Most people know Alaska as the last frontier – a vast place where nature can be wild, unpredictable and uncooperative. Case in point: the Prudhoe Bay oilfields, where about half a million barrels of oil is extracted each day. One of the drilling sites is Endicott, located on a spit of land connected by the gravel Prudhoe Bay road system and normally accessible by truck. That is until recently, when the road was washed out. Faced with the dilemma of how to get workers, food and supplies to the work site, Hilcorp, one of the largest, privately-held exploration and production companies in the United States, turned to Crowley.
“With the road cut-off and heavy fog preventing helicopters from flying in and out, Hilcorp diverted the hovercraft Arctic Hawk from its normal duties of supporting NorthStar Island, to shuttle people, groceries and other supplies to Endicott,” said Bruce Harland, Crowley vice president. “Hilcorp was already chartering the Arctic Hawk to provide a similar shuttle service to and from their Northstar Island drill site, so this was a natural extension of that service, which we were happy to provide.”
The Arctic Hawk, Crowley Offshore Services’ hovercraft, entered service in Prudhoe Bay in 2004 transferring BP work crews (now Hilcorp work crews) between land and the Northstar Island production facility about six miles offshore in the Beaufort Sea. A hovercraft is the most practical mode of transport for this service as the route must be traveled over open water in summer and ice during the winter and a mixture of ice and water during freeze-up and break-up. The Arctic Hawk is 38.8 feet in length with a 15.5 foot beam. It is considered a passenger vessel by the Coast Guard and carries a Certificate of Documentation (admeasured at 17 gross and 14 net tons) and Certificate of Inspection issued by Coast Guard Sector Anchorage.
Statoil and PL602 partners have made a gas discovery in the Gymir prospect. With three discoveries in a row, an important progress has been made in unlocking full potential of the Aasta Hansteen area.
“Our 2015 exploration campaign around Aasta Hansteen has proven an upside potential in the area. The estimated total volumes in the three discoveries, Snefrid Nord, Roald Rygg and Gymir, amount to 75-120 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent, corresponding to about 1/3 of the Aasta Hansteen recoverable volumes. The discoveries will now be further evaluated for future tie-in to the Aasta Hansteen facilities in order to optimize utilization of the infrastructure and prolong the production plateau,” says Dan Tuppen, vice president exploration Norwegian and Barents Sea in Statoil.
The well 6706/11-2, drilled by the Transocean Spitsbergen rig in the Gymir prospect, proved a gross 70-metre gas column in the Nise Formation with good reservoir qualities. Statoil estimates the volumes in Gymir to be in the range of 6-19 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent. Gymir is located just 8 kilometers away from Roald Rygg and 14 kilometers away from Snefrid Nord.
Aasta Hansteen will be the largest SPAR platform in the world and is the biggest ongoing field development project in the Norwegian Sea. It is one of the main projects in Statoil’s portfolio. The plan for development and operations (PDO) was approved by the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy in 2013. Production start-up is expected in 2017.
“Additional reserves from the three discoveries tied in to Aasta Hansteen will be important for increasing the value of the Aasta Hansteen investment,” says Torolf Christensen, Statoil vice president for the Aasta Hansteen project.
The drilling operations in all three wells have been extremely efficient, making them the fastest deep-water wells ever drilled on the Norwegian continental shelf. The Gymir well has been completed in just 13 days, which is a unique drilling performance for a deep water well.
“The total savings achieved in the three wells amount to 50 days or 360 MNOK compared to the initial plan. This is a result of STEP (Statoil technical efficiency program) within drilling and well, and the ability of the onshore planning team and the Transocean Spitsbergen crew to take out the full potential of the drilling process. The efficiency gains were achieved while keeping high HSE standards,” says Thor Emil Bensvik, head of Statoil exploration drilling operations on the NCS.
Fugro has been awarded a large geotechnical and geophysical (G&G) program by ExxonMobil Alaska LNG LLC (AKLNG - a consortium of ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, British Petroleum, TransCanada and the State of Alaska). The 2015 G&G program follows successful completion of a similar but smaller program carried out by Fugro in 2014.
The geotechnical scope of work includes drilling and sampling of borings for the onshore liquefaction facilities, marine terminal and offshore pipelines. It also includes installation of monitoring wells, seismograph and in situ measurement of soil properties. The geological and earthquake engineering scope will include assessment of geohazards, source characterization, probabilistic seismic hazard and site response analyses. Bathymetric, side scan sonar, reflection and refraction surveys and sub-bottom profiling will also be conducted to assist in developing an integrated site model. These studies will assist AKLNG and its contractors to proceed with the FEED level design of the LNG terminal and associated offshore pipelines.
