Drilling & production

Andrew Buckland and Giles Farrer, Wood Mackenzie, UK, detail the possibilities afforded by the development of the FLNG concept.

Lucy Miller, Douglas Westwood Ltd, UK, describes the changing focus of the LNG market towards the Asia Pacific region.

Royal Dutch Shell is looking to sign a huge deal with Ukraine’s Naftogaz worth US$ 800 million to exploit Ukraine’s shale resources.

Tokyo Gas has signed a Heads of Agreement to supply Saibu Gas Co Ltd with 300,000 tpy of LNG for 16 years, commencing in March 2014.

Chevron has received environmental approval from the Government of Western Australia, clearing the way for work to start on its huge Wheatstone LNG gas export project once it receives federal approval.

Rosneft and ExxonMobil have executed a co-operation agreement which includes a US$ 3.2 billion exploration programme in the Russian Arctic as well as technology sharing and includes an equity swap with ExxonMobil’s US assets.

Gazprom has contracted Tideway to implement an erosion protection scheme around its new Prirazlomnoya rig, Gazprom’s first oil production project in the Russian Arctic Sea Region.

Petrofac’s Offshore Engineering & Operations (OE&O) business has been awarded two North Sea contracts by GDF SUEZ E&P UK. Valued at £30 million over three years with an additional two year option, the contracts were awarded following a competitive tender process.

Nexans wins turnkey contract to supply and install infield power cables for the Riffgat offshore wind farm. The contract for 33 kV submarine power cables to connect wind turbines to the offshore substation includes ancillary equipment and installation.

Nancy Yamaguchi, Contributing Editor, provides an overview of Japan's energy industry in the wake of the recent earthquake.

Excelerate Energy has won a 15 year time charter deal with Petrobras to provide an FSRU, the vessel, designated as VT3 by Petrobras, will have a capacity of 20 million m3/d.

Total, operator of Block 17, today announced that the giant Pazflor field offshore Angola has come on stream ahead of the initial schedule. The Pazflor field lies 150 km off Luanda in water depths ranging from 600 - 1200 m and has estimated proved and probable reserves of 590 million barrels. The field will gradually ramp up to its full production capacity of 220,000 bpd over the coming months.

According to a new assessment of the Marcellus Shale by the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Marcellus Shale contains about 84 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas and 3.4 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas liquids.

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) has awarded Aker Solutions a contract to supply two drilling equipment packages to the new 'Cat D' drilling rigs the yard is building for the rig operator Songa Offshore.

BP Trinidad and Tobago (bpTT) today announced the start of natural gas production from the Serrette field, offshore Trinidad. Serrette is located in 280 ft (90 m) of water off Trinidad’s south east coast.