Oil: when there are more, there are still

[Christophe]

Yes, they really need to discover large deposits because oil is again under 40 dollars: https://www.econologie.com/forums/le-petrole ... 14195.html

...



Hope it doesn't last ...

[moinsdewatt]

Total will start looking for oil in Uruguay in mid-March

AFP March 11 2016

French oil giant Total announced on Friday that it would start digging an exploratory well off the coast of Uruguay in mid-March, hoping to find oil in this country, which is the only one in South America to have to import all its crude oil.

"Total confirms to have started yesterday, Thursday March 10, the preparation operations to dig the Raya-1 well in block 14 of the Uruguayan maritime platform," the group said in a statement.

The work will be carried out from the Maersk Venturer.

"The subcontractors estimate that drilling will begin in mid-March," the statement said, adding that block 14, with an area of ​​approximately 7.000 square kilometers, is 250 kilometers from the coast of Uruguay.

Total has a 65% stake in the exploration consortium, the American ExxonMobil having the remaining 35%.

Other groups, such as the Australian Petrel Energy, 51% owner of Schuepbach Energy International (SEI), are also planning to drill off Uruguay, after the discovery of potential deposits in recent years.

Even if Uruguay is still far from the first drop of black gold, the prospect of finding arouses enthusiasm in this small country of 3,3 million inhabitants which, unlike its two giant neighbors , Argentina and Brazil, has always suffered from total oil dependence on the outside world, even if it has strongly developed wind energy in parallel.

http://www.connaissancedesenergies.org/ ... uay-160311

[moinsdewatt]

Always further :

Uruguay: Total and ExxonMobil Begin Drilling the World's Deepest Underwater Oil Well

03/04/2016 MONTEVIDEO

The oil giants Total (France) and ExxonMobil (United States) began Wednesday the drilling of an exploratory submarine well off Uruguay which will be the deepest in the world, announced the Ministry of Industry.

The objective "is located in deep water, 250 kilometers from the Uruguayan coast, and presents technological, operational and logistical challenges linked to the extreme conditions and at the depth of more than 3.400 meters below sea level, which exceeds the current world record ", the ministry said in a statement.

The perforation work, carried out from the Maersk Venturer, will last a hundred days.

Block 14 of the Uruguayan maritime platform, where the well will be dug, covers an area of ​​approximately 7.000 square kilometers.

Total has a 65% stake in the exploration consortium, the American ExxonMobil having the remaining 35%.

Other groups, such as the Australian Petrel Energy, 51% owner of Schuepbach Energy International (SEI), are also planning to drill off Uruguay, after the discovery of potential deposits in recent years.

Even if Uruguay is still far from the first drop of black gold, the prospect of finding it arouses enthusiasm in this small country of 3,3 million inhabitants.

Unlike its two neighboring giants, Argentina and Brazil, Uruguay has always suffered from total oil dependence on the outside world, even if it has strongly developed wind energy in parallel.

https://www.zonebourse.com/TOTAL-4717/a ... -22112740/

[moinsdewatt]

Russia: launch of an oil terminal essential for the exploitation of the Arctic

AFP 25 May 2016

Russian President Vladimir Putin inaugurated an oil terminal on the Yamal peninsula in the Arctic on Wednesday, capable of operating year-round under extreme conditions and expected to be an essential step in the exploitation of the region's vast resources.

By videoconference from the Kremlin, Mr. Putin ordered the loading of a first cargo ship at the "Vorota Artiki" (Gateway to the Arctic) terminal, with oil from the Novoportovskoyé field, operated by Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of the gas giant. Gazprom. "Today we mark a new stage in the exploitation of the Novoportovskoïé deposit, it is a significant, important event", he declared, quoted by the Russian agencies.

"This project is one of the most expensive in the oil industry in Russia. In three years, 186 billion rubles were directed towards the realization of this project", or 2,5 billion euros at the current exchange rate , he stressed. The Novoportovskoye deposit is considered one of the richest on the Yamal Peninsula, with estimated reserves of 250 million tonnes of oil and more than 320 billion m3 of gas.

Far from the pipeline network, it requires the transportation of oil by boat via a port that has already been operating in summer since 2014 but the new terminal inaugurated on Wednesday now allows loads all year round in extreme weather conditions. The capacity of this terminal, connected to the deposit by a 100 km oil pipeline, is forecast at 8,5 million tonnes per year.