As world leader in geohazards both onshore and nearshore, as well as geotechnical, geophysical, metocean and surveying services for LNG facilities, Fugro also provides worldwide quality assurance and quality control services during project construction phases.
McDermott International, Inc. (NYSE:MDR) announces that it has been awarded a large brownfield contract by Saudi Aramco for the engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) of twelve jackets for offshore oil and gas fields in Saudi Arabian waters. Work is scheduled for completion by the end of the first quarter of 2016 and will be included in McDermott’s second quarter 2015 backlog.
This is the second award McDermott has received in 2015 from Saudi Aramco and represents work scope bid under an existing Long-Term Agreement. In March 2015, the client awarded McDermott a brownfield contract for a power supply system replacement that utilizes McDermott’s full EPCI expertise.
“The project called for an extremely responsive bid phase and for fast-track execution,” said Tom Mackie, McDermott’s Vice President, Middle East. “Our ability to provide schedule certainty — through the provision of integrated EPCI services combined with the right technical solution to meet the challenging time constraints — was key to winning the project.”
Engineering and procurement is expected to be performed by McDermott’s teams in Dubai, U.A.E., and Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia. The jackets are scheduled for fabrication by McDermott’s Dubai, U.A.E.-based fabrication facility. Vessels from the McDermott global fleet are scheduled to undertake the installation work.
ABS, a leading provider of marine and offshore classification services, has been selected by Baoham Offshore (HK) Ltd. to class a drilling semisubmersible and a liftboat.
“This award is a reflection of the solid reputation ABS has built as a classification society over more than 30 years in China,” says ABS Executive Vice President of Energy Project Development Ken Richardson. “We are particularly excited about working with Baoham Offshore as an emerging Chinese company.”
This artist’s rendering shows the three units that will make up the Baoham fleet upon delivery of the newbuilds now on order. According to Baoham Offshore General Manager Xu Jun, the company’s goal is to be a first mover in China. “We are not building on speculation. On top of our first 300-ft harsh-environment ABS-classed liftboat (GM-J1000) already under construction, the addition of these units extends our ambition of building a flexible fleet,” he says. “We believe partnering with ABS will strengthen the foundation we are creating to build our fleet development program.”
The GM-4E mid-water semisubmersible drilling unit will have both an eight-point mooring system and Class 3 dynamic positioning and will feature a variable deck load that exceeds 4,000 metric tons. The GM-J1450 has a water depth capability of 80 m (~260 ft) and will be equipped with a 400-metric-ton deck crane.
“We are pleased to continue our working partnership with Baoham Offshore,” says Global Maritime Engineering Services Manager Mark Cooper, whose company provided the designs for an earlier unit as well as both of the contracted newbuilds. “We are excited to be introducing this flexible design on a groundbreaking project with not only an owner with a strong vision, but a very experienced class society.”
Singaporean engineering house Gulf Offshore will carry out detail engineering and production design. The liftboat will be built at the PaxOcean yard in Zhoushan, China. A yard has not yet been selected for the semisubmersible unit.
Hydraquip Custom Systems Inc., which has produced more than 100 jacking systems over the past two decades, will provide the jacking system for the liftboat, while Gulf Offshore Pte Ltd will provide detail engineering and production design.
Aker Solutions won its first order for a project offshore Mexico as it secured a contract from Saipem to supply umbilicals for the Pemex-operated Lakach deepwater natural-gas field.
Aker Solutions will deliver electro-hydraulic steel tube umbilicals of about 73 kilometers (45 miles) that will help connect Mexico's first subsea gas development to onshore processing facilities. The field is located about 98 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Veracruz at depths of between 900 and 1,200 meters in the Gulf of Mexico. It is targeted to supply 400 million standard cubic feet per day.
"The Lakach field is Mexico's first deepwater subsea development by Pemex and Aker Solutions is proud to deliver the first umbilical to the Mexican Gulf of Mexico," said Marc Quenneville, head of Aker Solutions' subsea business in North America.
