CNOOC to drill in the West of Shetlands

CNOOC has contracted the Island Innovator rig from Island Drilling Company for the drilling of the Howick prospect in Block 206/21 in the West of Shetlands. CNOOC is 100% operator of the block CNOOC also has Cragganmore discovery in Block 208/17A which is planned to be further appraised, potentially in 2019. CNOOC is operator of Cragganmore with 70% interest; INEOS is a 30% partner. ...

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Understanding Mozambique's fiscal regime (Part I)

Government take across countries in East Africa are generally below the Sub Saharan Africa average of 62%. This reflects the relative infancy of the E&P industry in the region with high exploration risk and uncertainties on the path to commericialising discovered resources. A lower fiscal take is required to attract investment. Mozambique’s government take lies in the middle of its East African neighbours - lower than Uganda where significant...

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Gran Tierra's Grand Tour (into Ecuador)

Gran Tierra has won three blocks in Ecuador covering c.140,000 acres in the highly prospective Oriente-Putumayo Basin: Charapa, Chanangue and Iguana. The blocks are contiguous with Gran Tierra’s Putumayo position in Colombia and allows the company to extend its Colombian success on the trend across the border. Gran Tierra will have 100% interest and operatorship on each block in exchange for a 14 well, four year work programme – management...

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Fighting the Kraken

Cairn has announced a reserves downgrade on Kraken by 6.8mmboe (net) or 19% to reflect ongoing production issues. The field has been hit by a myriad of problems since start-up in 2017 and its failure to be farmed-down by operator EnQuest in 2018 highlights the technical concerns on the field. The field's output has been hit by poor FPSO uptime driven by system outages as well as higher water-cut than originally expected. There will be a planned...

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ExxonMobil scores big this week

ExxonMobil has made two significant announcements this week: the sanction of the USD10+ billion Golden Pass LNG project and further exploration success in Guyana. Golden Pass LNG On Tuesday, ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum sanctioned the Golden Pass LNG project in Texas. It will have a cost of USD10+ billion and deliver capacity of 16mtpa from 2024. Golden Pass was originally a LNG import facility but will be converted over the next five years. The...

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Anadarko signs SPAs for Mozambique LNG

Anadarko has signed three gas Sale and Purchase Agreements (“SPAs”) with Tokyo Gas/Centrica (2.6mtpa), Shell (2mtpa) and CNOOC (1.5mtpa) for its Mozambique LNG Area 1 development. This total 6.1mtpa of the planned 12.88mtpa ahead of FID expected in mid-2019. The LNG development will challenge upcoming projects given its fortunate location in between the Asian and European markets and will compete with Australian, Middle Eastern and North American...

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Cluff extends farm-out exclusivity in Southern North Sea to Major

Cluff Natural Resources press release Further to its announcement on 28 November 2018, Cluff Natural Resources Plc, the AIM quoted natural resources investing company with a high impact exploration and appraisal portfolio focused on the Southern North Sea gas basin, provides an update regarding its exclusivity agreement with a major oil and gas company for its Southern North Sea Gas licence P2252. As previously announced, the Company signed an...

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