Page 7 - NorthAmOil Week 39 2022
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NorthAmOil                                  PERFORMANCE                                          NorthAmOil


       Gulf producers shut in output




       ahead of Hurricane Ian’s arrival




        GULF OF MEXICO   CERTAIN producers in the US Gulf of Mex-  disrupt oil and gas operations in the Gulf, which
                         ico shut in some of their production in late  accounts for around 15% of US oil output and
                         September as Hurricane Ian approached the  5% of its gas production. However, the storm was
                         region.                              not a threat to the platforms in the Central Gulf,
                           The storm made landfall in Florida on Sep-  where the majority of US offshore production
                         tember 28 as a Category 4 hurricane. Ahead  comes from. Other offshore producers such as
                         of this, BP and Chevron said on September 26  Murphy Oil, Shell and Equinor said at the start of
                         that they had shut in some of their output. BP  the week that they anticipated no impact to their
                         evacuated personnel from its 130,000 barrel per  operations in the region.
                         day (bpd) Na Kika platform and its 250,000 bpd   For those that did shut in production, the out-
                         Thunder Horse facility. Chevron, for its part,  ages proved short-lived as the storm’s trajectory
                         said it was removing personnel and shutting in  became better defined. BP said on September 27
                         output from its Petronius and Blind Faith plat-  that it had begun returning crews to Thunder
                         forms, which account for about 105,000 bpd  Horse and Na Kika.
                         of oil production and 90mn cubic feet (2.5mn   The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental
                         cubic metres) per day of gas output on a com-  Enforcement (BSEE) estimated on September 28
                         bined basis.                         that around 9.1% of Gulf oil production and 6.0%
                           Occidental Petroleum and Hess were also  of gas output had been shut in, based on operator
                         reported to be saying they were implementing  reports. This equated to roughly 157,706 bpd of
                         measures for facilities in the Gulf, without elab-  oil and 128 mmcf (3.6 mcm) per day of gas. A
                         orating further.                     total of 11 platforms and five rigs were evacuated
                           Hurricane Ian was the first storm of 2022 to  because of the storm.™


                                             PROJECTS & COMPANIES



       TotalEnergies unveils plan to



       spin off oil sands operations





        ALBERTA          FRANCE’S TotalEnergies has unveiled plans to  would be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange
                         spin off its oil sands operations in Canada into a  (TSX). TotalEnergies intends to maintain a
                         new company, as those assets do not align with  minority stake in the spin-off on a temporary
                         its energy transition goals.         basis in order to smooth the transition.
                           The spin-off would include TotalEnergies’   The move represents the latest step in
                         24.58% stake in Suncor Energy’s Fort Hills oil  TotalEnergies’ gradual pullback from the oil
                         sands mining project in northern Alberta, its  sands. The company took a $9.3bn impairment
       TotalEnergies and   50% stake in ConocoPhillips’ Surmont thermal  charge on the value of its oil sands assets in
       Teck both own stakes   project and midstream and trading-related  2020, and while oil prices have since rebounded,
       in Suncor’s Fort Hills   activities. They are anticipated to generate  TotalEnergies is increasingly focusing on gas and
       mine.             $1.5bn worth of cash flow in 2022. TotalEner-  LNG instead as it pursues its long-term decar-
                         gies’ CEO, Patrick Pouyanné, told investors at  bonisation targets.
                         a presentation in New York that the company   Separately, Teck Resources, which also owns
                         had decided on a spin-off because that option  a stake in Fort Hills, said it was considering spin-
                         would not depend on finding a buyer for the  ning off or selling that stake if the value of the
                         assets.                              asset is not reflected in its share price.
                           “We are not the best shareholder of these   Teck owns a 21.3% stake in the project that
                         assets because as we have a climate strategy, we  accounts for around 20,000 barrels per day (bpd)
                         don’t want to invest in these assets,” he said.   of output, and has previously said it may sell its
                           The company said the proposal would be  interest. Fort Hills has struggled with opera-
                         put to a shareholder vote at its next annual gen-  tional issues, resulting in higher costs and a slow
                         eral meeting (AGM) in May 2023. The spin-off   production ramp-up.™



       Week 39   29•September•2022              www. NEWSBASE .com                                              P7
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