The umbilicals will be manufactured in Mobile, Alabama, and the order will be completed in the third quarter of 2016. Aker Solutions is the market leader in subsea umbilicals, which are used to supply necessary controls and chemicals to subsea oil and gas wells, manifolds and systems requiring remote control.
The partners have chosen not to disclose the contract value.
Major oil and gas companies BG Group plc, BP plc, Eni S.p.A., Royal Dutch Shell plc, Statoil ASA and Total SA, have announced their call to governments around the world and to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to introduce carbon pricing systems and create clear, stable, ambitious policy frameworks that could eventually connect national systems. These would reduce uncertainty and encourage the most cost effective ways of reducing carbon emissions widely.
The six companies set out their position in a joint letter from their chief executives to the UNFCCC Executive Secretary and the President of the COP21. This comes ahead of the UNFCCC’s COP21 climate meetings in Paris this December.
With this unprecedented joint initiative, the companies recognize both the importance of the climate challenge and the importance of energy to human life and well-being. (Photo: Harald Pettersen)
They acknowledge the current trend of greenhouse gas emissions is in excess of what the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says is needed to limit global temperature rise to no more than 2 degrees Centigrade, and say they are ready to contribute solutions. As the chief executives write:
“Our industry faces a challenge: we need to meet greater energy demand with less CO2. We are ready to meet that challenge and we are prepared to play our part. We firmly believe that carbon pricing will discourage high carbon options and reduce uncertainty that will help stimulate investments in the right low-carbon technologies and the right resources at the right pace. We now need governments around the world to provide us with this framework and we believe our presence at the table will be helpful in designing an approach that will be both practical and deliverable.” (Helge Lund, BG Group Plc; Bob Dudley, BP plc; Claudio Descalzi, Eni S.p.A.; Ben van Beurden, Royal Dutch Shell plc; Eldar Sætre, Statoil ASA; Patrick Pouyanné, Total S.A.).
The chief executives have also sent an additional letter to the media, setting out this position on carbon pricing and also the role that natural gas can play in reducing carbon emissions.
Revolutionizing subsea field architecture from concept delivery and beyond
FMC Technologies, Inc. and Technip have announced that Forsys Subsea, a 50/50 joint venture, has received all regulatory approvals. The parties closed the transaction making Forsys Subsea operational on June 1, 2015.
Forsys Subsea is a joint venture formed as part of a broader alliance between FMC Technologies and Technip that unites the skills and capabilities of two subsea leaders to redefine the way subsea fields are designed, delivered and maintained.
By combining the industry-leading technologies of the parent companies, Forsys Subsea will reduce the interfaces of the subsea umbilical, riser and flowline systems (SURF) and subsea production and processing systems (SPS). It will also simplify the seabed layout, thereby reducing complexity, accelerating time to first oil, and enabling higher sustainable field production. This unique combination will drive a new, step-change approach to how equipment designs and installation methods converge in a new generation of subsea architecture.
Forsys Subsea CEO, Rasmus Sunde said, "With Forsys Subsea we are launching an exciting and compelling business proposition by providing front-end engineering and life-of-field decision support to our customers. Based on this, we will enable customers to take advantage of lower costs, reduced execution time and execution risks, and higher uptime of the installed base by leveraging the combined technologies and execution capabilities of the parent companies."
The company is headquartered in London, with regional hubs in Houston, Oslo, Paris, Rio de Janeiro and Singapore.
The Forsys Subsea leadership team includes Rasmus Sunde (FMC Technologies) as CEO, Alain Marion (Technip) as Chief Technology Officer, Arild Selvig (FMC Technologies) as Senior Vice President and Head of Front-End Engineering, and Gerald Bouhourd (Technip) as Senior Vice President and Head of Life of Field.
Statoil has awarded Odfjell Drilling two contracts for drilling services on the Johan Sverdrup field. Deepsea Atlantic is awarded a three year contract for drilling production wells and Odfjell Drilling is also awarded a four year contract to provide platform drilling services on the Johan Sverdrup Drilling Platform.
These two contracts represent the recognition of Odfjell Drilling’s ability to provide both mobile drilling and platform drillings services to one of the most prestigious offshore field development projects in the world. We appreciate the trust Statoil and its partners show us, and I can assure that all people in Odfjell Drilling will demonstrate the company’s firm commitment to the successful development and production drilling of Johan Sverdrup, says CEO Simen Lieungh.
