Despite still being in the middle of one of the longest down turn in the oil and gas industry, there are still some notable projects worth highlighting in 2018. We reviewed projects around the world from every major region and every major operators. Here is our list:
Libra Field
Location: Offshore Brazil Situated around 250 kilometres off the coast of Brazil sits the Libra field which is estimated to hold around 8-12 billion barrels of recoverable oil.With such large potential, the field has attracted a huge amount of interest in recent years with Petrobras, Shell, Total, CNPC and CNOOC now all holding stakes in Libra. And these operators are betting big that the Libra field is going to be successful. It is estimated that the first production contract for the field amounts to an almost unbelievable $91 billion!With first oil achieved in November 2017, 2018 should be the year we really see the Libra field begin to fulfil its potential.
Southern Gas Corridor
Cost: $41 billion
Location: Caspian Sea – Europe
When it comes to gas corridor projects, the Southern Gas Corridor project is going to be hard to beat.
Geopolitical and energy security concerns lie behind the conception of this project, with the Southern Gas Corridor aiming to shore-up European gas supplies via the Caspian Sea and thus reducing reliance on Russian delivery routes.
Natural gas will be supplied via pipelines through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to Europe.
Many other huge projects fall under the remit of the Southern Gas Corridor- most notably BP’s Shah Deniz Stage 2 expansion project which from 2018 will have a peak annual average output (gross) of approximately 325 mboed.
The Southern Gas Corridor project involves the construction of several very large pipelines including the $8 billion Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline, and the $5 billion Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.
Project leads at BP expect first gas volumes from Shah Denis to reach Turkey in 2018, with Europe receiving its first supplies via the Southern Gas Corridor by 2020.
(Image via Statoil.)
Johan Castberg Project
Cost: $5.92 billion
Location: Offshore Norway
Set to have the “largest subsea scope” of any current project worldwide, the Johan Castberg project in the Barents Sea will seek to exploit reserves of approximately 450-650 million barrels. Between 2019 and 2024 upwards of 30 wells are expected to be drilled, with production beginning from 2022.
Project owner Statoil will be using their largest ever FPSO to connect to the subsea sections. At a total cost of $5.92 billion, this is another project that demonstrates that large investments in offshore projects are not dead yet.
(Image via KBR).
Coral South LNG
Location: Offshore Mozambique
Africa’s offshore hydrocarbon potential has long been talked about, but the Coral South LNG project off the coast of Mozambique is putting this talk to the test.It is estimated that the Coral field holds upwards of 450 billion cubic metres of gas. With such sizeable reserves on offer it’s no wonder that oil majors have rushed to get involved. At present Eni East Africa serves as chief operator, holding a 50% operating interest in the field. Others involved in the project include KOGAS, Galp Energia and Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbontres.From 2022, once completed, a FPSO will produce over 3.4 million tons of gas per year. All of which will be purchased by BP which has bought the rights to purchase 100% of the gas produced from the Coral South field for the next 20 years.
(Image via BP).
Clair Ridge
Cost: £4.5 billion
Location: UK, North Sea
A project that proves there’s life yet for the North Sea Oil & Gas industry, the Clair Ridge project starts-up in 2018, developing new resources from the giant Clair field. Located around 40 miles west of Shetland in water depths of 450 feet, the project consists of the provision of new production, accommodation and drilling facilities on two bridge-linked platforms. Once fully online the project is expected to produce in the region of 120,000 barrels of conventional oil per day.
(Image via Maersk Oil Instagram).
Tyra Field Redevelopment
Location: Offshore DenmarkThere’s still much life for the North Sea Oil & Gas industry- especially as new ways of exploiting reserves continue to be developed. The Tyra gas field is a perfect example.Currently facing the end of its operational life, Maersk Oil is set to redevelop the field at a cost of $3.36 billion which involves completely overhauling the field’s infrastructure. Work to be carried out includes the replacement of the existing gas processing platforms with a modern facility as well as rig and engineering upgrades on five surrounding satellite fields. As a result of this redevelopment Tyra will continue to produce around 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent from 2022 onwards. Which is good news considering that over 1.5 million Danish homes depend on the field for energy.
(The centre of Jizzakh, location of Uzbekistan’s latest oil refinery. Image via Wikipedia).
Jizzakh Oil Refinery
Cost: $2.2 billion
Location: Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan is about to become a major hive of Oil & Gas industry activity. Why? Because the country has just committed to spending $30.4 billion on hydrocarbon projects over the next 10 years and beyond. Perhaps the most high-profile of these projects is the Jizzakh Oil Refinery which broke ground in January 2017.
On completion, the refinery will produce more than 3.7 million tonnes of gasoline, more than 700,000 tonnes of jet fuel and about 300,000 tonnes of other oil products annually for both domestic consumption and international export.
An exact date for start-up of the refinery has not been disclosed, but Enter Engineering, Amec Foster Wheeler and Hyundai Engineering are all currently involved in the construction of the facility.
South Pars Gas Fields, Phase 19
Location: offshore and onshore IranOne of the largest gas fields in the world, South Pars is located on the Iranian border with Qatar in the Persian Gulf. Phase 19 is expected to start-up in 2018 and consists of the drilling of 15 wells on three wellhead platforms around 120km away from the Persian Gulf Coast. The gas and condensates extracted from these wells will then be transferred to a series of onshore facilities in the Tumbak region via 2 submarine gas pipelines around 129km in length.It is anticipated that Phase 19 will produce 2 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas, 75 million cubic feet of ethane, 80,000 barrels per day of natural gas condensate, 3,000 tons of LPG per day and 400 tons of sulfur per day.
(Image via Bahrain LNG).
Bahrain LNG Terminal
Location: BahrainBahrain is fully embracing the era of LNG with construction of the Middle East’s first LNG receiving and regasification terminal.Construction is expected to be completed in 2019, at which point the facility will have a capacity of over 22 million cubic metres of gas a day. The facility will consist of a floating storage unit (FSU), an offshore LNG-receiving jetty, a regasification platform, subsea gas pipelines, an onshore gas receiving centre, and an onshore nitrogen production facility.Such is the strategic importance of this facility to the Middle East that it has attracted a wealth of backers including Samsung C&T, Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC), and Teekay LNG Partners.
(Image via Kosmos Energy).
Tortue Project
Cost: Unknown at this time
Location: Offshore Mauritania and Senegal
Although the Tortue project isn’t expected to produce first gas until 2021, it’s worth watching how this project develops due to both the sheer size of the estimated reserves and the point that it is the first major gas project in the province.
It is thought that the exploration blocks off the coasts of Senegal and Mauritania could contain as much as 50 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas, as well as more than 1 billion barrels of oil in deepwater reserves. To put this volume into perspective, the gas reserves alone would be enough to fuel the UK for two decades!
Above, we’ve outlined what we see as the most strategically important Oil & Gas projects to watch in 2018; however, there are several other notable projects underway including:
- Permian Basin- expect the vast Permian Basin in the US to continue to produce viable drilling projects with drilling and production growing throughout 2018- contributing to the USA’s stature as a major oil power.
- Hebron- The massive Hebron project off the coast of Canada produced first oil in November 2017, so keep an eye on this project as it really gets into its stride in 2018. At peak rates, the Hebron platform will be able to produce up to 100,000 barrels of oil per day.
- Liza- In mid-2017 ExxonMobil made the final investment decision to proceed with its Liza oil development offshore Guyana. Estimated recoverable reserves from the field are 2 billion barrels of oil. Production start-up is expected by 2020, so progress on this project should be rapid.
Are there any projects that you think we should add to this list? Let us know in the comments below!
