Chris Christie Fracking Ban: New Jersey Governor Proposes 1 Year Gas Drilling Moratorium

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/25/chris-christie-fracking-ban_n_936822.html

TRENTON, N.J. -- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has recommended a one-year ban on a natural gas drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing or "fracking."

The Legislature passed a bill in June to permanently ban the drilling. On Thursday, Christie sent it back with a conditional veto recommending that the ban be lifted next year. It's not clear whether the Legislature will sign off on the change.

The measure is largely symbolic. Experts say there's not enough natural gas under New Jersey to drill for.

In hydraulic fracturing, drillers pump water, sand and chemicals underground to create fissures in rock, freeing up natural gas. The federal government is studying whether fracking hurts water quality. Industry officials say it doesn't.

Nigeria: Oil Exports Crash As Shell Shuts-in Production in Bayelsa

http://allafrica.com/stories/201108240131.html

Adeola Yusuf

Lagos — Oil production and exportation from the shores of Nigeria on Tuesday fell as Royal Dutch Shell shut-in production from its Adibawa delivery line in Bayelsa state.

The biggest oil company, in terms of production, swiftly declared Force Majeure on Bonny light exports for the remainder of August, September and October.

Force majeure is a legal term releasing a company from contractual obligations due to circumstances beyond their control. Bonny Light is a type of crude consume majorly in the United States (U.S) and China.

The company stated this through its subsidiary in Nigeria, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

This action, the SPDC said, was a result of production deferment from several pipeline incidents in its eastern operations.

A statement signed by Tony Okonedo noted that in one instance, SDPC recorded six separate oil spill incidents on the Okordia-Rumuekpe trunk line at Ikarama in Bayelsa state, between August 2 and 15 this year.

"All (incidents) from hacksaw cuts by unknown persons," the company said.

On August 21, according to Okonedo, another three hacksaw cuts were reported on the nearby Adibawa delivery line.

"Some production is shut-in while SPDC repairs the line.

Oil giant Shell on Tuesday warned it may not meet contractual obligations on certain exports from Nigeria after sabotage caused damage to two pipelines in the country's main oil-producing region.

Shell's Nigerian joint venture "has declared force majeure on Bonny Light exports for the remainder of August as well as September and October," the company said in a statement.

Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer and the continent's most populous nation.

Pipeline damage and associated spills are common in the Niger Delta region as a result of oil theft to feed the lucrative black market.

Militants claiming to be fighting for a fairer distribution of oil revenue have also regularly blown up pipelines, though such attacks have decreased since a 2009 amnesty deal.

Shell has said that more than 75 percent of all oil spills and more than 70 percent of oil spilled from its Nigerian joint venture facilities in the Niger Delta from 2006-2010 were caused by sabotage and crude theft.

Activists say oil firms such as Shell have not done enough to prevent such incidents.

A UN report earlier this month said decades of oil pollution in the Ogoniland area of the Niger Delta, located in neighbouring Rivers state, may require the world's largest ever cleanup.

Stena Confidence Rough Weather Footage

Anadarko Announces Light Oil Discovery Offshore Ghana

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110823-716167.html

--Anadarko said discovery increases resources potential key block offshore Ghana.

--Company's shares rose 1.42% to $69.80 in after-hours trading.

(Updates with share price in fourth paragraph)

HOUSTON (Dow Jones)--Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) said Tuesday it has discovered light oil in a well offshore of Ghana, increasing the resource potential of an area in which the company has made other large discoveries.

Houston-based Anadarko's Akasa-1 exploration well encountered high-quality oil on the West Cape Three Points Block, similar to that found in the Jubilee and Mahogany East areas, the company said in a press release. Samples recovered from the Akasa-1 well indicated oil of approximately 38 degrees API gravity, the company said.

The discovery enhances "the resource potential of this prolific area," Anadarko Senior Vice President Bob Daniels said in prepared remarks. "After successful appraisal, we expect the Akasa discovery along with previous discoveries...to potentially anchor an additional development on the block," Daniels added.

