Panama Has an Estimated 900 Million Barrels of Oil in Two Basins

- Panama Has an Estimated 900 Million Barrels of Oil in Two Basins

Monday, September 05, 2011
OilPrice.com
by Joao Peixe

Panama’s National Energy Secretariat has announced that 900 million barrels of oil have been detected at two basins in eastern Panama, representing a potential contribution to the Panamanian Treasury of $15 billion dollars over the next two decades at current oil prices.

Panamanian Energy Secretary Juan Manuel Urriola said that the Venezuelan firm OTS conducted the geological survey and detected the oil reserves in Panama’s Garachine-Sambu and Bayano-Chucunaque-Atrato basins in Darien province, which borders Colombia.

While the quality of the deposits’ oil has yet to be determined Urriola estimated their “commercial potential” at roughly $15 billion in taxes and royalties, based on OTS projected estimate of a per-barrel price of 100 dollars over the next 20 years, MercoPress news agency reported.

OTS recommended that in the bidding process the exploratory areas in the Garachine-Sambu and Bayano-Chucunaque-Atrato basins be divided into four geographical blocks per basin.

Urriola added that a bidding process for exploration rights and for determining the deposits’ quality and volume would begin before the end of the year.

Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli is promoting oil exploration because of Panama’s need to have its own indigenous energy resources in order to reduce the country’s dependence on oil imports, where recent high costs have caused local fuel prices to soar.

(Joao Peixe is a Deputy Editor OilPrice.com. The full article appears here.)

Oil & Gas Post

Promote Your Page Too
LINK

DNO, RAK Petroleum Agree on Merge of RAK's Operating Units

- DNO, RAK Petroleum Agree on Merge of RAK's Operating Units

Monday, September 05, 2011
Dow Jones Newswires
STOCKHOLM
by Dominic Chopping

Norwegian oil company DNO International said Monday it has signed a definitive agreement to merge RAK Petroleum's oil and gas operating companies into the Norwegian company, completing talks that started in July of this year.

Under the proposed transaction with United Arab Emirates-based RAK Petroleum Public Company Limited, DNO will issue RAK Petroleum shares at NOK9.50 a share, valuing DNO at $1.64 billion, against a value of the RAK Petroleum assets of $250 million.

"By combining our two companies' assets and people, the enlarged DNO International will be positioned not only to extract greater value from the existing exploration and production properties but to play an even more active role in the Middle East and North Africa or MENA region," DNO Managing Director Helge Eide said in a statement.

He added that DNO is committed to further expanding its operations in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Oil & Gas Post

Promote Your Page Too
LINK

BP Moscow Office Resumes Work After Raid; Documents Sealed

- BP Moscow Office Resumes Work After Raid; Documents Sealed

Monday, September 05, 2011
Dow Jones Newswires
MOSCOW
by William Mauldin

BP's Moscow office resumed work Monday following a raid last week by Russian court officials, a spokesman in Moscow for the U.K. oil giant said.

Documents gathered by the court bailiffs are currently sealed inside the office, and no papers have been removed, said the spokesman, Vladimir Buyanov.

BP said Friday that the search had been halted for 10 days and that it would challenge the operation in court.

Russian bailiffs on Wednesday and Thursday entered the BP office with special police armed with automatic weapons, as part of a search requested in a $3 billion lawsuit by investors in a traded unit of the oil company's Russian joint venture.

BP has called the lawsuit "absurd" and the search "unfounded" and directed at the wrong unit of the company.

The minority investors' attorneys said the search was carried out according to Russian law, regardless of which BP unit was searched.

The minority investors are seeking documents related to BP's Russia joint venture, TNK-BP Ltd., and to a failed Arctic deal between BP and state-controlled oil company Rosneft, as part of a lawsuit brought in Siberia's Tyumen Region Arbitration Court.

The minority investors, who live in Tyumen, have filed suits against BP and two of the U.K. company's executives at TNK-BP, claiming at least $3 billion in lost opportunities as a result of the failed Arctic deal with Rosneft.

The raid suggests BP's difficulties in Russia are likely to continue despite its efforts to put the fiasco of the Rosneft deal behind it, energy analysts said. BP initially disclosed the landmark alliance with Rosneft in January but found a deal blocked by opposition from its billionaire partners in TNK-BP Ltd.

Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Oil & Gas Post

Promote Your Page Too
LINK

BOEMRE: Operators Evacuate Ops in GOM

- BOEMRE - Operators Evacuate Ops in GOM

Monday, September 05, 2011
BOEMRE

Offshore oil and gas operators in the Gulf of Mexico are evacuating platforms and rigs in the path of Tropical Storm Lee. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE) Hurricane Response Team is monitoring the operators' activities. The team will continue to work with offshore operators and other state and federal agencies until operations return to normal and the storm is no longer a threat to Gulf of Mexico oil and gas activities.

Based on data from offshore operator reports submitted as of 11:30 a.m. CDT Sunday, personnel have been evacuated from a total of 239 production platforms, equivalent to 38.7 percent of the 617 manned platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Production platforms are the structures located offshore from which oil and natural gas are produced. Unlike drilling rigs, which typically move from location to location, production facilities remain in the same location throughout a project's duration

Personnel have been evacuated from 25 rigs, equivalent to 35.7 percent of the 70 rigs currently operating in the Gulf. Rigs can include several types of self-contained offshore drilling facilities including jackup rigs, submersibles and semisubmersibles.

As part of the evacuation process, personnel activate the applicable shut-in procedure, which can frequently be accomplished from a remote location. This involves closing the sub-surface safety valves located below the surface of the ocean floor to prevent the release of oil or gas. During the recent hurricane seasons, the shut-in valves functioned 100 percent of the time, efficiently shutting in production from wells on the Outer Continental Shelf and protecting the marine and coastal environments. Shutting-in oil and gas production is a standard procedure conducted by industry for safety and environmental reasons.

From operator reports, it is estimated that approximately 60.2 percent of the current oil production in the Gulf of Mexico has been shut-in. It is also estimated that approximately 44.3 percent of the natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico has been shut-in. The production percentages are calculated using information submitted by offshore operators in daily reports. Shut-in production information included in these reports is based on the amount of oil and gas the operator expected to produce that day. The shut-in production figures therefore are estimates, which BOEMRE compares to historical production reports to ensure the estimates follow a logical pattern.

After the hurricane has passed, facilities will be inspected. Once all standard checks have been completed, production from undamaged facilities will be brought back on line immediately. Facilities sustaining damage may take longer to bring back on line. BOEMRE will continue to update the evacuation and shut-in statistics at 1:00 p.m. CDT each day as appropriate.

Oil & Gas Post

Promote Your Page Too
LINK