W&T Offshore has successfully drilled the Main Pass 108 No. 8 well. The well reached TD 12,878 feet and found seven pay sands. The company owns a 100% working interest in this well and is currently in the process of completing this conventional shelf development well.

 

Plains Exploration & Production Company (PXP) has executed a securities purchase agreement with EIG Global Energy Partners in which PXP will receive $450 million of cash proceeds in exchange for a 20% equity interest in Plains Offshore Operations, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of PXP established to hold all of PXP’s Gulf of Mexico assets. Included in the assets is the Lucius oil development project, a discovery with first production anticipated in 2014.

 

Williams Partners, LP has signed multiple agreements with Hess Corporation and Chevron to provide production handling, export pipeline, oil and gas gathering and gas processing services in the Tubular Bells field development. Hess and Chevron will utilize Williams Partners’ proprietary floating production system, Gulfstar FPS™.

Transocean Services AS, a wholly owned subsidiary of Transocean, Ltd., has announced an all-cash, voluntary offer for all Aker Drilling ASA shares for NOK 26.50 per share. Aker Drilling’s board unanimously recommended that shareholders accept the offer. The offer price indicates an equity market capitalization of about NOK 7.93 billion, or $1.43 billion, assuming an exchange rate of NOK 5.53 to U.S. $1.00. This represents a 62% premium to Aker Drilling’s 30-day average price of NOK 16.39 per share. Additionally, Aker Drilling has net debt of $0.80 billion. Aker Drilling operates two harsh-environment, ultra-deepwater, sixth-generation semisubmersible rigs currently on long-term contract to Statoil ASA and Det Norske Oljeselskap ASA in Norway. Aker Drilling currently is expected to take delivery in 2013 of two sixth-generation drillships currently under construction at the DSME shipyard in South Korea.

 

ENSCO has signed contract extensions for two of its Gulf of Mexico jackups. First, Apache Corporation will keep the ENSCO 86 for another 120 days from the end of August. The rig is currently working in South Marsh Island Block 281 under the current term, which began May 1. Arena Energy has agreed to keep the ENSCO 90 for an additional two wells in ...

W&T Offshore, Inc. has closed its acquisition of Shell Offshore’s 64.3% interest in the Fairway Field, along with a 64.3% interest in the associated Yellowhammer gas processing plant, with an effective date of September 1, 2010. This acquisition was part of a larger transaction between Shell and W&T for three Gulf of Mexico deepwater producing fields known as Tahoe, SE Tahoe, and Droshky. As of the close date, the adjusted purchase price paid for the Fairway Field and Yellowhammer gas plant was about $36.7 million. The Fairway Field is located in the shallow state waters south of Mobile Bay, Alabama, and the Yellowhammer plant is located onshore Alabama.

 

ATP Oil & Gas reported oil and gas production for the second quarter 2011 was 2.1 MMboe compared to 1.9 MMboe for second quarter 2010, an 11% increase. Average prices were up 68% over the same period a year ago. Oil represented 68% of total production for second quarter 2011, compared to 48% in second quarter 2010.

 

Contango Oil & Gas Company reported the company is still on schedule for production to begin at its Vermilion 170 (Swimmy) discovery in September 2011 at an estimated rate of 15 MMcfe/d net. ...

W & T Offshore successfully drilled the Main Pass 108 D-3ST development well during the second quarter of 2011. This well reached MD 12,870 feet and found a net 30 feet total vertical depth of natural gas and is now online. The company also drilled the Main Pass 108 D2 BP 1 well, which is a development well targeting the Tex W6 sand. This well reached MD 14,889 feet and found a net 38 feet of vertical pay of natural gas, and is currently being completed.

 

Stone Energy Corp. reported net daily production during the second quarter of 2011 averaged 37.8 MBoe/d compared with net daily production of 35.7 MBoe/d in the first quarter of 2011. The gas/oil split for the second quarter of 2011 was approximately 51 percent gas and 49 percent oil.

 

Chevron Corporation and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have formed an alliance to develop a range of technologies to improve the production and recovery of oil and natural gas resources. The alliance’s initial focus is to develop a wide range of technologies, including power transmission, signal processing and electrical actuation, for application in deepwater.

Noble Corporation has exercised options with Sembcorp Marine subsidiary Jurong Shipyard for the construction of two additional high-specification heavy duty, harsh environment Friede & Goldman JU3000N jackups. Total delivered costs are estimated at $245 million per rig, which includes project management, spares, and start-up costs, but excludes capitalized interest. Deliveries are scheduled for the third and fourth quarters of 2014. With the new orders, Noble will have six new jackup rigs under construction with Jurong Shipyard. In addition, the company has seven ultra-deepwater drillships under construction, three of which are scheduled to be delivered later this year, and Noble continues to evaluate an option it has with Hyundai Heavy Industries for the construction of an additional ultra-deepwater drillship which expires on August 31, 2011. If exercised, the unit would be delivered in the second-half of 2014.

 

Rowan has secured a one-year contract for idle jackup Rowan Gorilla II with Petronas Carigali, with work starting off Malaysia in October/November. The rig, which had been stacked in Sabine Pass since late May, will depart the US Gulf in August, with transport time taking around 60 days.

 

Surveys and repairs have been completed on jackup Hercules 173 and the rig has ...

Platform rig Blake 2001 departed the U.S. Gulf of Mexico on July 3, headed for Mexico and a 678-day contract with Pemex. The contract for the 2,000 hp unit is supposed to begin August 2 but will likely begin earlier, as refurbishment was completed ahead of schedule. The rig is now tied up to June 2013. In the U.S. gulf, 1,000 hp platform rig Blake 1006 is due to load out July 21, headed for South Timbalier Block 316 for a three-well-plus-options contract with W&T Offshore, Inc. that will keep it busy to at least late October. Finally, the 1,500 hp Blake 1505 will now load out August 1 for its four-well-plus-three options contract with Apache Corporation in Main Pass Block 308. The firm portion of the contract should keep the rig working well into December.