Looking ahead

E&P activity to begin in Timor Sea. The Australian government has expressed its desire to cooperate with Woodside and Phillips Petroleum’s effort to unlock the significant gas resources of the firms’ shared sector of Timor Sea. Under the in-principle agreement to engage in cooperative development of the gas resources, Phillips will buy additional equity from Woodside to realize a 30% equity interest in the Greater Sunrise venture. The Timor Sea project should result in a cost-competitive gas supply that will ensure a major new gas and LNG export industry in Darwin. The Commonwealth Government will work cooperatively with project supporters and the NT Government to guarantee the development is realized. There is potential for Timor Sea gas to become Australia’s fourth gas center, thus, offering the chance to supply gas to the Southern and Eastern Australian markets.

Venezuelan gas licensing round to be held early this year. A total of 21 companies have registered for Venezuela’s upcoming licensing round, scheduled for early this year. Licenses will be valid for 35 years and can be extended for another 30-year period. Registered companies will be classified as Class A or B. Class A companies are constituted in Venezuela with at least 51% Venezuelan capital and directed by the country’s citizens. Class B companies will have less than 51% Venezuelan capital and are considered "foreign." The consortium that gains drilling rights to the Yucal-Placer block must be comprised of at least 70% Class A companies. Registered class A companies are Vepica, Suelopetrol, Technoconsult, Inelectra and Vinccler. Companies will be allowed to vote individually or in a consortium.

Angola to take preventive actions to protect environment in E&P activities. At the opening ceremony of the fourth conference on "The national contingency plan on spills in the Angolan waters," Angolan Oil Minister Botelho de Vasconcelos said the Angolan government will implement measures to protect the environment in oil activity via an adequate preventive management and inter-institutional capacity to promptly and efficiently solve oil spill incidents. Vasconcelos said that the ministry, along with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Petroleum Industry Environment Conservation Association (IPIECA), is engaged in an earnest execution of a national contingency plan. A report highlighted a serious oil spill accident last January, along the Angolan northwestern coastal provinces, that contaminated and hampered fishing activities in the area. The accident was on Chevron’s oil-exploration prospect, and the firm has since claimed responsibility for the accident, reportedly caused by "technical errors." The three-day conference will discuss the requirement of the national contingency plan and the definition of the national oil spills response policy.

Shell sets five-year expenditure plan. Shell Canada Ltd. expects to spend C$4.2 billion ($2.7 billion) on operations over a five-year period. Due to a major growth initiative for the firm’s Athabasca Oil Sands project in Alberta, more than 40% of the funds will go toward that venture which is scheduled to come onstream late 2002, said chief executive Tim Faithfull. This year the firm’s expenditure will reach a record C$1.8 billion, including more than C$1 billion on the oil sands development, in which it owns a 60% stake. Other spending patterns include C$350 million for E&P projects.

U.S. attempts to prod gas drilling in GOM. Since 1996, gas fields in the Gulf of Mexico have decreased by 13%. In an attempt to curb the decline of these fields, the federal government is introducing a mass of incentive programs to spur increased production in the area. The incentives will encourage producers to tap into the deeper, more prolific reserves under the Gulf shelf to meet the inflated demand for natural gas expected in 10 years. Meanwhile, the MMS has issued a proposed notice of Central Gulf Lease Sale 178, containing initiatives to increase U.S. oil and gas production.

Egypt’s deepwater deadline extended again. Companies anxiously anticipating bidding on Egypt’s virgin deepwater exploration tracts will have to wait just a little while longer. As reported by AME Info, an online newswire, the Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. has postponed its bids for the fresh prospects from last November to June 28. EGPC originally outlined four blocks, but is now considering splitting them up. Bids have already been deferred from the first deadline of Oct. 31, 1999.

Repsol YPF hits oil in Libya. Spanish oil group Repsol YPF discovered significant crude deposits in the Murzuq oil field, located 496 mi. south of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, in the Sahara desert. The 46,268-ft² block will yield flowrates of 2,500 bopd. Repsol operates NC-186 and NC-190 Blocks in the Murzuq basin within the consortium it formed with Austrian oil firm OMV, TotalFinaElf and Saga Petroleum Mabrul of Norway. Crude production at the Marzuq basin started in December 1996.