Esgian Rig Analytics Market Roundup (Week 46)

In case you missed it, you can access our previous Rig Market Roundup here.

Contracts

Diamond Offshore has entered into a drilling contract with an independent operator to utilise the 12,000-ft drillship Ocean BlackRhino for work offshore Guinea-Bissau. The Ocean BlackRhino was awarded a one-well contract with a minimum duration of 30 days representing $15.4 million of additional backlog, excluding mobilisation. The work under the new contract is expected to start in July 2024 in direct continuation of the rig’s current contract with Woodside in Senegal. The drillship is expected to have 80 days out of service in 2024 for its five-year SPS and MPD upgrade, excluding mobilisation.

Equinor has exercised options to extend the use of Odfjell Drilling’s 10,000-ft semisub Deepsea Aberdeen for seven wells on the Breidablikk field off Norway. The exercised options are planned to start in mid-Q1 2025 in direct continuation of the current firm period and extend the firm backlog on the Deepsea Aberdeen to the end of Q4 2025. The options have a value of approximately $138 million, excluding integrated services, performance, and fuel incentives. The rig had worked on the Breidablikk field earlier this year and then moved on to the Svalin field assignment, with a higher dayrate, in Q4 2023 for an estimated duration of 174 days. Eight wells were drilled on Breidablikk and the field started production in October 2023, four months ahead of schedule. In addition to the exercised wells, the contract now includes further optional periods which, if exercised, could keep the Deepsea Aberdeen contracted to 2029. Such optional periods consist of six optional wells followed by three further optional periods of eight wells each, or approximately three times one-year. The rates for all such optional periods are to be mutually agreed prior to exercising. Kjetil Gjersdal, Chief Executive Officer of Odfjell Drilling, said: “With the exercised optional wells Odfjell Drilling will see substantial cash flow earlier than forecasted as the rig moves to a higher dayrate level.”

Neptune Energy has exercised options for Borr Drilling’s jackup Prospector 1 in the Netherlands. The 400-ft rig has been working for Neptune since early 2022. The previous extension was announced in August 2023 and extended the firm contract through October. These latest options will now extend it to January 2024. The operator has further options to extend the contract, which could see the rig busy through the first half of 2024.

BW Energy has exercised options for Borr Drilling’s Norve jackup for operations offshore Gabon. BW Energy previously exercised an option for the 400-ft rig in August 2023, extending its firm term into January 2024. Now, with these latest options exercised, the rig is firm until June 2024. The rig has been working for BW Energy in Gabon since late 2022, and it has recently encountered commercial volumes of oil with the DHBSM-1 appraisal well in the Hibiscus South satellite prospect. The company plans to return to the well to complete it as a production well in early 2024.

Drilling Activity and Discoveries

Stena Drilling drillship Stena DrillMAX has moved to the Basher-1 well site on the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, where it is now drilling an exploration well for ExxonMobil. Drilling activities at Basher-1 are expected to continue until the end of 2023. Basher is targeting a deep prospect to the west of ExxonMobil’s Fangtooth discovery, which was also drilled by Stena DrillMAX. The 10,000-ft Stena DrillMAX is contracted to ExxonMobil offshore Guyana until mid-2024. Further options for the rig are available.

Shell has completed the drilling of the PannaCotta-1 exploration well on Block C10 offshore Mauritania, and the well has been plugged and abandoned after traces of hydrocarbons were encountered. Shell stated that the company and partners “will now analyse the data gathered before deciding on next steps.” Shell is the operator of Block C10 with a 50% interest. QatarEnergy acquired a 40% interest earlier this year, while Mauritanian state oil company SMH holds a 10% interest. PannaCotta-1 was spudded on 16 September 2023 with the Noble 12,000-ft drillship Noble Voyager. The rig is understood to be currently mobilising to Trinidad & Tobago.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted Neptune Energy Norge a drilling permit for a wildcat well in the North Sea off Norway. The well 35/6-4 A is located in production licence 929, which is operated by Neptune with Pandion Energy, Wintershall Dea, Aker BP, and DNO Norge participating as partners. The well will be drilled with the Odfjell Drilling-managed 3,900-ft semisub, Deepsea Yantai. The water depth at the site is 332 metres. The rig is currently working on the Ofelia appraisal well for Neptune after spudding it in early October 2023. After Neptune, the semisub is scheduled to work for Vår Energi and drill the Hubert & Magellan prospects in Q4 2023 and the Ringhorne North in Q1 2024.

