Page 14 - Euroil Week 03 2020

EurOil
NEWS IN BRIEF
EurOil
Equinor cleared for North Sea well
Norwegian oil major Equinor has received consent from the offshore safety body,
the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), for exploration drilling in the North Sea using the West Hercules drilling rig.
The PSA said last week that the consent had been awarded for drilling of pilot hole 30/2-U-1 in production licence 878.
Equinor is the operator of the licence with a 70% interest. Partners in the license are Wellesley and Source Energy with a 20% and 10% stake, respectively.
The pilot hole is located north-west of the Huldra field in the North Sea in a water depth of 142 meters.
According to Equinor’s estimates, the drilling will last for three days and will start in early 2020.
The pilot hole will be drilled using the West Hercules drilling rig, which is owned and operated by Seadrill.
The West Hercules is a 6th-generation semi-submersible drilling rig built in 2008 at Daewoo Shipyard, South Korea. The facility received an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) from the PSA in 2012.
January 16 2020
Eastern Med exploration rows set to worsen as Turkey says it’s set to issue exploration licences
Turkey says it is to issue new energy exploration licences for the eastern Mediterranean—but they will correspond to the controversial maritime border it has agreed with Libya.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan outlined the plan on January 17. It is
set to worsen the row with Greece and
the European Union over the maritime delineation and claims of sovereignty drawn up with Tripoli, which Athens says ignore the presence of the Greek island of Crete.
Turkey’s is pursuing its claims in the contested waters of eastern Mediterranean, despite European nations, Egypt and
Israel having built a forum to promote their interests. Ankara is already accused of conducting drilling operations within Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone. The
EU is considering imposing sanctions on Turkey over its exploration off Cyprus, while Cyprus wants the International Court of Justice to resolve the dispute.
Turkey’s demands could make it more challenging and costly to construct a
P14
planned natural-gas pipeline that could link the eastern Mediterranean basin with European markets through Cyprus, Greece and Italy.
“From now on, it is not legally possible to carry out any exploration activity
or construction of a pipeline in areas between Turkey and Libya without the permission of both countries,” Erdogan told a televised conference in Ankara. “We will issue licences for these areas and start exploration work in 2020.”
Turkey secured the maritime agreement from Libya’s internationally recognised government partly after agreeing military assistance in the North African nation’s civil war.
The eastern Mediterranean has been one of the world’s most prolific spots for major gas discoveries during the past decade, according to Bloomberg. Noble Energy found the Leviathan gas field
in Israeli waters in 2010 and Italy’s Eni discovered the giant Zohr deposit off the Egyptian coast in 2015. Exxon made a discovery off the southwest coast of Cyprus last year.
bne IntelliNews, January 17 2020
Maersk Drilling gets two-well
drilling extension from Aker
BP
Danish offshore drilling contractor Maersk Drilling has been awarded a two-well contract extension from Aker BP for the Maersk Integrator low-emission rig.
Maersk Drilling said on January 20 that the new contract was in direct continuation of the rig’s current workscope.
The Maersk Integrator will move to the Ivar Aasen field offshore Norway to drill two wells, with work expected to begin in October 2020.
The extension has an estimated duration of 93 days and a contract value of approximately $25mn, excluding a potential performance bonus. The contract also includes an additional one-well option.
Maersk Integrator is contracted under the terms of the alliance agreement Maersk Drilling entered into with Aker BP and Halliburton in 2017.
The tripartite alliance uses a shared incentive model, thereby securing mutual commitment to collaborate to reduce waste and deliver value. Contracts under the alliance are based on market-rate terms but add the possibility of upside for all parties, based on actual delivery and performance.
Morten Kelstrup, Maersk Drilling COO, said: “We are thrilled to be able to firm up activities for Maersk Integrator in 2020 by continuing to work closely together with Aker
BP in an alliance which is enabling new ways of working across the value chain.
“Higher efficiency in itself reduces the
CO2 emissions associated with a drilling campaign, and this is further improved by the low-emission upgrades Maersk Integrator will receive before it begins working at Ivar Aasen.”
Maersk Integrator is an ultra-harsh environment CJ70 XLE jack-up, designed for year-round operations in the North Sea. It was delivered in 2015 and is currently operating offshore Norway for Aker BP. The rig is expected to perform its scheduled Special Periodic Survey in August 2020 and will undergo a series of upgrades to turn it into a hybrid, low-emission rig prior to moving to the Tambar field in September 2020.
January 20 2020
EU’s lending arm EIB ‘expects to keep lending heavily restricted in Turkey this
year as Cyprus drilling row rumbles on’
The EU’s lending arm, the European Investment Bank (EIB), expects to keep its lending heavily restricted in Turkey this year, with no end in sight to the EU row with Ankara over oil and gas drilling that Cyprus says breaches its exclusive economic zone.
Asked about the EIB’s lending restrictions, a spokesman for the bank told Reuters on January 21 that the bank would continue to act “in line with the approach adopted by EU Member States and the EU Commission”.
He added: “Unless there is a change
in direction at EU level, we will probably maintain the selective approach [to lending in Turkey] we have had in the past couple of years, at least for the foreseeable future”.
The EU is waiting on the preparation of new sanctions against Turkish businesses and individuals responsible for carrying out the drilling off Cyprus, Euronews Turkish quoted EU foreign affairs commissioner Josep Borrell as saying on January 21.
The 28-member bloc is waiting on the completion of a list of names from the bodies of the Council of Europe, Borrell reportedly stated. “We’ve also discussed the situation over Turkey’s gas drilling in the Mediterranean, and Cypriot [Foreign] Minister briefed us on the issue. We have agreed to ask the respective bodies of the Council to finalise preparations for adding Turkish individuals and businesses responsible for illegal drilling to a blacklist and imposing sanctions against them,” the media outlet also quoted Borrell as saying.
bne IntelliNews, January 21 2020
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Week 03 23•January•2020