Page 12 - Euroil Week 05 2020
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EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil
Ithaca reveals 2020 work cycle
UK
It is a busy year for Ithaca, but its output will be impeded by maintenance at its assets.
THE UK’s Ithaca Energy has said it aims to sanc- tion the second phase of an enhanced oil recov- ery (EOR) project at the North Sea’s Captain eld early this year.
e Aberdeen-headquartered subsidiary of Israel’s Delek Drilling took an 85% stake in Cap- tain last year, through its $2bn takeover of Chev- ron’s North Sea business. Its partner is South Korea-backed Dana Petroleum.
Captain entered production in 1997, and went through three phases of development within a decade. Chevron greenlit the first phase of the Captain EOR scheme in October 2017, claiming the investment would boost recovery by 5-7%. It involved injecting polym- erised water into reservoirs – the first time such a technique has been employed in the UK North Sea. Six polymer injection wells were sunk under the project, and Captain’s platform was upgraded.
e second stage will extend the procedure to areas of the field’s main reservoir that are exploited via subsea wells, the company said in a statement on February 3.
The company expects its capital spending to total $250mn in 2020, with $20mn set aside for decommissioning, mostly relating to the
winding up of facilities at the Jacky eld. e bulk of capex will go on operations at the Cap- tain, Alba and Stella elds.
Itacha is currently completing three infill production wells and two workovers at Alba, situated in the outer Moray Firth area. After nishing the work towards the end of 2020, its drilling crew will move to Captain to complete the last remaining wells under the EOR project’s rst phase.
Ithaca also plans to drill a new exploration well at the Fotla prospect in the third quarter.
The Vorlich field in the GSA is slated for launch in the middle this year, where Ithaca holds a 34% stake and BP serves as operator. The manufacture of equipment for wells and subsea infrastructure for Hurricane, Ithaca’s next planned subsea tieback in the GSA, is also scheduled to take place this year.
Ithaca has set a production guidance of 70,000-75,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day for this year, a er producing 75,000 boepd in 2019. Output in 2020 will be impeded by exten- sive maintenance across Ithaca’s assets, especially in the third quarter. Planned shutdowns are due to occur on Captain, Erskine, Britannia Area and the GSA.
Estonian gas firm sees weaker sales in 2019
ESTONIA
The company saw strong growth in CNG and LNG sales, however.
ESTONIA’S top gas seller Eesti Gaas (EG) su ered a 14% reduction in gas sales last year, blaming the decline on warm weather and “ erce competition.”
e European gas market is oversupplied, with LNG imports at a record high despite lack- lustre demand. EG, which operates in all three Baltic gas markets and in Finland, reported on February 4 selling 4,140 GWh ( 396mn cubic metres) of gas last year, down from 4,726 GWh (452 mcm) in 2018.
e bright spot was the company’s LNG busi- ness, which reported an 8% growth in sales to 263 GWh (25.1 mcm). EG is the region’s biggest truck-to-ship bunkering provider, operating at Tallinn in Estonia and Helsinki and Hanko in Finland.
“Last year, we took on new clients in Finland, Latvia and Russia, which boosted LNG sales,” CEO Ants Noot said.
EG’s largest contract is for refuelling the
Megastar passenger ferry owned by Estonia’s Tallink, which it secured in early 2018. e rm gets its LNG supplies primarily from the Cyro- gas-Vysotsk export terminal in neighbouring Russia.
The company also saw growth its CNG business, with sales up more than 60% at 83 GWh (7.9 mcm). e majority of this gas is extracted from biological waste and is used as a vehicle fuel or for heating and small-scale power generation.
“In the context of the strict climate policy at the global level and in the EU, we can expect the sales of green gas to be increasing in the nearest years,” Noot said. “Estonia has the potential for generating way more green gas than it is produc- ing today.”
EG also expanded electricity sales last year by over 46% to 132.4 GWh, a er focusing on building up its business in Estonia and Latvia. It signed up 11,000 new clients during the year.
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