Italy’s oil giant, Eni has invited the National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) to participate in its international tenders in Iraq, said Sepehr Sepehri, the NIDC’s managing director.
Eni has invited the NIDC to take part in three drilling tenders that the Italian company plans to hold in Iraq, Sepeheri said, Trend News Agency quoted the official website of the NIDC as reporting.The tenders includes drilling of 12, 15 and six oil wells, he said, adding that NIDC already has cooperation experience with Eni in development project of Darkhovin oil field in southern Iran.
The state-controlled Eni, which entered Iran in the 1950s, was involved in the development of the Darkhovin field and the offshore South Pars gas field before the US-led sanctions.Sepehri said that besides presence in Eni’s tenders, the NIDC is negotiating with Iraq’s national drilling company to carry out drilling operations in the country’s southern areas of Basra.
He further said that the Basra region has a capacity to produce 3.5 million barrels of oil per day."We can participate in Iraq’s drilling projects in oil and gas sector, he said, adding that enjoying good neighboring ties, the two country's access to Arvand Free Zone, and low costs of the NIDC compared to the European rivals as well as favorable crude oil production capacity in Iraq are among the advantages of cooperation between the two countries.The company's approach is to secure itself a toehold in global markets, Sepehri said.The official added that after Iraq, cooperation with Oman and Qatar also are NIDC’s priority.
Wintershall is continuing to invest in the domestic production of crude oil and natural gas: "We are sending a clear signal with our activities in Germany. Oil and gas from local sources have excellent prospects," said Andreas Scheck, Head of Wintershall Deutschland.
Wintershall's largest German onshore oil field in Emlichheim is currently laying the foundation for a substantial development of further crude oil reserves over the coming decades, explained Scheck. A modern, high-resolution 3D seismic survey, which will be completed at the end of February, will allow Wintershall to plan new wells along the German-Dutch border. Emlichheim in Lower Saxony, which is one of the largest and most tradition-steeped oil production sites in Germany, has produced oil almost constantly for the last 70 years. Wintershall successfully completed a drilling campaign in Emlichheim in 2017.
Wintershall’s Barnstorf site, which is the headquarters for its German activities, is also being equipped for the future. Wintershall is currently investing around €6 million in the construction of a new laboratory building, which is set to be opened in the summer of 2018. Every year, around 2000 international rock samples from all production regions covered by the globally operating company are processed here. The laboratory's order volume has increased by about 30% since 2012. "The new building underlines the importance of Wintershall's expertise in petrophysics, production analytics and enhanced oil recovery (EOR)," said Scheck.
At the beginning of 2017 Wintershall completed the modernisation of the crude oil processing plant on the operating site at Barnstorf with the commissioning of the fourth and – for the time being – last tank. "The tanks are cutting-edge technology and ensure oil production to the highest environmental standards," said Scheck. At the same time, Wintershall is expanding production with new oil wells. Six wells have been spudded in the past two years in the Bockstedt oil field near Barnstorf, and further drilling is planned for 2018 as well.
"Our domestic production not only helps to secure supplies in Germany but also creates important jobs and income for Germany's federal states and municipalities," emphasised Scheck. Just as important is the know-how that Wintershall can garner in Germany and then utilise worldwide. An example of this is the Staffhorst site in the district of Diepholz, where Wintershall has been producing sour gas since 1965. There are still many large-scale sour gas fields around the world whose development requires Wintershall's expertise, such as in Abu Dhabi.
Following the success of the recent drilling with a production of 7500 m3/h of natural gas, Wintershall is now planning a further drilling project in Staffhorst. "International experts come to northern Germany to benefit from our practical experience. A production site like Staffhorst once again shows that the expertise we garner here in Germany opens doors to energy partnerships worldwide, for example in the Gulf region. This therefore enables us to impress in global competition," said Scheck.
Wintershall is also investing in domestic oil production in southern Germany, including completing a state-of-the-art 3D seismic survey at the Landau site (Rhineland-Palatinate) in early 2017. "We achieved very good measurement results," said Scheck. Geologists and reservoir engineers are currently exploring the potential for new drilling. Wintershall has been recovering crude oil in Landau for over 60 years.
"All our projects in the previous and coming year underline the future viability of domestic promotion," explained Scheck. To date, Wintershall has produced more than 40 million tons of domestic crude oil in Germany – as much as Saudi Arabia has supplied to Germany in 20 years. "This is making an important contribution to the energy provision. Furthermore, we are also establishing ourselves as a technology centre for Wintershall worldwide, creating jobs in the region and investing in the training of young people through our research projects," emphasised Scheck. Wintershall Deutschland is currently training 47 women and men. Overall, Wintershall has already trained more than 500 young people in Barnstorf.
Wintershall Deutschland, which is based in Barnstorf, Lower Saxony, forms the centre of Wintershall's exploration and production activities. It also provides important know-how on modern drilling and production techniques for use worldwide. The company has been producing domestic crude oil since 1930. It has produced natural gas since 1951. Among other things, Wintershall is the operator of the only gas production platform in the German North Sea (A6-A) and also has a 50% share in Germany's largest oil field, Mittelplate, which is situated off the North Sea coast. In addition, it also produces domestic energy around Barnstorf in the rural District of Diepholz, in Emlichheim (County of Bentheim), in Landau in der Pfalz and in Aitingen/Schwabmüchen near Augsburg. Wintershall Deutschland employs 400 members of staff.
