Bakken operators told to cut flaring or face crude caps

North Dakota, the second-largest U.S. oil-producing state amid booming output from shale, plans to punish crude explorers that fail to curtail the burning of natural gas as waste.

Energy companies that don’t curb so-called gas flaring will face limits on the amount of oil they can pump from the Bakken shale formation, the North Dakota Industrial Commission said in a statement today, July 1.

North Dakota is cracking down on flaring that increases air pollution and also casts a glow in the night sky that can be seen miles away from remote well sites. Oil companies routinely burn off gas that emerges along with crude from wells when local pipelines or demand are insufficient to absorb the fuel.

North Dakota’s daily crude output surpassed 1 MMbbl in April for the first time in history, making the state a bigger oil supplier than OPEC members Ecuador or Qatar. In the U.S., Texas is the only state that pumps more crude than North Dakota, according to the Energy Department.

The industrial commission wants a 26% reduction in gas flaring statewide by the fourth quarter of this year and another 23% by the first quarter of 2015, according to the statement. The commission is comprised of Governor Jack Dalrymple, Attorney General Stenehjem Wayne and Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring.

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Planned LNG import terminal for Indonesia: GDF SUEZ continues its international development of gas infrastructures

GDF SUEZ has recently signed a new cooperation agreement protocol with Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN), the principal Indonesian operator in the field of natural gas distribution and transportation. The agreement relates to a feasibility study for an onshore LNG terminal in northern Java. This agreement is the result of a collaboration between the Energy International business line and the Infrastructures Branch.
 
On signing the agreement, Jean-Claude Depail, EVP, in charge of Infrastructures business line for GDF SUEZ, declared that "This new agreement represents a significant milestone in developing gas infrastructure projects in Indonesia as part of a long-term strategic partnership with PGN. This partnership is an important new example of the Group' s development strategy for international gas infrastructures that will facilitate access to energy supplies for countries experiencing rapid growth."
 
Experience acquired by the GDF SUEZ Group in managing gas infrastructures has been the foundation for such cooperation agreements. PGN will benefit from technical assistance from the different units of the GDF SUEZ Infrastructures business line, particularly in terms of optimising network operations and maintenance and facilitating the commissioning of the new LNG terminal.

The current agreement follows a prior agreement signed in February 2014, which also includes plans for cooperation in training PGN employees in the field of gas technologies, both in France and Indonesia.

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Encana sells Bighorn gas assets to Apollo as part of shift to oil production

Encana, Canada’s largest natural gas producer, is selling its Bighorn assets in Alberta to Apollo Global Management for about $1.8 billion as the company continues its shift into oil production.

The sale includes about 360,000 acres along with interests in pipelines, facilities and service arrangements. Total net proved reserves at the end of 2013 were approximately 1.1 Tcfe, about 75% of which is natural gas.

Encana has been selling gas fields and buying oil fields to boost profit by producing the more valuable fuel. It has sold or agreed to sell $4.1 billion of assets this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Earlier this month, Encana paid $3.1 billion for Freeport-McMoRan assets in the Eagle Ford Basin in Texas, doubling its crude output.

“Bighorn is a high quality asset that has not been receiving significant investment in 2014,” Encana Chief Executive Office Doug Suttles said in the statement. “It should serve as an excellent foundational asset for Jupiter Resources.”

Apollo’s Jupiter Resources, based in Calgary, is a portfolio investment of funds managed by affiliates of the New York-based private-equity firm, which describes itself as “contrarian.”

Liquids-Rich Gas

“We are very excited about the opportunity to actively develop the Bighorn assets, one of North America’s premier liquids-rich natural gas projects,” Simon Bregazzi, CEO of Jupiter Resources, said in a separate statement.

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CGG to acquire multi-year 3D land seismic in Saudi Arabia

CGG has announced that ARGAS, its joint venture with TAQA in Saudi Arabia, has been awarded a major contract by Saudi Aramco for an extensive, high-density land seismic program across the Kingdom. Sercel, CGG' s equipment division, will supply all the seismic equipment deployed on this survey program.

The three-year contract provides for two optional extension periods of one year each. The program is expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2014 and cover a wide variety of terrain. It will be acquired by a 50,000-channel mega-crew operating with the Sercel 428XL acquisition system, Sercel SG-10 geophones and a fleet of 24 Sercel Nomad 65 Neo vibrators. A mix of high-productivity and conventional acquisition techniques will be deployed depending on survey requirements. CGG' s broadband UltraSeis technology portfolio will be deployed to acquire the high-resolution data.

Jean-Georges Malcor, CEO, CGG, said: "We are delighted that Saudi Aramco is continuing its long-term relationship with CGG by awarding what is one of the world' s largest land seismic survey programs to our ARGAS joint venture with TAQA. With Sercel also supplying the new seismic equipment, this program marks a key milestone in our 2014-2016 strategic roadmap to benefit from the expansion of ultra-high-channel-count surveys in the Middle East region."

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