AFRICA

Wentworth strikes gas in southern Tanzania
The MB-4 development well in southern Tanzania’s Mnazi Bay concession has encountered Miocene gas reservoirs with net pay of 24 m (79 ft) in the Upper Mnazi Bay and 43 m (141 ft) in the Lower Mnazi Bay, Wentworth Resources Ltd. said. The well, drilled to a total depth of 2,788 m (9,147 ft), is located about 800 m (2,625 ft) from the MB-2 and MB-3 wells in the Mnazi Bay gas field. Wentworth has ranked the recent discoveries as being among the best of the five wells drilled in this field to date. Within this well, two reservoirs were tested at different two-hour stabilized flows, with the Upper Mnazi Bay achieving a
constrained flow rate of up to 532,356 cm/d (18.8 MMcf/d) and the Lower Mnazi Bay of up to 628,633 cm/d (22.2 MMcf/d). The well will be connected to the production facilities, which currently are being installed in the field, for startup in third-quarter 2015.

Expro receives contracts for Ghana work
Expro received new three-year contracts from Tullow Oil Plc for work in Ghana, Expro said. The contracts are worth more than $100 million and will support work on the Jubilee Field, the Tweneboa-Enyenra-Ntomme (TEN) Field project and other Tullow projects in the country. Expro has another Phase 1 contract for Jubilee for more than 10 completions; now, services can continue for Phase 1 A, which covers new well interventions and remedial work. Jubilee’s Phase 1 A will use large-bore subsea completion landing strings, subsea exploration and appraisal landing strings, high flow-rate surface well testing, and sampling services. The TEN project also will involve subsea completion work in all planned wells.

ASIA

KrisEnergy sees first oil at Nong Yao Field
Oil production from three wells at the Nong Yao Field in the Gulf of Thailand has started, KrisEnergy Ltd. said. The field is in the G11/48 license. The company is working on another four oil developments in the Gulf of Thailand, including the KrisEnergy-operated Wassana oil field in the adjacent G10/48 concession, which KrisEnergy expects to go into production soon. The Nong Yao development will comprise up to 23 wells, a wellhead processing platform and a minimum-facility wellhead platform with the export of crude via a floating storage and offloading vessel. The facilities have a production capacity of up to 15 Mbbl/d and a processing capacity of 30 Mbbl/d of fluids. G11/48 covers 3,374 sq km (1,303 sq miles) over the southern margin of the Pattani Basin and the northwest margin of the Malay Basin in water depths of up to 75 m (246 ft).

AUSTRALIA

Dolphin starts 3-D seismic work in Australia
Dolphin Group ASA has initiated a 3-D SHarp broadband multiclient survey covering about 15,000 sq km (5,791 sq miles) on Australia’s North West Shelf, the company said. In cooperation with TGS and supported by major oil companies, Dolphin mobilized its high-capacity 3-D Sanco Swift vessel to acquire the North Carnarvon Basin survey, covering both newly-awarded
licensed and open acreage. Dolphin will perform full broadband seismic processing of the survey data to produce a high-quality onboard post-stack time-migrated fast-track volume followed by the prestack time-migrated dataset. All processing will be performed with input from supporting clients. Prior to this survey, Dolphin and TGS planned to complete Phase 1 of about 2,500 sq km (965 sq miles) of the Monuments MC 3-D survey with the same vessel. This was scheduled to be completed around June 25. These surveys use 10 streamers with 150-m (492-ft) separations and 8,100-m (26,575-ft) offsets.

EUROPE

Energean plans 3-D seismic survey in Gulf of Kavala
Energean Oil & Gas will conduct a new 3-D seismic survey over the Prinos oil field and its surrounding licenses in the Gulf of Kavala offshore Greece, the company said. Through the new 3-D acquisition, Energean said it aims to improve the seismic imaging of the Prinos Field and the satellite oil fields Prinos North and Epsilon. Energean has appointed Dolphin Geophysical
to carry out the project. In the Gulf of Kavala, Energean will use the Polar Marquis 3-D vessel and the Artemis Arctic source vessel. Coverage will be further enhanced by an undershooting operation. The 3-D survey was scheduled to cover an area of 400 sq km (154 sq miles) and to last about three weeks.

MIDDLE EAST

Wood Group secures Saudi Aramco offshore contract
Wood Group has been awarded an offshore maintain potential program contract by Saudi Aramco for greenfield and brownfield engineering services, procurement, and construction management support for new facilities in the Arabian Gulf, according to a news release. The six-year contract, which includes options for two three-year renewals, includes the establishment of an offshore engineering center of excellence in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia. Work will be performed by Wood Group Mustang in the U.S. The in-kingdom work scope will be executed by Mustang-HDP.

RUSSIA CIS

OneSubsea wins subsea trees contract for Shah Deniz Stage 2
OneSubsea has been awarded a contract totaling more than $60 million for the BP-operated Shah Deniz Stage 2 development offshore Azerbaijan, according to a news release. The scope of the new contract includes the supply of the second of three planned batches of subsea production trees and ancillaries. Deliveries are expected to commence in 2016.

Data reveal Russia as China’s top oil supplier
Russia surpassed Saudi Arabia to become China’s top crude supplier as the fight for market share in the world’s second-largest oil consumer intensifies, Bloomberg reported. China imported a record 3.92 million metric tons from its northern neighbor in May, according to data emailed by the General Administration of Customs in June. That’s equivalent to 927 Mbbl/d, a 20% increase from April. Saudi sales slumped 42% from April to 3.05 million tons. China is becoming
a key market for global oil exporters as surging output from shale fields allows the U.S., the biggest crude consumer,
to rely less on overseas supplies. China will account for more than 11% of world demand in 2015, the International Energy Agency predicted in June.

SOUTH AMERICA

Premier strikes oil at Isobel Deep
Premier Oil has struck oil in its Isobel Deep exploration well 14/20-1 in the North Falkland Basin, about 30 km (19 miles) south of the Sea Lion Field, the company said. The Isobel Deep exploration well has been drilled to a depth of 2,528 m (8,294 ft), reaching top reservoir on prognosis. The bottom 23 m (75 ft) of the well consists of oil-bearing F3 sands. The sands were at a higher reservoir pressure than expected, and this resulted in an influx into the well. As part of the operations to remove the influx, oil was recovered from the well and appears similar in nature to Sea Lion crude. As a result of the new geological information, the company has decided to suspend operations on the well and release the rig to drill in the South Falkland Basin. The Eirik Raude rig is expected to return to continue operations in the North Falklands Basin in August.

Poço Verde 4 well hits new oil in Sergipe-Alagoas Basin
The Poço Verde 4 well hit a new oil accumulation in the Poço Verde area in the ultradeepwater Sergipe-Alagoas Basin offshore Brazil, Petrobras said. The well is in the BM-SEAL-4 concession. The well, formally known as Well 3 SES 189, is 23.5 km (15 miles) from the discovery well in 2,480 m (8,133 ft) of water. Poço Verde ran 5,350 m (17,552 ft) deep. The area’s light oil reservoirs are 85 m (279 ft) thick with good porosity and permeability. This well was the third drilled in the Poço Verde area. Poço Verde is part of the exploratory project in the basin. There are five other evaluation plans.