UPSTREAM NEWS

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.

Well-Safe Solutions has acquired the harsh-environment jack-up West Epsilon from deepwater drilling contractor Seadrill. Well-Safe Solutions noted that the rig will be refurbished and renamed ‘Well-Safe Protector’. Operations on the upgrade of the company’s first rig Well-Safe Guardian were paused earlier this year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, operations are restarting, and the company expects to deploy both Guardian and Protector early next year.

The contractor has downplayed an incident that took place during work to dismantle what’s left of the Buchan Alpha oil rig. A video appears to show a worker attempting to run to safety when the structure he’s cutting into with a blowtorch, in waters off Shetland, becomes detached and off-balance. No one was injured and the Health and Safety Executive has not been involved.

More than one-fifth of U.S. offshore oil production and exporting ports were shut in lieu of Hurricane Sally which will make landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Sally was upgraded to a Category 2 hurricane and could strengthen further before making landfall late on Tuesday. 21% of offshore crude oil production and 25% of natural gas output were shut in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

Kosmos Energy has agreed to sell certain exploration assets worth $200 million in Africa and South America to Royal Dutch Shell. Kosmos plans to use up to one-third of the initial sale proceeds of $100 million to test two high-quality infrastructure-led exploration prospects in the Gulf of Mexico. Shell will acquire the company’s participating interest in blocks offshore São Tomé and Príncipe, Suriname, Namibia and South Africa.

Cairn has signed an agreement to sell its entire Senegalese stake to Woodside Energy. Cairn at first was planning to sell its 40% of the Senegalese stake to Lukoil in a deal worth up to $400m, but Woodside had exercised its right to pre-empt the transaction on the same terms and conditions. Woodside Energy will hold a 68.3% stake in the main Sangomar deepwater project and a 75% stake in the remaining areas.

UK-based Geoteric has launched two new seismic interpretation products, Collaborative AI and Geoteric Stratum. Collaborative AI complements the existing Geoteric workflows. It enhances traditional interpretation, and efficiently extracts faults from seismic data. While, Geoteric Stratum is a new cloud-based AI software that delivers simple usability and even greater detail for fault identification, reservoir compartmentalization, and well trajectory planning. Geoteric's products enable faster and more accurate results.

Ancient artefacts have been discovered on the seabed off Australia’s west coast. This discovery has opened up a new frontier for resource companies to look out for in conserving indigenous heritage. In July, archaeologists stumbled upon hundreds of stone tools submerged off the Dampier Archipelago in Western Australia, showing evidence of people living in the area when it was dry land more than 7,000 years ago.

Total has resigned from its role as operator of five exploration blocks in the Foz do Amazonas Basin, 120 kilometers offshore Brazil. The area may contain as many as 14 billion barrels of petroleum. Environmentalists, however, have tried to prevent oil exploration in the area, which is home to a sizeable reef. A new operator will be appointed for the job in a period of six months.

Saudi Aramco has discovered two new oil and gas fields in the northern regions. The new Abraq al-Toloul oil field in the northern city of Arar, flows with a daily rate of 3,189 bpd, along with 3.5 million cubic feet of natural gas. Hadabat al Hajara gas field in the al-Jof region has a daily production rate of 16 million cubic feet of natural gas, along with 1944 bpd of oil condensate

Equinor has claimed a “world-first” with the use of a drone to deliver lifeboat system parts offshore. A drone flew from the Mongstad base to the Troll A platform in the North Sea. The flight spanning around 80 kilometers to the Troll field took about one hour, at an altitude of approx. 5000 feet. The flight was a test, the world’s first of its kind.

DOF Subsea has secured multiple new contracts worth $110m from Brazilian firm Petrobras. According to the contract, DOF Subsea will provide survey and inspection services within its core service lines. These operations will be performed in the Campos, Santos, and Espírito Santos basins, as well as Marlin Field. The contract works are expected to start in the fourth quarter of this year.

Kongsberg Digital and ABB Turbocharging have signed a collaboration agreement on edge data collection and ship engine performance analysis. They plan to work towards a common data infrastructure and accelerate the development of value-added digital applications and services. The collaboration will enable ABB Turbocharging to use Kongsberg Digital’s data infrastructure solution for vessels, which runs on Kongsberg Digital’s Kognifai ecosystem.

Weir Oil & Gas Dubai has signed a three-year agreement with a national oil company in the UAE. The contract secures the provision of Weir Oil & Gas Rotating Equipment services, machine shop services, emergency manufacturing and site works. This agreement could position Weir as a key provider for the client and allow Weir to expand its portfolio in the specific oil field.

Energy firms shut 57.6% of offshore crude oil production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico because of the twin threat from Hurricane Marco and Tropical Storm Laura. Also, 44.6% of natural gas output was shut ahead of the storms by the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. Workers have been evacuated from 114 production platforms out of the 643 manned platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

Drilling rig operator Maersk Drilling has secured another one-well contract from Aker BP. The $21.6m contract excludes a potential performance bonus and comes with a further one-well option. The original contract forms part of the Aker BP includes alliance agreement with Maersk Drilling and Halliburton. The contract for the Maersk Integrator is a direct continuation of its previously announced work scope and is expected to start next April.

An order had passed to OFS International, to stop manufacturing and selling six connections which Tenaris alleged were based on confidential information and trade secrets that OFSi stole from Tenaris’s subsidiary by the federal judge. The order prohibits OFSi from developing new connections using Tenaris’s confidential information and requires OFSi to return or destroy all stolen information in its possession.

Following the tracks of Noble Energy and Diamond Offshore Drilling, Valaris Plc has also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The firm's revenue has taken a major hit due to the slump in the oil prices. Oil companies have canceled or delayed drilling programs while asking for price concessions and other contract modifications. Valaris ended the first quarter with $6.8 billion of debt against roughly $200 million in cash and $1.3 billion available on its credit facility.