Petrobras See Presalt Output Rise

Oil and gas production from Petrobras-operated presalt fields offshore Brazil rose by 4% in August to a new monthly record of 1.36 MMboe/d.

This was mainly due to the connection of new wells and increased production from wells already linked to the FPSOs Cidade Maricá and Cidade de Saquarema.

Both are installed in the Lula field in the presalt Santos basin.

Meanwhile, Malaysia’s SapuraKencana Petroleum has delivered the sixth and final pipelay vessel, Sapura Rubi, to Petrobras.

The vessel started work offshore Brazil last week.

SapuraKencana’s Brazilian joint venture with Seadrill, Sapura Navegacao Maritima (SNM), is managing operations.

In 2011 and 2013, Petrobras awarded SNM two contracts with a total value of S$4.1billion ($3 billion) to build and operate the six pipelay vessels for deepwater flexible pipelay offshore Brazil for up to eight years, extendable by a further eight years.

The previously delivered Sapura Diamante, Sapura Topázio, Sapura Ônix, Sapura Jade, and Sapura Esmeralda are all at work on deepwater fields.

Nigeria Offshore Block on Sale

Canadian Overseas Petroleum Ltd. (COPL) has acquired 80% of the share capital of Essar Exploration and Production (Nigeria).

Essar Nigeria’s sole asset is a 100% operated interest in OPL 226, 50 km (31 mi) offshore in the central area of the Niger Delta.

Assuming approval from Nigeria’s government, COPL subsidiary ShoreCan will take over management of Essar Nigeria.

Recently Essar gained an extension to the first phase of the PSC to Dec. 31, 2017. The remaining commitment on this phase is to drill one well. COPL has identified a drilling location, which will be an offset to an oil discovery made in 2001 by a previous concession holder.

OPL 226 spans 1,530 sq km (591 sq mi) in water depths of 40-180 m (131-590 ft), with near-term oil production potential and exploration upside.

Five wells have been drilled, of which the last proved oil after earlier drilling intersected largely gas-bearing sands.

The block is located along a large fault-controlled structural complex. To date 1,750 km (1,087 mi) of 2D seismic and around 1,300 sq km (502 sq mi) of 3D seismic have been acquired. In addition, ShoreCan has completed additional seismic processing to the most recent 3D survey acquired by Essar in 2012.

ShoreCan applied advanced seismic processing techniques to differentiate oil-bearing sands from gas and water-bearing sands.

Thailand Oil Field in 2nd Phase

Tap Oil Ltd. has provided an update on exploration drilling in the Manora oil field area in the northern Gulf of Thailand.

Last week the jackup Atwood Orca started drilling the MNA-17 well from the Manora platform.

This is an appraisal/pilot well, appraising the 500 series sands and assessing a separate untested fault block, the Manora West Structure, which could de-risk the Greater Manora West prospective resources.

MNA-17 (AP) well reached a TD of 1,916.5 m (6,288 ft) TVDSS. It intersected three sands in the Primary 500 sand target, the upper two of which were water wet with the lower sand delivering a log-derived oil column of 2.1 m (6.9 ft) TVDSS in good-porosity reservoir.

The deeper Manora West Fault block target intersected a low porosity reservoir with minor oil shows.

Drilling has now commenced on the MNA-17 (AJ) well path, which will use the upper pilot section before being side tracked northeast into the central fault block as a new production well.

It should take seven days to drill with a planned depth of 1,981.2 m (6,500 ft) TVDSS.

Gulf of Papua Grants Exploration Licenses

ExxonMobil and Oil Search (PNG) have agreed to acquire 40% stakes from Gini Energy in two licenses offshore Papua New Guinea.

PPLs 374 and PPL 375 are around 150 km (93 mi) south of Port Moresby in the deepwater Gulf of Papua, in water depths ranging from 1,000-2,500 m (3,281-8,202 ft). They span a total area of 24,936 sq km (9,628 sq mi).

Subject to regulatory and other approvals, operatorship of both licenses will transfer from Gini, a subsidiary of CNOOC, to ExxonMobil.

Oil Search managing director Peter Botten said: “During 2015/16, we undertook a comprehensive study of exploration opportunities in PNG. This work identified the offshore Papuan Gulf as an area where there is significant gas potential, with several multi-tcf gas leads and prospects already delineated in these licenses…“Entering these licenses is consistent with the company’s strategy to focus on areas that have the potential to support the company’s expanding LNG portfolio.”

North Sea Statfjord Reaches 5Bboe Mark

Norwegian Petroleum and Energy Minister Tord Lien joined representatives from Statoil, Centrica, and ExxonMobil to acknowledge 5 Bboe of production from the Statfjord field in the North Sea.

Operations started in 1979, and the partners have achieved a recovery factor to date of 67%, compared with the original target of 40%. They are now looking to extend production through 2025.

The field was slated to be shut down over a decade ago, but new technologies have helped extend its productive life. In fact, production has risen the past four years following a combination of subsurface work, efficient drilling and well operations, Statoil said.

Drilling costs have been reduced by 50%, while more than 1 million m (3.28 million ft) of wells have been drilled into the field.

Although Statfjord still produces oil, the Late Life project converted it to a predominantly gas field by reducing the reservoir pressure.

The program involved drilling 70 new wells and extensive modifications to the three platforms.

The high recovery factor is largely thanks to the Statfjord Late Life project, lifting the horizon towards 2025. This means that the old oil giant Statfjord will still be producing when a new giant by the name of Johan Sverdrup has started its 50-year production.