Rwe Dea News

FRANKFURT, March 3 (Reuters) - DEA, the oil and gas company that German utility RWE sold to Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman, has appointed former BP boss John Browne as its new supervisory board chairman. Fridman's investment vehicle LetterOne bought the firm from RWE in a 5.1 billion euro ($5.7 billion) deal finalised on Monday, brushing aside British opposition against the sale of some licences held by DEA in the North Sea. The transaction was first announced a year ago, coinciding with Western sanctions imposed on Russia over the Ukraine crisis, sparking concern in some EU countries about whether a European oil and gas business should fall into Russian hands.

RWE Dea doubled its oil and gas production in Egypt and drawn up expansion plans. North Africa is a strategic core region for Dea. The company is one of the leading foreign investors in Egypt and produces oil and gas in the country for 30 years by now. RWE Dea is presenting applied technology highlights and recent projects at the MOC 2014 in Alexandria. At the company’s own booth (Central Hall, Stand A2) and the technical program, Dea will present technology highlights and case studies of its exploration and field development work in the onshore Nile Delta and the Gulf of Suez. The MOC, taking place from 9th to 11th December in Alexandria, is Egypt’s most important international oil and gas meeting of the year.

UK exploration well 30/1f-13 and sidetrack 30/1f-13Y have encountered hydrocarbons in the Marconi-Vorlich prospect. The find in Paleocene Sandstones has been flow tested at a maximum rate of 5,350 barrels of oil equivalent per day. RWE Dea is part of the consortium operated by GDF SUEZ. The Marconi-Vorlich 30/1f-13A,Z exploration well and subsequent geological side-track 30/1f-13Y was drilled by GDF SUEZ under a Joint Well Agreement between the P1588 (Block 30/1f) and P363 (Block 30/1c) Licensees. The 30/1f-13Z geological side-track has confirmed a westerly extension to the initial discovery. RWE Dea’s Managing Director in the UK, Dirk Schoene, is pleased about the success. “We have used the latest seismic analysis before selecting the ideal drilling position.

Norwegian Arctic discovery could be game changer; Lundin Petroleum shares rise 7 percent. Noreco, Det Norske shares also rise on news. Swedish oil firm Lundin Petroleum has made a big oil and gas discovery in the Norwegian Arctic, sending its shares more than 7 percent higher and raising hopes that more oil could be found in the remote region. Lundin Petroleum's find in the Alta prospect contains between 125 and 400 million barrels of oil equivalent, including 85 to 310 million barrels of oil, near Statoil's Snoehvit field and Lundin's own Gohta find, the firm said in a statement on Tuesday. The discovery raises hopes that more oil could be found in a region where only a handful of oil fields have been discovered after several decades, and none have started production.

Several key oil and gas developments in Norway will cost much more than earlier expected and fields with approved development plans are now seen 10 percent more expensive than originally planned, the oil and energy ministry said on Wednesday. Costs in Norway's offshore oil sector, already one of the most expensive in the world, have soared in recent years, weighing on the budget which provides generous tax breaks during the development phase. The government has already said it would reduce tax breaks for new developments and the oil ministry launched an investigation into why costs soar.

In the International Bid Round 2013, RWE Dea has been awarded two new offshore concessions with operatorship by the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC). The concessions are located in the Gulf of Suez, where the company is producing oil as operator for more than 30 years. Dea will become operator of two new concessions in the Gulf of Suez. Dea will hold a share of 100% of the East Ras Fanar Offshore and 50% of the Northwest El Amal concession, with Edison International SpA holding the remaining 50%. “We are very pleased with the result of the latest Bid Round, as both new concessions provide a valuable addition to our balanced oil and gas license portfolio in Egypt,” says Maximilian Fellner, General Manager RWE Dea Egypt.

Yesterday, a new club house for the Cleveland Juniors Football Club in Middlesbrough in northern England was officially opened. With support from RWE Dea, the Football Foundation and other sponsors, Lionsraw collected a total of GBP 418,000 to complete their first Legacy Project in the United Kingdom. The club house and a lease will secure the future of the junior football club in the long term. Former Middlesbrough and England manager Steve McClaren officially opened the new clubhouse on Wednesday. Construction, including showers, lockers, toilets and office facilities in northern England, began on 4 March 2014. The new building replaces the old storage containers the young football players and children have been using as changing room until now.

