Mr. Michael Lynch

GLG News by Mr. Michael Lynch, Consultant

GLG News is now G+ Insights

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GDF Suez making big LNG alliance with China sovereign fund

August 11, 2011

Analysis of:GDF Suez Nears $4 billion Deal with Chinese Sovereign Wealth Fund | www.nytimes.com

GDF Suez announced on wednesday that they were in exclusive talks with China Investment Corp to seal a $4 billion alliance. It is the second large deal for GDF Suez after their purchase of 70% of International Power. The Chinese wealth fund will pay $3.3 billion for a 30% stake in the GDF Suez exploration and production unit. The fund will co-finance GDF Suez projects in Asia and the Pacific. CEO Gérard Mestrallet said that it was crucial for GDF Suez to play an important role in the region.

The so-called "Big Crew Change" forces oil companies to compete for engineers

August 10, 2011

Analysis of:Help Wanted: Energy Firms Competing For Hires | www.rigzone.com

U.S energy companies are bearing down on the country's shale fields and plan to add staff this year. Demand is growing from power-generation utilities and the outlook for high crude oil prices. The Independent Petroleum Association of America projects up to 200,000 new jobs in the energy sector from hundreds of oil and gas producers. The natural gas industry is not scaling back. The recent drop in crude oil prices gets attention but will not stop companies from hiring petroleum engineers.

OPEC says "Dark Days" impacting demand for crude oil this year

August 9, 2011

Analysis of:OPEC Shaves Oil Demand Outlook, Sees 'Dark Clouds' over Econ | www.rigzone.com

On Tuesday, OPEC trimmed global crude oil demand forecast for 2011 by 150,000 bbl/day. A potential exists for further deterioration. Still global demand will rise by 1.2 million bbl/day. OPEC expects that 88.14 million bbl/day will be consumed this year. If higher oil prices persist and industrialized economies continue to weaken, OPEC might cut the forecast by another 200,000 bbl/day. OPEC cut its U.S. economic growth forecast to 1.8% in 2011,from 2.5% previously. China Demand is also lagging.

BP farm in to block 2714A in Namibia indicates major expectation of success

August 8, 2011

Analysis of:Chariot Sells Stake in namibia Block to BP | www.rigzone.com

Chariot Oil & Gas subsidiary Enigma Oil & Exploration, entered into an agreement with BP whereby BP will acquire a 50% share in Chariot's Southern block 2714A. Petrobras has elected to become the operator. Block 2714A is located in the Orange Basin offshore Namibia and covers 5,481 square kilometers. Paul Welch, CEO of Chariot said that it was a key strategic objective of the company to farm down assets to facilitate exploratory drilling. BP will cover Chariot's cost for the first well.

Monterey shale development underpins California oil and gas expansion

August 7, 2011

Analysis of:Monterey Oil Shale Seen as Next Wave of U.S. E&P Efforts | www.rigzone.com

California 's Monterey shale could become the next wave of domestic exploration and production propelled by continued high crude oil prices. Major oil company disposals of non-core assets has made many California properties available to smaller operators. Oil has been produced from the Monterey since the early 1900s but was not nearly as important for large oil companies as vast deposits of heavy crude oil found at shallow depths. Today, to reverse two decades of decline, activity increases.

EOG natural gas asset sales point to concerns about rising operating costs

August 6, 2011

Analysis of:EOG CEO: Boosts Asset Sale Target to $1.6B, from $1B. | www.rigzone.com

EOG Resources announced on august 5, that it would raise more cash through asset sales. The assets are mainly long-lived domestic natural gas properties. The company's natural gas production in the second quarter fell about 1%. EOG has shifted its focus away from natural gas to crude oil. To further reduce costs, EOG has plans to open a northern white sand mine in Wisconsin. The mine will supply proppant for most of the company's North American plays. This will save $400 million/year.

Monterey shale inspires Venoco to drill vertical wells.

