Last week was dominated by positive new from British-based Tullow Oil with a successful deepwater well result on Tweneboa 2 offshore Ghana, then the company produced more positive 
results with its Kasamene 2 well onshore Uganda, and indicated plans for a raft of new exploration wells this year, and a new share-placing to fund further exploration.
There was concern in Norway that a contract to build a new installation for Ekofisk could go to a foreign fabrication yard, and Statoil was urged to go it alone without partners to develop the  Gudrun field.
And the UK government launched a 26th Offshore Licensing Round, and at the same time announced new tax breaks to help development in the potentially significant West of Shetlands region.

EXPLORATION

Fourteen wells for Dana
British-based Dana Petroleum signalled plans for up to 14 further exploration and appraisals this year with a £235 million capital budget.
Three wells are currently being drilled by Dana, targeting the Papyrus prospect in the Nile Delta region offshore Egypt, another well designated RAD3X in the Gulf of Suez, plus an East of Nile well, F1x, which the company says will be followed by a further 14 wells this year.
Those wells include one on the Anne Marie prospect off the Faroes Islands; in the Nile Delta on the Bamboo prospect, and in Mauritania block 7.

Cairn readies for Greenland drilling
Cairn Energy reaffirmed its commitment to exploration offshore Greenland with plans to drill with two rigs this summer.
In an operational update in advance of its results, London-listed Cairn said well site surveys over the West Disko licence area and geophysical surveys over Southern and Eastern Greenland have been obtained and the company says it is ready to start a multi-well drilling programme there this summer with two ultra-modern rigs, around the West Disko licence area.
Cairn has the Stena Forth drillship, and the Stena Don semi-submersible for the Disko campaign, involving up to four exploration wells in the un-drilled Baffin Bay Basin area off the Disko West region.

Appraisal for Svane
A new appraisal well is to be drilled on the high pressure and high temperature Svane gas field discovery in the Danish sector of the North Sea operator Dong Energy declared.
With partners Bayerngas and the Danish North Sea Fund, Dong said it will drill the new appraisal well to determine the size of the discovery and to test a deeper gas prospect.
Detailed planning for the well will take place this year and the actual drilling timetable will be determined later. Drilling costs are put at between DKK 06. to DKK 0.9 Bn (US $113 – 170 m).
Svane was first drilled in in 2001 by ConocoPhillips but Dong Energy took over as operator of the field after acquiring ConocoPhillips' assets offshore Denmark in 2007.

Tullow signals up to 35 wells in 2010
Tullow Oil was upbeat about its recent exploration successes and future plans with a trading statement which signalled the company's exploration plans for 2010.
Tullow intends to tackle up to 35 exploration and appraisal wells this year and indicated a capital budget of £990 million of which 40% will be allocated to exploration and appraisal work.
Breaking down the 2010 exploration programme, Tullow indicates up to 12 wells to be drilled in the Equatorial Atlantic region, another 10 in Uganda this year and up to eight wildcat wells.
Development priorities will be the Jubilee field in Ghana and further planning for a basin-wide project in Uganda.

More African oil for Tullow
There was more good news from Tullow Oil on its Kasamene 2 exploration well which helped to firm up an early development plan for Uganda's block 2 are after hitting 132 metes (432 ft) of gross pay.
After reporting the successful Tweneboa 2 deepwater well offshore Ghana which confirmed a big oil find, Tullow said Kasamene 2 hit 39 metres (128 ft) of net oil and 8 m (26 ft) of net gas in block 2 in the Butiaba region of Uganda, after the well was drilled to a depth of 866 m (2,840 ft).

Tweneboa 2 confirms big oil
Operator Tullow Oil appears to be sitting on a major new oil find with the results of the Tweneboa 2 well offshore Ghana which  hit a huge153 metres (501 ft) payzone.
Tullow said results from  Tweneboa 2 indicated a major oil, gas and condensate field.
Tweneboa 2 hit gross pay of 153 m (501 ft) with 32 metres (104 ft) of net hydrocarbon in a stacked reservoir sand, with a 17 m (55 ft) oil-bearing zone below a 15 m (49 ft) gas and condensate zone.
“A combined hydrocarbon column of at least 350 metres (1,140 ft) has been established between the lowest known oil in Tweneboa-2 and the top of the gas-condensate at Tweneboa-1, demonstrating this is a highly prospective and extensive turbidite fan system that will be evaluated with additional drilling,” Tullow stated.

