From Australia (LB): AWE is seeing production success at its New Zealand operations, with oil output from the TUI (SEN 32/2) field increasing.

AWE’s joint venture partner, New Zealand Oil & Gas, advised that 604,736 bbl of oil from the Tui field, offshore Taranaki, had been lifted and shipped last week.

The volume reflects increased production from Tui resulting from the Pateke-4H field coming into production in April.

The Tui area oil fields comprises the Tui, Amokura and Pateke fields which are located approximately 50km off the coast of Taranaki, New Zealand, in PMP 38158. Production from each field is fed into the Tui field gathering system and then into the Umuro fpso.

AWE (57.5%) operates for New Zealand Oil & Gas (27.5%) and Pan Pacific Petroleum (15%).

ABB will supply electrical and automation systems to Eni’s ARMADA OLOMBENDO fpso destined for the Cabaça North and Cabaça Southeast fields in deep water off Angola.

It won the order from Malaysia’s Bumi Armada Berhad, which is building the fpso by reconfiguring the former Armada Ali supertanker (now renamed the Armada Olombendo), which has a storage capacity of 1.8mmbbls. Eni is chartering the vessel.

The Cabaça North and Cabaça Southeast fields lie about 350km northeast of Luanda, and will produce up to 80,000 b/d of oil by the end of 2016.

ABB will deliver complete e-house solutions - which house medium voltage and low voltage switchgear - and systems for integrated electrical distribution, control, safety and power management.

This order is the fourth collaboration between ABB and Bumi Armada. Past projects include a modular e-house package for fpsos operating off India’s west coast, the Kraken oil field in the UK North Sea and a complete automation package for an fpso operating in the Balnaves oil field off western Australia.

McDermott International has landed a lump sum contract from LLOG Exploration Offshore for work on the OTIS development in the US Gulf of Mexico.

The Otis field, located in Block Mississippi Canyon 79, will be developed as a subsea tieback to the Delta House fps in 1,159m.

The contract scope includes project management; engineering, fabrication and installation of a 22,875m insulated rigid flowline and insulated steel catenary riser (SCR) with associated plet and jumper; and pre-commissioning.

McDermott’s Houston office will perform the overall project management and engineering. The flowline and SCR are scheduled to be assembled and fabricated at McDermott’s new spoolbase facility in Gulfport, Mississippi.

Offshore installation is scheduled to be completed in early 2016 by McDermott deepwater rigid reel Lay Vessel 105 (LV 105).

Rystad Energy said its latest research indicates that 88 floaters will have to be taken out of the market between 2015 and 2017, making it the largest ever retirement cycle in the history of offshore drilling.

These retirements are a consequence of demand reduction from 262 units in 2014 to an expected 220 units in 2016 as a result of lower activity from E&P companies and despite the oil price stabilizing around $65/bbl over the past quarter. However, between 2015-2017, the floater market awaits an influx of 64 new units.

Rystad Energy analyst Joachim Bjørni said, ‘Over the last six months we have seen rig owners responding to the poor market outlook by retiring floating units to balance supply and demand. This will lead to 49 units in 2015 only, bringing it to record high levels in one year. The last time we saw a similar number of retirements was after the oil crisis in 1985.’

Rig owners have to retire an additional 36 units in 2016 to balance the floater demand. With demand expected to increase again in 2017, Rystad Energy estimates only a few additional units to be retired to balance the market.

Cobalt International Energy said it expects to achieve formal sanction by the end of 2015 for its CAMEIA (31/22) fpso development project in block 21 offshore Angola.

The Cameia 4 well is currently being drilled, and development drilling will likely continue until early 2016. Cobalt anticipates start-up in 2018.

The company is in the process of optimising the Cameia production facility and subsea infrastructure design and costs to take advantage of favourable prices in the current market downturn.

Its current fpso design is a nominal 75,000-b/d facility, with a likely production capacity of more than 80,000 b/d early in the field’s life. Cobalt re-affirms that the project economics remain sound.

Erin Energy has kicked off production from the OYO-7 well in OML 120 offshore Nigeria.

Oyo-7 was drilled to a total depth of about 2,438m and was completed horizontally in the Pliocene formation. The well is located in about 300m and is producing into the Armada Perdana fpso. The well is expected to produce about 7,000 b/d following optimisation of choke size.

Offshore