Page 4 - NorthAmOil Week 49

NorthAmOil NEWSBASE’S ROUNDUP GLOBAL (NRG) NorthAmOil

Oil market strategising

Policy decisions made this past week will have both long and

short-term ramifications for the wider energy sector

GLOBAL WELCOME to the latest edition of NewsBase’s AfrOil: Offshore interest
Roundup Global (NRG), in which our team of In Africa, two major offshore projects have hit the
international editors provide you with a snap- headlines.
shot of some of the key issues affecting their Offshore Angola, BP has launched a new
regional beats. Get the NRG Oil & Gas Editor’s drilling programme at Block 18. The UK-based
Picks to your inbox every week for free. Just sign super-major is now using the Valaris DS-12 drill-
up here. ship to sink the first of four planned wells – includ-
Some of the biggest news this past week revolved ing two development wells and two injection wells
around policy decisions in the upstream space. The – at the Platina section of the block. The company
oil market was able to relax somewhat following hopes to sees output at Platina peak at 34,000 bar-
OPEC+’s decision to keep production cuts in place rels per day (bpd) and will pump crude from the
until the end of January. The importance of efforts field to the Greater Plutonio floating production,
to support oil prices was underscored by Chevron’s storage and off-loading (FPSO) vessel, which it has
announcement last week that it would cut its capital installed at another section of the block.
expenditure budget. BP had previously said it would begin drilling at
While production cuts will help balance one Platina in mid-2020 but was not able to meet that
side of the equation, a recovery in demand will deadline. It is now on track to wrap up its drilling
be essential to help prices recover, and as long as programme in late 2021.
uncertainty over when such a recovery will present Offshore Senegal, Australia’s Woodside Petro-
itself remains, then other developers will likely fol- leum has blocked FAR Ltd, another Australian
low Chevron’s example. firm, from proceeding with plans to sell a minority
In the long term, however, the upstream stake in the RSSD block to India’s ONGC Videsh
industry needs to prepare for a global transition Ltd (OVL). As the operator of the block, which
away from fossil fuels. The importance of such includes the Sangomar oilfield, it has exercised its
strategising was underlined by Denmark’s deci- right to pre-empt the sale and has offered to buy
sion to ban all new exploration in the North Sea, FAR’s stake on the same terms accepted by OVL.
while allowing its existing production projects to The move puts Woodside on track to boost its
remain in place. stake in the Sangomar field to 90% and its stake in
The move reflects a similar decision made last the other sections of the RSSD block to 82%. The
year by New Zealand, a much smaller hydrocar- company will be able to do so once it secures the
bons producer, and should give the wider oil and approval of shareholders and the government of
gas industry pause for thought. Senegal for its buy-outs of FAR and Cairn Energy,

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 49 10•December•2020