Lundin signals bigger spend for 2010
Sweden's Lundin Petroleum allocated up to $540 million for capital expenditure this year which is up 4% from last year and half of the funds have been set aside for exploration and development drilling.
Lundin has $290 m for exploration and appraisal drilling this year with up to 11 wells. Eight of the wells are due to be drilled offshore Norway where the bulk of that exploration cash, $190 m, is to be spent, with further drilling on the Luno discovery, the company has signalled

Green light to Statoil
Statoil  received a green light to start drilling a wellbore 6608/10-14 S  northeast of the Norne field in the Norwegian Sea.
Ocean Vanguard will start drilling a wildcat well in production licence 128, about 15 km northeast of Norne.

Avivi 1 spud date nears
Ugandan explorer Tower Resources has signalled that it is nearing the start of its Avivi 1 exploration well which has said could be the middle of next month.
Currently Tower's local subsidiary Neptune Petroleum is awaiting the delivery of a land rig – currently in use by Tullow Oil for its Kasamene 2 exploration well in Uganda.
Earlier, London-listed Global Petroleum signalled that Avivi would kick off in Uganda next month.
Global said the exploration well in Exploration Area 5 in Uganda is due expected to start in early February once approval for an environmental impact study was received and a land rig delivered to the well site.

FIELD DEVELOPMENT

Bentley offtake deal in place
North Sea heavy oil developer Xcite Energy reached a deal with BP to provide an offtake route which will drive forward its UK Bentley field development.
Xcite said it agreed with BP Oil International under which BP will provide offtake services and sell crude produced from the Bentley field, using an incentive-based fee per barrel.
BP also agreed to provide support for Xcite to provide funding the tune of US $20 million from a commercial bank with backing from BP, so that Xcite can move towards a full field development.

Ask Statoil to take over Gudrun
Statoil should drop reluctant partners and develop Gudrun on its own, representatives say, according to a union petition Aker Solutions' fabrication yard at Verdal.
“Statoil may decide to implement the Gudrun project, even though the field partners choose to leave. The cooperation agreement, which is an attachment to the production license, contains detailed rules on how to go about this. It means that Statoil must carry the entire investment, but they also get all the revenue,” the union wrote

WEATHERFORECAST

Minor Low pressures over Norwegian Sea and North Sea
The first week of February will start with minor Low pressures over Norwegian Sea, North Sea and Scandinavia which develop in the cold air dominating the seas. This will lead to variable wind conditions in both Norwegian Sea and North Sea. Mainly breeze, but in central and southern North Sea probably near gale on Tuesday with Hs increasing to about 4 m. In southwest Barents Sea wind between east and south, at times at least strong breeze near the coast., but longer periods below.
From Thursday to Sunday relative strong Low pressures in the North Atlantic toward Iceland and partly UK are expected to give a easterly to southerly wind field across southeast Norwegian Sea and North Sea. At times near gale force and the wind may reach strong gale in North Sea next weekend, but this is very uncertain at the moment. In Norwegian Sea mainly breeze. Low pressure activity from northern Norwegian Sea toward Svalbard will lead to south to westerly wind in southwest Barents Sea second half of the week, probably up to near gale at times.

COMPANY NEWS

Island loses £723,000
Struggling Island Oil and Gas which nearing a deal to merge with San Leon Energy reported a loss of £723,000 for the year to July 2009.
The loss, which was down from £1.108 million of profit in the previous year, came after Island reported revenue of £1.879 m last year, while the costs of sales were £2.602 m.
Island's income from production from the Seven Heads gas field off the south coast of Ireland in the Celtic Sea amounted to £1.879 m last year, down from £2.251 in 2008. “Gas revenue declined due to both lower gas prices received and lower volumes of production, and represented a 16.5% decrease year-on-year,” Island stated.

Peritus begins to perform
A new name was been launched into the international offshore engineering sector aimed specifically at harsh environment and deepwater energy projects.
Peritus International, with bases in Woking in the UK, in Perth  Australia, and in Houston in the US, will be targeting some of the toughest developments of the future by offering top level industry expertise through specialised consultancy services.