The drilling services for the Johan Sverdrup field are covered by two contracts:
These contract awards contribute significantly to increase the order backlog and earnings visibility of Odfjell Drilling during a tough market cycle. The employment of Deepsea Atlantic under a long-term contract in Norway and the increased market share for our platform drilling services in the North Sea are of great importance and inspiration to our whole organization, says Lieungh.
In February 2015, Odfjell Drilling was awarded a sub contract to Aibel to provide drilling facility engineering services to Drilling Platform topside for Johan Sverdrup. By the award of the drilling service contracts, Odfjell Drilling has gained an important position in all phases of the Johan Sverdrup drilling activities, add Simen Lieungh.
Odfjell Drilling has since the 1973 developed as a reliable provider of integrated platform drilling and drilling facility engineering services in the North Sea region. In 1979 Odfjell Drilling was awarded the platform drilling contract on the Statfjord B-platform, one of Statoil’s legacy North Sea installations. This contract represented the start of the development of Odfjell Drilling’s platform drilling services.
The company currently provides integrated drilling services on 19 production facilities in UK and Norway. Under existing contracts with Statoil, Odfjell Drilling already provides platform drilling services on seven installations in Norway and is involved in the design and construction phase of the Mariner field in the UK where drilling operations will commence in 2017.
Fugro has successfully completed a year-long wellhead monitoring project for BP Americas Inc, measuring BOP stack motions and calculating wellhead fatigue during a deployment in the Gulf of Mexico.
The drilling campaign was conducted throughout 2014 in 6,000 ft of water depth and utilised the Fugro Wellhead and Riser Instrumentation Service (WARIS). This installation included transmission of motion spectra from the BOP stack and riser using standard hydroacoustic modems and the automatic processing of this data with topside environmental data to show levels of motion and fatigue and their correlation with sea states and ocean currents. This provided BP with access to real-time subsea data to aid their decision making throughout the deployment. Communications from the lower marine riser package (LMRP) and riser remained successful even with surface wave heights greater than 3 metres at times during the campaign.
DeepData pods being readied for deployment with a lower marine riser package
The DeepData subsea motion monitoring pods, the main component in the system, were deployed to positions on the BOP stack and riser by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV). The pods were integrated with hydroacoustic modems and had battery capacity to last for one year of deployment. A topside system was supplied that included vessel motion monitoring and links to existing environmental monitoring systems.
To ensure that the data could be accessed and utilised by BP engineers anywhere in the world, Fugro’s onshore data delivery system was used to plot and display all the processed data from the WARIS system. Summary plots were also distributed by email to a designated list of client recipients.
The success of the project indicated the technology could be deployed on other wells where fatigue capacity and potential loading is of interest.
Stuart Killbourn, Principal Engineer at Fugro said, “This was a project with challenging timescales and some demanding engineering. By working closely with BP and with Fugro staff in our Houston office, we managed to create success for both companies.”
John Henderson, Team Leader for Subsea Wells Engineered Solutions and Mitigations at BP said, “The collaboration between BP and Fugro demonstrates a leap forward in monitoring capability for the industry.”
Jee Ltd, a leading independent multi-discipline subsea engineering and training firm, has completed a contract with Decom North Sea (DNS), the representative body for the decommissioning industry, to identify pioneering methods of salvage and re-use options for concrete subsea mattresses.
The aim of the project, which commenced in February 2015 and saw Jee Ltd partner with DNS and Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS), was to identify innovative new solutions for subsea mattress removal which would work without diver interventions during the lift procedure, resulting in improved safety and reduced costs.
Mattress recovery operation
Nigel Jenkins, DNS Chief Executive explains the background to the contract: “This project was implemented in direct response to our operator member requests and Jee’s findings have been eagerly anticipated. Mattress removal can add significant costs to decommissioning projects hence we are keen to establish a variety of solutions to further drive efficiency.”
Adam Smith, Subsea Engineer at Jee Ltd, presented the findings at an event hosted jointly by DNS and ZWS at the Aberdeen Exhibition & Conference Centre yesterday (Thursday 28 May). Around 100 oil and gas professionals came together to discuss the key findings of the report and how they will improve industry best practise and the circular economy.
Discussing the project, Adam Smith said: “The significant cost of removing and disposing of aged subsea mattresses is an issue affecting the industry globally. Identifying innovative new methods to support the decommissioning sector is high on the industry’s agenda, and DNS’s highly-attended event is the ideal platform to showcase the results from the project.”
