Eni Restarts Arctic Goliat Oil Field, Plans Drilling Campaign

Eni on Dec. 17 resumed production from Norway’s Arctic Goliat oil field following an outage of more than two months and now plans to explore for more resources in the area, the company said in a statement Dec. 18.

The Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) on Dec. 8 said Eni could bring back onstream the 100,000-bbl/d field, which had been shut at the agency’s order since Oct. 6. The oil field had experienced a series of safety incidents and production shutdowns since its startup in 2016, prompting the PSA to initiate closer scrutiny of operations.

Eni on Dec. 18 said it had carried out extensive planned maintenance and modifications at Goliat as well as work related to the platform’s electrical system following the PSA’s intervention.

Eni now plans to drill two more production wells at Goliat in 2018 and will drill an appraisal well for a discovery known as Goliat West, and has identified further potential for exploration nearby, it said.

“This will contribute to increased recovery rate, additional resources and further improve profitability of the Goliat Field,” Eni said.

Goliat has seen no major incidents or accidents during 2017, and Eni has recorded a strong improvement in the platform’s health, safety and environment performance, the company said.

AkerBP Doles Out Contracts For Norwegian Developments

With plans to spend nearly $2 billion to development the Valhall Flank West, Ærfugl and Skogul developments on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, AkerBP is lining up companies to help it get work done.

For the Valhall Flank West development, being developed as a normally unmanned platform, AkerBP has awarded Kvaerner a contract valued at nearly $120 million for delivery of the topside and steel jacket substructure for the development. The award comes as part of the Wellhead Platform Alliance formed between Aker BP, Kvaerner, ABB and Aker Solutions.

Kvaerner said the steel substructure and topside will be ready for delivery and sail-away from its facilities in May 2019 with hook-up and commissioning on the field set for August 2019.

Aker Solutions has also been awarded contracts for work on the fields offshore Norway. The company said it will deliver two subsea manifolds, a controls system and umbilicals for Skogul, which will be tied back to the North Sea Alvheim Field. It will also provide umbilicals and detailed engineering of the topside for the normally unmanned installation for Valhall Flank West.

In addition, Aker Solutions was awarded a contract to deliver the subsea production system for the first phase of the Ærfugl development offshore Norway. The system will include wellheads, vertical subsea trees, a tie-in module and an umbilical riser base. The contract includes an option for Ærfugl Phase 2. Work will begin immediately and will involve its facilities in Norway, Malaysia and the U.K.

Subsea 7 is also in on the Ærfugl action. Subsea 7’s engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) contract is a long-distance tieback involving the application of its electrically heat traced flowline (EHTF) technology for the 21-km (13-mile) tieback to the Skarv FPSO unit.

Project management and engineering was set to start immediately at Subsea 7’s offices in Stavanger, Norway. Fabrication of the EHTF system will take place at Subsea 7’s spoolbase at Vigra, Norway and offshore operations will take place in 2019 and 2020.

Subsea 7 called its contract “substantial,” which is defined by the company as having a value between $150 million and $300 million.

Subsea 7 also landed contracts from AkerBP for the Skogul project and the Valhall Flank West project, which collectively are equivalent to a “sizeable” award, according to Subsea 7. The company considers an award sizeable if it’s valued at between $50 million and $150 million. The engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) project for Skogul is a long-distance tieback to Alvheim FPSO via Vilje South Field, using pipe-in-pipe technology. Project management and engineering was set to start immediately with offshore operations scheduled in 2019.

The Valhall Flank West EPCI project comprises a 4-km (2-mile) tieback to the Valhall Centre including an umbilical and riser system. Offshore operations will commence in 2018 with completion in 2019.

Energean Lines Up Buyers For Gas From Karish, Tanin Fields

Energean Oil & Gas has added a group that comprises Israel Chemicals, Bazan Oil Refineries and power producer OPC to the list of companies with which it has sealed gas sales and purchase agreements for gas from the Karish and Tanin fields offshore Israel.

The agreements total up to 2.6 Bcm (92 Bcf), Energean said in a news release. This is in addition to up to 0.3 Bcm (11 Bcf) the company has also signed with Rapac Group.

The recently announced agreements boost the total committed purchase volume to more than 4 Bcm (141 Bcf) of gas annual from the two fields. This surpasses the E&P’s initial annual target of 3 Bcm (106 Bcf). The progress is moving Energean closer to a final investment decision for the developments. A decision is expected by early 2018.

“We are aiming to progress with FID early in 2018 and our focus now lies in moving ahead on all related project milestones to deliver first gas as planned,” Energean CEO Mathios Rigas said.

Development plans for the fields call for use of an FPSO unit. First gas is scheduled for 2021.

Initial Zohr Output Raises Egypt’s Natural Gas Production

Output from Egypt’s giant offshore Zohr gas field in the Mediterranean will raise Egypt’s natural gas production to 156 MMcm/d (5.5 Bcf/d) from 144 MMcm/d (5.1 Bcf/d), Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla told Reuters on Dec. 17.

The petroleum ministry said on Dec. 16 that the mammoth field has begun an initial production of 10 MMcm/d (350 MMcf/d).

Production from Zohr is set to increase to about 28 MMcm/d (1 Bcf/d) by mid-2018, the Petroleum ministry said earlier this month.

Discovered in 2015 by Italy’s Eni, the field contains an estimated 850 Bcm (30 Tcf) of gas.

Egypt’s own natural gas output rose to about 144 MMcm/d (5.1 Bcf/d) in 2017 from 125 MMcm/d (4.4 Bcf/d) in 2016 with the start of production from the first phase of BP’s North Alexandria project.

The country has been seeking to speed up production from recently discovered fields, with an eye to halting imports by 2019 and achieving self-sufficiency.

Statoil Awards Subsea Contracts On Norwegian Continental Shelf

Statoil said on Dec. 14 it has awarded new subsea maintenance framework agreements to Aker Solutions, TechnipFMC and OneSubsea LLC.

The contracts have a total estimated value of more than $966 million and extend to 2023. In addition, the contracts include options for a total of 20 years. The estimated total value will be about $4.8 billion, should all the options with the assumed scope of work be exercised.

The new agreements apply to Statoil-operated subsea wells on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) with equipment from the aforementioned suppliers and include maintenance of equipment belonging to more than 500 wells. The figures include planned wells in the field developments of Johan Castberg and Snorre Expansion Project.

The contracts apply to subsea maintenance and additional equipment for the NCS, with work both offshore and onshore. The agreements are effective from March 1, 2018,with a fixed duration of five years and include five four-year options.

Most of the maintenance work will be carried out at the Ågotnes Base outside Bergen in addition to the Polar Base in Hammerfest.

—Staff & Reuters Reports