CONTRACTS

Aker is the lowest bidder
Aker Solutions said it was the lowest bidder for a four-year subsea frame agreement with Petrobras.
If Aker Solutions is awarded the deal, the company will supply 61 subsea trees to the Brazilian company.
Aker Solutions' bid for the frame agreement stands at €195 million.

Statoil extends Baker Hughes-deals
Baker Hughes received two extensions on two contracts from Statoil, valued at approximately US $270 million.
Statoil awarded Baker Hughes two-year extensions on two contracts until October 2012, covering provision of drill bits, directional drilling, formation evaluation and related services on 10 to 12 rigs operating in multiple fields offshore Norway.

Snorre-deal to FMC
FMC Technologies secured an agreement with Statoil for the design and supply of subsea equipment to the Snorre field in the North Sea.
The deal is valued at approximately US $40 million according to FMC.
FMC will deliver 10 production risers, tieback connectors and installation tools. Deliveries are scheduled to commence in 2011.

Alliance selected for Statoil deep Gulf deal
Statoil signed up a subsidiary of Aberdeen-headquartered John Wood Group to support its exploration operations in the US Gulf of Mexico region.
Wood Group's Alliance Engineering in the US was selected to provide engineering and design services under a frame agreement for Statoil's forthcoming developments encompassing topsides engineering, design and project management.

Wellhead win for West Africa.
Drilling technology provider Plexus landed a deal with British-based African operator Bowleven to provide its Pos-Grip downhole system for wells which are to be drilled offshore Cameroon.
Plexus was awarded a deal to supply its specialised wellhead engineering system and services for Bowleven, extending the company's reach in West Africa. The deal is worth £300,000 and revenue from the work is expected to commence in May, Plexus stated today.
The agreement covers two exploration/appraisal wells which are to be drilled by Bowleven, plus options to add further wells.

Aussie subsea deal to Technip and Subsea 7
Technip and Subsea 7 bagged a subsea installation contract with Australia's Woodside Energy to refurbish the subsea infrastructure at the Cossack Wanaea Lambert Hermes redevelopment project in Western Australia.
The contract covers project management, recovery of three risers and installation of three replacement risers, installation of 20 kilometres of flowlines, riser base rectification works and pre-commissioning assistance.

Statoil selects Atea's communication solution
Atea signed an agreement with Statoil for implementing a communication solution.
The company will implement Unified Communication which enables Statoil to integrate communication between mobiles, fixed phones, video- and web conferences for its employees, according to Atea.

FABRICATION

Ekofisk-job may not rescue Norwegian yards
The contract for the new accommodation platform at Ekofisk in the North Sea, which could have been the saviour for Norwegian yards, is likely to disappear abroad.
ConocoPhillips will award the contract at the end of February.
According to the Stavanger Aftenblad newspaper, the contract could go to the Singaporean yard Sembawang.
Aker Stord and partner Apply Lervig are the only Norwegian bidders for the deal.

FINANCE

Special tax for West of Shetlands gas
Details of changes to the UK offshore tax regime were unveiled by the UK government which are aimed at providing better conditions for gas field developments in the West of Shetlands region.
With Chevron's Rosebank and Lochnagar project underway, Total's Laggan and Tormore subsea gas project well advanced and BP working on further development of the Clair field area which are all in the West of Shetlands area, the UK government said up to £160 million is being made available for each gas development through tax breaks to help operating companies working in the region.
Chancellor Alistair Darling unveiled the new tax measures which are due to become law by March this year, to encourage development of remote gas fields.

Tax change could bring £14 Bn of investment
Changes to the UK offshore tax regime which will seek to promote deepwater gas development in the West of Shetlands could help unlock up to £14 Bn of new investment in the region.
Oil and Gas UK says the change which was disclosed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling offering up to £160 million of tax benefits over five years to new gas developments in the West of Shetlands will provide an incentive for construction of new pipelines and platforms in the region.
“This move can help encourage investment in the gas infrastructure which is critically needed to develop both oil and gas reserves west of Shetland,” Oil and Gas UK  stated.

Aurelian expects $54 million
East European explorer Aurelian Oil and Gas expects to raise €39 million (US $54.89 m) from a forthcoming new share placing after indicating that  the new issue would be priced at 32 pence per share.
Aurelian was  planning to issue 106.433 m new shares – subject to approval by shareholders at a meeting on 3 February.
The planned placing – a 7.2% discount to the company's share price of 32 pence per share on 26 January Aurelian said – represents 31.35% of the company's current share capital, and will be used to bring forward exploration and development plans in its core areas originally scheduled for 2012.

