30 March
UK companies welcome the news that Cnooc Ltd. is considering a sale of its U.K. North Sea portfolio, in what could be one of the biggest disposals in the aging basin by a foreign firm in recent years, people familiar with the matter said.
China’s biggest offshore oil and gas driller has been reviewing its overseas operations and could kick off a sale process for the U.K. holdings as soon as the next few weeks, the people said. The assets could be valued at as much as $3 billion, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information.
Cnooc is the operator of Buzzard oil field, one of the U.K’s highest-producing fields, where it has a 43.2% stake. It’s also an operating partner in the Golden Eagle field, with a 36.5% holding, and has interests in the Scott, Telford and Rochelle fields, according to its website.
The portfolio could attract other Chinese energy majors seeking to boost their global footprint, as well as U.K. explorers keen to grow in the North Sea, according to the people. Deliberations are at an early stage, and there’s no certainty they will lead to a transaction, the people said.
A representative for Cnooc said the company has no information to disclose, declining to comment further.
Cnooc is one of the largest remaining international explorers in the North Sea after firms including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. sold projects to focus on more profitable projects. Independent energy firms have stepped in to fill the gap. Last year, JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corp. agreed to sell its U.K. North Sea assets to private equity-owned NEO Energy for $1.7 billion.
With PRC aligned with RF during the invasion, it is an existential threat to western democracy and UK companies should consider acquisition of these assets as well as its share of Stabroek Block Guyana.
2) Rise in T&T natural gas output
Mar 29 2022
Natural Gas production rose between November 2021 and January 2022. Oil production increased by 1,500 barrels of oil per day over the three-month period.
Ntural gas production grew from an average of 2.344 billion standard cubic feet per day (bscf/d) to 2.893 bscf/d in January 2022.
The hike of more than 500 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d) of gas represents a growth of over 23 percent in the two-month period when globally natural gas prices have been high and several petrochemical products fetched record prices.
Natural gas is the main feedstock in the production of methanol, ammonia and urea.
Surge in production was attributable mainly to improved performance from Royal Dutch Shell.
Shell’s production climbed from 249 mmscf/d to 638mmscf/d. bpTT output advanced from 1,269 mmscf/d in November 2021 to 1,390 mmscf/d in January 2022,, still below its traditional production of 2000 mmscf/d.
Production from BHP and EOG Resources remained stable, averaging just over 400 mmscf/d for BHP and 350 mmscf/d for EOG.
bpTT and Shell endured natural gas curtailment over the last decade which resulted in the shutdown of Atlantic LNG’s Train 1 and a number of petrochemical plants. bpTT confirmed that this year it will produce a mere 1.25 billion standard cubic feet per day (bscf/d), 750 (mmscf/d) less than it produced two years ago.
bpTT told the government that it should expect much lower than originally forecast natural gas production, with the shortfall being 15 per cent in 2021 and over ten per cent until 2024.
The performance in 2021 was worse than was originally predicted. Even the Matapal and Cassia C projects that were expected to increase production by about 140 (mmscf/d) will not now lead to that growth.
bpTT said it ended 2021 averaging 1,250 mmscf/d.
“We expect production for 2022 to be within the same range.”
The company blamed technical issues for the precipitous decline in production in 2021 and even the coming on stream of its Cassia C project will only hold production in place.
“During 2021 we experienced accelerated production decline due to technical issues, which was partially offset when we brought Matapal onto production in September. For 2022, production levels will be supported by gas from Matapal, and the Cassia C development which is planned to come online in 3Q 2022.”
bpTT will continue to invest in efforts to grow production. It pointed to the sanctioning of its joint project with EOG Resources and the return to infill drilling in its efforts to improve production.
“As we continue to invest in production generating activities in Trinidad, we were pleased to sanction the EOG Operated Mento development at the end of last year, the BHP Operated Calypso development completed appraisal well and bpTT plans to restart our infill drilling programme later this year. We are also working on a number of future development options for bpTT, including our next major project the Cypre development which we are hoping to sanction this year,” bpTT said.
As gas production rose over the last two months, . Natural Gas utilisation grew from 2,295mmscf/d to 2,768mmscf/d.
Of the utilisation rates Atlantic LNG consumed 1,334 mmscf/d in January 2021 up from 963mmscf/d. The second largest sector using natural gas was methanol. Its production went from 443mmscf/d to 589mmscf/d.
Ammonia usage marginally decreased from 512mmscf/d in November 2021 to 509mmscf/d in January 2022.
Oil production averaged 61,653 barrels per day, up from 60,605 in November. The increase was due to the improved performance of French firm Perenco which saw its production grow by 1900 barrels of oil per day. This was marginally offset by lower output from BHP Billiton, down about 500 bo/d.
Crude oil, has averaged over US $100 since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the increased production will be welcomed by the Finance Minister Colm Imbert.