Adam Smith said: “Jee’s team of experienced engineers are at the forefront of supporting innovative new research projects to support the sustainability of the industry. Working with two highly-regarded industry bodies on a key investigative project highlights Jee’s expertise in the field and long history of delivering results.
“Our research played a key role in this project, which will form a basis for economic and environmental assessment of mattress conditions and the options for removal and re-use going forward. We also helped to identify the criteria required to determine whether subsea mattresses should be removed or left in situ, the main consideration being the safety of the subsea divers and the environmental impact.”
Jee developed a number of innovative suggestions for the re-use of the mattress concrete including tidal lagoons structures, the construction of artificial reefs to encourage new sea life and to lay road foundations, resulting in less new concrete needed to be produced and as a result, reduced carbon dioxide emissions.
Commenting on the findings, Iain Gulland, Chief Executive, Zero Waste Scotland, said: “This joint report has some fascinating insights about how we go about extending the useful life of subsea concrete mattresses. I am sure it will be of great interest to all those in the oil and gas industry and beyond. The findings point to some exciting cross-over potential with other sectors, such as offshore renewables. Circular economy practices present a terrific economic opportunity for Scotland and we can best realize this by collaborating across sectors and industries.”
Jee is an independent subsea engineering and training company with offices in Aberdeen, London and Tonbridge. Jee’s multi-disciplined capabilities and integrated services, cover the spectrum of subsea engineering for the global oil, gas and renewables industries.
Liza-1 well encounters more than 295 feet of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs
Well is first on 6.6-million acre Stabroek Block and drilled to 17,825 feet
ExxonMobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) has announced a significant oil discovery on the Stabroek Block, located approximately 120 miles offshore Guyana.
The well was drilled by ExxonMobil affiliate, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Ltd., and encountered more than 295 feet (90 meters) of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs. It was safely drilled to 17,825 feet (5,433 meters) in 5,719 feet (1,743 meters) of water. Stabroek Block is 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometers).
Deepwater Champion: Courtesy Wikimedia Commons - Michael Elleray
“I am encouraged by the results of the first well on the Stabroek Block,” said Stephen M. Greenlee, president of ExxonMobil Exploration Company. “Over the coming months we will work to determine the commercial viability of the discovered resource, as well as evaluate other resource potential on the block.”
The well was spud on March 5, 2015. The well data will be analyzed in the coming months to better determine the full resource potential.
Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Ltd. holds 45 percent interest. Hess Guyana Exploration Limited holds 30 percent interest and CNOOC Nexen Petroleum Guyana Limited holds 25 percent interest.
NorSea Group (UK) Limited has won North-east Scotland’s first major “small piece” decommissioning contract. Work has already begun on the six-month project which is being carried out at NorSea Group’s Peterhead facility on behalf of Endeavour Energy and involves safe disposal of subsea manifolds and associated pipework from the Renee and Rubie fields.
All materials from the fields, which lie 200km North-east of Aberdeen, are being delivered to Smith Quay which is operated by NorSea Group. An important element of the £0.5million contract was the requirement that reuse of returned material be maximised and NorSea Group will achieve a 100% recycling rate.
From left - Guy Cook and Hywel Evans of Endeavour Energy with Mike Munro, Operations Director, NorSea Group (UK) at Smith Quay, Peterhead
The returned material includes 1,000 tonnes of concrete mattresses which will be used as hard core and in road construction projects; 200tonnes of pipework and skid units which will be recycled as scrap metal; manifold valves which will be refurbished and reused and a 17 tonne crossover manifold which will be transported to the Underwater Centre at Fort William where it will be used for diver training.
The work will initially create up to six new jobs.
“This is our first decommissioning win and the first such project to be carried out in the North-east,” said Walter Robertson, MD of NorSea Group (UK). “We are primarily known as a logistics and base services company servicing the offshore industry but as part of our future growth strategy we are developing our decommissioning capability. In the current economic climate we anticipate that many more decommissioning projects will be coming forward and we are already involved in tendering for additional contracts in this area.
“In addition to Peterhead we have facilities at South Quay, Montrose capable of carrying out similar types of small piece decommissioning work, so we see great potential for servicing additional contracts there.”
Operations Director Mike Munro, who is overseeing the work, said Smith Quay and Embankment, was constructed by Peterhead Port Authority to service the DSV and Subsea vessel market and is ideally located to service the northern and central North Sea.