Following the completion of two water injector wells and one production well at the Egina field on OML 130 offshore Nigeria, TotalEnergies has moved Noble 12,000-ft drillship Noble Gerry de Souza to drill at the Akpo West field. Noble Gerry de Souza, which began work for TotalEnergies at OML 130 in February 2023, is to drill three wells on Akpo West, which will be tied into the Akpo FPSO. A total of nine wells are to be drilled at Egina and Akpo during the drilling program. As of late October 2023, Noble Gerry de Souza is contracted to TotalEnergies into January 2024. The contract contains unpriced options that could keep the rig working until January 2025. TotalEnergies is the operator of OML 130 with a 24% interest, in partnership with CNOOC with 45%, Sapetro with 15%, Prime 130 with 16% and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd as the concessionaire of the PSC. In May 2023, TotalEnergies renewed its production licence for the block for 20 years. OML 130 contains the Akpo and Egina fields and the Preowei oil discovery, located north of the Egina FPSO. Africa Oil, which holds an interest in OML 130 via its joint venture Prime stated that acquisition of 4D monitor seismic surveys are planned for Akpo, Egina and Agbami during late 2023 through early 2024. The acquisition plan also includes a baseline 4D seismic survey of the Preowei field. The surveys are to support future drilling decisions across OML 127 and OML 130. FEED studies are also ongoing to facilitate a final investment decision for the Preowei oil discovery development project, which could be developed via a satellite subsea tieback project to the Egina FPSO.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted Equinor a drilling permit for a wildcat well in the North Sea off Norway. The well 35/11-28 S, targeting a prospect named Harden Sør, is located in the Equinor-operated production licence 248 C. Equinor’s partners are Petoro and Wellesely Petroleum. The water depth at the site is 360 metres. Equinor has already secured safety consent from Norwegian authorities to drill this well with Odfjell Drilling’s semisub, Deepsea Stavanger. The rig is under a firm contract with Equinor until Q2 2024, with a continued optionality mechanism until the end of that year. After that, the rig is scheduled to start a long-term contract with Aker BP, which will keep it busy until the end of the decade.

Colombian oil and gas company Ecopetrol has begun drilling the Orca Norte-1 appraisal well in 2,316 ft of water on the Tayrona block in Colombian waters of the Caribbean. This is the first deepwater well 100% operated by Ecopetrol. The well is being drilled with Noble 10,000-ft semisubmersible Noble Discoverer, which arrived in Colombia in early November 2023. Drilling operations are expected to take around 73 days. Orca Norte-1 is intended to verify the potential associated with the Orca natural gas discovery announced in December 2014. If the reservoir is confirmed, Ecopetrol may move into the development phase. The company has already considered a pipeline connecting Orca to the Chuchupa B platform. Further drilling is expected offshore Colombia in the near future. Petrobras is planning to carry out the two-well Uchuva appraisal campaign in 2024, following up the 2022 Uchuva-1 natural gas discovery. Petrobras is the operator of Uchuva with a 44.4% interest while Ecopetrol holds 55.6%.

Demand

Bids have been revealed in a Petrobras tender for a moored semisubmersible to work offshore Brazil. The tender is for 1,250 days with a start date window of January to March 2025. Six contractors submitted offers with seven rigs; a contract has not yet been awarded as Petrobras will have to assess the bids. The lowest bidder is understood to be Forum Services, offering the 5,000-ft semisubmersible Stena Spey under the name Grumari at a dayrate of $199,000. Stena Spey is currently in Norway. Brazilian drilling contractor Constellation bid the 2,000-ft semisubmersibles Atlantic Star at $262,000 and the 3,600-ft Olinda Star at $310,000. Atlantic Star is currently operating in Brazil for Petrobras while Olinda Star has been working offshore India for ONGC in recent years. COSL offered the 4,600-ft semisub Nanhai 8 (also known as Nan Hai Ba Hao) at a dayrate of $218,000. Bluewhale Offshore bid 3,900-ft semisub North Dragon at a dayrate of $250,000. This rig was constructed at CIMC Yantai Raffles yard in China and has been awaiting a contract before it is officially delivered. OOS Energy, a company which offers management services to rig owners, bid the Transocean-owned 9,600-ft semisubmersible Deepwater Nautilus at a dayrate of $349,500. Deepwater Nautilus has been cold stacked in Malaysia since late 2022. Noble bid the 10,000-ft semisubmersible Noble Developer at a dayrate of $450,000. Noble Developer recently became available in Brazil after concluding work with Shell.

