Deepwater NEWS

India is making a big push for oil and gas exploration in Andaman deep water basin with the government planning to fund an ONGC-led drilling campaign and easing clearances, according to people familiar with the matter. Increasing exploration at a break-neck speed is at the center of the government's plan to raise domestic production of oil and gas and cut imports at a time when high fuel prices are tormenting consumers. ONGC NSE -2.40 % plans to launch the drilling campaign in the Andaman offshore after the monsoon and is currently engaged in talks with ExxonMobil and Shell to involve them in the project, they said. ONGC is expected to drill 3-4 wells under the special program funded by the government in the Andaman Sea, with each well costing about Rs 350-400 crore, they added.gt

“RIL’s deep-water field gas will come on stream this fiscal. We are planning to bid for the same when it comes for auction,” said the senior executive of a company that plans to participate.

(Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Wednesday revived a fight between BP, two contractors and an insurance company over who should pay for thousands of personal injury claims brought by cleanup workers after the Deepwater Horizon explosion and fire in 2010. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed most of a lower court’s rulings for contractors National Response Corp and O’Brien’s Resource Management, and for O’Brien’s excess-liability insurer, Navigators Insurance Co.

A flagship $5 billion-plus deep-water development project that India's state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corporation’s (ONGC) is planning in the Krishna Godavari basin is facing fresh delays due to key projects running behind their planned execution. Several people familiar with the deep-water project told Upstream that ONGC’S KG-DWN-98/2 oil and gas development off the east coast that involves the Cluster-2 region is to be delayed by “several months". Four key projects that form part of the giant KG basin development are behind the delays, covering supply of central processing platform (CPP) with living quarters, a contract covering integrated subsea production system (SPS) and subsea umbilical riser and flowlines (SURF), a leased floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel and onshore processing facilities. Project watchers said that all four elements of the KG-DWN-98/2 developments are facing delays in the wake of coronavirus restrictions, engineering changes and project execution challenges.

Exxon Mobil is pulling out of a deep-water oil prospect in Ghana just two years after the west African nation ratified an exploration and production agreement with the U.S. oil titan. The company relinquished the entirety of its stake in the Deepwater Cape Three Points block and resigned as its operator after fulfilling its contractual obligations during the initial exploration period.

Joaquim Silva e Luna, the new chief executive of Brazil's Petrobras, will look to respect the company's current pricing policy and keep investing in deepwater assets, he said at his swearing-in ceremony on Monday.The comments by the former army general signaled that Petrobras' incoming administration will attempt to maintain some form of continuity with the policies of the previous administration, which generally won market plaudits.

Units of Vantage Drilling International will manage, operate, and market four Seadrill Partners LLC deepwater floaters under a new framework agreement between the companies, Vantage reported toward the end of last week.

Norwegian oil giant, Equinor has entered into an agreement with Canadian provinces for $5.2b to carry out a deepwater oil project offshore Canada’s east coast. The provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador are acquiring a 10% equity stake in the Bay du Nord project, expected to possess over 300 million barrels of high-quality crude oil. The project is estimated to generate $10.7b in economic activity and $2.7b in government revenues.

Shell Offshore has reported a huge deepwater revelation in the Norphlet geological play in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico with its Dover well, which represents their expertise in discovering new, commercial resources in a heartland with the focus on deepwater growth. This discovery is viewed as an alluring potential tie-back. The company anticipates its worldwide deepwater production to surpass 900,000 boed by 2020, from established areas.

French energy giant Total SA intends to bolster oil exploration and open more fuel stations in Africa’s most industrialized country, consequently enhancing its footprint in the region. In South Africa, the company plans to expand its network of more than 500 fuel stations and finish a deepwater exploration well commenced in 2014.

Even as the continuing burden of oil-spill payments pushed debt higher, BP reported the highest profit in years. The effects of two life altering events can be felt- BP is still paying its way through the fatal Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in 2010 and yet some benefits are beng observed from rising oil prices after a three-year industry downturn.

BP and RIL announced the sanctioning of the second of the three projects- Satellite cluster project- in Block KG D6. A total of about 3 Tcf discovered gas resources with a total investment of $6 billion is expected to develop out of these three projects phased over 2020-2022. Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of RIL expressed his delight on the on-schedule progress of the project.

Total, the French oil major, is all set to begin drilling its first deep-water exploration well in a Gulf of Mexico block in October. Mexico’s National Hydrocarbons Commission has approved the plan. According to the energy ministry data, the 1,149 square mile block is believed to contain some 1,440 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe). The reserve is composed of mostly light and extra light crude and natural gas.