World news
December 2014
In brief
December
2014
Oilfield Technology
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5
Chevron Announces First Oil From Jack/St. Malo project in
the Gulf of Mexico
Chevron Corporation has announced that crude oil and natural gas production has begun at the
Jack/St. Malo project in the Lower Tertiary trend, deepwater US Gulf of Mexico. Jack/St. Malo is
a key part of Chevron’s queue of upstream projects and was delivered on time and on budget.
The Jack and St. Malo fields are among the largest in the Gulf of Mexico. They were
discovered in 2004 and 2003, respectively, and production from the first development stage is
expected to ramp up over the next several years to a total daily rate of 94 000 bbls of crude oil
and 21 million ft
3
of natural gas. With a planned production life of more than 30 years, current
technologies are anticipated to recover in excess of 500 million boe. Successive development
phases, which could employ enhanced recovery technologies, may enable substantially
increased recovery at the fields.
George Kirkland, Vice Chairman and Executive Vice President, Upstream, was quoted as
saying, “The Jack/St. Malo project delivers valuable new production and supports our plan to
reach 3.1 million bpd by 2017.”
The Jack and St. Malo fields are located within 25 miles (40 km) of each other in
approximately 7000 ft (2100 m) of water in the Walker Ridge area, some 280 miles (450 km)
south of New Orleans, Louisiana.
The fields were co‑developed with subsea completions flowing back to a single, host
semisubmersible floating production unit located between the fields. The facility is the largest of
its kind in the Gulf of Mexico and has a production capacity of 170 000 bpd.
PGS commences Australian
multiclient 3D survey
PGS has announced the successful
commencement of the Springboard MC3D
programme in the Ceduna sub‑Basin
offshore South Australia.
The Springboard MC3D has significant
industry support and is being acquired by
the Ramform Sovereign, a state‑of‑the‑art
seismic vessel that utilises the company’s
GeoStreamer® technology.
The capabilities of GeoStreamer, PGS’
towed streamer acquisition technology
are expected to enhance hydrocarbon
exploration efforts by helping provide
greater confidence in subsurface imaging,
improved prospect definition and
identification as well as better geological
modelling with less reliance on sparse well
data.
The programme will see some 8000 km
2
of data acquired in this frontier area.
It is widely expected that drilling will
commence in this deepwater area within
two years.
Wood Review alone not
enough to save UK O&G
Gaffney, Cline and Associates (GCA) has
stated that the key recommendations for
the North Sea oil and gas industry in the
Wood Review are welcome, but are unlikely
on their own to be sufficient to reverse the
downward trend of the UK North Sea oil
industry.
GCA argues that urgent tax adjustments
are needed to keep the industry alive,
structured in a manner that will require the
industry to re‑inject the financial benefit
back into the region.
A spokesperson for GCA said, “UK
government tax revenues from oil and
gas production are falling fast and now
represent less than 1% of the total
UK tax take. With rejuvenated supplies of
oil from North America and elsewhere and
the currently reduced demand from the
developed and emerging nations, lower
prices will result in falling investment and
activity levels in high cost areas such as the
North Sea unless key changes are made.”
Russia
Russian Finance Minister, Anton Siluanov
has claimed that his country sees
the likely oil price for the medium‑
to long‑term lying in the region of
US$ 80 ‑ 90, reports Reuters.
Russia, whose economy is heavily
dependent on oil and gas exports, had
based its 2015‑17 budget on an average
oil price of US$ 100/bbl. Siluanov told
Russia’s parliament that “We are now in a
new environment [...] so our budget [and]
economic plans should be built assuming
the new macro environment which, we
think, will not change any time soon.”
Indonesia
The Indonesian government has
appointed Dwi Soetjipto as the new CEO
of the state‑run oil and gas company
Pertamina.
Soetjipto’s appointment comes as
the company’s board was dismissed
by Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication
Commision. State Enterprises Minister,
Rini Soemarno, said “We want to speed
up efforts to make Pertamina transparent
– to make it a world‑class company – so
[...] it was decided to [...] appoint new
directors.”
Iraq
Iraq’s central government has reached an
agreement with the semi‑autonomous
Kurdistan region, hopefully bringing an
end to long‑term disputes over oil exports
and payments.
The country’s Finance Minister,
Hoshyar Zebari has said that Kurdistan
would send 550 000 bpd to Baghdad in
exchange for a 17% share of the national
budget.
The KRG needs the funding to fund its
security forces in their campaign against
the ISIS militancy.
