Desmarest, a former Total CEO, as non-executive chairman. The appointments came less than 48 hours after de Margerie's death.