Wintershall Holding GmbH, based in Kassel, Germany, is a wholly owned subsidiary of BASF in Ludwigshafen. The company has been active in the extraction of natural resources for 120 years, and in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas for over 85 years. Wintershall focuses on selected core regions where the company has built up a high level of regional and technological expertise. These are Europe, Russia, North Africa, South America, and increasingly the Middle East region. The company wants to expand its business further with exploration and production, selected partnerships, innovation and technological competence. Wintershall employs about 2000 staff worldwide from 50 nations and is now Germany’s largest, internationally active crude oil and natural gas producer.
Global Energy Solutions (Glensol) entered into next project for BP Azerbaijan to provide electrical & instrumentation services in the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey (AGT) region.
Glensol’s services will cover Sangachal Terminal, BTC and WREP oil export pipelines onshore and 7 BP platforms offshore. The project scope includes execution, service, installation, commissioning, modification and inspection services designed to maximize uptime and optimize assets life cycle. Duration of the project is 3 years with possible extension up to 2 years.
“By obtaining the second major project for BP within last two years, Glensol has proved itself as being one of the best in class local companies in the region,” said Tamerlan Aliyev, General Manager of Glensol. “We are currently developing our business activities overseas, in particular, our expansion to Kazakhstan gives us an opportunity to demonstrate our local expertise in the foreign market. We are very proud to be at the leading edge in provision of word class services while representing our country on an international level,” concluded Tamerlan Aliyev.
Established in 2012 as an oilfield operations and equipment maintenance subsidiary of Nobel Oil Services, Glensol provides asset integrity management, operational assurance services, maintenance and repair services for turbomachinery, valves and pumps. SOCAR, BP and other important industry players are among its customers.
Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and the head of the Royal Dutch Shell International Oil and Gas Department Andrew Brown discussed the development of gas projects on the territory of Bulgaria, аccording to BGNES.
Their meeting was held in Davos Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, the government's press service announced. Prime Minister Borisov briefed Andrew Brown on the development of the project to build a European gas distribution center "Balkan". He stressed the importance of the project, pointing out that it will contribute to the diversification of gas sources and routes in Bulgaria and Southeastern Europe.
Andrew Brown congratulated the Bulgarian Prime Minister for the initiative to build such a gas infrastructure and to develop the gas network in Bulgaria. Borisov pointed out that future mining from the Han Kubrat block in the Black Sea is one of the options for diversifying sources.
Andrew Brown has been expecting the company to begin drilling in the block by the end of this or early next year.
The company's search and exploration license was granted by the Council of Ministers in October 2015, and according to preliminary company studies, their expectations are to find oil fields but there is also data on natural gas. The conduct of search and research competitions in the deep Black Sea was among the first decisions of the government in the energy sphere.
Increasing local yield is one of the leading conditions for ensuring energy security and independence. Representative of Royal Dutch-Shell congratulated Prime Minister Boyko Borisov for the rotating assumption of the presidency of the Council of the European Union and wished him success on the priority themes.
The expansion project of Sidi Kerir “Sidpec” in Alexandria, to produce propylene and its derivatives, will be implemented over two phases, announced Saad Hilal, Egyptian Petrochemical Holding Company’s (ECHEM) Director, Egypt Oil & Gas reports.
The expansion project is worth over $1.7 billion in investments, he noted.
This came during the company’s general assembly, chaired by Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, to ratify the new fiscal year budget for 2018/2019.
ECHEM is planning to implement new projects such as producing methanol derivatives to produce formaldehyde in Damietta with investments up to $50 million, Hilal added. Besides, the company is doing provisional studies for two refining complexes and petrochemicals in Suez and Alameen.
ECHEM’s strategy is not limited to petrochemicals production. It additionally looks at “various products that meet the local market needs, and thus creating projects that maximize the added value of investments,” according to Hilal.
UK oil and gas giant BP Plc (LON:BP) is mulling over placing a bid for Italian solar producer Rete Rinnovabile Srl, the owner of a 332-MW photovoltaic (PV) portfolio at home, Bloomberg reports, citing insiders.
The Italian firm, also known as RTR, says on its website that its portfolio of solar parks generated some 478 million kWh of electricity last year, which was enough to meet the annual power demand of about 170,000 local homes.
Quoting sources familiar with the matter, who preferred to remain anonymous, Bloomberg said that RTR’s owner Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd is expected to start the sale of the solar company in February. The business is valued at EUR 1.5 billion (USD 1.8bn) by the London-based buyout firm.
Among RTR’s suitors are also companies from China, as well as Italian sector player ERG SpA (BIT:ERG), Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, known as Masdar, and German utility Eon SE (AMS:EON), people aware with the development told Bloomberg in November.
Last month, BP announced a deal to acquire a 43% stake in solar developer Lightsource Renewable Energy Investments Ltd for USD 200 million, to be paid over a three-year period.