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Rigs report: Chevron cites 'extraordinary' Guyana asset in Hess acquisition; drilling to commence in Namibia
Another mega merger is on the horizon after oil major Chevron announced its imminent acquisition of Hess Corporation for US$53Bn in stock. The Chevron-Hess deal comes less than a fortnight after ExxonMobil said it would acquire Pioneer Natural Resources for US$60Bn
The Hess deal has ramifications for the offshore sector as the company (along with Exxon and CNOOC) is one of the few producers with assets in Guyana, where the discovery of crude oil is increasingly making the country a prominent producer in Latin America.
Chevron cited Hess’ 30% ownership in more than 11Bn recoverable barrels of oil as a major factor for the acquisition and noted assets in the Gulf of Mexico and natural gas business in southeast Asia. Hess Corp chief executive John Hess is expected to join Chevron’s board of directors once the deal closes H1 2024.
Equinor has begun production from its North Sea Breidablikk oil field four months ahead of schedule. The Norwegian oil major reported start-up of production on 20 October, noting production was both “within budget, and with higher initial production than expected.”
The Breidablikk subsea field is estimated to hold 200M barrels of recoverable oil and is tied back to existing infrastructure at the Grane platform. A plan for development and operation was submitted in September 2020, with production scheduled to begin H1 2024, with pre-drilling and completion of five wells.
Equinor, as field operator, has already drilled eight wells and will continue drilling additional wells until the end of 2025. Petoro, Vår Energi and ConocoPhillips all hold stakes in the asset.
Breidablikk is being developed with 22 subsea wells drilled from four templates. Pipelines and cables have been installed between the subsea facility and the Grane platform, which has been modified to receive the well stream.
Investments in Breidablikk are expected to top Nkr21Bn. Oil from Breidablikk is processed on Grane and sent ashore by pipeline to the Sture terminal in Øygarden.
Equinor believes oil will account for 15% of exports from Sture in the years to come. The new field will be operated together with the Grane field by the Equinor organisation at Sandsli in Bergen.
At its peak, Breidablikk is expected to send “up to 55-60,000 barrels of oil to the market daily, mainly to Europe,” according to Equinor executive vice president for exploration and production Norway, Kjetil Hove.
In Namibia, Sintana Energy is preparing to drill in Petroleum Exploration License 83 (PEL 83) with a semi-submersible. The licence governs blocks 2813A and 2814B and is located in the heart of Namibia’s Orange Basin, a prospective region that has attracted the attention of the oil majors.
PEL 83 is located immediately north of Shell-operated PEL 39, home to the basin opening discoveries at Graff-1, La Rona-1 and Jonker-1. Shell is conducting exploration and appraisal activities on its blocks with an ongoing multi-well campaign through the balance of 2023 and in 2024.
PEL 83 is also located northeast of PEL 56 where TotalEnergies announced its giant oil discovery at Venus-1.
Custos and NAMCOR own 10% working interests in PEL 83, and are carried by Portugese energy company Galp through first sales. Sintana maintains an indirect 49% interest in Custos.
Contracts
In May, Galp entered into a contract with SFL Corp for the semi-submersible rig Hercules. The 115-day contract, prior to any extension option exercise, is for two wells plus optional well testing.
Hercules is currently in transit along the West African coast and due to reach Walvis Bay, Namibia on or about 4 November, subsequently moving on to the first location with an expected spud date mid-November.
The initial drilling campaign is targeting the massive Mopane complex (thought to contain up to 10Bn barrels) located at the southern end of PEL 83.
In Scotland, Noble Intrepid jack-up arrived at Aberdeen South Harbour in the Port of Aberdeen for reactivation work ahead of mobilisation for Harbour Energy at the Judy field in the North Sea. Semco Maritime will provide quayside services throughout its time in port.
Harbour Energy booked 2014-built Noble Intrepid in August at a day rate of US$95,000. The contract starts in December 2023 and includes two one-month options at the same day rate and one three-month option for well services at US$120,000 per day.
With Aberdeen South Harbour complete, Port of Aberdeen is the largest berthage port in Scotland. The new facility, next to the Energy Transition Zone, can accommodate vessels up to 300 m in length, with port users and customers benefiting from an additional 1.5 km of deepwater berths, to a maximum depth of 15 m, 125,000 m2 of flexible project areas and significant heavy-lift capacity.
The Port’s chief commercial officer, Roddy James said, “The arrival of this latest rig builds on the success of the Noble Innovator maintenance project delivered earlier this year in partnership with Noble Corp and Semco Maritime. This is another great example of how Aberdeen South Harbour is unlocking new opportunities for the port and northeast supply chain.”
Deepwater driller Transocean has issued its latest quarterly fleet status report: the drillship Dhirubhai Deepwater KG1 has had its contract extended by 60 days at a rate of US$348,000. The unit is currently working in India for Reliance under a short-term contract due to expire in November. The parastatal Oil and Natural Gas Corp has also awarded the drillship a 21-month contract at a rate of US$347,500. Work is expected to begin Q1 2024.
An unnamed national oil company has awarded Deepwater Aquila a three-year contract in Brazil at a day rate of US$448,000. Transocean said the aggregate incremental backlog associated with these fixtures is approximately US$745M and the company backlog stands at US$9.4Bn as of 18 October 2023.
Transocean also reported the conclusion of a 20-day deal in the US Gulf of Mexico for Deepwater Invictus at US$440,000/day.
Finally, Norwegian semi-submersible owner Dolphin Drilling is the winner of an Oil India tender and has received a letter of award (LOA) for a 14-month drilling campaign, extendable by another 7 months. The LOA is subject to signed final contract.
Riviera Maritime Media’s Offshore Support Journal Conference, Middle East will be held 6 December 2023 in Dubai, UAE. Use this link for further information and to register your interest
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