Noble to Build 4th High-Spec Newbuild This Year

- Noble to Build 4th High-Spec Newbuild This Year

Thursday, September 01, 2011
Noble Corp.

Noble announced that a subsidiary has exercised its option with Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. ("HHI") for the construction of an additional ultra-deepwater drillship, the fourth such drillship to be ordered this year subject to the parties executing an agreed form of construction contract, which is expected to occur within the next several weeks. The additional ultra-deepwater drillship, to be named at a later date, will be constructed on a fixed price basis at HHI's shipyard in Ulsan, Korea, with expected delivery from the shipyard during the second half of 2014. Following shipyard delivery, the unit is expected to undergo the customary 90-120 day period for mobilization and acceptance prior to being ready to commence a contract. The rig is uncontracted at this time.

The delivered cost of the new drillship is expected to be $630 million and includes the turnkey construction contract, Company furnished equipment, project management and spares, but excludes capitalized interest. The construction contract contains favorable payment terms that incentivize on-time delivery.

"We continue to see an increase in deepwater demand, both near and longer-term," said David W. Williams, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Noble Corporation. "This view is bolstered not only by geologic successes in the traditional regions offshore the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and Brazil, but also by emerging regions offshore West Africa, Indonesia, the Black Sea, India and eastern Africa. With the addition of this fourth HHI newbuild drillship, by 2014 Noble will have one of the newest, most versatile and technologically advanced floater fleets in the industry with a total of 28 units, 16 of which will be dynamically positioned."

The new drillship announced Wednesday is based on a Hyundai Gusto P10000 hull design and is designed for operations in waters of up to 12,000 feet, but will be delivered fully equipped to operate in up to 10,000 feet of water. The unit will be equipped with DP-3 station keeping, the ability to handle two complete BOP systems, and multiple parallel activity features that improve well construction and overall project efficiencies, including a heave compensated construction crane to facilitate deployment of subsea production equipment. The drillship will also have accommodations for up to 210 personnel, in addition to a number of other operational enhancements beyond the shipyard's base specifications.

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Pennsylvania Shale Gas Output to More Than Double This Year - Study

- Pennsylvania Shale Gas Output to More Than Double This Year - Study

Thursday, July 21, 2011
Dow Jones Newswires
HOUSTON
by Ryan Dezember

Natural gas production from Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale should reach the equivalent of 3.5 billion cubic feet per day this year, more than double 2010's output, according to new research by a trio of Pennsylvania State University professors.

The study, released Wednesday, further estimates that production in the state from the deeply-buried rock formation will rise to the equivalent of 6.7 billion cubic feet per day in 2012 and 17.5 bcfe in 2020.

That level of production would make the Pennsylvania basin the largest supplier of natural gas in the U.S., able to meet about 25% of the country's demand, said Kathryn Klaber, who heads the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an oil and gas industry advocacy group.

The Marcellus Shale underlies parts of several Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern states but production is centered in Pennsylvania.

In 2010 1,405 wells were drilled there, yielding the equivalent of 1.3 billion cubic feet of gas per day, according to the study. The professors, who obtained data from producers through the advocacy group, said that 2,300 wells are planned to be drilled this year and forecast that the number will steadily rise to about 2,500 a year by 2020.

While producers have focused on Pennsylvania with some forays into Ohio and West Virginia, several are eying an expansion into New York.

Many initially believed that southwest Pennsylvania held the most productive fields. But a string of recently drilled wells in northern Pennsylvania have made exploration in New York -- where a ban on hydraulic fracturing, the controversial technique needed to crack open the energy-bearing rock, was recently lifted -- more attractive.

Twenty-four of Pennsylvania's 25 highest producing wells are in counties that border New York, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

In May, Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas said two of its wells in that border area are producing nearly 30 million cubic feet of natural gas per day -- significantly more than any previous Pennsylvania wells.

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

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CNOOC: Confident Will Achieve Full Year Output Target this Year

- CNOOC: Confident Will Achieve Full Year Output Target this Year

Friday, May 27, 2011
Dow Jones Newswires
by Yvonne Lee

CNOOC expects to meet its full-year output target despite the shutdown of four oil fields in the Bohai Bay last month due to a malfunction, Chief Executive Yang Hua said Friday.

Cnooc said in March it planned to raise crude-oil and natural gas output in 2011, targeting production of 355 million-365 million barrels of oil equivalent, up 8%-11% from 328.8 million barrels in 2010.

The company is also targeting oil and gas output growth at a compound annual rate of 6%-10% between 2011 and 2015.

In April, four of Cnooc's oil fields with a total production capacity of about 39,000 barrels a day were shut down following a malfunction at a vessel in the Bohai Bay caused by rough sea conditions.

Yang also said he expects the company to drill four to six deep-water wells in the South China Sea this year, and added that the company plans to accelerate oil exploration in deep-water wells over the next four years.

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

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