Esgian has released its Week 51 Rig Analytics Market Roundup, highlighting regulatory action in the United States.
The Biden Administration has published the final 2024–2029 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Programme with “the fewest oil and gas lease sales in history.” The Inflation Reduction Act prohibits the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) from issuing a lease for offshore wind development unless the agency has offered at least 60 million acres for oil and gas leasing on the OCS in the previous year.
The latest oil and gas lease sale program schedules three oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico Programme Area in 2025, 2027, and 2029. There are no planned oil and gas lease sales in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Alaskan waters These three lease sales are the minimum number that will enable the Interior Department’s offshore wind energy programme to continue issuing leases in a way that will ensure continued progress towards the administration’s goal of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030, the Department of Interior said. According to the DoI, the areas considered for leasing and number of lease sales in the 2024-2029 Final Programme have been significantly narrowed from the previous Administration’s original proposal of 47 lease sales off all coastal areas in the United States.
Amongst the other news Esgian reports is:
Baron Oil’s subsidiary SundaGas has entered into a memorandum of understanding with TIMOR GAP to transfer a 15% stake in the Chuditch PSC, offshore Timor-Leste, to TIMOR GAP. With this agreement, which is subject to certain conditions being met, TIMOR GAP’s interest in the project will increase to 40%, with SundaGas retaining the operatorship and holding a 60% working interest in the Chuditch PSC. Baron said that the transaction would have a value to Baron of approximately US$8.5 million in reimbursement for prior costs and in the offset of future spending.
The operational plan remains to drill and flow test the Chuditch-2 appraisal well in late 2024, subject to rig and drilling services availability and the completion of drill financing, Baron Oil said. A location has been selected for the drilling of the Chuditch-2 appraisal well and significant progress has been made in preparation for the drilling campaign, the company said.
Finder Energy’s licence P2610 contains the large Boaz gas condensate prospect, which is estimated to contain gross mean prospective resources of 748 Bcf of gas and 81 MMbbl of condensate. Finder Energy announced it had received a priority offer in the 33rd UK Offshore Licencing Round for the licence containing the Boaz prospect in early November 2023. Finder’s bid was made in 50/50 partnership with Equinor with Finder nominated as the Licence Administrator (Operator).
The licence is located within the South Viking Graben in the Central North Sea adjacent to the UK/Norway Median line. It is close to host facilities operated by Equinor, including Gina Krog and Sleipner. Equinor is currently fast-tracking the development of the Eirin field, which will connect to Sleipner via Gina Krog, and is also seeking to extend the life of the Sleipner facilities by actively exploring and developing around this area.
Mexican conglomerate Grupo Carso’s subsidiary Zamajal S.A. de C.V. has made an agreement with PetroBal to acquire 100% of its subsidiary PetroBral Operaciones Upstream, which has a 50% interest in the Ichalkil- Pokoch oil fields, located in Area Contractual 4 off the coast of Campeche, Mexico. A consortium of Fieldwood Energy and Delta 1 was awarded the shallow water area in January 2016. Lukoil acquired Fieldwood Energy’s 50% operating interest in early 2022. Area 4 consists of two blocks containing the Ichalkil and Pokoch oil fields in around 98 to 148 ft (30 to 45 m). In late September 2023, Grupo Carso subsidiary Zamajal acquired 49.9% of the Talos Energy company Talos Energy Mexico, which has a 17.4% interest in the Zama field offshore Mexico. Pemex is the operator of Zama with a 50.4% interest, while Wintershall Dea has a 19.8% interest and Harbour Energy has a 12.4% interest.
Shell announced the Final Investment Decision (FID) for the deep-water Sparta Development project in the US Gulf of Mexico. The project will be Shell's 15th deep-water host in the Gulf of Mexico and the first development to produce from reservoirs with pressures up to 20,000 pounds per square inch. The Sparta project will span four Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) blocks in the Garden Banks area in the US Gulf of Mexico (US GoM) and will feature a semisubmersible production host in water depth of 4,700-ft (1,400m) with initially eight oil and gas producing well. Estimated recoverable resource volume is 244 million boe. Production is scheduled to begin in 2028.
Longboat Energy has completed the acquisition of Topaz Number One, increasing its operating stake in the Production Sharing Contract over Block 2A offshore Sarawak, Malaysia, to 52.5%. Block 2A is located offshore Sarawak, north-west of the prolific Central Luconia hydrocarbon province, covering around 12,000 km2 in water depths between 100 - 1,400 metres (328 - 4593 ft). The block contains the “giant” Kertang prospect, which is understood to hold significant volume potential, representing “multiple trillions of cubic feet (TCF) of gas in stacked reservoirs."
Harbour Energy has reached an agreement with BASF and LetterOne, the shareholders of Wintershall Dea, for the acquisition of substantially all of Wintershall Dea's upstream assets for $11.2 billion. The target portfolio includes all of Wintershall Dea's upstream assets in Norway, Germany, Denmark, Argentina, Mexico, Egypt, Libya, and Algeria as well as Wintershall Dea's CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS) licences in Europe.
Wintershall Dea's Russian assets are excluded. The acquisition will add 1.1 bnboe of 2P reserves at c.$10/boe and more than 300 kboepd of production at c.$35,000/boepd. The acquisition is expected to transform Harbour into one of the world's largest and most geographically diverse independent oil and gas companies, adding material gas-weighted portfolios in Norway and Argentina and complementary growth projects in Mexico.
EnQuest has reached an agreement with Viaro Energy's subsidiary, RockRose, to sell a 15% working interest in each of the Bressay field and the EnQuest Producer FPSO, both located in the UK North Sea. Bressay lies in the Northern North Sea and it is one of the largest undeveloped oil fields in the UKCS, with an estimated potential to extract around 200 million boe. Under the terms of the agreement, total consideration is £46 million (∼$58.4m) and will involve an initial payment by RockRose to EnQuest of £34.75 million, which will be used for general corporate purposes, with the remaining £11.25 million to be paid from future Bressay cash flows.
Karoon Energy has completed the acquisition of interests in the US Gulf of Mexico from LLOG. Karoon has acquired a 30% stake in the Who Dat and Dome Patrol oil and gas fields and associated infrastructure, an approximately 16% stake in the Abilene field and varying interests in adjacent exploration acreage.