GE Oil & Gas Lands Subsea Wellhead Deal With ONGC

India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. (ONGC) has awarded GE Oil & Gas a multimillion-dollar frame agreement to supply about 55 subsea wellheads over the next three years. In a news release, GE said the SG5 wellheads will be used for the operator’s shallow- and medium-water drilling campaign offshore India. The first wellhead will be supplied in fourth-quarter 2016. GE said part of the manufacturing scope will take place in India for the first time, while engineering and project management support will come from regional teams in Singapore. The company has provided ONGC with subsea production equipment for more than 30 years.

“With India’s new energy policy and gas pricing policy in place we are seeing an uptick in ONGC’s exploration and development activity,” Ashish Bhandari, CEO-South Asia, GE Oil & Gas, said in a statement. “This latest award will enable GE to support ONGC as its technical partner, collaborating to improve the region’s energy supply capabilities through the discovery of new fields offshore.”

Subsea UK Brings Northwest Businesses Together

Subsea supply chain businesses in northwest England will be able to identify opportunities and debate the challenges facing the sector thanks to a new industry networking event organized by Subsea UK, the body which represents the British subsea industry.

The regional gathering is targeted at firms operating in what is a growing hub for the U.K. subsea sector.

With a focus on underwater activity in relation to oil and gas, defense, oceanology and marine renewables, the event is sponsored by Bender UK, WITTENSTEIN, James Fisher Marine Services, PMI Analytical and Maytree Engineering Services. The event also is supported by the Furness Economic Development Forum’s supply chain growth program.

“As an organization covering the whole of the U.K., we want to help all companies in the subsea sector exploit the potential to increase business at home and abroad, particularly in the current lower oil price environment,” Subsea UK CEO Neil Gordon said. “The northwest has seen continuing growth in the subsea sector across a variety of industries, particularly offshore wind.

“Subsea UK aims to provide a platform through which companies can come together to share best practice and debate the challenges that they face in their respective industries,” he added. “This event is an important step in helping organizations in the northwest to come together and work toward a common goal. Anyone with an interest in the subsea industry is welcome to attend.”

Tickets are £42 for Subsea UK members and £48 for nonmembers and will be held on Sept. 7 at Preston’s Marriot Hotel. For more information, visit subseauk.com/events.asp.

Seadrill Reviews Legal Options After Pemex Ends Contract

Seadrill Ltd. is reviewing its legal options after Pemex backed out of a two-year extension to contract the West Pegasus semisubmersible drilling rig, Seadrill said in a news release.

The termination became effective Aug. 16.

The offshore drilling contractor said a provisional commitment for the two-year extension was signed during second-quarter 2015, and the day rate for the remaining term of the initial contract was reduced. Seadrill said the extended contract was finalized during first-quarter 2016.

As part of this agreement, Seadrill and its 50%-owned joint venture with Finetech, Seamex Ltd., agreed to lower the day rate on five jackups for 365 days. The agreement to reduce the day rates of the existing contracts was contingent upon final confirmation of the two-year extension of the West Pegasus by Pemex management.

In the event of termination, Seadrill and Seamex are entitled to recover the day rate concessions as well as the demobilization for the West Pegasus. Seadrill said it also will seek reimbursement of certain costs incurred in anticipation of the extension.

Cobalt Terminates $1.75 Billion Sale Of Angola Oil Blocks

Cobalt International Energy Inc. said the proposed $1.75 billion sale of a 40% stake in two offshore oil blocks in Angola to the state oil company was terminated as it did not get the necessary approvals from the country's government.

The deal was automatically terminated after the Angolan government did not give the approvals within one year, Cobalt said on Aug. 23.

The oil and gas producer announced in August last year the sale of its 40% stake in the fields to Angola's Sonangol, which holds the remaining stake. But, three weeks back Cobalt warned that it was unlikely to close the deal.

Cobalt said on Aug. 23 it has begun the marketing and sale process of the assets.

The company's shares had tumbled more than 40% on Aug. 2 when the company first said that the deal was unlikely to close. Since then the stock has pared most of its losses through close on Aug. 22.

Ithaca Beefs Up Interest In Austen, Vorlich

Ithaca Energy has entered sale and purchase agreements (SPAs) to increase its interest in the Vorlich discovery from about 17% to 33%.

An SPA has also been signed for the acquisition of a 75% interest and operatorship of the Austen discovery. Austen lies around 30 km from the GSA hub and is estimated by Ithaca to contain gross contingent resources (1C to 3C) in the range of 4 MMboe to 28 MMboe.

“Initial considerations are payable at completion of the acquisitions, with additional contingent payments at FDP approval and upon reaching reserves recovery thresholds. The acquisition costs including potential future contingent payments total under US $6 million, with the transactions expected to complete in the second half of 2016,” Ithaca added.

During first-half 2016, the company said the producing asset portfolio performed well, with average production at 9,378 boe/d (93% oil). The “solid performance” was due in part to the Cook and Dons Area fields, where production exceeded guidance.

“Full year base production guidance, excluding any contribution from start-up of the Stella field during 2016, remains unchanged at 9,000 boe/d,” Ithaca said.

Anadarko Names New Executive Vice President of Operations

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. said on Aug. 23 that Darrell Hollek has become executive vice president of operations; he was formerly the executive vice president for U.S. onshore E&P.

Also, Ernie Leyendecker was appointed as executive vice president of international and deepwater exploration; he was formerly senior vice president for international exploration.

As executive vice president of operations, Hollek will handle U.S. onshore E&P and midstream activities and also Gulf of Mexico and international operations.

Hollek has been at Anadarko since 1980, when he joined as a field engineer. He has worked in areas including global deepwater drilling; international, Gulf of Mexico and U.S. onshore E&P; and environmental, health, safety and regulatory.

