Page 14 - Euroil Week 17 2020

EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil
Maersk mothballs rigs, plans to lay off up to 300 workers
DENMARK
The affected crews are working in Denmark, Norway and the UK.
DANISH offshore drilling contractor Maersk Drilling is preparing to mothball several North Sea rigs and make 250-300 redundancies, it said on April 24.
The affected crews are working in Denmark, Norway and the UK. Maersk said it was prepar- ing to hold consultations with trade unions and employee representatives in those countries to reduce the layoffs.
“Though it’s standard practice in our industry to adjust our workforce to activity levels, it never feels right to say goodbye to good colleagues, especially when so many have walked the extra mile to keep operations running in these very difficult times,” Maersk CEO Jorn Madsen said. “However, it’s our responsibility to safeguard our business and we are now taking steps to main- tain competitiveness in the challenging market environment.”
The coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis and the resulting collapse in oil prices have hit North Sea drilling activity hard, upending the businesses of contractors such as Maersk.
On April 17, Maersk reported that BG International, a unit of Royal Dutch Shell, had terminated early a contract to use its Maersk
Development semi-submersible with immedi- ate effect. The contract had been due to run until August. Norway’s Aker BP also ended a contract for the Maersk Reacher jack-up, which had been hired for accommodation services at the Valhall field, effective from the end of April. That con- tract had been scheduled to continue until Octo- ber 2020.
In both those cases Maersk expects to receive compensation in the form of early termination fees.
“Accordingly, the financial impact of the contract terminations on profitability in 2020 is expected to be limited,” the Danish firm said.
Struggling Africa-focused operator Tullow Oil also notified Maersk in late March it was seeking early termination of a contract for the Maersk Venturer drillship, for work off the coast of Ghana. The rig is now expected to part with Tullow in June 2020, instead of February 2022. This early termination came as a serious blow for Maersk, resulting in a $175mn loss to its revenue backlog.
The contractor has cut its guidance for Ebitda before special items to $325-375mn for this year, from an original forecast of $400-450mn. ™
Neptune reports oil, gas finds in Germany
GERMANY
Neptune reported positive results from two wells in the northwest of the country.
NORTH Sea-focused Neptune Energy has reported two key hydrocarbon discoveries in northwestern Germany.
Initial results from the Adorf Z15 gas well and the Ringe oil well were positive, it said on its web- site on April 22. Adorf Z15 was sunk to a depth of 3,500 metres in the municipality of Emlich- heim, boring into a Carboniferous formation in February. The well has since test-flowed up to 1,700 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), Neptune said.
A processing plant to handle the well’s gas is to be erected during the first half of the year.
Meanwhile in the Ringe region, German drilling operator Wintershall Dea began drilling a well in December, targeting the extension of a known reservoir. Oil was found in the Bentheim sandstone formation at a depth of 1,500 metres. Operational control was handed to Neptune for
the well’s completion and connection to existing infrastructure. Commercial flows are due to start this month, Neptune said.
“The results of these two successful wells underline the great potential for future oil and gas production in the region and will enable us to increase our production significantly,” Neptune’s managing director in Germany, Andreas Scheck, commented.
Neptune serves as operator of the Adorf and Ringe fields with stakes of 66.7% and 45% respectively. The remaining equity is held by Wintershall, its joint venture partner.
Neptune’s main operations are in the Nor- wegian, UK and Dutch waters of the North Sea, although it is also active in Germany, Algeria, Egypt, Australia and Indonesia. It lifted 143,900 boepd of oil and gas in 2019, up from 161,800 boepd a year earlier.™
P14
w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 17 30•April•2020