Page 19 - MEOG Week 46

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For now, Total remains Driftwood’s only cus- concern for Saudi Aramco over the past year or
tomer, so on top of Papua LNG progress, Souki’s so, having come under attack previously, while
comments come as welcome news for the French issues with the refinery and terminal have also
company. posed their own problems.
The news wasn’t all bad in Saudi Arabia
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping though, as Aramco is reported to be preparing
the global LNG sector then please click here for to kick off work to expand production capacity at
NewsBase’s GLNG Monitor. the super-giant offshore Safaniyah field. Tender
documents have been issued to the company’s
Latin America: Brazil launches Marlim sale pool of contractors that are signatories of long-
In Brazil, the national oil company (NOC) Petro- term agreement (LTA) contracts with Aramco,
bras has launched the teaser stage for its planned ahead of an anticipated award in the first quarter
sale of the Marlim cluster, a group of deepwater of 2021.
oil and gas fields in the Campos basin. The four
fields within the group are currently producing If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
about 217,000 barrels per day of crude oil and the Middle East’s oil and gas sector then please click
more than 3.6mn cubic metres per day of gas, here for NewsBase’s MEOG Monitor.
according to a company statement.
The NOC said last week that it intended to North America: Asset sale and bankruptcy
stay on as operator of the licence area but was The shale industry has been prominent in North
looking to unload half of its 100% stake. Mean- American oil and gas developments in recent
while, Houston-based Welligence Energy days, with notable news including a reported
Analytics described Marlim as “the biggest asset sale and a bankruptcy.
acquisition opportunity” in the region and spec- On November 13, Reuters reported that Den-
ulated that the sale might draw bids from major ver-based Ovintiv was seeking to sell its assets in Hurricane Delta
international oil companies (IOCs). the Eagle Ford shale, citing several people famil-
Meanwhile, Suriname’s NOC Staatsolie is iar with the matter. was the latest in
gearing up to offer eight shallow-water offshore The company – which was previously based
blocks to foreign investors. The company said in Calgary and known as Encana – bought its a series of storms
last week that it was on track to launch a new bid- Eagle Ford assets in 2014 from Freeport-Mc- that forced
ding round on November 16. The winners of the MoRan for $3.1bn. According to one of Reuters’
auctions will be able to negotiate contracts that sources, the assets could fetch around $600- the evacuation
provide for the collection of new 3D seismic data 700mn. The plan to sell the assets is reported to
from the blocks in the first phase of exploration. be at an early stage. of manned
The difference in the assets’ original prices
In Mexico, President Andres Manuel Lopez
Obrador has said his government is ready to and what they could fetch now illustrates how platforms in the
issue the last permit needed for Sempra Energy much more challenging the operating envi- Gulf of Mexico
to make a final investment decision (FID) on ronment is now – when even before this year’s
the Energía Costa Azul (ECA) project. He also downturn, shale drillers were already struggling.
stated, though, that the company would have to Some are now seeking to boost their perfor-
commit to helping Mexico City dispose of excess mance and pay down debt, including through
gas supplies to receive the permit. asset sales. Indeed, Ovintiv is estimated to have
debt of $7.1bn that a sale of the Eagle Ford assets
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping could help pay down.
the Latin American oil and gas sector then please click Other shale drillers, meanwhile, have found
here for NewsBase’s LatAmOil Monitor. themselves forced into bankruptcy protection.
This has also played out in recent days once again
Mideast: Attacks and contracts in recent days, with Gulfport Energy announc-
ADNOC, the UAE’s national oil company ing that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
(NOC), announced progress on several initia- protection.
tives last week and also struck deals on new pro- The company said on November 14 that it
jects, using the platform of the annual ADIPEC had entered into a restructuring support agree-
event to spread the word of its successes. ment, with over 95% of its revolving credit facil-
The state-run oil firm continues to supple- ity lenders and certain noteholders. The plan is
ment its core business of oil and gas production aimed at strengthening Gulfport’s balance sheet,
as it increases activities throughout the value “significantly” reducing its funded debt and low-
chain, and this strategy was exemplified by pro- ering operating costs, it stated.
gress in the upstream, midstream and services The company said that after it completes the
sectors. Meanwhile, the company is ramping up restructuring process, it will have eliminated
efforts to improve its environmental stewardship roughly $1.25bn in funded debt. Gulfport Ener-
through carbon capture, utilisation and storage gy’s debts came to about $2.5bn as of September
(CCUS). 30, according to a filing with the US Bankruptcy
In Saudi Arabia, oil facilities at Jazan, which is Court for the Southern District of Texas.
located near the border with Yemen, came under
attack from Houthis. While the attack was ulti- If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
mately foiled, it resulted in a fire, although there the North American oil and gas sector then please click
were no casualties. Jazan has been an area of here for NewsBase’s NorthAmOil Monitor.™

Week 46 18•November•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P19