Anadarko's shares rose 1.42%, to $69.80 in after-hours trading.

The well was drilled to a total depth of approximately 12,850 feet (3,920 meters) in approximately 3,800 feet of water. The company plans to preserve the Akasa-1 discovery well for future use and plans further delineation in the area with appraisal activity at both Akasa and Teak prospect, where Anadarko recently discovered oil.

Anadarko has a 30.875% working interest in the West Cape Three Points Block. Other partners in the block include Kosmos Energy Ltd. (KOS), with 30.875%; Tullow Oil PLC (TLW.LN), which is the operator and has a 26.396% interest; Sabre Oil & Gas Holdings Ltd., with a 1.854% interest; and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, with 10% carried interest.

-By Isabel Ordonez, Dow Jones Newswires; 713-547-9207; isabel.ordonez@dowjones.com

Tullow to Invest $4 Billion in Ghana to Increase its Crude Oil Production

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-24/tullow-to-invest-4-billion-in-ghana-to-increase-oil-production.html
By Eduard Gismatullin 

Tullow Oil Plc (TLW), a U.K. explorer with the most licenses in Africa, may invest at least $4 billion with its partners to develop oil fields offGhana’s Atlantic coast.

Tullow, along with Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) and Kosmos Energy Ltd., will begin engineering and design work for the Enyenra and Tweneboa fields in the Deep Water Tano block in September, Chief Operating Officer Paul McDade said.

The partners, also including Ghana National Petroleum Corp., will study a plan to produce 75,000 to 125,000 barrels a day from the fields, with first oil pumped in early 2015.

Tullow’s Jubilee field, the largest in Ghana, is expected to pump 105,000 barrels a day in October, up from about 85,000 barrels a day currently, the company said in a statement today.

Enyenra and Tweneboa “are of similar scale to Jubilee, a little bit more complex,” McDade said in a phone interview. “We are kind of thinking of $4 billion plus. That’s our territory but it’s quite uncertain at the moment.”

Explorers, including Eni SpA (ENI) of Italy and Russia’s OAO Lukoil, are searching for oil and gas in Ghanaian waters. The country has become one of the world’s top 50 oil producers since crude production began at Jubilee last year.

Tullow, based in London, will also proceed with development of Ghana’s Teak, Mahogany Eastand Akasa discoveries in the West Cape Three Points Block after giving up a so-called acreage exploration license in the area, Exploration Director Angus McCoss said in an interview.

West Cape

“We’ve reached the end of the exploration license,” he said. “We’ve drilled the big prospects. We do retain certain rights over the license, which we are pursuing.” Anadarko, Tullow’s partner in the West Cape Three Points Block, yesterday said the Akasa-1 well discovered high-quality oil reservoir.

Tullow’s first-half net income more than tripled to $311.3 million as revenue reached $1.1 billion, it said today in the statement. It doubled an interim dividend to 4 pence a share.

“Overall these should be taken as a solid set of results by investors, with a small beat to consensus earnings,” Oswald Clint, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. said in an e- mailed report. Also, there’s the “doubling of the dividend signaling management’s confidence in continued cash flow.”

Tullow reduced its full-year production estimate to a range of 82,000 to 84,000 barrels a day after delays at Jubilee.

The company is in talks with Ghana National Gas Co. over selling gas from the field within the country, “but we probably are still about 18 months plus away from having gas infrastructure in place,” McDade said.

Delayed Results

Tullow advanced 6.1 percent to 1,004 pence by 10:34 a.m. in London, the biggest gainer in the benchmark FTSE 100 index.

The explorer delayed announcing drilling results from “the high-impact” Zaedyus well in French Guiana until September from August. The results from the Montserrado exploration well off Liberia are also scheduled for September, the company said.