The government of Guyana has approved the transfer of operatorship and a 60% working interest in the offshore Orinduik block from Tullow Oil to Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas Ltd. Completion of the transaction is expected before year-end 2023. Eco Atlantic is now seeking partners and has commenced a formal farm-out process for the block. Eco Atlantic announced the sale purchase agreement in August 2023. Via this agreement, Eco Atlantic subsidiary Eco Guyana acquires the interest in the block via the acquisition of Tullow subsidiary Tullow Guyana for $700,000 in cash and contingent consideration. On completion of the transaction, Eco will become the operator and hold an aggregate 75% participating Interest in the Orinduik Block. TotalEnergies / Qatar Energy joint venture TOQAP Guyana B.V will continue to hold a participating Interest of 25%. Eco Atlantic COO Colin Kinley stated that the company would “step directly into operatorship to finalize target selection” and has “a great deal of confidence in drilling out first well, targeting a stacked pay target in this well proven horizon.”

Mobilisation/Rig Moves

Transocean 10,000-ft drillship Deepwater Orion is mobilising from the Canary Islands to Brazil for a three-year contract with Petrobras, scheduled to begin in January 2024. Deepwater Orion was stacked in Namibia for several years until it secured a long-term contract with Petrobras in December 2022. Since then, the rig has been undergoing reactivation in Namibia and South Africa before recently moving to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands ahead of its mobilisation to Brazil.

Other News

Maritime and offshore solutions provider Exmar has made an investment in offshore drilling contractor Vantage Drilling. In September-October 2023, Exmar’s Infrastructure portfolio has been complemented with a participation of approximately 11.5% in Vantage Drilling. Vantage has a fleet comprising two 12,000-ft ultra-deepwater drillships, Platinum Explorer and Tungsten Explorer, and two 375-ft premium jackups, Topaz Driller and Soehanah. It also manages a couple of Seadrill-owned floaters. The contractor is listed on the US OTC market under VTDRF. Exmar re-enters the drilling sector after over two decades, explaining that this strategic investment is driven by promising value due to continued underinvestment in the offshore drilling market. Vantage released its quarterly report last week, reporting near-breakeven net income attributable to controlling interest for Q3 2023, and increased revenues year-over-year.

Wintershall Dea has entered the Poseidon carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in the UK, its second CCS project in the country, after acquiring a 10% stake in the licence from Carbon Catalyst. The licence was awarded to Perenco and Carbon Catalyst in August 2023 as part of the UK’s first CO2 storage licencing round. Perenco is the designated operator of the project, while Carbon Catalyst and Wintershall Dea will now hold non-operated positions in it. The carbon storage licence is located in the UK Southern North Sea, about 65 kilometres off the coast from Bacton in the county of Norfolk. It covers the geological structures of the Leman gas field and offers a combination of depleted reservoirs and saline aquifers suitable for safe and permanent carbon storage. Poseidon project FID is expected in 2026, and it is scheduled to be operational by 2029, with a total annual storage capacity of up to 40 million tonnes in its full development stage. It envisages the permanent geological storage of about one billion tonnes of CO2. The project is expected to connect a wide range of CO2 emitters across the East and Southeast of England. The CO2 is planned to be transported via the Perenco-operated Bacton Gas Terminal to the offshore Poseidon storage site. In total, Wintershall Dea has stakes in five offshore CCS licences in three North Sea countries. Its other UK CCS project was also awarded in August. The licence is for the Camelot area, which is a combination of depleted gas fields and an overlying saline aquifer. Wintershall Dea holds a 50% interest together with Synergia Energy as the project operator in the appraisal phase.

ExxonMobil has started production at Payara, Guyana’s third offshore oil development on the Stabroek Block, bringing total production capacity in Guyana to approximately 620,000 barrels per day. The Prosperity FPSO is expected to reach initial production of approximately 220,000 barrels per day over the first half of next year as new wells come online. This additional capacity will be the third major milestone towards reaching a combined production capacity of more than 1.2 million barrels per day on the Stabroek Block by year-end 2027, when six FPSOs are expected to be in operation on the block. FIDs for Yellowtail and Uaru, the fourth and fifth projects, were reached in April 2022 and April 2023, respectively. Both projects are in progress and will each produce approximately 250,000 barrels of oil per day. The company is working with the government of Guyana to secure regulatory approvals for the sixth project at Whiptail after filing the development plan in August 2023 as part of the environmental impact assessment. ExxonMobil currently has six drillships conducting drilling operations off Guyana: four from Noble and two from Stena Drilling. The company is looking at further exploration drilling in the north and west portions of the Stabroek block with three exploration targets planned to be drilled over the next 10 to 12 months. Most recently, the company has started drilling the Basher-1 well with the Stena DrillMAX drillship.