Hollek will also remain as a director of Western Gas Holdings LLC, a subsidiary of Anadarko, and Western Gas Equity Holdings LLC, the general partner of Western Gas Equity Partners LP.

Leyendecker has more than 30 years of experience and joined the company in 2002. He has worked as general manager for worldwide exploration engineering, planning and international negotiations; as vice president of corporate planning; and as senior vice president of Gulf of Mexico exploration.

Bob Daniels, formerly executive vice president of international and deepwater exploration, will continue his current role as an executive vice president and member of the executive committee until his retirement later this year.

Jim Kleckner, formerly executive vice president of international and deepwater operations, also is retiring.

Cypriot Firm Energean Will Buy Stake In Tanin, Karish Fields

The partners in Israeli offshore gas fields Tamar and Leviathan have agreed to sell their rights in two smaller fields to Ocean Energean Oil and Gas Ltd. for $148.5 million to comply with a government requirement.

Delek Group, which has controlling interests in several gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean, is being forced by the government to sell off some assets in an effort to open the sector to competition.

Energean will buy Texas-based Noble Energy’s 47.06% stake in the Tanin and Karish fields and the rest from Delek subsidiaries Avner Oil Exploration and Delek Drilling, Avner said in a statement Aug. 17. The buyer of Tanin and Karish, with combined gas reserves of 3 trillion cubic feet, is a subsidiary of Cyprus-registered Energean E&P Holdings Ltd., which operates mainly in Greece and the Aegean Sea.

“Within six months of closing the deal, Energean will submit a development plan for the two fields to the Israeli government, in the context of a project which will also strengthen the geopolitical role of the energy triangle shaped by Israel, Greece and Cyprus,” Energean Oil & Gas CEO Mathios Rigas said in a prepared statement.

The sellers will also be entitled to royalties if and when gas is produced from the fields.

In 2015, Delek paid its partner Noble for the rights to sell its stake in the two fields.

The sale is subject to regulatory approval.

Wood Group In Top 3% Of U.S. Design Firms

Wood Group has been recognized by Engineering News-Record (ENR) as #13 in its list of the top 500 design firms in the U.S.

Published annually, ENR ranks the largest U.S.-based engineering and construction firms based on 2015 revenue.

Wood Group placed No. 1 in the Pipeline category as well as the Offshore and Underwater Facilities category.

Wood Group also ranked in the top 20 of the following categories: Petroleum, No. 5; Auto Plants, No. 5; Refineries and Petrochemical Plants, No. 7; Chemical Plants, No. 7; Industrial Process, No. 8; Aerospace, No. 10; and Manufacturing, No. 20

Wood Group Reports On SEAR JIIP For Warm-water Environments

The SEAR joint industry project (JIP) aims to reduce subsea equipment failures through collaboration and knowledge sharing. Led by Wood Group, the JIP will contribute to improved subsea equipment design for offshore Australia and other warm-water environments to avoid time-consuming and costly interventions.

The offshore oil and gas industry in Australia is currently undergoing a major shift as a number of key projects move from the design and commissioning phase to the operating phase of their life cycles. In addition, continued challenging market conditions mean that the oil and gas industry as a whole is investigating all avenues to reduce production costs.

The ability to better understand subsea equipment failure modes and intervention requirements has the potential to offer operators significant cost savings. From SEAR Phase 1 research, intervention costs were estimated at AUD 150 million for a small subset of existing infrastructure. When loss of production costs are factored in, improving equipment reliability has the potential to offer substantial opex savings over the lifetime of a field.

By developing a better understanding of subsea equipment reliability, short-term solutions such as targeted risk-based monitoring, inspection and maintenance strategies are possible to implement for subsea equipment. Rather than dealing with a failure reactively, it can be managed proactively.

The long-term goal is to utilize lessons learned to feed information back to vendors, enabling equipment reliability issues to be designed out. Operational costs will be significantly reduced by:

  • Reducing the frequency and duration of interventions and associated vessel costs;
  • Reducing the requirement for purchasing new or refurbishing old equipment;
  • Reducing the requirement for spares inventory and associated logistics costs; and
  • Maximizing equipment reliability and availability and subsequent production uptime.

Sembcorp Marine Will Take Full Ownership Of PPL Shipyard

Singapore-based rig builder Sembcorp Marine Ltd. said it agreed to buy the 15% of PPL Shipyard Pte Ltd. that it did not already own for about $115 million from PPL Holdings Pte Ltd. and E-Interface Holdings Ltd. PPL Shipyard (PPLS), which is 85% owned by SembMarine, designs and builds oil rigs and ships.

“This will enable the company to optimally manage the businesses, finance and resources of PPLS and fully align the latter’s corporate strategies to the company to generate sustainable returns,” SembMarine said in a statement.

SembMarine, which has been suffering from a slump in orders due to low oil prices, agreed to buy the Norway-based ship design firm LMG Marin AS for $20 million.

In a separate statement, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings) Ltd. said it would receive about $51.8 million from the deal due to its 45% stake in PPL Holdings. It plans to use the net proceeds for working capital.

ELA Container Offshore Moves Into New Headquarters

Haren, Germany-based ELA Container Offshore GmbH moved into its new, maritime-styled headquarters on Aug. 1, marking the company’s second anniversary.

The larger building includes 12 offices, a reception area, two kitchen facilities and a meeting room. The 10-employee company is primed to expand further.

ELA Container Offshore is part of the family-owned Albers group, which employs 550. Albers’ on- and offshore container park encompasses more than 22,000 rental containers. Its fleet includes 60 special crane-equipped truck.

—Staff & Reuters Reports

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