New South America to install first ever wetland access system in Colombia

New South America, a subsidiary of New South Access &  Environmental Solutions, will install its emtek wetland access cystem on an oil and gas project site in Colombia for HOCOL, a subsidiary of Ecopetrol. The emtek system provides the safe, fast access through an environmentally sensitive wetland, protecting crews and equipment as well as natural resources.

The system protects environmentally sensitive wetlands as it floats on the vegetation, while the traditional use of stacking timber mats or Dura-base mats will crush root systems and can damage a wetland beyond repair and, require a great deal more mats. The emtek system is half the weight and twice the strength of traditional wood mats.

Providing useful resources, articles and writings on crude oil, other petroleum products, energy and gas. By O'Niel Petroserve Nigeria Ltd, online.

Anadarko plans to drill up to 25 deepwater wells in 2014

Anadarko Petroleum is planning to drill up to 25 deepwater wells in 2014, the company’s chairman, president and CEO has said. The comment came as the company revealed its 2014 capital expectations and guidance.

“We expect this capital plan to enable us to increase year-over-year ' same-store' sales volumes by 6 to 7 percent. Driving this year-over-year growth is an expected increase in our oil production of approximately 40,000 barrels per day,” said Al Walker.

"During 2014, Anadarko expects to drill up to 25 high-potential deepwater exploration/appraisal wells. Additionally, we plan to continue accelerating value through active portfolio management and monetizations, as demonstrated by the recently announced divestiture of our non-operated assets in Bohai Bay, China, and the closing of our sale of a 10-percent working interest in Mozambique' s Offshore Area 1 to OVL."

Total 2014 capital investments are expected to be $8.1 to $8.5 billion, excluding capital investments associated with Western Gas Partners, LP, a separate publicly-traded entity controlled by Anadarko and included in its consolidated financial statements.

More than 80 percent of Anadarko' s 2014 U.S. onshore capital investments will be allocated toward oil and liquids-rich opportunities. The company expects to increase its total U.S. onshore year-over-year same-store sales volumes by more than 10 percent to more than 625,000 boe per day for full-year 2014, including an approximate 50,000 barrels-per-day increase in liquids volumes. Much of this growth is expected to be driven by the company' s Wattenberg Horizontal program in Colorado, its Eagle Ford shale development in South Texas, and other liquids-rich growth plays, including the Wolfcamp shale in West Texas and the East Texas/North Louisiana area.

The Wattenberg Horizontal program generates the strongest returns in Anadarko' s U.S. onshore portfolio and is expected to achieve significant growth in 2014. The company plans to operate approximately 13 rigs in the Wattenberg field during the year and drill more than 360 wells.

Anadarko also is accelerating its operated activity in the Wolfcamp oil play where it has evaluated about 20 percent of its approximate 600,000-gross-acre position. The company has already identified more than 1,000 drilling locations in this de-risked area of the Wolfcamp, with significant additional upside as it evaluates the remaining acreage and potential stacked-pay intervals. In 2014, the company expects to operate eight to 10 rigs, with plans to drill more than 80 wells.

In the Gulf of Mexico, Anadarko is on schedule to achieve first oil from its 80,000 barrels-of-oil-per-day Lucius development late in the second half of 2014. The company' s Heidelberg development also remains on track, with spar construction more than 75-percent complete and first oil expected in 2016.

Anadarko' s 2014 deepwater Gulf of Mexico exploration/appraisal program is focused on building upon the tremendous success achieved in the Shenandoah basin in 2013, which is emerging as one of the largest oil accumulations ever discovered in the Gulf. Appraisal activity at the Coronado, Yucatan and Shenandoah discoveries in the Shenandoah basin highlights the company' s six-to-eight-well Gulf program in 2014.

In 2014, Anadarko expects to realize a full-year' s benefit of oil production from the El Merk project in Algeria. El Merk, which recently achieved net production of more than 30,000 barrels per day, is expected to contribute to at least a 30-percent year-over-year increase in sales volumes from Algeria during 2014.