RWE Dea achieved first production from the Central Treatment Plant (CTP) of the Disouq Development Project in Egypt. Production commenced at an initial rate of 45 million standard cubic feet gas per day. Total production of 150 million standard cubic feet gas per day from the Disouq project has been achieved already. RWE Dea’s oil and gas production in Egypt will be boosted by 50 percent. Further increase in production is expected in 2015. Production from the CTP commenced at an initial rate of 45 million standard cubic feet gas per day. RWE Dea ramped up production progressively during the last few days to reach a rate of around 90 million standard cubic feet gas per day.

Spain's Supreme Court approved on Tuesday a $7-billion oil exploration project off the Canary Islands, clearing one of the final hurdles for oil company Repsol to begin drilling within months. In 2012, Spain's government granted permits for hydrocarbon exploration off the coasts of the Fuerteventura and Lanzarote islands, but they were frozen while courts decided on a number of appeals on environmental grounds. Of the seven appeals against drilling rejected by the Supreme Court, one was from the local Canary Island government, which initially supported the project but then turned against it. Repsol, which leads a consortium including Australia's Woodside Petroleum Ltd and Germany's RWE Dea AG…

At the WorldFest 2014 International Film Festival in Houston, RWE Dea won the platinum award in the documentary category with “The Breagh Story”. The film also won the silver award in the energy category at this year’s WorldMedia Festival held in Hamburg. The documentary tells the story of one of RWE Dea’s largest projects – from the exploration of the Breagh gas discovery and the installation of the production platform, all the way through to first gas produced in October 2013. “Breagh was one of the most demanding projects ever undertaken by RWE Dea, both in terms of its timeline and because of the engineering challenges involved,” explained Rene Pawel, Senior Vice President Production Europe RWE Dea AG.

RWE Dea Norge AS, operator of production licence (PL)420, is completing drilling operations on appraisal well 35/9-11-S and sidetrack 35/9-11-A on the Titan discovery, 16 kilometres west of the Gjøa Field in the North Sea. The purpose of the well was to delineate the Titan discovery towards the south and to reduce the uncertainties in reservoir thicknesses and reservoir properties. With the appraisal well, oil was proven in the Heather Formation, the Brent Group, the Drake Formation, the Cook Formation and the Statfjord Formation. RWE Dea Norge carried out extensive data collection and sampling of the reservoir, including five so-called mini-DSTs.

A project consortium that includes RWE Dea has signed a major contract for the construction of a natural gas processing plant and infrastructure in the Algerian Sahara for the Reggane Nord project. The contract is valued at US$976 million and represents an important step forward for the project. Representatives of the Groupement Reggane of which RWE Dea is a partner signed the contract to construct the natural gas processing facilities and corresponding infrastructure including the gathering network and export pipeline on Thursday. The USDollar976 million contract was awarded to Petrofac International (UAE) LLC and stipulates completion of the facilities within 36 months. After completion the plant will be operated with a gas troughput capacity of around 283 million cubic feet per day.

The German RWE Dea has signed a Joint Study Agreement with Azerbaijani State Oil Company (SOCAR) on evaluation of the hydrocarbon prospectivity in an area south of Baku in the Caspian Sea. The main goal of the agreement is to identify further exploration opportunities by conducting geological and geophysical analysis in the study area, which is located between Karadagh and Hamamdagh. It covers approximately 850 square kilometres and lies in shallow waters, with water depths up to 30 metres. The agreement will give an opportunity to deepen knowledge about the subsurface in highly prolific areas of the Caspian Sea. “We are pleased to have such an experienced partner as SOCAR by our side and we are looking forward to continue working with the company,'' said Dr.

