UPSTREAM NEWS

Oil supermajor, Total today informed about selling assets in Brunei, Sierra Leone and Liberia, valued at more than $400 million. While Total's wholly-owned subsidiary in Brunei, Total E&P Deep Offshore Borneo BV was soled to Shell, its marketing and services businesses in Liberia and Sierra Leone was sold off to Conex Oil & Gas Holdings Ltd.

India's oil major, ONGC, wants marketing and pricing freedom along with the tax cuts. The company wrote an SOS to the government seeking help amidst the crashing prices and slumping market. It has become a challenge to continue with sustaining operations. And if the conditions persist, ONGC might have to cut down on investments. Last month also the state-owned company wrote to the government regarding the abolition of oil cess.

Equinor has discovered oil at its Monument exploration well in the Gulf of Mexico. The company said that further drilling is still required to establish its size. A statement from Equinor read, “We are pleased to have proved an accumulation of movable hydrocarbons in the Monument exploration well. However, determining the full potential of the discovery will require further appraisal drilling,”. Equinor holds a 50% stake at the prospect.

Sweden-based Coor has landed a contract extension from Norwegian energy major, Equinor for offshore facility management. The contract extension is a direct continuation of Coor's March 2015 contract. Coor has been delivering facility management services to five Statfjord and Snorre oil platforms for 5 years. The contract agreement is estimated to cost Equinor ~$19.8m each year and the latest extension will come into effect from July, 2020.

As energy firms around the world cut costs amidst the oil price crash, oil supermajor BP plc has decided to not cut jobs over the next three months. A Linkedin post from Chief Executive Officer, Bernard Looney read that the company’s response to the crisis “will not include making any BP staff redundant over the next 3 months.” BP employs over 73,000 staff across several countries.

In the wake of the crash in energy prices, oil supermajor Shell Plc has withdrawn from a major U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant under development. The move quickly followed Shell's partner, Energy Transfer postponing its final decision on whether to move forward with the project to next year. Analysts have forecasted a number of under-development projects not moving into execution mode due to sinking energy demand.

Engineering firm, Aker Solutions has inked a five-year agreement to provide offshore maintenance and modification services to Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP) through a joint venture with PTAS Sdn Bhd. The scope of the contract includes maintenance and upgrades to sustain production levels for over 200 offshore assets. The joint venture will operate under the name of PTAS Aker Solutions Sdn Bhd, and will ensure seamless delivery to BSP.

With coronavirus outbreak worsening every passing day, UK trade body Oil and Gas UK (OGUK) has now released figures indicating a 40% drop in the staff across North Sea offshore installations since the start of the outbreak. While over 11,500 normally operate on North Sea installations, the number has dropped to 7,000 workers. OGUK had said in a briefing last week that companies were negating coronavirus risks by bringing staff down.

Energy researcher, IHS Markit has forecasted a huge crude oil storage crunch in the coming time, with the situation close to becoming a reality in as little as three months. The consultant said that current rates of supply and demand indicate an increase in inventories by 1.8 billion barrels over the first half of 2020. There are only an estimated 1.6 billion barrels in storage capacity currently available.

Market researcher, Rystad Energy has forecasted over one million jobs in the oilfield service industry to be lost in the wake of coronavirus outbreak. The looming layoff wave is being attributed to low project volumes because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The oilfield services industry employs over five million people globally. Analysts at Rystad Energy predict that the contractors will drop at least 21% of their workforce.

Norwegian oil major, Equinor has been aiming to cut around $3 billion in investments, exploration drilling and operating costs in order to navigate through coronavirus crisis and low oil prices. In a statement, Equinor affirmed that the new measures will allow its operations to be cash-flow neutral in 2020 at an average oil price of around $25 per barrel. Equinor has already terminated a $5 billion share buyback program.

Tullow Ghana has terminated Maersk Drilling's contract for the Maersk Venturer deepwater drillship. The rig which has been working for Tullow Ghana since February 2018 was contracted for operations until February 2022. Following the contract termination, the rig will operate only till June 2020. As of March 20th, 2020, Maersk Drilling upholds its profitability guidance for 2020 of EBITDA before special items of $325-$375 million.

CNPC-owned China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corp (CPECC) has landed the $203.5 million worth sour gas treatment contract in Iraq. The engineering contract is part of the 29-month long project which aims at building 4.39 million cubic meter-sour gas treatment facility for Iraq’s Majnoon oilfield. The field is currently operated by state-run Basra Oil Co, and produces around 240,000 bpd, which will be later boosted to 450,000 bpd.

Oil supermajor BP Plc yesterday denied “any serious disruption” to its operations owing to the COVID-19 outbreak. The British oil firm informed about enforcing a new ‘team-based’ shift model to curtail any kind of contact between two teams at major operational sites, including refineries. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the collapse of a supply cut deal have forced several oil and gas firms, including BP to announce spending cuts.

Norway's BW Offshore has landed a five-year contract for the lease and operation of the BW Pioneer from MP Gulf of Mexico, LLC. The contract, concluding in March 2025, has an option to extend for another five-year. CEO, BW Offshore said, “We are very pleased to have reached a long-term agreement with MP GOM for the BW Pioneer, confirming our strong relationship with MP GOM on the Cascade and Chinook fields”.

Oilfield services giant, Halliburton yesterday said that it will furlough 3500 staff in Houston for 60 days amidst expenditure cut by shale producers due to falling oil prices. The move will mean that the affected staff will be working in a cycle of one-week on and one-week off during the period. While benefits will remain during the furlough, payment will not be made to workers for the weeks not at work.

As the coronavirus pandemic and low oil prices continue to strangle the market, Canadian oil and gas firms are looking to cut over C$2.4 billion to C$3.5 billion ($1.7 billion-$2.5 billion) from financial budgets for 2020. The latest in the line of producers releasing capital spending cuts include Crescent Point Energy Corp., NuVista Energy Ltd., Vermilion Energy Inc. and Enerplus Corp. Husky Energy is planning to cut C$1 billion in expenditure.

Oilfield services major, Weatherford International yesterday registered a profit for the 4Q19, a first one in over six years. The Houston-based firm, which recently recovered from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, recorded a $5.3 billion in profits on more than $1.2 billion of revenue during the last quarter. The numbers were mixed on the $2.1 billion loss on $1.4 billion of revenue during the fourth quarter of 2018.