LNG

French energy company Total and Apache Corp. of the US have made a substantial natural gas and oil discovery offshore the tiny nation of Suriname in the northeast corner of South America, the fourth find in the block, giving Suriname valuable energy resources instead of becoming an importer of LNG and relying on expensive oil products/

“We are very pleased to announce our fourth consecutive discovery in Block 58 at Keskesi, which confirms oil in the eastern portion of the block,” said John Christmann, Apache’s Chief Executive.

“We are excited to commence the appraisal program on our initial discoveries and extend our Block 58 exploration program to the north in 2021,” added Christmann.

Pursuant to the terms of its joint venture agreement, Apache transferred operatorship of Block 58 to Total on January 1, 2021.

Total said that the discoveries in the Keskesi East-1 well in Block 58 were “significant”.

“This follows previous discoveries at Maka Central, Sapakara West and Kwaskwasi,” added the French major.

The discoveries come as a growing number of Latin American and Caribbean nations are opting for LNG to meet their energy and power needs.

Total explained that the Keskesi well was drilled by a water depth of about 725 metres and encountered a total of 63 metres of net pay of hydrocarbons.

This comprised of 58 metres net black oil, volatile oil, and gas pay in good quality Campano-Maastrichtian reservoirs, along with 5 metres of net volatile oil pay in Santonian reservoirs, where wireline logging has just been performed.

Drilling is still ongoing for deeper Neocomian aged targets.

The Suriname discoveries are in the Guiana Basin, situated on the northeast of the Continent and includes parts of the offshore areas and coastal plains of French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana and eastern Venezuela.

The Basin is characterized by its passive-margin setting, dating back from the Cretaceous age and is similar to most other Atlantic Margin Basins, such as those in West Africa offshore Mauritania and Senegal where FLNG projects are proceeding.

Analysts note that exploration results elsewhere in the Atlantic Margin basins have demonstrated that the post-rift margins of West Africa and Brazil were characterised by comparable petroleum systems.

“We are delighted to announce this new discovery, which confirms this first exploration campaign as a full success and adds to the proven resource base” said Kevin McLachlan, Senior Vice President Exploration at Total.

“We are also excited, as new operator of the block, to start the appraisal operations designed to characterize the 2020 discoveries, while in parallel start a second exploration campaign on this prolific block in 2021,” added McLachlan.

Total assumed operatorship of Block 58 on January 1st, 2021, with a 50 percent working interest.

Upon completion of the operations on Keskesi East-1, the “Noble Sam Croft” drillship will be released.

Kosmos Energy, the Dallas-based company that made the natural gas discoveries to establish floating LNG export projects offshore Mauritania and Senegal, has announced a find in its home waters of the US Gulf of Mexico as it continues the sale process for parts of its African FLNG stakes.

The US Gulf oil find was in Gladden Deep, a sub-sea tie back which is expected to be brought online through the existing Gladden pipeline to the Medusa spar in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Kosmos said Gladden Deep was the first well of a four-well, infrastructure-led exploration program in the US Gulf for 2019.

“Kosmos will drill the Moneypenny prospect in the third quarter, followed by the Oldfield and Resolution prospects in the fourth quarter,” said Kosmos.

“These three prospects are collectively targeting around 100 million barrels of oil equivalent net to Kosmos,” it added.

Kosmos has an exploration program balanced between proven basin infrastructure-led exploration in Equatorial Guinea and the US Gulf while pushing forward with its Atlantic Margin activities in the emerging basins of Mauritania and Senegal in West Africa and in Suriname on the northeast coast of South America.

“Although Gladden Deep is the smallest prospect in this year’s drilling campaign, it is a prime example of our strategy in action, targeting high margin, high return barrels that can be quickly brought online through existing facilities,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Andy Inglis.

“This discovery continues the strong momentum we have seen in our Gulf of Mexico business unit, following the recent lease sale results and increased production from the Tornado-3 well coming online,” added Inglis.

The company is also exploring in frontier basins from Namibia in southwest Africa to the Ivory Coast in West Africa and offshore the island nation of Sao Tome and Principe.

Kosmos revealed its intention in May 2019 to sell down its position in Mauritania and Senegal to around 10 percent and the sale process had “generated significant industry interest”, with formal bids expected to be tabled in the third quarter of 2019.

Kosmos made the Mauritania and Senegal discoveries and in 2016 and agreed to sell BP of the UK around 60 percent of the licences, while BP also took over operatorship.

The US company retained around 30 percent of the Senegal fields and licence and about 28 percent of the project’s Mauritania holdings.

As of early May, all major contracts had been awarded for phase one of the West African FLNG project and construction had started on a floating production storage and offloading unit.

The first gas from the Kosmos-BP FLNG Train 1 is scheduled for 2021 and the start of the second FLNG Train is set for 2023.

Kosmos Energy, the US partner of BP in the Mauritania-Senegal floating LNG projects, has completed its acquisition for more than $1.22 billion of Deep Gulf Energy as it keeps faith in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico as other operators retreat to the US onshore shale basins.

Kosmos, based in Dallas, said it purchased Deep Gulf Energy to expand its assets in the Atlantic Margin exploration area of the most distant parts of the Gulf that can have similar deepwater challenges to offshore West Africa.

“By acquiring DGE, Kosmos adds to its deepwater Atlantic Margin portfolio an established business with attractive assets and a strong record of growing production and reserves through infrastructure-led exploration,” said Kosmos.

“This immediately accretive acquisition enhances the scale of the company and is expected to generate significant free cash flow,” added Kosmos.

Houston, Texas-based DGE was founded in 2005. The company has drilled 20 wells, 16 of which have been completed. The company achieved its first production in 2007 and the acquisition would add around 25,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of production for Kosmos.

Kosmos notes that while many competitors have been leaving the Gulf of Mexico to pursue onshore shale plays, their departures have created an opportunity to further open up the Gulf.

“The best deepwater assets can compete with the best of shale, and now is a good time to enter the Gulf of Mexico,” said Kosmos.

The completion of the DGE deal comes as Kosmos and BP are moving forward with contract awards for the Tortue-Ahmeyim natural gas project in the Atlantic Margin of Mauritania and Senegal that will underpin several FLNG ventures.

The Tortue-Ahmeyim project will produce gas from a deepwater subsea system and transfer it to an FLNG production facility at a nearshore hub located on the Mauritania and Senegal maritime border.

The FLNG facility for Phase 1 is expected to deliver about 2.5 million tonnes per annum of LNG on average.

The full project will target 10 MTPA of LNG output as well as making gas available for domestic use in both Mauritania and Senegal.

First gas from the African project is expected in the first half of 2022.

Woodside Petroleum, the Australian liquefied natural gas developer, said it was moving forward with its front-end engineering design activities for its joint venture offshore Senegal in West Africa where BP and other companies are developing floating LNG projects.

French energy major Total and the West African state of Mauritania have signed an agreement on two new exploration and production contracts near an area where natural gas has been discovered and is underpinning two floating LNG projects also involving Senegal.

Royal Dutch Shell, the largest liquefied natural gas participant among international energy companies, has signed production sharing contracts for two exploration blocks offshore Mauritania, the West Africa nation pursuing floating LNG ventures with neighbour Senegal.