“With 200m of quayside and a draft of 10m, Smith Quay is ideal for the landing of small piece decommissioning works and can handle structures up to 4,000tonnes in weight. A laydown area in excess of 15,000m2 and our on-site crane with a 220t capacity makes us self-sufficient in the landing of most materials and larger capacity cranes are available at short notice.
“We also carry out rigorous testing of all decommissioning materials to detect the presence of NORM (Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material) and if it is present, we work with Scotoil Services, our specialist partnership company, to carry out decontamination at our on-site SEPA approved licensed premises.”
NorSea Group took on the operatorship of Smith Quay and Embankment at Peterhead on a 10-year agreement at Q3 2014. This is phase 1 of a 3 phase development that will see expansion onto Merchants Quay and provide 400m of deep-water quayside berthing supported by over 50,000m2 of quayside laydown area. NorSea also has a long term agreement with Scrabster Harbour Trust and a 15-year lease at South Quay in Montrose.
NorSea Group (UK) was established as the UK wing of its Norwegian parent company NorSea Group in 2013 when it opened its first office in Aberdeen. Since then there has been significant growth in the company’s business activity in the UK. In addition to establishing a presence in Aberdeen, NorSea Group acquired Danbor Ltd. the leading Danish offshore logistics company and their UK assets are now incorporated into NorSea Group (UK). In 2014, the company also moved to new premises at NorSea Group House in Altens, providing the company with its own 4,000m2 warehouse, 15,000m2 concreted yard and 800m2 of office space.
Statoil is, on behalf of the Johan Sverdrup partnership, signing a contract with a joint venture consisting of Kvaerner and KBR for construction of the topside for the utility and living quarters platform. The contract has a value of NOK 6.7 billion.
W&T Offshore, Inc. (NYSE: WTI) has announced a new discovery at Ewing Banks 910 and first production from the SS #6 well at Mississippi Canyon 538 field ("Medusa"), both in the deepwater of the Gulf of Mexico. The Company also provided an update on the status of the Big Bend and Dantzler deepwater development projects.
W&T made a new discovery at Ewing Banks 910 with the successful drilling and evaluation of the Ewing Banks 910 A-5 ST well. The Company logged 160 feet of gross hydrocarbon interval and is currently completing the well. We expect recovery from the well to exceed our pre-drill estimates and we anticipate that the well could be online and flowing by the end of the second quarter. W&T has a 50% working interest in this well.
The next well to be drilled at Ewing Banks 910 will be the A-8 exploration well, which based on seismic data, is estimated to be a significantly larger reserve target than the recently successful A-5 ST well. We have additional drilling locations in the area as a result of our ongoing geological and geophysical review of new WAZ seismic data.
The Company is also pleased to announce that the recently drilled Medusa SS #6 well has been completed and achieved first production flowing at a gross rate of approximately 8,000 barrels of oil and 6 MMcf of natural gas for a combined total rate of 9,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. A second extension well at Medusa, the SS #7 well, is currently being completed. W&T has a 15% working interest in the Medusa field.
Excellent progress is being made on the work to bring the Mississippi Canyon 698 "Big Bend" and Mississippi Canyon 782 "Dantzler" fields on line. Three vessels are currently in the field, with one performing umbilical installation work, one conducting sea trials before the pipeline system is installed and another serving as a flotel for the preparation of the topside facilities at "Thunderhawk," the host platform. Production from Big Bend is expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2015 and production from Dantzler is now expected to commence near the end of 2015. This is slightly ahead of prior scheduling. The anticipated combined rate from Big Bend and Dantzler is expected to reach in excess of 8,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, net to our 20% working interest (81% oil).
Eni has made a new discovery of gas and condensates offshore Libya, in the Bouri North exploration prospect in Area D, 140 kilometers from the coast and 20 kilometers north of the production field of Bouri.
The discovery was made through the A1-1/1 well, drilled at a water depth of 125 meters, which encountered gas and condensates in the Metlaoui Group of Eocene age. During the production test, constrained by surface facilities, the well flowed 1,340 Boepd with a “64/64‘ choke size. In production configuration, the well is estimated to deliver in excess of 3,000 Boepd.
The well represents the second discovery made by Eni in Libyan offshore Area D since the beginning of 2015.
Eni, through its subsidiary Eni North Africa BV, is operator of Contract Area D with 100% working interest in the exploration phase. Eni has been present in Libya since 1959 and currently produces more than 300,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the Country.
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