August 4, 2011

Analysis of:Venoco prefers Monterey vertical well economics | www.ogj.com

Venoco Inc. may drill up to 75 vertical wells in the Miocene Monterey shale in 2012. The company is planning to operate 6 to 8 rigs with a focus on optimized completion techniques. Three new operators have joined Venoco to test three basins: San Joaquin, Santa Maria and Salinas Valley. Venoco holds 214,000 net acres and expects to end 2011 with 300,000 acres. Next year Venoco plans to drill 30-40 wells at its Sevier Monterey area, an undeveloped ARCO discovery adjacent to giant Midway Sunset.

The supermajor oil companies cope with crude oil production declines

August 3, 2011

Analysis of:Slumping Output Raises tough Questions for European Oil Giants | www.rigzone.com

Recently reported high quarterly income reported by major oil companies caused indignant excoriation in national capitals as consumers railed against high fuel prices. Still the reported profits did not mask the trend of falling production. The large oil companies are investing heavily to offset declines, turning to frontier areas as well as corporate restructuring to control costs. Companies are also turning to unconventional resources. Shell and ExxonMobil are somewhat better positioned.

Petrominerales cuts costs with pipeline purchase

August 2, 2011

Analysis of:Petrominerales Finalizes Stake in Ocensa Pipeline | www.rigzone.com

Petrominerales has completed the purchase of 5% of the Oleoducto Central crude oil pipeline from Total E&P holdings for $281 million. The 830 kilometer pipeline starts at Cusiana field and terminates at the port of Covenas on the Caribbean Coast of Colombia. Capacity of the line is 560,000 bbl/day from the Llanos basin equal to 60% of the total oil production in Colombia. Petrominerales expects to transport crude oil beginning September 1. Transportation costs will be much lower than trucking.

Royal Dutch Shell morphing to natural gas company

August 1, 2011

Analysis of:Peter Voser Shakes up Shell | www.rigzone.com

Peter Voser of Royal Dutch Shell trimmed 5,000 jobs when he became Managing Director of Shell Transport in 2004. Then he redirected the company's investments out of Nigeria after government charges of environmental destruction. He has been repositioning Shell as a natural gas and alternative energy company since 2004. Shell has invested more than $ 15 billion in natural gas n the U.S. alone. Voser released a statement in May 2011 noting that the company will produce more gas than oil in 2012.

Old Mother Shell again rings the bell

July 28, 2011

Analysis of:Shell's 2Q Earnings Nearly Double to $8.78 B | www.rigzone.com

Royal Dutch Shell earned $8 billion during second quarter of 2011 compared with $4.5 billion in the same period of 2010. Upstream volumes were up 2% excluding asset sales impacts. During the quarter the company sold $4 billion of non-core assets. QatarGas 4 project reached planned capacity of 7.8 million tonnes/year. The new Pearl Gas-to-Liquuids (GTL) came on stream and sold its first shipment. In the upstream, 9 new were agreed including the Prelude Floating LNG project offshore Australia.

BP CEO Robert Dudley looking at hole card again

July 27, 2011

Analysis of:BP's Dudley Says He's Open to Radical Restructuring of Company | www.rigzone.com

BP has not ruled out a major restructuring along the lines of that announced by ConocoPhillips. Nevertheless, BP will prosper once it gets past the difficult transition period. Speculation has grown that BP could spin off refining and marketing. BP's top refining executive, Iain Conn, pointed out that BP's downstream is different from ConocoPhillips and twice as profitable. BP's CFO Byron Grote said the company may continue asset sales beyond $30 billion. BP is selling 2 U.S.refineries.

Plucky little Paris independent Maurel et Prom rings bell in colombia

July 26, 2011

Analysis of:Positive results of the second and third stratigraphic wells in the CPO 17 license | www.maureletprom.fr

Maurel et Prom (Paris) announced on July 26 that a second and third well on the CPO 17 (2,103 square km) License in Colombia had been successfully drilled. their drilling campaign targets different geologic objectives. For these two stratigraphic wells, the target was the Basal Sandstone (Oligocene). Well Est-5a drilled to 848 meters found 11 meters of net pay with 27% porosity. Well Est-6 was drilled to 804 meters and 6.7 meters of net oil sand were penetrated.

