Geologists at the University of Aberdeen have discovered a huge area of the North Sea left unexplored for oil and gas because of so-called ‘phantom’ volcanoes that they have proven they do not exist. The area is known as the Rattray Volcanic Province and covers 7000 sq km. The study raised the prospect of future discoveries in the area, which has been left untouched for more than 50 years of exploration activity.
A total of 33 floating production storage and offloading units (FPSOs) are expected to be sanctioned from 2019 to 2021, as oil and gas activity picks up in the offshore sector, according to data provided by Norwegian oil and gas research firm Rystad Energy.
The US announced that BOEM will offer 78 million acres for a region-wide lease sale scheduled for March 2019. The sale will include all available unleased areas in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Lease Sale 252 will be the fourth offshore sale under the 2017-2022 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program.
Neptune Energy was presented with an oil exploration license in the North West El Amal Offshore Concession in Egypt by the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation. The concession covers 365 square kilometres and is placed in the central part of Gulf of Suez. The block is 42 kilometres far from Ras Gharib and 105 kilometers north to Hurghada.
In the first few weeks of 2019, there have been four high impact discoveries of conventional oil and gas, finding 25% of the high impact volume discovered globally in the whole of 2018, according to Westwood Global Energy Group.
Oil and gas company BP started its first gas production from the second stage of its West Nile Delta development offshore Egypt. The project that produces gas from the Giza and Fayoum fields, was developed as a deepwater, long-distance tie-back to an existing onshore plant. Therefore, BP reported that the start-up highlights the second in a string of new upstream major projects expected to be brought online in 2019 for BP.
PSA Norway conducted an audit of Point Resources (now Vår Energi) focused on the company’s operation of electrical and associated facilities at Ringhorne. The audit of Point Resources and Ringhorne was carried out from 19 to 23 November 2018. Due to the merger between Point Resources and Eni Norge, the operator of Ringhorne is now Vår Energi.
The worldwide offshore rig count in January 2019 increased by 50 units sequentially and 50 rigs year-over-year, according to a report by Baker Hughes, a GE company, that was published on February 7. The worldwide offshore rig count in January 2019 increased by five units. The worldwide offshore rig count in January 2019 was 265, up 5 from 260 counted in December 2018, and up 50 from the 215 counted in January 2018.
Norwegian oil and gas giant Equinor has initiated an exploration campaign on the UK continental shelf (UKCS) comprising five wells in 2019, which is a record number for the company. Mainly, the two exploration wells, one to be operated by Equinor and the second from a partner, are moving forward. Three additional wells, operated by Equinor, are scheduled to be drilled during 2019.
France’s Total has made a significant gas condensate discovery on the Brulpadda prospects, located on Block 11B/12B in the Outeniqua Basin, 175 kilometers off the southern coast of South Africa. After reaching the main goal, the well was deepened to a final depth of 3,633 meters and has also been successful in the Brulpadda-deep prospect. Total along with its partners plan to acquire 3D seismic this year, followed by up to four exploration wells on this license.
