Rowan Gets Go-Ahead for Share Repurchase Program

- Rowan Gets Go-Ahead for Share Repurchase Program

Monday, August 08, 2011
Rowan Companies Inc.

Rowan's board of directors has authorized the Company to repurchase up to $100 million in shares of its common stock.

Matt Ralls, Rowan's President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "This share repurchase program is an expression of confidence in Rowan's long-term future and ability to continue to create shareholder value."

This program is effective immediately. Repurchases under this program will be made through the open market or in privately negotiated transactions. These repurchases may be commenced or suspended from time to time without prior notice.

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Statoil Gets Go-Ahead to Drill Aldous Wells

- Statoil Gets Go-Ahead to Drill Aldous Well

Wednesday, July 06, 2011
Det norske oljeselskap ASA

Statoil has as operator of production license 265, received the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway's consent for drilling two exploration wells on the prospects Aldous Major and Aldous North. Det norske has a 20 percent share in the license.

Det norske has expectations for the Aldous wells, as there is a chance that the prospects are an extension of Lundin's major discovery on Avaldsnes in 2010.

There have been several encouraging discoveries in this area in the North Sea.

In PL 265 a promising gas discovery at Ragnarrock was made 2009. In wellbore 16/2-4 Statoil discovered both oil and gas in the license, in 2007.

The wells 16/2-8 and 16/2-9S are two of four planned wells in the area in 2011, to define the discoveries in both PL 265 and Avaldsnes.

Expected start of the first well is in week 28. The second well will be drilled immediately after. The whole operation is expected to take around 75 days. The wells will be drilled by the semisubmersible drilling rig Transocean Leader.

Licensees in production license 265:

• Statoil (operator) 40 percent
• Petoro 30 percent
• Det norske 20 percent
• Lundin 10 percent

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Brazil OSX Gets Go-Ahead to Start Building Acu Shipyard

- Brazil OSX Gets Go-Ahead to Start Building Acu Shipyard

Monday, June 27, 2011
Dow Jones Newswires
RIO DE JANEIRO
by Jeff Fick & Diana Kinch

Brazilian oil-field services company OSX Brasil said Monday that it had received approval to start construction of a shipyard at the Acu Port complex in Rio de Janeiro state.

OSX will start work next month to build "the largest shipyard in the Americas," the company said. OSX, part of billionaire Brazilian businessman Eike Batista's industrial conglomerate, will partner with South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. to build the shipyard, the company said.

Brazil's ship-building industry is undergoing a renaissance as the company ramps up production to meet growing demand from the country's oil and natural-gas industry. Several new shipyards are under construction along Brazil's Atlantic Ocean coast, while many yards that were closed during an industry downturn in the early 1980s are being revived.

Brazil was among the world's largest ship producing countries in the 1980s before a global downturn in the industry saw the local docks shuttered.

Last week, OSX said that it had received approval for a credit line worth up to 2.7 billion Brazilian reais ($1.69 billion) from Brazil's Merchant Marine Fund to finance construction of the shipyard.

OSX plans to build vessels for sister company OGX Petroleo e Gas Participacoes, which will produce crude oil from the Campos Basin off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state. The 2,400-meter docks at the shipyard will have the capacity to build up to 11 floating production, storage and offloading vessels, or FPSOs, at the same time. The FPSOs use hulls about the size of an oil supertanker.

Another OSX sister company, LLX Logistica, which is responsible for construction of Acu port, said Monday it gained an environmental permit to construct a navigation channel within the port. The channel, called TX2, will provide 8,000 meters of quayside, substantially boosting the quayside capacity available on the port's coastal stretch.

Part of the additional quayside space will be used by the OSX shipyard, while the rest is planned for use in loading and unloading of products including steel, coal, granite and oil, LLX said.

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

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Norwegian Govt Gives Go-Ahead to Statoil's $3.7B Valemon Plan

- Norwegian Govt Gives Go-Ahead to Statoil's $3.7B Valemon Plan

Friday, June 10, 2011
Statoil

The plan for development and operation of the Valemon gas and condensate field in the North Sea was approved by the Norwegian parliament on June 9. Production start-up is planned for 2014.

The Valemon field is one of Statoil's largest development projects on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) in the next few years.

The recoverable reserves are estimated at 206 million barrels of oil equivalents – including 26 billion cubic meters of gas, five million cubic meters of condensate and one million cubic meters of natural gas liquids (NGL).

The partners will invest almost NOK 20 billion in the platform, pipelines and production wells.

Development of Valemon involves a fixed platform with a steel jacket for the separation of gas, condensate and water. The normally unmanned platform will be remotely controlled from the Kvitebjørn platform when drilling operations are completed in 2016/17.

Gas from Valemon will be transported via the existing pipeline from Huldra to Heimdal, a hub which enables the gas to be exported to European markets.

The condensate will be piped to Kvitebjørn for stabilization and further transport to the Mongstad refinery in Hordaland.

At peak, Valemon is expected to produce approximately three billion cubic meters of gas annually.

"Production from Valemon will enable us to utilize spare capacity in the processing facilities on the Kvitebjørn and Heimdal platforms. Meanwhile, the platform and transport systems provide an excellent basis for the development of further oil and gas fields in the area," said Statoil senior vice president of NCS field development Ivar Aasheim.

The Valemon reservoir is complicated because it is fragmented, but also because of its high pressure and high temperature.

