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2012 IADC Contractor of the Year Gregers Kudsk speaks with Drilling Contractor editorial coordinator Joanne Liou about receiving the peer-selected award at the IADC Annual General Meeting, 9 November in Scottsdale, Ariz. Mr Kudsk began his career with Maersk Drilling in 1973 as an engineer and is currently vice president and senior technical advisor. The IADC Contractor of the Year award, now in its 25th year, is sponsored by National Oilwell Varco.
Seadrill has received a Letter of Award from Husky Oil Operations Limited for a five-year contract for the newbuild, harsh-environment semisubmersible West Mira for operations in Canada and Greenland. Total estimated revenue potential for the contract is approximately US $1.18 billion for the five firm years.
The West Mira is currently under construction at the Hyundai Samho Shipyard in South Korea with delivery scheduled for Q4 2014. Upon delivery from the yard, the rig will commence transit to the east coast of Canada. Start-up of operations is expected in Q2 2015. The West Mira is designed for drilling in harsh environments and water depths up to 10,000 ft. The unit will be equipped with dynamic positioning, as well as 12-point mooring capability, potential for two six-ram blowout preventers and 1,000-ton load path capacity.
The West Mira represents one out of 10 semisubmersible rigs in the Seadrill fleet capable of operations in harsh environments, eight of which have been delivered since 2008. Seadrill has another harsh environment newbuild, the West Rigel, of similar design as the West Mira, which will be delivered in Q1 2015 from the Jurong shipyard in Singapore and is currently available for contract.
“The West Mira will be the second rig Seadrill will operate in Eastern Canada. After enjoying a safe and successful drilling campaign with Husky Energy in China with the West Hercules, we are pleased that Husky has chosen to extend that relationship with a contract for a newbuild offshore Eastern Canada,” John Fredriksen, chairman of Seadrill, said.
“The award of a five-year contract with commencement in 2015 is also a clear sign of the present tightness in the harsh-environment/deepwater drilling market,
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By John Lee.
Iran’s Vice President for International Affairs, Ali Saeedlou, led a high level political and economic delegation representing about one hundred Iranian companies to the Kurdistan Region to participate in a high profile business conference today.
The Iranian
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By John Lee.
Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani and a delegation of senior officials from the Kurdistan Region concluded a two-day visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran yesterday to promote greater cooperation in economic and trade relations.
With the volume of trade between the Kurdistan Region and Iran estimated to be around $8 billion this year, both sides agreed on the desire to maintain this link and highlighted the importance of adhering to mutual trade regulations in order to ensure the quality of products and provide the greatest benefit for both sides.
In his meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the two leaders touched on ways to improve economic ties as a means of benefiting Iraq as a whole. President Ahmadinejad said,
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By John Lee.
Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki has laid the foundation stone for a new hospital in Husseiniya, in the Al Rashidiya area of north Baghdad.
The Prime Minister said in his speech: with every step we make in the process of rebuilding Iraq, we are filled with joy and happiness, because we move forward after decades of suffering under the unwise policies of the former regime.
The health sector suffered a lot under Saddam’s regime, and it is not acceptable at all that there are some attempts to impede the government efforts to develop this sector under any political circumstances. It might be possible to disagree politically, but it is not possible or acceptable to disagree at the expense of the interests of citizens.
Iraq needs reforms and development efforts in the areas of healthcare, agriculture, industry, education, housing, etc., and even the ration card system is in need of reform, the Council of Ministers took a step in this context, when they issued a decision to provide all the materials of the ration card in the market and give each Iraqi citizen 15000 IQD. We are involved in reform efforts in all sectors, especially in the area of healthcare and building hospitals, and the establishment of health centers and specialized hospitals.
(Source: Prime Minister’s Office)
.reportBy John Lee.
Shares in Afren closed down 1.8 percent on Tuesday following the company’s interim management statement.