Petronas is undertaking a new offshore multi-client 2D seismic survey in the northern area of the Straits of Melaka to explore and map the hydrocarbon potential in the open blocks of PM320 and PM321 of the Langkasuka Basin in Malaysia. The survey is meant to increase the availability of a larger pool seismic data, leading to a higher probability of discovering hydrocarbon potential, which, in turn, is expected to attract prospective investors in future bid rounds. This ongoing seismic survey was initiated in October 2023 and is set to conclude in late December this year. It covers an area of over 38,000 square kilometres with the aim of acquiring approximately 8,000 kilometres of new 2D seismic data. It is designed to provide superior-quality seismic data for prospecting pre-Tertiary targets. The first exploration probe to test this new geological play is expected in the next three years.

Jadestone Energy has executed a sale and purchase agreement with Japan Australia LNG (MIMI) Pty Ltd, acquiring a non-operated 16.67% working interest in the Cossack, Wanaea, Lambert, and Hermes oil fields development offshore Western Australia for a total initial cash consideration of $9 million, and certain subsequent abandonment trust payments. The acquisition will increase Jadestone’s non-operated working interest in the fields from 16.67% to 33.33% on completion. Closing of the acquisition is scheduled for March 2024. Woodside Energy is the operator of Cossack, Wanaea, Lambert and Hermes, located on licences WA-3-L, WA-9-L, WA-11-L and WA-16-L, respectively. Jadestone stated that there is the potential to add incremental reserves through infill drilling at all four fields, extending the asset life beyond 2031.

Karoon Energy has entered into an agreement to acquire a 30% interest in the Who Dat and Dome Patrol fields and associated interests in the US GOM from LLOG for $720 million. The transaction will reduce operator LLOG’s interest in Who Dat and Dome Patrol to 45%. Westlawn Group owns the remaining 25%. Karoon will also acquire a 16% interest in the Abilene field and interests in adjacent acreage that contain the Who Dat East, Who Dat West and Who Dat South exploration and appraisal opportunities. Karoon stated that the acquisition would help offset the natural decline from its Bauna field offshore Brazil.

Jackup-focused drilling contractor Borr Drilling reported net income of $0.3 million for the third quarter of 2023, down by $0.5 million from the second quarter of 2023. Total operating revenues for the third quarter were $191.5 million, up by $4.0 million from the second quarter of the year. Borr’s adjusted EBITDA was $88.2 million, an increase of $4.2 million compared to the second quarter of 2023. Its total contract revenue backlog as of 30 September 2023 was $1.86 billion. Borr CEO Patrick Schorn commented that in 2023 to date the company has “secured twelve new commitments, adding $728 million to our revenue backlog at an implied average dayrate of $161,500.” According to Borr, this represents 4,510 days and $728 million of potential revenue. Schorn stated that the company sees “positive signs of incremental demands across most operating regions” and noted that the fleet’s contract coverage for 2024 stands at 84%, including firm contracts and priced options. The company’s board intends to implement a regular quarterly dividend with an initial dividend of $0.05 per share subject to required approvals in a Special General Meeting to be held 22 December 2023.

Jersey Oil & Gas and NEO Energy have executed agreements to acquire the Western Isles FPSO for the planned redevelopment of the Buchan field located in the Greater Buchan Area, UK Central North Sea. The Environmental Statement (ES) and draft Field Development Plan (FDP) will be submitted before the end of the year. The Western Isles FPSO is owned by Dana Petroleum (76.9188%), as operator, and NEO (23.0812%). It has been in operation in the UK North Sea since early 2017 and is scheduled to come off-station as part of the planned cessation of production of the Western Isles fields around 2H 2024. The vessel is the cornerstone to completing the engineering work required to facilitate FDP approval next year. Work is currently progressing well on the FEED studies that require completion ahead of FDP approval and the development moving into the execution phase of activities. This work primarily involves specification of the planned drilling programme, the design of the subsea infrastructure connecting the wells to the FPSO, and finalisation of the modifications programme that is required to prepare the FPSO for redeployment. Additionally, preparation of the ES is ongoing and is expected to be submitted to the regulator prior to the end of the year, along with the draft FDP. Approval is expected in 2024. The first phase of the planned GBA work programme involves re-development of the Buchan field, with the start-up of production targeted for late 2026. Subsequent phases are expected to involve the tie-back of the Verbier and J2 discoveries that lie within the GBA licence area and the potential for regional third-party discoveries to be tied back to the FPSO.

