E&P Notes (November 2019)

Abstract

E&P Notes Majors Step Up Low-Carbon Initiatives The Oil and Gas Carbon Initiative (OGCI), the CEO-led enterprise formed to drive the industry response to climate change, has launched a new effort to unlock large-scale investment in carbon capture, use, and storage (CCUS) as a crucial tool to help achieve net zero emissions. The CCUS initiative is designed to help decarbonize multiple industrial hubs around the world. The goal of the initiative, according to OGCI, is to double the amount of CO2 that is currently being stored globally before 2030 while building a pipeline of potential future hubs to bring the fledgling CCUS industry to scale. To achieve this goal, OGCI says it will start by building on the work of many others to jointly put five emerging hubs into operation in the US, the UK, Norway, The Netherlands, and China. In parallel, OGCI announced it has launched a joint CCUS Acceleration Framework with the 11 countries supporting the Clean Energy Ministerial CCUS Initiative, a high-level global forum working to create a global, commercial CCUS industry at the scale needed to meet the Paris Climate Agreement goals. BP Appraisal Well Proves “World-scale Gas Resource” Offshore Senegal The BP-operated Yakaar-2 appraisal well off Senegal encountered 30 m of net gas pay in a similar high-quality Cenomanian reservoir as the Yakaar-1 discovery well drilled in 2017, partner Kosmos Energy said 23 September. Yakaar-2 was drilled 9 km from Yakaar-1 and proved up the southern extension of the field. Kosmos said the results underpin its view that the Yakaar-Teranga resource base is “world-scale” and could support an LNG project to supply domestic and export gas markets. The previous Yakaar and Teranga discoveries on the Cayar Offshore Profond block confirmed that a prolific inboard gas fairway extends 200 km from Mauritania through the Greater Tortue area on the maritime boundary of Senegal and Mauritania, according to Kosmos’ website. The Teranga-1 discovery well was drilled in 2016. Development of Yakaar-Teranga is expected in a phased approach with Phase 1 providing domestic gas and data to optimize the development of future phases. Chevron, Schlumberger, Microsoft Team To Improve Digital, Petrotechnical Work Flows Chevron, Schlumberger, and Microsoft will combine their capabilities to create better digital, cloud-enabled work flows. The companies will build for Chevron applications in Schlumberger’s DELFI cognitive exploration and production (E&P) environment that will be native to Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform. DELFI is a scalable and open cloud-based environment providing E&P software technology across the exploration, development, production, and midstream segments. The combination of digital technologies will enable Chevron—and, eventually, other companies—to process, visualize, interpret, and glean insights from multiple data sources, the companies said. Summer of Funding: These Oil and Gas Startups Raised More Than $70 Million The oil and gas industry’s appetite for emerging innovations grew by at least $70 million over the past few months as investment arms of several large producers and upstream venture firms completed funding rounds for startups. The influx of cash into young firms is considered a major component of the upstream industry’s drive toward digital transformation. The companies attracting investor attention tilt toward the North American shale sector, which has been turning to new technologies to unravel the complexities of tight reservoir development. Others apply more broadly to unconventional and conventional field development. Study of DUCs Concludes Better Later than Never Delaying a completion by as many as 4 years has “little effect” on the initial production level, according to a new study by US Energy Information Administration (EIA). The study tested the assumption that long-delayed completions mean a well is not worth the cost. “Some people say you cannot fracture a well drilled more than a year ago,” but the data says otherwise, said Jozef Lieskovsky, a senior analyst for the EIA who coauthored the report. The study looked at Bakken wells dating back to 2014, when the oil price crash caused a surge in drilled but uncompleted wells (DUCs) as companies slashed spending. What the EIA found was that the average initial production for the oldest wells (3–4 years old) peaked at a slightly higher level that the youngest ones (1–2 years old).