Kongsberg Oil & Gas Technologies AS (KOGT), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kongsberg Gruppen ASA (KOG), has signed an agreement with Statoil for the delivery of subsea structures, in-line tee’s, tie-in and connection systems for the Polarled gas pipeline. The contract was signed with Statoil on behalf of the partners in the joint venture for Polarled: Statoil, Petoro, OMV, Shell, TOTAL, RWE Dea, ConocoPhillips, Edison, Maersk Oil and GDF SUEZ. Polarled is a new 480-km long gas pipeline from Aasta Hansteen to the Nyhamna processing facility in Møre & Romsdal County.

Mittelplate is Germany’s largest oilfield and is located in the Wadden Sea tidelands, a unique and sensitive natural environment. Already for many years Acta Marine have been engaged with providing marine support for Mittelplate. The new charter contracts awarded by RWE-Dea involve a total of five Acta Marine vessels and extend over a period of multiple years. Two state-of-the-art supply vessels, customly designed for Mittelplate, will replace the three units currently in service. This will result in a 53% reduction of the local impact from air emissions and a 22% reduction of CO2 emissions.

On May 3, 2012 Kvaerner ASA announced its intent to use Aker Solutions as a sub-contractor for its engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the topside for the Edvard Grieg platform (formerly Luno). The field is operated by the Swedish oil and gas exploration and production company Lundin. Aker Solutions will deliver design engineering and procurement services from the company's offices in Oslo, Norway and Mumbai, India, with support from Kvaerner. Fabrication and assembly of the 4 500 tonne process module will be conducted by Aker Solutions' yard in Egersund.

Luva may herald start of deep-water development in Norwegian Sea. Statoil, together with its Luva field partners, has selected a Spar platform to develop the field. As a gas transport solution has also been decided, a major step has now been taken towards deep-water production in the Norwegian Sea. The Luva field, which is a deep-water pioneer in the Norwegian Sea, may be the first to have a Spar platform on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS). The field is located outside of existing infrastructure and has a water depth of 1300 metres.

Technip was awarded a full EPIC(1) contract by RWE Dea, for the Clipper South gas field development in the North Sea. The field is located 70 kilometers North-east of the Bacton gas terminal in 25 meters of water. The contract covers full project management, detailed pipeline design, installation and tie-in of a 15.5 kilometer 12" production line and 3" methanol piggyback line from the new Clipper South platform to the existing LOGGS (Lincolnshire Offshore Gas Gathering system) platform.

According to a July 19 report from The Wall Street Journal, Frankfurt (Dow Jones)--RWE Dea, the gas and oil exploration and production unit of German utility RWE AG (RWE.XE), said it will jointly invest $9b in the development of two offshore gas fields in Egypt. (Source: The Wall Street Journal)

StatoilHydro has struck oil during the drilling of an exploration well and a sidetrack north of the Vigdis East field in the North Sea. The proven recoverable resources are estimated at about 25 million barrels of oil. The well confirmed the existence of a 280-metre oil column in rocks with good reservoir properties. "Our exploration activities close to fields on stream are successful and the discovery again confirms that there is still a great potential in this part of the North Sea," said Tom Dreyer, StatoilHydro's vice president, infrastructure-led exploration, North Sea. The exploration well was drilled into the Vigdis North-East prospect, located 3 kilometres south of the Snorre field.

StatoilHydro has awarded the contract for the fabrication and installation of structures and tie-in of the pipeline systems for the Gjøa project to Technip Norge AS. Work will start immediately. Technip has previously been awarded the contract for the fabrication and installation of the in-field pipelines and will also perform unmanned subsea operations. The fabrication work will start during the autumn of 2008. The extensive installation work will continue through the 2009 season.

The Government of Dubai and Dubai Petroleum Company (DPC) announced a joint agreement that will change the operating arrangements for Dubai offshore oilfields. Effective April 2007, DPC will end its role as operator, marking the end of Dubai's first offshore oil concession and the beginning of a new phase in which the Emirate of Dubai will directly control its offshore oil resources. DPC is wholly owned by ConocoPhillips and part of the DPC/Dubai Marine Areas Limited (DUMA) consortium involving interests from Total (France), Repsol YPF (Spain), RWE Dea AG, a subsidiary of RWE AG (Germany) and Wintershall AG, a subsidiary of BASF (Germany).