In Ghana, Anadarko and its partners have awarded major contracts and are advancing development of the TEN complex, which is expected to achieve first oil in 2016. In Mozambique, the company' s 2013 appraisal and exploration activities increased its estimated recoverable natural gas resources to a range of 45 to 70-plus Tcf in Offshore Area 1, up from the previous range of 35 to 65-plus Tcf. The company' s 2014 program in Mozambique is focused on advancing the development toward first LNG cargoes in 2018.

The company' s international exploration/appraisal program includes 15 to 18 planned deepwater wells, primarily in East and West Africa.

Providing useful resources, articles and writings on crude oil, other petroleum products, energy and gas. By O'Niel Petroserve Nigeria Ltd, online.

Chesapeake, Encana plead not guilty in Michigan lease case

Chesapeake Energy Corp. and the U.S. unit of Encana Corp., rivals in developing American oil and gas resources, pleaded not guilty to conspiring to avoid competing for leases in Michigan. Company representatives entered the pleas Wednesday before a state court judge in Cheboygan, Michigan.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said March 5 that the companies violated state antitrust laws by agreeing in which counties each would bid before a May 2010 auction for exploration rights. Each company faces a charge of conspiring to restrain trade, punishable by a fine of as much as $1 million, and an attempted-conspiracy count that carries a $1,000 penalty.

Chesapeake, which spent $400 million on exploration of Michigan’s Collingwood shale formation, has since withdrawn from the state. Calgary-based Encana has invested $230 million in Michigan in the past five years, Doug Hock, a company spokesman, said today.

Schuette said the alleged agreement may have been a key factor in the decline of lease prices from $1,510 an acre at the May 2010 sale to less than $40 an acre five months later. The companies cite results of internal investigations in 2012 in maintaining they didn’t violate Michigan law.

“When all of the evidence is viewed by the courts, we believe the conclusion will be clear that Encana did not breach any antitrust laws,” Hock said in an emailed statement confirming the company’s plea. “Written evidence received from third parties since the completion of the board investigation clearly shows that Encana and Chesapeake remained fiercely competitive the entire time the two companies were active in purchasing leases in the state of Michigan.”

Gordon Pennoyer, a spokesman for Chesapeake, said today the state’s action has no merit and that the Oklahoma City-based Company also pleaded not guilty.

Judge Maria Barton at the state court in Cheboygan, on the northern edge of Michigan’s lower peninsula, scheduled a May 5 hearing where the companies can challenge whether prosecutors had probable cause to bring the charges.

The internal investigations of Michigan bidding practices were prompted by a 2012 Reuters report citing emails among executives from both companies, including then-Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon and an Encana vice president.

In one exchange, McClendon said his company needed to “smoke a peace pipe” with Encana to avoid a bidding war, Reuters said, without saying where it obtained the emails.

Schuette cited the Reuters investigation in announcing the charges.

Providing useful resources, articles and writings on crude oil, other petroleum products, energy and gas. By O'Niel Petroserve Nigeria Ltd, online.

Schlumberger launches degradable alloy technology to optimize well productivity

Schlumberger has introduced the ELEMENTAL degradable alloy balls for multistage stimulation treatments. The technology demonstrates predictable, complete degradation of the alloy balls, ensuring maximum well productivity.

The alloy balls degrade predictably in a wide range of downhole conditions, well depths, temperatures, pressures and well fluids. Controlled degradation takes place, without the need for chemical additives, low pH environment, retrieval operations or milling after fracturing.

The ELEMENTAL degradable alloy technology can be used with Schlumberger multistage stimulation systems. The technology has been deployed with the Falcon multistage stimulation system for uncemented wells in formations representing a significant challenge to degradation times, such as Gold Creek, Slave Point, Glauconite, Cardium, Montney and Lower Montney, with bottomhole temperatures as low as 86°F. The technology has also been used in the Bakken, where formation temperatures are around 260°F.

Providing useful resources, articles and writings on crude oil, other petroleum products, energy and gas. By O'Niel Petroserve Nigeria Ltd, online.

VAM USA reaches agreement on property for threading plant in Ohio

VAM USA LLC, a supplier of premium threaded connections for the oil and gas industry, confirmed that it reached an agreement with the City of Youngstown, Ohio, to purchase and develop property for a new threading plant on Ohio Works Drive.

