Petrofac Limited sells Petrofac GSA Holdings to Ithaca Energy UK

Petrofac Limited has announced that it signed an agreement to sell Petrofac GSA Holdings Limited to Ithaca Energy (UK) Limited for a total consideration of up to $292 million. Petrofac GSA Holdings Limited owns Petrofac’s 20% interest in the Greater Stella Area development and its 24.8% interest in the FPF1 floating production facility. Petrofac GSA Holdings Limited also owns Petrofac’s long-term receivable from the GSA joint operation partners reports WorldOil

Under the terms of the agreement, Ithaca will pay approximately $145 million by or on completion and a further $120 million of non-contingent deferred consideration in the period 2020-2023. A further $28 million of contingent consideration is payable depending on field performance.

The transaction is expected to complete in first-quarter 2019 and is subject to several conditions precedent, including completion of Ithaca’s acquisition of Dyas UK Limited’s 25% interest in the Greater Stella Area development and its shares in the FPF1 Company in accordance with the agreement executed by Ithaca and Dyas today.

Petrofac estimates that the transaction will result in a post-tax impairment charge of approximately $55 million. Proceeds from the sale will be used to reduce gross debt. Petrofac will continue to provide Duty Holder services to the FPF1 floating production facility on a life of field contract.

Total hires Borr’s jack up rig in Netherland

 

Offshore driller Borr Drilling has won a contract for its C20051 jack-up drilling rig with Total. It has also secured a LoI for its Norve rig currently deployed in Gabon.

The company, owning 37 offshore rigs, on Thursday said the jack-up would work for Total in the Netherlands starting September. The rig’s previous contract with Perenco expired this month.

According to Bassoe Analytics, the two-month contract is with Total in the Netherlands starting on September 25, 2018, ending late in November. Total will have an option to extend the contract further for the 1982-built rig.

Also worth noting, Borr’s Norve jack-up which has been used for drilling in Gabon by BW, will this month go on a contract with Perenco for Gabon/Cameroon work until February.

Borr also said that it had secured a letter of intent for the deployment 2013-built Norve with an undisclosed client starting in July 2019 until April 2020.

Borr Drilling currently has 11 rigs either drilling or with a secured contract waiting to start drilling.

Modern Jack-up demand rising

In its quarterly report on Thursday, Borr noted that the jack-up rig utilization was on the rise, also noting an increased number of fixtures and preference for modern rigs.

The company currently has eleven modern-jack-ups under construction in Singapore at PPL Shipyard and Keppel, with delivery dates spread between September 2018 – and December 2020. It also has eleven premium jack-up rigs warm-stacked and available for work. Five of these have been built in 2018 and are warm-stacked in Singapore.

Bassoe Analytics data shows that the jack-up market is currently enjoying the best utilization, compared to drillships and semi-submersible rigs. Jack-ups utilization is at 68 percent, semis at 57 percent, and drillships at 52 percent.

Bassoe, a Norwegian offshore rig broker, on Thursday lifted its outlook for jack-up rig values on the back of the increased number of contracts.

“As a result of higher contracting activity and our outlook for increased demand and day rates, values for jack-ups have risen by 2% on average over the last 4-8 weeks. We see interest in higher spec, new (premium) jack-ups continuing to build and expect jack-up values to follow a steady upward trend over the next few months,” Bassoe said.

It’s worth noting that Borr Drilling alone sold 17 rigs jack-up drilling rigs for scrap during the second quarter for total proceeds of $35.2 million. More of this is expected to continue in the jack-up space.

“The supply of newbuild rigs entering the market will be more than offset by additional demand and scrapping of older rigs,” Bassoe said.

Offshore Energy Today

Saudi Aramco raises oil-trading volume to 6 MMbpd

Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest oil exporter, plans to trade as much as 6 MMbpd, a jump in volume that would put it in the top tier of companies that buy and sell crude and refined products.

Eni in new gas discovery, Off cyprus

Eni has made a lean gas discovery in Block 6, offshore Cyprus with Calypso 1 NFW. The well, which was drilled in 2,074 m of water depth reaching a final TD of 3,827 m, encountered an extended gas column in rocks of Miocene and Cretaceous age. The Cretaceous sequence has excellent reservoir characteristics reports WorldOil

An intensive and detailed data collection (fluids and rock samples) has been executed on the well. Calypso 1 is a promising gas discovery and confirms the extension of the “Zohr like” play in the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Additional studies will be carried out to assess the range of the gas volumes in place and define further exploration and appraisal operations.

Eni is the Operator of Block 6 with 50% of participation interest, while Total is partner with the remaining 50%.

Eni has been present in Cyprus since 2013 and detains interests in six licenses located in the EEZ of Cyprus (in Blocks 2, 3, 6, 8, 9 and 11), five of which are operated.

Related News:Report: Eni and Total to kick off new deal in cyprus

French oil company Total and Italy’s Eni are reportedly planning to start drilling in a joint exploration block off the coast of Cyprus by the end of the year or in early 2018.

According to Reuters, Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades met with Total’s CEO Patrick Pouyanne on Sunday in Paris ahead of his meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday.

Reuters cited Anastasiades’ interview given to French media outlet Le Figaro. In the interview, the President of Cyprus said that the Total CEO Patrick Pouyannee informed him that the oil majors would move ahead with plans to drill in the block despite disappointing drilling results from Block 11.

“Yes, (block 11) was disappointing in terms of quantity, but the results are very promising for future drilling. It confirmed the presence of hydrocarbons in the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone, an extension of the Zohr field in Egypt,” Anastasiades said in the Le Figaro interview, Reuters reports.