Tullow signals new placing
British-based Tullow Oil signalled plans for a new fund-raising round to provide cash for development of reserves from its exploration programme.
Tullow said it intends to issues 80.431 million new shares, representing just under 10% of the current value of the company.
The funding will be used  to maintain a US $500 m annual exploration spend, and provide further funding for the Jubilee field development, which is already in phase one.

HSE

Erskine platform burns
Chevron's North Sea Erskine platform was shut in after a fire on board the unmanned facility earlier.
BBC News in Scotland reported that Chevron had been forced to close the Central North Sea installation located in block 23/26b after the fire broke out last Sunday and burned for two hours before being extinguished. Production at Erskine was shut down remotely from the Lomond platform 18 miles away.
Later a Chevron spokesman was quoted as saying that the damage on the installation was confined to the north and western sides.

Groups at risk on Eldfisk
ConocoPhillips Scandinavia (CoPSAS) did not follow-up recommendations on working conditions for contractors sufficiently according to the Petroleum Safety Authority in Norway.
The PSA issued notification of orders to CoPSAS and its contractors Fabricom and the IKM Group after a recent follow-up of groups at risk on Eldfisk.
CoPSAS' supervisory responsibility and facilitation for contractor employees was assessed, whilst Fabricom and IKM were assessed in relation to the follow-up of  their own employees.

Esso to evaluate working conditions
Esso Norway to evaluate the working conditions for contractors after the company received an order from the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway following an audit at Jotun A.
The PSA audited the company's identification and follow-up of groups at risk on Jotun A, and found two nonconformities related to regulatory requirements. Systematic mapping and risk assessments of working environment conditions for employees of the contractor company Aak had not been carried out. In addition, Aak's employees had not been given training in relevant working environment risk.
Esso has to comply with the order by 1 March 2010, the PSA said.

LICENSING

Welcome to the 26th Round
UK offshore industry Oil and Gas UK gave a welcome response to the announcement by Energy Minister Lord of the 26th Offshore Licensing Round saying some of the provisions in the new round announcement indicated a wide range of new opportunities.
Oil and Gas UK Chief Executive Malcolm Webb underlined that the new round will offer amended Frontier Licences for the West of Shetlands with the first exploration phase extended to nine years from six.
“This 26th licensing round reflects the collaborative work of industry and DECC in ensuring new acreage is made available to companies willing to explore for that oil and gas,” said the UK industry chief.

Afren steps into Nigeria's OML 115
London-listed African explorer Afren signed up to take a stake in Nigerian Offshore Mining Lease 115 near to two of its current field developments and where up to 270 m bbl of oil has been identified.
Afren is taking a 32.5% stake in the licence area offshore south-east Nigeria under a farm-in deal with Oriental Energy Resources and Energy Equity Resources where gross mean potential resources are estimated at 270 m bbl of oil.

PIPELINES

PetroNeft on schedule for new line
London-listed PetroNeft Resources says it is on schedule for completion of an export pipeline serving the Tomsk area in Russia by April this year in an operational update today.
PetroNeft says survey design and preparation work for the 60 km (37.5 mile) line between Lineynoye to Kiev-Eganskoye is complete and construction is due to commence early next month, with completion scheduled for April.

SHIPPING

New ship joins MOS fleet
Norway's Nemo Subsea took delivery of a newbuild dive support ship which was completed in a Singapore shipyard.
Mermaid Asiana, with DP2 positioning and a 12-man saturation diving chamber  is also equipped for light construction with a 100 tonne crane, and was completed and delivered by Great Cormorant Maritime – a subsidiary of Robert Knutzen Shipholding Ltd, after being constructed by Singapore's ASL Shipyard.
Nemo is owned by Mermaid Offshore Services Ltd, (MOS) which in turn is a wholly owned by Mermaid Maritime, headquartered in Thailand. Mermaid said the newbuild has already been offered for several contracts, and it will operate on charter to MOS offering subsea construction services.

FSO Endeavour back in action
Floating production provider Prosafe reports that it's FSO Endeavour which was operating offshore India is back in action after undergoing repairs.
The floating storage and offloading unit commenced a 12 month contract on India's PY 3 field after undergoing repairs by client Aban Offshore, Prosafe stated today.