UPSTREAM REVIEW

• Published date: 01 October 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/oet.12433
• Date: 01 October 2016

UPSTREAM REVIEW

Africa

Egypt : Kuwait Energy announced the start-up of oil pro-

ductionfromtheAl-JahraaSE-1Xexplorationwellinthe

Abu Sennan concession in Egypt’s Western Desert.

e eld, discovered at the end of July 2016, began

production on August 25 at an initial rate of 460 bpd

from the Abu Roash E (AR- E) formation. e well is

producing at a 2′′ inch choke size and production has

stabilized to a daily average of 410 bpd.

Sara Akbar, CEO of Kuwait Energy, said: “I am

delighted to announce we have begun production from

the Al-Jahraa SE-1X well aer making the discovery

earlier this year. is is another milestone highlighting

Kuwait Energy’s exploration, development and execu-

tion capabilities adding value to the asset. We could not

have achieved this without the unparalleled support of

the EGPC and our partners.”

Kuwait Energy holds a 50% revenue interest and is

theoperatoroftheAbuSennanconcessiondevelopment

lease, while Dover Investments Ltd holds 28% and Rock-

hopper Exploration plc holds 22%.

Asia Pacic

Indon esia : Chevron announced the commencement

of production at the Bangka eld, the rst stage of

Chevron’s Indonesia Deepwater Development (IDD)

projectinEastKalimantan.

Bangka has the capacity to produce 110mn cfd of

naturalgasand4,000bblofcondensateperday;atfull

capacity Bangka could meet 3% of Indonesia’s natural

gas demand.

“e gas product ion of the Bangka proje ct is an

important achievement in order to continuously sup-

port the government in producing energy which is safe,

ecient and reliable for Indonesia,” said Chuck Tay-

lor, Managing Director of Che vron’s IndoAsia Busi-

ness Unit.

Bangka is one of ve gas elds that form the IDD

project. e others elds are Gehem, G endalo, Maha,

and Gandang. e IDD project is b eing developed

through four production sharing contrac ts (PSC):

Ganal, Rapak, Makassar Strait, and Muara Bakau.

In addition, Che vron has plans for 28 deepwater wells

in the ve integrated elds through two oatingproduc-

tion unit (FPU) hub and one subsea tie-back. e two

FPU hub are Hub Gendalo, which is the facility inte-

grating the elds of Gendalo, Maha, Gandang in 671 m

(2,200 )– 1,707 m (5,600 ) of depth, and Hub Gehem,

which is the production facility of the Gehem Field in

1,829 m (6,000 ) of depth.

Chevron has a 62% i nterest in the Bangka project wit h

the other contributing joint venture (JV) participants

being Eni with a 20% interest and Tip Top with an 18%

interest.

Singapore: Baron Oil Plc has entered a JV with Sunda-

Gas Pte Ltd. to search for new business opportunities in

South East Asia.

FoundedbyDrAndyButler,formerlyVPBusiness

DevelopmentatMitraEnergyInc.,SundaGasisanew

exploration and production company. Its management

has years of experience as an operator in the region.

SundaGas has announced recently that it has iden-

tied a number of oppor tunities, including new PSC

applications to purchases of existing production, as well

as possessing eld operations capability in the region.

In a press release announcing the JV, Bill Colvin,

chairman of Baron, said: “ is oers a great opportunity

for Baron to open up a new operation in one of the few

areas of the World where there is both strong demand

for oil and gas and the clear support of governments to

make exploration and produ ction easy to achieve. We

are particularly interested in gas opportunities because

of the stable, long-term pricing environment.”

CIS

Russia: NOVATEK-Yurkharovneegas, a subsidiary of

NOVATEK, has won a licence to carry out exploration

and production in the Syadorskiy subsoil area of the

Yamal Peninsula. e auction resulted in a one-time

payment for the subsoil use in the amount of 404 mn

rouble.

e Syadorskiy licence area expands NOVATEK’s

resource base in the northern part of the Yamal

Peninsula .

As of January 1, 2016, the license area held 24.6bcm

ofRussianC1naturalgasreserves,andrecoverable

resources in the amount of 62.7 bcm of gas and 18.6 mmt

of liquid hydrocarbons.

Europe

Netherl ands:eDutchgovernmenthasannouncedthat

it will cap gas extraction from the Groningen gas eld at

24 bn m3peryearforthenextveyears.isgurewill

be reviewed on an annual basis.

e plan should help to reduce the risk of earthquakes

resulting from production at Groningen; the move in

response to criticisms from the countr y’s Safety Board,

who chastised the government for “failing to protect

citizens from earthquakes triggered by gas exploitation.”

Groningen once supplied 10% of the gas used in the

European Union. However, output has halved over the

past two years.

© 2016 John Wiley& Sons Ltd