Tullow expects to complete the sale of its interests in three Ugandan exploration blocks to Total SA (FP) and China National Offshore Oil Corp. for $2.9 billion in September, it said today. The company agreed to set up the joint venture with Cnooc and Total in March to develop the Lake Albert Basin oil fields.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eduard Gismatullin in London ategismatullin@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at wkennedy3@bloomberg.net

Crude Oil: Why Nigeria’s Output Exceeds OPEC Quota

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/crude-oil-why-nigeria-s-output-exceeds-opec-quota/96971/

By Ejiofor Alike

The Federal Government has stated that the country  produced 2.6million barrels of crude oil per day(bpd), about 640, 000barrels above the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)’s 1.96mbpd quota because the country was still restoring the integrity of the pipelines, after years of militant attacks.

Speaking at a Business Forum organised in Lagos by the Nigerian Gas Association (NGA), Chairman of Board of Governors of OPEC and Permanent Secretary for Ministry of Petroleum, Mr. Goni Mohammed Sheikh, said as a responsible member of OPEC, Nigeria was obliged to abide by the decision of the body.

He however noted that years of destruction of oil and gas facilities in the Niger Delta had brought the integrity of the pipelines to question, necessitating the ongoing efforts to restore the integrity of the lines.

He gave an assurance that once the integrity of the crude oil pipelines have been restored, the country would abide by OPEC’s official quota.

“People ask us why we produce above our official quota and still claim to be a responsible member of OPEC. But our position is that because of militancy, the integrity of our infrastructure has been damaged. What we are doing right now is to restore the integrity and once we restore the integrity, we will go back to our official quota,” he said.

He put the country’s current production at 2.6million bpd, with 670,000barrels per day coming from deep offshore fields.
According to him, this figure was a significant improvement from the production of 1.3million bpd in 2008, attributing this success to the restoration of System 2C, which supplies crude oil to Warri and Kaduna refineries, and the amnesty programme introduced by the Federal Government.

Sheikh said total crude oil reserve at the beginning of the year stood at 31.218 billion barrels of oil; 5.314 billion barrels of condensate and 182.816 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Associated gas stands at 92.945 barrels, while non-associated gas is about 89.871barrels, he said.
He stated that the current gas production is 6.8billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d), while 1.4bcf/d is flared.

To achieve government’s target of growing reserves up to 40 billion barrels and increasing production to 4million bpd, Sheikh called for aggressive exploration programme.

He noted that Bonga Southwest, Nsiko, Usan, Aparo, Bosi and Engina fields will come on stream between 2011 and 2014.

Exxon Mobil Awaits Nigeria Erha Oil Arbitration Ruling

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-22/exxon-mobil-awaits-nigeria-arbitration-ruling-on-erha-oil-lifting-dispute.html
By Elisha Bala-Gbogbo 

Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM)’s Nigerian unit is awaiting an arbitration ruling to end its dispute with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. over “entitlements to lift crude oil” from the Erha offshore field.

“We can confirm that the arbitration hearing ended in Abuja on March 2,” Nigel Cookey-Gam, an Exxon spokesman in Nigeria, said today in an e-mailed statement. The “parties are currently awaiting an award by the tribunal.”

Exxon, the world’s biggest company, sought arbitration in 2009 after talks with the Nigerian government and the state oil company, known as NNPC, had “been unsuccessful,” the statement said. There’s no specific date yet for the ruling, said Cookey- Gam. Levi Ajuonuma, a NNPC spokesman, declined to comment.

The Erha field, located about 97 kilometers (60 miles) offshore Nigeria, started production in 2006 and has the capacity to pump about 190,000 barrels of crude a day. Exxon Mobil, operator of the field, holds a 56.25 percent interest and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Co., a local unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), holds 43.75 percent.

Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer, is the fifth-biggest source of U.S. imports of the fuel. Shell, Exxon, Chevron Corp., Total SA and Eni SpA run joint ventures with state-owned NNPC, which pumps about 90 percent of the country’s crude.

To contact the reporter on this story: Elisha Bala-Gbogbo in Abuja atebalagbogbo@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dulue Mbachu at dmbachu@bloomberg.net