UPSTREAM NEWS

Portuguese oil and gas company Galp Energia reported a 90% jump in adjusted second-quarter profit on Monday, citing soaring oil prices and a sharp increase in its refining margin. Rapid recovery in demand after pandemic lockdowns and a surge in energy prices driven by Russia's invasion of Ukraine have boosted profits for oil companies around the globe.

US supermajor ExxonMobil is selling for $750 million its stake in one of the world’s first actively produced shale plays, the Barnett shale of Texas in the US, to BKV Corporation. ExxonMobil in 2020 removed the company's Barnett holdings from its development plan and had been actively marketing the assets since last November.

Japan plans to step up its investment role in upstream projects for liquefied natural gas (LNG), to spur new development and boost fuel offtake by its companies, the industry minister said on Friday.

From April 1, the government has raised the price of gas for old fields of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) to USD 6.1 per million British thermal unit for April-September 2022 from USD 2.9.

In a proposal sent to the petroleum ministry for consultation, Niti Aayog has recommended setting up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for exploration, which will be equally funded by the government and state-run oil and gas companies, according to people familiar with the matter.

Brunei plans to boost production of oil and gas following the discovery of 42 million barrels of oil equivalent last year, according to energy minister Mat Suny bin Mohd Hussein. Significantly, the country is banking on new finds to reverse an expected decline in upstream output.

Nigeria’s oil industry has continued to bleed owing to incessant shutdowns due to ageing upstream infrastructure, vandalism and community-related issues, with the country losing over 4.82 million barrels to the challenges, industry data obtained by THISDAY has revealed. Although a marked reduction from the 6.3 million barrels lost in the preceding month, the country’s production losses recorded in October came mainly from Forcados, Bonny, Odudu, Brass, Yoho, Urha, Ajapa and Aje in the Niger Delta. But a review showed that the situation will most likely continue unmitigated, at least in the short term, as Shell a few days ago announced a halt in crude shipments from the same Forcados, a situation that may negatively impact the country’s revenue stream and worsen existing shortages in the international market.

"The Indonesian government estimates that $187 billion needs to be invested in its upstream sector to meet its 2030 oil and gas production targets of 1 million barrels per day of oil and 12 billion standard cubic feet per day of gas. However, this target seems ambitious with major investors seeking to exit Indonesia’s oil and gas sector."

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 9): Oil and gas (O&G) upstream investment will need to increase and be sustained at near pre-Covid-19 levels of US$525 billion (about RM2.21 trillion) through 2030 to ensure market balance despite slowing demand growth. A recent report titled “Investment Crisis Threatens Energy Security” by the International Energy Forum and IHS Markit said upstream investment in the O&G sector in 2021 was depressed for a second consecutive year at US$341 billion — nearly 25% below 2019 levels. Meanwhile, O&G demand is now near pre-pandemic highs and will continue to rise for the next several years, particularly in developing countries.

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), has outlined action plans to deal with the recent oil spill in Santa Barbara, Nembe, Bayelsa at an AITEO facility, as investigations into the cause of the spill continues.

With the immediate end to spending on new upstream projects and an expected shutting-in of higher-cost production, global oil supplies would shrink by more than 8% each year, the IEA estimates under its Net-Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario or NZE. Oil demand will never again reach its historic peak in 2019 before shrinking to 24 million b/d in 2050, from around 90 million b/d in 2020, the IEA's scenario showed. Gas demand would also decline by 55% over 2020 levels to 1,750 Bcm by 2050.

Egypt is in the process of launching the Egypt Upstream Gateway, a digital subsurface platform that will act as an up-to-date repository of the country’s subsurface data. This unique digital initiative will be used to unlock the potential of Egypt's petroleum sector and promote the country's exploration and production potential worldwide.

Joe Biden’s move to block the $9 billion Keystone XL project is the clearest sign yet that constructing a major new pipeline in the U.S. has become an impossible task. Even before Biden’s inauguration, the oil and gas industry was on its back foot when it came to building major new infrastructure.

A few days ago, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and BP announced the start of production from the R Cluster. It is an ultra-deepwater gas field in block KG D6 off the east coast of India. it is located at a depth of more than 2,000 meters, making R Cluster the deepest offshore gas field in Asia. RIL and BP are developing three deepwater gas projects in block KG D6.

A big decision comes the industry's way as Denmark decides to retire from the North Sea. On Thursday, the Danish Parliament voted in favour of ending the offshore oil and gas extraction. The nation has cancelled it's latest licensing round, saying the country is "now putting an end to the fossil fuel era". Currently, one-third of Denmark's electricity production derives from wind turbines.

OPEC+ fears the second wave of COVID-19. The cartel is particularly troubled due to the jump in Libyan output. On Thursday, the Joint Technical Committee held a virtual meeting to discuss the issues. "In particular, a resurgence of COVID-19 cases across the world and prospects for partial lockdowns in the coming winter months could compound the risks to economic and oil demand recovery," said the panel.

Seabed Geosolutions has been awarded a survey contract in the Brazilian waters. The company will have to perform a baseline 4D ocean bottom node (OBN) survey and a future 4D monitor OBN survey. The operations will be performed in water depths over 2,200m. "We are delighted to be awarded another high-profile, deepwater OBN project in Brazil", said the company. Seabed is a joint venture between Fugro and CGG.

Ithaca Energy has awarded a five-year integrated services contract to oilfield services provider Petrofac. According to the contract, Petrofac will integrate operations, as well as provide maintenance, engineering and construction services for Ithaca’s North Sea assets. Petrofac will also provide onshore and offshore technical support across all of the Ithaca’s North Sea operated asset base. Ithaca Energy has working interests in 18 offshore producing fields in the UK North Sea.