Its construction required "the use of the most recent technologies" which make it "a unique building" capable of working "in extreme natural and climatic conditions" with temperatures of - 50 degrees Celsius and a layer of ice that can exceed two meters, Gazprom stressed in a statement. "It is an important step for the development of the arctic and subarctic oil sector", estimated Valéri Nesterov, analyst of the bank Sberbank CIB questioned by AFP, which speaks of a "unique experience".

Russia already produces hydrocarbons north of the Arctic Circle, but it seeks to go further in the exploitation of these resources, by seeking them in more and more isolated regions such as the Yamal Peninsula. On this same strip of land, the Russian gas group Novatek, with French (Total) and Chinese partners, is preparing a megaproject of liquefied natural gas, estimated at $ 27 billion, which is to be inaugurated next year.

http://www.connaissancedesenergies.org/ ... que-160525

[Christophe]

Great ... we are not in a bad climate ... Climate-change co2 / 10-years-to-save-the-climate-t2860.html

With 27 billion dollars France could become energy independent from oil by developing micro algae ...

[moinsdewatt]

Oil discoveries have never been lower since ... 1952

ANNE FEITZ Les Echos on 26/05/2016

Last year, oil and gas companies found only the equivalent of barely a month of global consumption.

Conventional oil and gas discoveries have fallen to their lowest level since 1952. According to new analysis released this week by IHS, oil companies found only 12 billion barrels of oil equivalent of recoverable reserves last year.


A figure down 20% from the 15 billion barrels discovered in 2014, according to Wood Mackenzie - and very far from 47 billion in 2010. "It is barely the equivalent of a month of global consumption", comment Morgan Stanley analysts. However, these figures relate only to conventional hydrocarbons, therefore excluding American oil and shale gas.

An industry in crisis

They are nonetheless symptomatic of the crisis in the industry. The fall in oil prices, the price of which has dropped by 60% since mid-June 2014, has led companies to cut back on their investments, particularly in exploration. "These are traditionally the first expenses to be cut," recalls Geoffroy Hureau, at IFP EN. According to the French Institute, exploration investments in the world, which had gone from 50 to 100 billion dollars between 2010 and 2013, fell to 82 billion in 2015. And the budgets should decrease again this year. But all activity has not stopped. At Total, for example, $ 1,5 billion is still spent on drilling exploration wells. As the prices of petroleum services have dropped sharply over the past two years, such a budget makes it possible to drill "almost as many wells as before", notes an expert. According to IHS, the number of conventional wells drilled in 2015 outside of North America fell to 4.300 in 2015, compared to 5.200 in 2014.

Giant gas field off the coast of Egypt

The low volumes discovered are also a reflection of the increased difficulties in finding new deposits, while the easiest fields to access have already been found. In 2015, only the discovery by ENI of a giant gas deposit off the coast of Egypt marked the spirits, with reserves estimated at 5,1 billion barrels. The others, of smaller size, concerned gas deposits in Mauritania, Tanzania or the Congo, or oil in China, the Gulf of Mexico or Guyana. In 2016, only a few discoveries were announced, off Burma or Angola for example. "We will also have to see at what cost these deposits can be developed," recalls Geoffroy Hureau. According to IHS, exploration activity was particularly weak in very deep offshore, with the number of wells falling by 40% in 2015.

"This drop in discovered volumes will create a hole in the companies' portfolios and ultimately have a negative impact on production," notes Leta Smith, at IHS. And this, "more likely in 5 to 10 years, the typical time between discovery and first production," she continues. A "hole" which, according to the IHS, will not be compensated by American shale oil; this will remain between 10 and 15% of total oil production in 2040. "The market will still need conventional oil," concludes the IHS.

http://www.lesechos.fr/industrie-servic ... 001457.php

[Christophe]

All this is not logical with the current price per barrel ...

But if there was logic in Finance, we would know ...

[dirk pitt]

All this is not logical with the current price per barrel ...
..

what do you mean?
the decreasing discoveries of deposits are logical, on the contrary but not only due to the drop in investment.
physics and geology are stubborn and we obviously discovered most of what there was to discover.
we are now forced to spend a lot of money and energy to find a few crumbs.
this should not surprise us.

[Christophe]

I just want to say that in the absence of great oil discoveries, the current price of a barrel should go up ... and quickly ...

[dirk pitt]

yes and no because the price is also a function of demand which is quite low for the moment.