By Fred Akanni, Editor in Chief
Chevron Corporation will not take over Anadarko, after all.
The American super major announced yesterday that, under the terms of its previously announced Merger Agreement with the company, it will not make a counter proposal and will allow the four-day match period to expire.
“Accordingly, Chevron anticipates that Anadarko will terminate the Merger Agreement”, the company says in a release.
.“Winning in any environment doesn’t mean winning at any cost. Cost and capital discipline always matter, and we will not dilute our returnsor erode value for our shareholders for the sake of doing a deal,” says Michael Wirth, Chevron’s Chairman and CEO.
“Our advantaged portfolio is driving robust production and cash flow growth, higher investment returns and lower execution risk. We are well positioned to deliver superior value creation for our shareholders,” Wirth says.
Upon termination of the Merger Agreement, Anadarko will be required to pay Chevron a termination fee of $1Billion.
Chevron has responded to media reports about fire engulfing several wells in its acreages in the Western Niger Delta basin, saying that much of the account is exaggerated.
“Only one well is on fire – Ojumole Well # 1” says Esimaje Brikinn, Chevron Nigeria’s General Manager, Policy Government & Public Affairs. “A Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) has been conducted and cause determined to be third party interference. Efforts to put out the fire are ongoing”.
The fire was discovered at the well at.10:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 18, 2019, Brikinn explains.
Ojumole 1, located in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 49 in NNPC/Chevron Nigeria JV’s Western Niger Delta area of operations is a plugged and idle well with no flowline connected to it.
“Chevron Nigeria (CNL) conducted an overflight to evaluate the fire and also mobilized emergency responders to assess the site, contain the fire and boom the area”, Mr. Brikinn explains. “ In addition, CNL notified community stakeholders about the incident and also reported it to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) and other regulatory and security authorities. A Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) to the site of the incident on Saturday April 20, 2019, by a team made up of regulatory agencies, community stakeholders and CNL, determined that the fire incident was caused by third-party interference. There was no impact to any of the neighbouring communities”.
Local media, last weekend, had reported widespread fire in Ojumole, Isan-West and Isan field, Parable Malu, Ororo and Opoekeba. But Chevron has maintained its position. The company “is currently working with contractors to safely put out the fire as quickly as possible”, Brikinn says.
The April 21, 2019 fire outbreak in Awoba, on the Right Of Way(ROW) of the Nembe Creek Trunk Line NCTL, was the second that Aiteo had to put out in the space of six weeks.
The fire last time was reported on March 1, 2019, as having happened, after an explosion occurred in within the vicinity of Nembe Creek Well 7, behind Mile 1 Community in Bayelsa State. The April 24 press release from the company opened on an upbeat note: “the fire reported has been completely put out”, it said.
But a report in the influential local daily ThisDay added that the Nigerian military had confirmed that “at least six persons suspected to be the masterminds of last weekend’s fire incident in the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29, operated by Aiteo, were killed during the inferno which engulfed the facility”.
Aiteo did not mention the fatality in its press release, although the company had since declared a force majeure on the NCTL.
”A Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) comprising security and regulatory agencies as well as community representatives and Aiteo personnel will be constituted and deployed to the site to attend to the necessary incident formalities”, the release, signed by Aiteo spokesperson, Ndiana Matthew, said.
The mention of a JIV recalls the widely publicized spat between the company and the National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), regarding the earlier fire. The agency had complained that Aiteo was resisting its efforts to probe the cause of the explosion that reportedly occurred on March 1, 2019. “We are experiencing resistance from the operator and we are currently mounting pressure on them for us to be given access to visit the site for preliminary assessment,” Francis Umeh, head of NOSDRA’s field Office in Bayelsa State had said at the time.
Aiteo, in the latest incident, seems to have invested some effort in working with NOSDRA on a joint investigating team. Its statement also said it was “working on further site preparation and mobilisation of specialised equipment to the swamps for further remedial action to facilitate a quick return to full functionality”.
Anglo Dutch supermajor Shell, took Final Investment Decisions on three projects in Nigeria in 2018, the company reportsin its Annual Report.
FIDs were taken on Assa North, Gbaran Enwhe and Gbaran Nodal Compression projects (Shell interest 30%).
The company also mentioned progress in the BSWAP project.
“In February 2019, we agreed the heads of terms for the resolution of the OML 118 negotiations, including the PSC dispute with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), following which we have a clear commercial framework for a potential Bonga South West Aparo FID, and announced an invitation to tender”.
By Toyin Akinosho
The Indonesian owned French explorer, Maurel et Prom (M&P), has reported a sharp increase in crude oil output in Gabon, from 4Q 2018 and 1st Q 2019.
But “the significant rise in production”, as the company calls it, does not reflect in the sales figure.
The rise “in first quarter of 2019 (+18% versus Q4 2018) in a similar price context (average sale price of oil $63.9/bbl in Q1 2019 versus $62.7/bbl in Q4 2018) was not reflected in sales figures due to a lifting imbalance (223,000 barrels produced but not evacuated during the period)”, the company explains. “This situation impacted sales by $14 million in the first quarter of 2019”.
