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Equinor, Neptune report

North Sea finds

NORWAY NORWAY’S Equinor has announced a gas and Equinor reported its first Norwegian discov-
condensate discovery at the Atlantis wildcat well ery in 2020 in early March, when two wildcat
The Equinor find is 17 km south of the Kvitebjorn gas field in the wells near the Gudrun field in the central North
estimated to be up to North Sea. Sea both encountered oil. Later that month it is
10mn cubic metres The state-owned company said it had found understood to have struck oil in the Caspian Sea,
of recoverable oil between 3 and 10mn cubic metres of recovera- and in April, it made an oil discovery in the US
equivalent. ble oil equivalent at the well, which is its first at Gulf of Mexico.
production licence (PL) 878. The borehole was The Atlantis well was drilled by the West Her-
sunk to a vertical depth of 4,359 metres, in waters cules rig, which will now sink wildcat wells at PL
142 metres deep. It encountered a 160-metre gas 248 C for Equinor in the northern North Sea.
column, of which 60 metres was effective Middle
Jurassic reservoir rock with quality ranging from Neptune discovery
poor to moderate. North Sea-focused Neptune Energy also
“It is encouraging to see that we are able to reported a discovery last week at the Dugong
keep proving more resources in one of the most well at PL 882 off Norway.
mature areas on the Norwegian Continental “Upon entering the reservoir, logs and cut-
Shelf [NCS],” commented Equinor’s senior tings have identified hydrocarbons and a decision
vice-president for exploration in Norway and has been made to initiate coring,” Neptune said in
the UK, Nick Ashton. “Now we will work on a statement, without specifying whether the find
evaluating the potential for profitable and CO2 was gas or liquids or a combination of both.
efficiency recovery.” Operations are still at an early phase and final
Equinor operates PL 878, while its Norwe- results unavailable, the company said, adding
gian partners Source Energy and Wellesley that a contingent side-track well could be drilled
Petroleum each have 20%. The company also to further delineate the discovery.
has a 39.6% position at Kvitebjorn, where its Dugong is 158 km off Floro, Norway, in a 330-
partners are Petoro (30%), Spirit Energy (19%), metre water depth. It is near production facili-
Royal Dutch Shell (6.45%) and Total (5%). ties at the Snorre oilfield, operated by Equinor.
Production at Kvitebjorn was started in 2004 The find was made in reservoirs between 3,250
and is now falling. The field delivered 4.52bn and 3,400 metres. Neptune is the 40% owner of
cubic metres of gas and just over 21,000 barrels PL 882, while Concedo, Petrolia NOCO and
per day (bpd) of oil and other liquids last year. Idemitsu Petroleum each have 20%. ™

Aker BP expects Q2 profit

on charge reversals

NORWAY NORWEGIAN oil producer Aker BP has said equivalent per day in the second quarter, up
it is expecting to return to a pre-tax profit in the from only 127,300 boepd a year earlier. This
Aker BP booked second quarter, after suffering a $414mn loss in growth chiefly came on the back of contributions
$654mn of the previous three months. from the Johan Sverdrup oilfield in the North
impairments in Q1, but The company booked $654mn of impair- Sea, which entered production last autumn and
some of these charges ments in the January-March quarter as a result is now flowing 470,000 barrels per day of crude.
will be reversed in Q2. of the collapse in oil and gas prices, which left to Aker BP has a 11.6% interest in the
hefty write-downs in asset values. Equinor-operated field. Extra production helped
In a preliminary update on July 7, however, offset the impact of weaker prices on Aker BP’s
Aker BP said it was looking forward to revers- earnings. The firm sold its liquids for only $29.9
ing $100-150mn of these charges in the second per barrel in the second quarter, versus $63.9 a
quarter, thanks to the market’s modest recovery. year earlier. It sold its gas for $80 per 1,000 cubic
It is due to publish its next set of results on July metres, compared with $240.
14. Aker BP’s main shareholders are BP and
“The company expects to report a positive Norwegian investment firm Aker and it is one of
pre-tax result,” Aker BP said. Norway’s largest E&P firms. Besides Sverdrup,
Aker BP’s output also surged to a new height it produces oil and gas in the Valhall, Ula, Ivar
in the second quarter of 209,800 barrels of oil Aasen, Alvheim and Skarv areas. ™

P16 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 27 09•July•2020