The planned 67,000-sq-ft, approximately $80-million facility will thread VAM connections on pipe produced at the adjacent Vallourec Star plant, and destined for the North America oil and gas shale plays.

Providing useful resources, articles and writings on crude oil, other petroleum products, energy and gas. By O'Niel Petroserve Nigeria Ltd, online.

Uncertainty clouds investment in Ukraine shale exploration

The world’s largest oil companies from Royal Dutch Shell to Exxon Mobil are likely to reassess deals to drill in Ukraine where political crisis is threatening a promising source of new profits as well as the country’s drive for energy independence.

Shell and Chevron signed agreements last year to drill unexplored shale formations in Ukraine, offering the chance to upgrade the country’s energy infrastructure and boost domestic production, thus reducing the amount of gas imported from Russia. Before the crisis erupted last year, Exxon, the largest U.S. oil company, was also close to signing a pact to explore the Black Sea.

While the oil companies can spend their money in other countries, the investment, which could eventually be worth more than $10 billion, is vital to Ukraine’s quest to pull away from Russian control and revive an economy on the verge of collapse after three months of violent protest.

“Ukraine is a no-go area for any investment from any foreign investor right now,” said Chris Weafer, senior partner at Macro Advisory in Moscow. “Investors need two critical conditions to invest in any emerging economy: political stability and economic predictability.”

At the moment Ukraine has neither. Parliament delayed a vote today on.

Shell and Chevron Corp. signed agreements last year to drill unexplored shale formations in Ukraine, offering the chance to upgrade the country’s energy infrastructure and boost domestic production, thus reducing the amount of gas imported from Russia. Before the crisis erupted last year, Exxon, the largest U.S. oil company, was also close to signing a pact to explore the Black Sea.

While the oil companies can spend their money in other countries, the investment, which could eventually be worth more than $10 billion, is vital to Ukraine’s quest to pull away from Russian control and revive an economy on the verge of collapse after three months of violent protest.

“Ukraine is a no-go area for any investment from any foreign investor right now,” said Chris Weafer, senior partner at Macro Advisory in Moscow. “Investors need two critical conditions to invest in any emerging economy: political stability and economic predictability.”

At the moment Ukraine has neither. Parliament delayed a vote today on appointing a government of national unity to fill the void left by President Viktor Yanukovych’s exit. Its first priority will be to negotiate an economic aid package to fend off default, replacing cash Russia had promised the old regime.

If Ukraine achieves a measure of political stability, a new government will want to pursue gas drilling given Russia’s negative reaction to Yanukovych’s overthrow, said Andrew Neff, an analyst at IHS Energy in Moscow.

“Ukraine will have to engage productively with foreign energy companies going forward if it has any hope of reducing that dependence on Russian gas,” he said.

The Hague-based Shell plans to drill as many as 15 wells over the next five years to appraise the potential of the Yuzivska field, spread over 3,100 sq mi of eastern Ukraine. Spending on the project could rise to $10 billion if it reaches production, the government said last year.

The company said in a statement that operations haven’t been affected by the unrest.

Chevron, the second-largest U.S. oil company, has a similar agreement for the Oleska shale formation, where it pledged to spend $400 million on drilling. The San Ramon, California-based company said in a statement that it’s closely monitoring the situation in Kiev and has taken appropriate precautions to ensure the safety of staff and their families.

Exxon was close to signing an agreement to drill exploration wells in the Skifska area of Ukraine’s part of the Black Sea before the current crisis erupted. The deal, which would have seen Exxon commit $735 million to drill just two offshore wells, remains in limbo.

Even if drilling continues, production on a significant scale will take several years and the threat remains that Russia will use energy to maintain its influence over Ukraine - its goal since protests first started in Kiev last year, when Yanukovych ditched a deal to strengthen ties with the EU.

“Ukraine is still very reliant on energy from Russia,” said Leslie Holmes, professor of political science at the University of Melbourne. “So Russia still has a trump card up its sleeve.”

Providing useful resources, articles and writings on crude oil, other petroleum products, energy and gas. By O'Niel Petroserve Nigeria Ltd, online.