China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) Limited announced it has commenced production on its joint development projects in South China Sea, Huizhou 32-5 oilfield comprehensive adjustment/Huizhou 33-1 oilfield joint development project.
Four major oil and gas firms have proven gas and condensate in the Norwegian Sea Ragnfrid North (6406/2-9 S) exploration well. Norwegian oil major Equinor and compatriot Petoro, US-based giant ExxonMobil and French Total, estimate recoverable resources at 6-25 million barrels of oil equivalent.
The Gullfaks partners have decided to invest NOK 2.3 billion (USD 269.0747 million) to drill seven new wells and thereby improve oil recovery by 17 million barrels with good profitability. The main Gullfaks field lies in block 34/10 in the northern part of the Norwegian North Sea.
Chevron, a US-based energy company, temporarily halts the third liquefaction train at its Gorgon LNG plant on Barrow Island in Western Australia. The operation was shut down due to a mechanical issue that arose. There are allegations that the mechanical issue is likely due to a heat wave sweeping across Australia, it is not officially confirmed by Chevron, up to now.
Norway granted 83 blocks to explore for petroleum resources in the Norwegian continental shelf. The number of the blocks offered is a record, something that indicates a rising interest from oil companies in Norway’s oil sector. Equinor received the majority, with 13, while Aker BP and Lunding received 11 and 9 operatorships respectively.
The global offshore wind energy market is expected to develop over USD 49.74 billion by 2023 at an estimated CAGR of around 11.12% during the period 2017 to 2023. An important factor of the growth in this sector, is the high demand on clean and reliable energy, aiming to decrease carbon emissions and keep an environmentally-friendly balance.
According to Wood Mackenzie’s research director Andrew Harwood, the need to fill new and old gas infrastructure will see the drilling of exciting offshore prospects across Australia, Brunei, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan and Papua New Guinea. As Mr. Harwood notes, several countries will launch new bid rounds in 2019.
The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway and the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority have audited Maersk Drilling’s routines for handling notifications of censurable conditions (whistleblowing) at work. The audit detected one non-conformity regarding deficient employee participation in the preparation of the routine.
Equinor has been awarded an exploitation permit for CO2-storage on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, according to Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. The storage solution is part of the large-scale carbon capture and storage-project in Norway. If approved, the storage is set to begin operations in 2023 or 2024, Gassnova, a governmental agency in charge of developing the CCS project, reported.
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate’s expects that, after a minor reduction in 2019, oil and gas production will increase from 2020 and up to 2023. Overall production will then reach the record year of 2004. Exploration activity was higher last year, with the number of exploration wells increasing dramatically.