M&P reports that “sales in Q1 2019 amounted to $103Million, an increase of 5% from Q4 2018”.
What used to be Oando Gas&Power is now 100% owned by Helios.
The company was named Axxela Limited after Helios Investment Partners purchased a majority stake in Oando’s gas and power business enterprise in December 2016. Now, Helios, a private equity firm with a focus on investments in Africa, has acquired Oando’s remaining 25% interest in Axxela. Bolaji Osunsanya, who has been the Chief Executive all through the several stages of acquisition pays homage “to our storied history and legacy”, but quickly adds that “our recognition as being fully owned by Helios gives us global positioning, greater financial flexibility, and access to capital going forward”.
The history and legacy that Osunsanya speaks of includes Gaslink, the brave builder of natural gas pipeline from the Lagos city gate in Ikeja, in the north of the country’s main financial hub, to Apapa, Nigeria’s largest seaport located in the west of the city. That pipeline was constructed on the back of a franchise from the Nigerian Gas Company, to take some 50Million standard cubic feet of gas per day from the Lagos end of the Escravos Lagos Pipeline and distribute to industries and factories in the city. It was the first time an entirely midstream private (and Nigerian owned) company had emerged to supply natural gas to end users. Prior to that, AngloDutch Shell was distributing natural gas in the industrial estate of Agbara on the Lagos outskirts and in the market towns of eastern Nigeria.
Oando also boldly constructed a 128km pipeline in the country’s southeast, but later sold that infrastructure to Seven Energy after it started having financial challenges, mostly due to its acquisition of stakes in ENI (Nigerian Agip) operated upstream oil acreages. “As a partner of choice, we have immense pride in the growth, robustness, and stability of our existing business enterprise, enabling us spur the aggressive expansion of our footprint via our audacious growth initiatives in Nigeria and the West African region,” Osunsanya boasts. Axxela says it is the first private company to attain a shipper’s licence on the West African Gas Pipeline and the first company in the Nigerian oil & gas space to simultaneously integrate and ISO Standards – ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management Standard), ISO 14001:2015 (Environmental Standard) and ISO 45001:2018 (Occupational Health and Safety Standard).
The Nigerian independent Express Petroleum produced 60Barrels of Oil Per Day on average, making it the E&P company with the lowest operated output in Nigeria in 2017, according to the latest annual report of the Department of Petroleum Resources DPR, the industry regulatory agency.
Slightly ahead of Express is Excel E&P, credited with operated output of 227BOPD in the year.
Dubri’s output was slightly higher at 348BOPD.
Atlas Petroleum, owned by the businessman Arthur Eze, was credited with an operated average daily output of 399BOPD.
Apart from these four, every other company on the list of operating companies in the country,-with the exception of Frontier Oil, produced over 1,000BOPD on average.
Frontier, which produced 332BOPD, was excluded from the companies producing lower than 1,000BOPD because, unlike Express, Excel, Dubri and Atlas, it is not an oil producer. The company is a gas producer which happens to output small amounts of condensate, metred and marketed as light crude.
Looks towards 110,000BOPD at peak by 2023
Norwegian operator Aker Energy has submitted a Plan of Development for the Pecan field in the Deepwater Tano Cape Three Points block (DWT/CT), to Ghana’s Minister for Energy, John-Peter Amewu.
The plan, submitted Friday, March 29, 2019, provides an outline of a development project to drain over 400Million barrels of oil equivalent (400MMBOE) in a field located in 2,400 metres of water in the transform margin of the Gulf of Guinea. The assumed cost of the project is $4.4Billion.
Aker Energy has reported that the recoverable reserves estimate could be more than double the 400MMBBOE, as the company envisages new discoveries outside of the main structure.
Aker’s use of the term ‘barrels of oil equivalent (BOE)’, instead of simply ‘barrels of oil (BO)’, for reserves estimate, is an indication that there’s significant volume of gas and/or condensate in the reservoirs. In short, this is not a pure oil play.
Aker Energy has also repeatedly indicated that the field could produce as much as 110,000Barrels of oil per day. What it hasn’t said, in public, is how long the peak production could last. First oil is expected in 2022.
Aker Energy operates the acreage with 50%. Its partners include Lukoil (38%), Fueltrade (2%) and Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (10%).
By Prospect Mojido, in Badagry
Partners on the Aje Field in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 113 offshore Nigeria are having financial challenges trying to improve the economic fortunes of the overall project, including the oil uptake and the development of the gas reservoirs.
Basic running costs sweep off the entire income, so plans for increasing the current average production is challenged, as bankability is difficult. “We are not contributing cash call really; revenue is used to keep production going”, says one of the partners who would rather keep his name out.
The field, planned to deliver 10,000BOPD of crude for at least the first three years has been doing 3,000 BOPD, as the crucial Aje-5 well failed to deliver.
The consortium partners are currently reprocessing three dimensional seismic data to see if new interpretation can lead to two new wells.
How about the gas development? “It would cost $250Million to fund the gas project, so it is not a priority”, the source says.
SOURCE: AFRICA OIL + GAS REPORT
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