Afren gave the following update on its operations in Iraqi Kurdistan:
Barda Rash
Having commenced an extensive testing programme at the BR-1 well in July 2012 and establishing oil rates in excess of 6,000 bopd of 28
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By John Lee.
Majid Jafar (pictured), the chief executive of UAE-based Crescent Petroleum, has said the company is gearing up for expansion in the Iraqi oil and gas sector.
Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Dubai, he said:
“We are looking at entering Libya with the right opportunity. Other countries like Lebanon, despite plans being delayed, have been setting up regulations bodies in preparation. It’s an area of potential interest.“Crescent Petroleum, which is based in Sharjah, plans to expand investment and production in Kurdistan and into other areas in Iraq given the country’s under-explored state.
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2012 IADC Contractor of the Year Gregers Kudsk speaks with Drilling Contractor editorial coordinator Joanne Liou about receiving the peer-selected award at the IADC Annual General Meeting, 9 November in Scottsdale, Ariz. Mr Kudsk began his career with Maersk Drilling in 1973 as an engineer and is currently vice president and senior technical advisor. The IADC Contractor of the Year award, now in its 25th year, is sponsored by National Oilwell Varco.
By John Lee.
Iraq’s Oil Ministry has unveiled its five-year plan for the development of the country’s natural gas riches.
Azzaman reports that the plan calls for production of five million cubic meters of gas by the end of the five-year period, with new exploratory blocks up for grabs.
An oil ministry spokesman said that despite the increase, expected production would still fall short of meeting domestic demand.
Iraq currently imports natural gas from Iran and the countries are building a gas pipeline expected to be operational next year.
(Source: Azzaman)
.reportBy John Lee.
Genel Energy has announced that it will take an extra 49 percent of the Miran Block in Iraqi Kurdistan as repayment for a $294 million loan issued in August to Heritage Oil.
The company previously acquired a 26 percent working interest in the Miran Block from Heritage on 23 August 2012, taking its current holding in the block to 51 per cent. Following the Exchange Repayment and subsequent acquisition, Genel Energy will own 100 per cent of the Miran Block (75 per cent working interest post KRG back-in right) and will be the sole operator.
Tony Buckingham, Chief Executive Officer of Heritage Oil, commented:
“The divestment of our remaining 49% interest in Miran will allow Heritage to monetise the asset at an attractive valuation and the total proceeds will have funded a significant part of the completed acquisition of OML 30 in Nigeria. Completion of these transactions will provide Heritage with a balanced portfolio of assets generating cash flow from production which will assist with work programmes on high impact exploration whilst allowing the Company to continue considering further opportunities.“Shares in Heritage closed the day down 1.7 percent, with Genel down 0.3 percent.
(Sources: Genel Energy, Heritage Oil)
.reportBy John Lee.
Shell‘s Majnoon oilfield in Southern Iraq is expected to exceed 200,000 bpd in the third quarter of 2013, above the level of 170,000 bpd needed to start recovering costs, according to Reuters.
Majnoon started a shutdown in June for maintenance and to bring new production facilities online.
Under the Majnoon development plan for 2013, Shell has submitted a budget of $1.384 billion as a “total recoverable cost” for field development.
Operations at the field are expected to resume in the first quarter of 2013 with output of 44,600 bpd, followed by 50,200 bpd in the second quarter, 201,700 bpd in the third, and 202,700 bpd inQ4.
The service contract at the field requires Shell to boost output to 1.8 million bpd for a fee of $1.39 a barrel, though it started talks with Baghdad this year to reduce the target to 1 million bpd.
“The scope of work for First Commercial Production involves following key elements: production optimisation from the existing well stock, drilling of 18 new wells and de-bottlenecking and upgrading of existing facilities,” the Majnoon development programme showed.
Production at the field was around 45,000 bpd when Shell took over in 2010. Shell has since spent around $1 billion, and planned to invest another $1 billion in 2012.
Shell’s other partners in the Majnoon venture are Petronas (30% share) and the Missan Oil Company, representing the Iraqi State (25% share).
(Source: Reuters)
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