Image credit: Borr Drilling

In case you missed it, you can access our previous Rig Market Round-Up here.

Contracts

Shelf Drilling has been awarded a five-year contract for the use jackup Harvey H. Ward for operations in the Arabian Gulf with options for an additional two years. The contract start-up is estimated to be in late March 2023, with a duration of 1,825 days. The total contract value for the firm period is USD 192 million, including a mobilisation fee. The jackup will undergo an upgrade and contract preparation project in the UAE ahead of contract commencement.

Saipem has been awarded three new offshore drilling contracts in the Middle East and two in West Africa. The company valued these contracts at USD 800 million, net leasing costs for the rigs used. Two new contracts were awarded to jackups referred to as Perro Negro 12 and Perro Negro 13, chartered by third parties for drilling and workover activities on specific projects. The 375-ft jackup Sea Lion 7 received a five-year extension to its existing contract with Saudi Aramco offshore Saudi Arabia. Saipem 12,000-ft drillship Saipem 12000 has secured two new contracts offshore West Africa with Eni, keeping the rig working into 2025. Saipem 12000 has been chartered to Eni in recent years and since 2019 has been working offshore Africa on projects offshore Mozambique, Kenya and Côte d’Ivoire. Read more here…

SFL Corporation has signed a USD50 million contract with ExxonMobil Canada for harsh environment semisubmersible Hercules, also known as West Hercules. The one-well contract is expected to commence in the second quarter of 2023 and has a duration of 135 days, with an option for a 60-day extension. The 10,000-ft West Hercules has been bareboat chartered and managed by Seadrill Limited in recent years; this charter will come to end late in the fourth quarter of 2022. The rig is currently en route from Canada to Norway, where management of the rig will be handed over to Odfjell Drilling and the rig will undergo its scheduled special periodic survey before it mobilizes to Canadian waters once again.

Drilling Activity and Discoveries

Shelf Drilling’s 300ft Jackup Compact Driller has commenced drilling operations at the exploration well Yumna-4 Deep in the Yumna Field in Block 50, Offshore Oman. The drilling of the well is expected to be completed in approximately 60 days and is being drilled from the Mobile Offshore Production Unit (MOPU) in the Yumna Field. Prior to the Yumna-4 Deep, the jackup was used to replace the Electrical Submersible Pump (ESP) in the Yumna-3 well. The Compact Driller is contracted to Masirah Oil until December 2022 and have options to extend thereafter.

Neptune Energy has encountered hydrocarbons at the Calypso exploration well on licence PL938 in the Norwegian Sea. The company has not yet confirmed if commercial volumes are present. The Calypso prospect is being drilled by Odfjell Drilling-managed semisubmersible Deepsea Yantai. The well spudded in early November 2022. Deepsea Yantai is owned by CIMC. Neptune Energy is the operator of PL938 with a 30% interest. Its partners include OKEA ASA with a 30% interest, Pandion Energy with a 20% interest and Vår Energi ASA with a 20% interest.

Eco Atlantic and Africa Energy announced that drilling of the Gazania-1 exploration well has been completed and that the well did not encounter commercial hydrocarbons. The well is now being logged and then plugged and abandoned. Block 2B is located Offshore South Africa, near the border with Namibia, in water depths ranging from 50 to 200 meters (150 to 600 feet).The exploration well was designed to test the extension of the oil discovered at A-J1 in 1988, and encountered wet gas throughout the main target interval. Although this confirms an active petroleum system in the basin, the well did not encounter commercial hydrocarbons. Gazania-1 was spud by harsh environment semisub Island Innovator, which mobilised from the North Sea earlier this year. After this contract, the semisub will move to Mauritania where it will undergo P&A operations for Petrofac.

