Page 33: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (Jan/Feb 2013)

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Global Forecasts 2013

De Margerie said that in principle, until this year. he was not opposed to Arctic In order to exploration. In practice, since Total salvage what has kept its 25% stake in Shtokman, was left of

Arctic this is confusing. De Margerie’s the season,

Ocean explanation was that since Shell drilled

Shtokman was a gas ? eld, gas leaks the top-hole are easier to deal with than are oil sections on leaks. The environmental watchdog two wells, organization, Greenpeace, was one each in undoubtedly heartened by the Chukchi

De Margerie’s comments. Sea (Burger-A USGS says the US Arctic well) and the continental shelf area contains Beaufort Sea (Sivulliq nearly 30 billion barrels of well). Top-hole sections technically (ie not necessarily do not require a containment * US Geological Survey estimates 2008.

economically) recoverable oil. dome.

Nearly three dozen wells were As if practicing for even more exploring off Greenland, but despite drilled in the Chukchi and Beaufort serious events, the Discoverer’s seeps and shows, did not ? nd seas between 1982 and 1997. The eight anchor connections and its commercial volumes of oil. Cairn huge, undelineated Burger gas ? eld, drill pipe were pulled when the may return to Greenland in a couple discovered in 1989, may contain drillship was forced off location just of years with partner Statoil.

2-65tcf of gas and millions of barrels one day after spudding the Chukchi Norway’s Statoil drilled ? ve of petroleum liquids; its structure is Sea well, due to a massive wells in the Barents Sea last year; a major focus. 30x12-mile passing ice ? oe. three were discoveries. Statoil’s During the last seven years, Shell Shell has staked out a big position recent discoveries of Havis and has spent $4.5 billion preparing in US Arctic waters, with 408 Skrugard ? elds are believed to have for and answering the now-routine federal drilling leases. Shell hopes recoverable oil volumes of barrage of legal challenges oil to drill up to four wells over two 400-600 million barrels, together. companies face when trying to years in the Beaufort Sea and up Skrugard and Havis are the drill off Alaska’s northern coast. to six wells over two years in the northernmost ? eld developments

The company towed two drillships Chukchi Sea using two drillships. on the Norwegian shelf. Statoil and moved more than 20 support Shell’s knowledge from earlier holds a 50% stake as operator vessels to Alaska’s northwest coast drilling and from 3D seismic of the license, with partners Eni in 2012. When the ? otilla arrived, surveys of the Chukchi Sea have led (30%) and state holding company fog and sea ice clung to Alaska’s company geologists to believe that Petoro (20%). Statoil says it will shores, keeping the drillships from a large subsurface structure exists triple its arctic technology research getting to their shallow-water drill that could have a multibillion-barrel budget, including the continuing sites. Then, the drillship Noble potential. Then again, it could be development of a dedicated arctic

Discoverer brie? y ? oated out of mostly gas – all of which would be drill unit.

control, dragging its anchors near stranded without a pipeline. The company will drill nine

Dutch Harbor, Alaska. It turned out Meanwhile, seismic contractor Barents Sea wells this year, that the Noble Discoverer could not ION has been acquiring a including four wells at the Nunatak satisfy some of the air-pollution substantial amount of multi-client prospect, near Skrugard, and the regulations (for which they were Arctic data, including 23,000km world’s northernmost offshore eventually given a variance). in the Beaufort Sea, 3000km in the drilling with two or three wells Next, after waiting months on Chukchi Sea, and 12,000km off planned for the Hoop frontier numerous construction delays, northeast Greenland, in addition exploration area. Statoil contracted

Shell’s novel oil-spill containment to airborne data. Clearly, there Seadrill’s West Hercules drilling rig system aboard the barge Arctic is operator interest, with several for ? ve years, which is now being

Challenger suffered damage to other companies watching and prepared for arctic conditions.

its undersea containment dome waiting to follow Shell, including Last year, Statoil and Russian during testing. The ? rst-of-its-kind ConocoPhillips, Statoil and Repsol. oil major Rosneft signed a major spill-response system was built to Statoil said it would be 2015 at the agreement for joint development comply with federal regulations. earliest before it would drill on its of Perseyevsky and other ? elds in

The delay caused the company to own leases in the Chukchi Sea. the northwestern corner of Russia’s postpone full drilling operations Cairn Energy spent $1 billion sector of the Barents Sea.

oedigital.com January 2013 | OE 35 oe_forecasts2.indd 35 03/01/2013 13:33