TPT January 2007

Oil & Gas News

as reported by Elizabeth Cowley of Dow Jones Newswires (10 November), the new focus on more aggressive exploration comes at a price. Competition for contractors, personnel, and rigs – for which typical rates have soared to $425,000 a day from $150,000 less than five years ago – has increased dramatically as companies race to produce as much oil and gas as possible to capitalize on $60-a-barrel oil prices. Statoil’s third-quarter 2006 exploration costs increased by 34 per cent to $237 million from $177 million in the same period of 2005. The company is held 70.9 per cent by the Norwegian state. Statoil’s Ola Morten Aanestad told Ms Cowley his company has been ‘fairly good’ at securing equipment and services in a fiercely competitive environment because of its position as an incumbent on the Norwegian continental shelf and the size of its rig fleet. “If you have a big fleet, you don’t see the immediate effect of rising prices in the same way as if you’re in and out of the market,” Mr Aanestad said. “We have long-term contracts with key suppliers. But of course the cost is affecting us, too.” ■ CNOOC Ltd , China’s largest offshore oil producer by output, said 10 November that it had discovered a new natural gas field in northeastern Bohai Bay. Tests on the field, Jinzhou 31-6-1, suggested future production of 11.7 million cubic feet of gas a day. The company is appraising the field, which lies about 92ft deep, and will determine its reserve scale and commercial value later. CNOOC has been aggressively exploring oil and gas fields under Chinese waters and abroad.

officials said on 31 October that they had no choice but to drop their order to Chevron because an appeals board in its own Minerals Management Service had ruled against auditors in a separate ‘contested and controversial issue’ . The reversal in the case, which involves Chevron’s accounting of natural gas sales to a company it partly owned, sets a precedent that could make it easier for oil and gas companies to lower the value of what they pump each year from federal property and thus their payments to the government. Elsewhere in oil and gas . . . ■ Oil companies in Norway are rethinking their exploration strategies to ensure future growth, industry sources say. But,

Tyco Thermal Controls

60

J ANUARY /F EBRUARY 2007