Demand

Following a late October 2022 agreement between Israel and Lebanon over maritime boundaries, TotalEnergies and its partner Eni have signed a framework agreement with Israel ahead of exploration on Block 9 offshore Lebanon. TotalEnergies is the operator of Block 9 with a 60% interest. Eni holds a 40% interest. The partners will initiate exploration of a previously-identified prospect which might extend both into Block 9 and into Israeli waters south of the recently established Maritime Border Line between Israel and Lebanon. TotalEnergies and Eni have begun preparations for exploration activities, which includes the mobilization of teams, purchase of required agreement and procurement of a drilling rig. TotalEnergies completed the Byblos exploration well on Block 4 offshore Lebanon in April 2020, the first exploration well offshore Lebanon. This well, drilled with Vantage Drilling drillship Tungsten Explorer, encountered traces of hydrocarbons but no reservoirs in its target formation.

Mobilisation/Rig Moves

Semisub Valaris DPS-5 has finished its US Gulf campaign with Murphy and is en route to Mexican waters for its next assignment. The unit’s next charter covers drilling the Tulum prospect for Murphy, followed by a charter for three wells in Block 7 for Eni. This firm work should keep Valaris DPS-5 working into Q3 2023. Eni also has three 80-day options available.

Borr Drilling 400-ft jackup Norve has completed work with VAALCO Energy offshore Gabon and is now in the yard, undergoing surveys and contract preparations ahead of its next contract. By the end of 2022, the rig is expected to begin work with BW Energy, which will use the rig to drill at its Hibiscus / Ruche development offshore Gabon. Norve is committed to BW Energy into August 2023 with an option to extend.

Borr Drilling 400-ft jackup Prospector 5 has begun work for Eni offshore Congo on a six-well contract fixed in August 2022. Prospector 5 is with Eni into December 2024, with an option to extend. Prospector 5 relocated from Northwest Europe to West Africa for this contract during the fourth quarter of 2023.

Other News

Eni and CNOOC have submitted proposals to explore for oil and gas offshore Mozambique under the country’s 6th Licensing Round. The announcement of the results is expected to take place by 30 December 2022, following an evaluation process by officials from state institutions and an external consultant. Both companies proposed partnerships with Empresa Nacinal de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH), Mozambique’s national oil company. Eni’s proposal is for block A6-C in the Angoche area with Eni to hold a 60% stake as operator and ENH as a partner with 40%. CNOOC’s proposals are for S6-A and S6-B in the Save area and A6-G, A6-D and A6-E in the Angoche area. Under these proposals, CNOOC would be operator of S6-A and S6-B with a 70% and 77.5% interest respectively. CNOOC would be the operator of A6-G with a 79.5% interest, A6-D with 77.5% interest and A6-E with 80% interest. ENH would hold the remaining interests.

Wintershall Dea and its partners Svai Energi and Petoro have submitted an updated plan for development and operations to the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy for the second development phase of the Maria field. The companies are to invest around 4 billion Norwegian kroner (USD400 million) in this project. The Maria field is in the Norwegian Sea and is developed as a subsea tieback with five producing wells and two water injection wells. Production from Maria started in 2017. The Maria Phase 2 project involves installation of a new six-slot template in the southern part of the field. The template will accommodate two producing wells and one water injector for pressure support. The three spare slots will be available for future development of the field. Svai Energi  expects the next next phase of the Maria project to add around 22 million barrels of oil equivalent to the total field reserves. The expected lifetime of the Maria field is until 2040. Wintershall is operator of the field with a 50% interest. Petoro owns 30% and Svai Energi owns 20%.

The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB) has announced the results from Call for Bids NL22-CFB01 (Eastern Newfoundland Region) and Call for Bids CL22-CFB02 (South Eastern Newfoundland Region). Five successful bids were received for the Eastern Newfoundland Region, totaling CAN 238,075,321 (USD 179.0 million), while no bids were received for the South Eastern Newfoundland Region. ExxonMobil (70%) and QPI Energy (30%) bid nearly CAD 181.6 million (USD 136.5 million) for Parcel 8. For Parcel 12, the successful bidder was BP with a bid of CAD 16.5 million (USD 12.4 million). The other three successful bids – for Parcels 26, 27, and 28 – were each won by a consortium of Equinor (60%) and BP (40%). The bid for Parcel 26 was CAD 15.2 million (USD 11.4 million), the bid for Parcel 27 was CAD 14.0 million (USD 10.5 million), and the bid for Parcel 28 was CAD 10.8 million (USD 8.1 million). Pending receipt of government approval and the operators meeting requirements, new exploration licences are expected to be issued in January 2023.