The contract for building the Valemon topsides was recently awarded to Samsung Heavy Industries, following broadly based international competition between pre-qualified suppliers. The contract is worth an estimated NOK 2.3 billion.

Design work will be carried out by the Grenland Group in Sandefjord, Norway and Technip in Malaysia. Grenland Group will also build the flare stack. Hertel Marine in the Netherlands will be responsible for the construction of the accommodation quarters.

The contract for steel jacket construction was previously awarded to Heerema Vlissingen B.V., while Heerema Marine Contractors Nederland B.V. landed the contract for transport and mating of jacket and topsides.

Saipem was awarded the contract for installation of the topside facilities. Pipeline design was awarded to IKM Ocean Design.

The Valemon field is located in the North Sea between Kvitebjørn and Gullfaks South, roughly 160 kilometers west of Bergen.

Licensees are Statoil (operator – 64.275%), Total (2.5%), Enterprise Oil Norge (3.225%) and Petoro (30%).

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NPD Gives E.ON Ruhrgas Go-Ahead for North Sea Drilling

- NPD Gives E.ON Ruhrgas Go-Ahead for North Sea Drilling

Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Norwegian Petroleum Directorate

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has granted E.ON Ruhrgas Norge AS a drilling permit for wellbore 31/8-1, cf. Section 8 of the Resource Management Regulations.

Wellbore 31/8-1 will be drilled from the Borgland Dolphin drilling facility at position 60°22'11.23" N and 3°34'04.94"E after it has completed drilling development well 6507/5-A-1 H on the Skarv field in the Norwegian Sea where BP Norge AS is the operator.

The drilling program for wellbore 31/8-1 relates to the drilling of a wildcat well in production license 416 in the North Sea. E.ON Ruhrgas Norge AS is operator with a 50 percent ownership interest. The other licensees are Rocksource ASA (35 percent) and Det norske oljeselskap ASA (15 percent). The area in this license consists of block 31/8. The well will be drilled approx. 15 kilometers southwest of Troll and approx. 30 km southeast of Brage.

Production license 416 was awarded on February 16, 2007 (APA 2006). This is the first well drilled in the license.

This permit is contingent upon the operator having secured all other permits and consents required by other authorities before the drilling activity starts.

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ATP Gets Go-Ahead to Complete Drilling at GOM Green Canyon Block

ATP Gets Go-Ahead to Complete Drilling at GOM Green Canyon Block

Friday, April 08, 2011

ATP O&G Corp.

ATP has received a permit to complete the previously drilled #2 well at Green Canyon (GC) Block 300 (Clipper) in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

"We are pleased that the BOEMRE is confident in ATP's commitment to safe and environmentally sound operations," stated T. Paul Bulmahn, ATP's Chairman and CEO. "The Gulf of Mexico is where we refined our deepwater expertise and we are looking forward to generating further production growth."

The GC 300 #2 well, located in 3,454 feet of water, was sidetracked and encountered a gas reservoir between 15,590 and 15,721 feet total vertical depth in 2006. ATP plans to commence well operations with Diamond Offshore's Ocean Victory in 2011. ATP operates GC 300 with a 55% working interest.

Shell Gets Go-Ahead to Drill in Deepwater GOM

Shell Gets Go-Ahead to Drill in Deepwater GOM

Wednesday, March 30, 2011
BOEMRE

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) approved a deepwater drilling permit for a new well that was described in Shell's recently approved Exploration Plan. The proposed well was also considered in the Site-Specific Environmental Assessment (SEA) completed as part of the plan review. In order to receive the permit approval, Shell complied with rigorous new safety standards implemented in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and resulting oil spill. This includes satisfying the requirement to demonstrate the capacity to contain a subsea blowout. The approved permit is a permit to drill a new well for Shell's Well #DC001 in Garden Banks Block 427 in 2,721 ft. water depth, approximately 137 miles off the Louisiana coastline, south of Lafayette.

"Today's permit approval represents a culmination of a broad and comprehensive review process involving an exploration plan, a site-specific environmental assessment, and the application for the drilling permit - all of which complied with our rigorous safety and environmental standards," said BOEMRE Director Michael R. Bromwich. "The completion of this process further demonstrates that we are proceeding as quickly as our resources allow to properly regulate offshore oil and gas operations in the most safe and environmentally-responsible manner."

All offshore wells are identified either an exploration or development plan, which require approval prior to drilling permits being issued. Shell's supplemental Exploration Plan which includes Well #DC001 was approved March 21, 2011 as the first new deepwater exploration plan approved since the Deepwater Horizon explosion and resulting oil spill. As part of the plan's review process, BOEMRE prepared a SEA to examine Shell's proposed exploration activities in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act and the implementation of departmental and bureau regulations.

As part of the permit approval process, the bureau reviewed Shell's containment capability available for the specific well proposed in the permit application. Shell has contracted with the Marine Well Containment Company to use its capping stack to stop the flow of oil should a well control event occur. The capabilities of the capping stack meet the requirements that are specific to the characteristics of the proposed well.

BOEMRE has worked diligently to help industry adapt to and comply with new, rigorous safety practices. These standards ensure that oil and gas development continues, while also incorporating key lessons learned from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This new permit meets the new safety regulations and information requirements in Notices to Lessees N06 and N10, and the Interim Final Safety Rule.