E&P
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Longreach Oil & Gas awards rig contract to Saipem for Moroccan wells LONGREACH OIL & GAS has announced that it has signed a drill contract with Italian firm Saipem for two wells on the Sidi Moktar Exploration Licence Area onshore Morocco. The contract also has the provision for the Moroccofocused oil and gas firm to drill two additional optional wells. The rig - Saipem Drillmec Mas 7000 - will be mobilised from Hassi Messaoud in Algeria with a planned rig-up date in midOctober 2013. The drilling will commence with the Koba-1 well, the company said. The Koba prospect is a four-way dip closure, targeting Lower Jurassic and Triassic sandstones. Company sources said that Koba has been further derisked by the recently acquired seismic data and extensive geological field studies. The prospect was initially evidenced through careful reprocessing of existing data, together with extensive geological and geophysical studies. Andrew Benitz, chief executive officer of Longreach Oil & Gas, said, “Drilling Koba will enable Longreach Oil & Gas to test the new play concepts evidenced by the company’s extensive geophysical, geological and petrophysical studies conducted over the previous several years in the Essaouira Basin.”
Iraq awards drilling contracts worth US$347.8 million IRAQ HAS ANNOUNCED that it has awarded drilling contracts worth US$347.8mn for the onshore Maysan oilfields situated in the south of the country.
Iraq signed a deal in 2010 with CNOOC and TPAO to develop Maysan
Iraq awarded the contracts to three international oil service companies — US’ Weatherford, China’s Bohai Drilling Services Company (BDEC) and China Oilfield Services Limited (COSL) — to drill 39 production wells in the 2.5bn barrel Maysan complex being developed by China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and state-run Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO). Weatherford was awarded two drilling contracts worth US$94.98mn and US$82.39mn respectively. China’s BDEC won a US$96.66mn contract, a federal Oil Ministry statement said. COSL, a specialised oil services unit of CNOOC, was awarded a US$73.82mn drilling deal. However, it was not clear how many wells each company would drill, Reuters reported. Iraq signed a deal in 2010 with CNOOC and TPAO to develop Maysan, comprising several small oilfields, aiming to reach a production target of 450,000 bpd by 2016.
BP signs LoI to develop Kirkuk oilfield in Iraq BP HAS ANNOUNCED that it has signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with Iraq’s federal government aimed at reviving Kirkuk oilfield. The deal, inked and confirmed by the UK oil and gas major and an Oil Ministry official, could give BP access to reserves in the north of Iraq. The UK oil and gas giant is expected to pump US$100mn over an 18-month period and will help Iraq’s government assess the production in the oilfield. According to the company, it will work on the Baghdad-administered side of the border on the Baba and Avana geological formations. The agreement, however, is not a technical service contract like what BP has at Iraq’s Rumaila oilfield in the south of the country. Reuters reported that the output at the 78-year-old Kirkuk oifield has slumped to around 280,000 bpd
22 Oil Review Middle East Issue Six 2013
The agreement is not a technical service contract
from 900,000 bpd in 2001. Federal government officials said they would like BP to raise production capacity to around 600,000 bpd in five years.
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