Schlumberger profits from worldwide converging economic dynamics

July 25, 2011

Analysis of:Schlumberger 2Q Results Soar on N. American Drilling | www.rigzone.com

Schlumberger reported second-quarter revenue of $9.62 billion which compares to $8.72 billion for the equivalent 2010 quarter. CEO Andrew Gould noted that strong worldwide growth was the key factor. Internationally the rig count was higher. Exploration activity was high. Strong advances continued in all technologies related to deepwater drilling. Pricing power in the active North American pressure pumping market remained strong. In North America, liquids-rich plays continued to show strength.

Argentina shale oil play gathers momentum

July 23, 2011

Analysis of:Madalena tests oil in Argentina Vaca Muerte shale | www.ogj.com

Madalena Ventures (Calgary) tested 40 bbl/day of 32º API gravity oil from untreated Lower Cretaceous Vaca Muerte shale at CAS X-1 on Coiron Amargo block in the Neuquen basin. Further testing is set for the third quarter. Additional fracturing capacity is planned to be brought in to accelerate a large hydraulic fracturing program. Both oil and gas shows were evident while drilling the Vaca Muerte and another well at Sierras Blancas. Madalena plans a multi-well drilling program for Vaca Muerte.

Vladimir Putin blesses Total Arctic natural gas project

July 22, 2011

Analysis of:Russia and Total to Invest $38B in arctic Gas Production | www.rigzone.com

Yamal SPG, owned by Novatek will invest $38 billion to construct an Arctic Sea terminal on Russia's Yamal Peninsula. the liquefaction plant will be completed in 2018 and will allow France to receive 15.5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) annually. The LNG will be shipped by tanker. Total (France) owns 20.5% of Yamal SPG and 12% of Novatek. the Yamal peninsula is a remote Arctic territory of permafrost, tundra, swamp and pine forest and this adds to the cost of the project.

Oil-linked natural gas pricing reduces risks for large projects in asia

July 20, 2011

Analysis of:Growing Population, Economies Fuel asian LNG Demand | www.rigzone.com

Asia is expected to account for 48% of population growth and 52% of global gross domestic product which translates into a 64% growth in primary energy consumption. Asian markets represent 3 groups. The first includes South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. The second group includes China and India, growing mega-markets. The 3rd group includes Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. Oil-linked pricing has been the driver because Asian buyers are comfortable with it.

National Iranian Offfshore Oil to boost Hengam production to 30,000 bbl/day

July 18, 2011

Analysis of:Third Hengam jacket en route to Persian Gulf | www.offshore-mag.com

Offshore installations for the Hengam oil field in the Hormoz Strait progressing. The second platform in 279 feet of water is now in place. It is the tallest jacket yet installed in the Persian Gulf. The third jacket is enroute and will be installed soon. Production flows by pipeline to the Bandar Abbas refinery. Over the next 8 months, contracts for the Farzad B and Forouz A and B gas fields will be signed. National Iranian Gas company plans to produce 10 billion cubic feet/day by 2015.

Nobuo Tanaka speaks in defense of International Energy Agency action

July 17, 2011

Analysis of:IEA Reports on State of Oil Markets since Emergency Stockpile Release | www.rigzone.com

IEA, official energy watchdog for major consumer nations announced that the July 13 start of a release program was made to make up for "a string of supply losses". Producers recognize that demand for their oil is rising. IEA welcomed rising OPEC output seen in June. The market needs still more oil. Absence of major OPEC increases before June implied that crude oil stocks could fall below seasonal ranges .OPEC watcher Bhusan Bahree said little incentive existed for increased OPEC production.

Only thing lacking here is a hair shirt for BP's CEO Dudley

July 16, 2011

Analysis of:BP Sets New Voluntary Standards in GOM Drilling | www.rigzone.com

BP Exploration will implement a new set of deepwater oil and gas drilling standards for its operations in the Gulf of Mexico. In a letter to Director Bromwich of BOEMRE, BP outlined four new voluntary standards. BP will require BOP stacks with at least two shear rams. On each BOP inspection, a third party will verify testing. Cement slurries will be laboratory-tested before use in casing cementation.The company's Oil Spill Response Plan will include dealing with a spill in open water.

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