Offshore NEWS

American E&P firm, Noble Energy has contracted Maersk Drilling's Valiant for the work offshore Colombia. The contract is valued at $18.2m and is expected to be concluded in 65 days. Noble said that the contract fees also includes mobilization and demobilization services. The 2013-built Maersk Valiant is Maersk Drilling’s seventh-generation drillship and comes equipped with integrated managed pressure drilling (MPD) capabilities.

Oil supermajor, Total has inked an agreement with Angolian state-owned Sonangol to buy stakes in two blocks of the Kwanza Basin, offshore Angola. The deal will gain Total ownership to 50% working interest in Block 20/11, and 80% working interest in Block 21/09. While the payment of $400m to Sonangol will come upon completion of the transaction, another $100m will be funded after reaching a final investment decision (FID).

Continuing on its growth strategy, Scottish service provider, Motive Offshore has concluded the purchase of Norway-based Pumptech for a seven-figure sum. The acquisition will allow Motive to leverage Pumptech’s large fleet of zone-2-accredited hydraulic pump units (HPUs), apart from their expertise in flexible flowlines and umbilical testing. Richard Charles has been appointed as Flexibles Division Manager for the new division.

Aquarius Marine Coatings (AMC) has introduced a new anti-foul coating solution for offshore oil and gas. Coppercoat-Commercial has high levels of copper and is a natural anti-microbial agent. It will effectively protect sub-sea infrastructure from hosting layers of plant, animal and microbe growth. This coating does not contain any volatile organic compounds and offers protection against degradation forms.

Rovco, a subsea technology company has launched a new product called “SubSLAM Live”. It is 3D streaming technology which will allow clients to live stream 3D underwater point clouds to any device in the world. “The model is compressed and progressively sent over a low-bandwidth <256Kb network link to a cloud server along with the ROV's position", says Rovoco's CSO.

Drilling services provider, Valaris has landed new contracts and extensions for its drilling rigs, with approximately $285m in associated revenue backlog. The drillship Valaris DS-18 (Relentless) has been granted contract extension with EnVen in the US Gulf of Mexico. Valaris also landed contracts and extensions for DS-15, JU-292, JU-290, JU-249, JU-144, and others.

Viewport3 is a Subsea 3D scanning specialist and has bagged two pre-removal scanning contracts. These contracts have a combined value of £100k. After securing these contracts the company will embark its new journey in the decommissioning market. The technologies provided by Viewport3 will help the operators in making decisions about the removal of items from the seabed, reduce ad-hoc engineering and minimize time spent offshore.

Oil major Royal Dutch Shell and ExxonMobil have taken on lease offshore block for 30 years. The companies have paid Somalia $1.7 mn as the preliminary rent. According to the information from Shell, these charges are for retrospective charges. Also, the operation will be withheld in what is known as force majeure.

Shell has dropped out of the Khazar offshore project in Kazakhstan, while a multinational consortium including Shell is also getting rid of its plans for the Kalamkas block. The Khazar project has seen approximately $900 million in investments from Shell. In a statement, Shell said, “The (Khazar) project was not competitive enough versus other opportunities in Shell’s global portfolio,”. KazMunayGaz and Oman Oil Co were Shell’s partner in Khazar.

Leading manufacturer of Casing & Cementing accessories, Crimson Oil Tools has made a successful contract delivery to Europe’s Drillwerk. Crimson had secured the contract in July 2019 for the delivery of Casing & Cementing accessories to be utilized in upstream operations. Mayank Sharma, MD of Crimson Oil Tools, said, “With the delivery of this contract, we build on the continued success to deliver high-quality Casing & Cementing accessories”.

Posco International has awarded a FEED contract to EPC giant, McDermott International for the development of the Shwe Phase 3 gas field, offshore Myanmar. The contract requires McDermott to carry out FEED services for a new compression platform, a bridge link, and reformations in existing platforms. The work is slated for completion by the second quarter of next year.

Shearwater has won 2D/3D seismic project offshore Southeast Asia. This survey will be executed using SW Vespucci Multi-Purpose Vessel. Under the scope of this contract, 1,600 km² area will be covered for the 3D seismic survey. “The MPV platform is ideally suited for clients with diverse project requirements”, said CEO of Shearwater GeoServices. SW Vespucci is capable of conducting source, 2D, 3D, and ocean bottom nodal seismic acquisition.

British E&P major, Tullow Oil has made another discovery on the Orinduik license, offshore Guyana. This marks the second in the line of discoveries for Tullow Oil in its Jethro-1 exploration well, the first discovery made back in August 2019. The exploration well was drilled to a final depth of 2,175m using Stena Forthdrillship. The Orinduik Block is operated by Tullow, where Total and Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas are partners.

Ashtead Technology has completed a subsea installation monitoring project for Ocean Installer AS. To support the installation, Ashtead has integrated its Deflection Monitoring System (DMS) services and equipment. “The DMS system proved invaluable for the safe and efficient installation of the ITS structures during the Askeladd and Johan Castberg projects", said Ocean Installer, offshore manager.

Guinean Minister of Hydrocarbon and Mines yesterday informed that Noble Energy has discovered oil in Block 1 offshore Equatorial Guinea. The US oil firm is looking to produce new oil from the block by October. Noble Energy encountered oil by drilling the Aseng 6P well for more than 4,000 meters. Noble operates the Aseng field with a 40% stake, where Glencore, Gunvor and Atlas Petroleum are partners.

Halfwave, a pipeline inspection company has won four contracts for subsea inspection in the first half of 2019. The company's ROV mounted ARTEMIS tool is gaining popularity and is being deployed across major oilfield projects globally. "These major contracts show Acoustic Resonance Technology is fast becoming the preferred technology for pipeline inspection", said Halfwave's CEO.

Subsea services group Acteon has acquired Proserv's international Field Technology Services and Survey business units. This has added to its Claxton brand's subsea expertise. Aceton's Chief Executive said that this will add capabilities and capacity to their UTEC Survey offering and will help in the globalization of Claxton product and service range. The Survey business unit will join its existing UTEC Survey business.

Thailand-based E&P major, PTTEP has found an enormous gas field with first well drilled on the SK410B block offshore Sarawak, Malaysia. PTTEP’s Malaysian subsidiary discovered 252m of net gas pay, indicating a multi-trillion cubic feet (tcf) gas discovery. Drilled to a depth of 3,810 m, the Lang Lebah-1RDR2 is supposedly PTTEP’s largest discovery.