Brazil oil, gas output rises 12pc
RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian output of oil and natural gas rose 12 per cent in April compared with a year earlier as the country brought on long-delayed offshore oil projects, oil regulator ANP said. Forty-three companies produced 2.99 million barrels of oil and equivalent natural gas a day (boepd) compared with 2.67 million barrels a year earlier, the ANP said in a statement. Output fell 0.9 per cent from March. The No 1 producer remained Petroleo Brasileiro, known as Petrobras, which owned 2.53 million boepd, or 85 per cent, of Brazil’s total, up from 83 per cent in March.
Cameroon oil production rises 14pc
YAOUNDE: Cameroon’s oil production rose by about 14 per cent in the first quarter of 2015 from a year earlier, state oil firm SNH said, although revenues fell sharply due to weaker oil prices.
The Central African country began pumping oil in 1977 and output peaked at 185,000 barrels per day (bpd) a decade later. Cameroon’s production in the January-March period was around 83,000 bpd and totalled 7.49 million barrels, the data showed. SNH did not give a reason for the higher output versus 2014. However, last year it said output could double within two years due to new discoveries and methods to increase yields from mature fields.
Chevron production delayed
NEW YORK: Chevron said it will move its deepwater Big Foot platform from the US Gulf of Mexico to sheltered waters following damage to subsea installation tendons, which would delay the start of production. The oil producer said due to the incident production will not commence in late 2015 as planned. Chevron said the Big Foot tension-leg platform (TLP) was not damaged as it was not connected to any subsea wells or tendons at the time of the incident. There are no producing wells at Big Foot at this time, it added.
Conoco’s Surmont expansion begins
CALGARY: ConocoPhillips said it has started commercial operations at the 118,000 barrel per day (bpd) phase 2 expansion of its Surmont project in the Canadian oil sands of northern Alberta.
The company said it began to inject steam into the oil sands reservoir at the thermal project, 63 km southeast of the town of Fort McMurray. The steam will slowly liquefy tarry bitumen deposits so they can flow to the surface. The first oil from the expansion, which will push the project’s total capacity to 150,000 bpd, is expected in the third quarter of the year and will ramp up through next year. ConocoPhillips co-owns the project with French oil major Total.
Ferrellgas to buy Bridger Logistics
NEW YORK: Propane retailer Ferrellgas Partners agreed to buy Bridger Logistics for about $837.5 million to expand its midstream services business, involving the shipping and storage of oil, giving it a new foothold in the crude oil market. Bridger, which specialises in moving oil from shale patches to refineries, is partially backed by private equity firm Riverstone Holdings will pay $562.5 million in cash and issue 11.2 million of its units for Bridger, the company said.
Petrobras, ONGC find new reservoir
BRASILIA: Brazil’s state-run Petroleo Brasileiro discovered a new deposit of light oil in deep waters off the coast of the northern state of Sergipe, the company said. Well 3-SES-189, located in the Poço Verde area discovered in 2012 in the BM-SEAL-4 exploration block, was drilled down to 5,350 metres in waters 2,479 metres deep. Petrobras is the operator and has a 75 per cent stake in the prospect, in partnership with India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), which holds 25 per cent.
Several units shut at Sarnia refinery
NEW YORK: Royal Dutch Shell said that several process units have been shut at its 75,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in Sarnia, Ontario, following a hydrocarbon release that injured a worker at the plant. “There is no timeline yet as to when these units will be restarted,” a company spokesman said in an email. The worker, who was hurt while conducting a “routine activity inside the plant,” was in a stable condition, the company said.
Drilling resumes in Texas city
DALLAS: Drilling resumed at a hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, site in Denton, Texas, a college town that had voted to ban the oil and gas extraction process. Voters in Denton, about 50 km north of Dallas, approved the ban last November, a move that prompted lawsuits by the industry’s Texas Oil & Gas Association and about a dozen bills in the Texas legislature to give sole regulatory authority for oil and gas to the state.
Production of ethanol declined
CHICAGO: The US Department of Agriculture in a monthly report said 409.0 million bushels of corn were used in April in production of the fuel alcohol known as ethanol, down from 439.7 million bushels in March. USDA said 1.691 million tons of distillers’ dried grains with solubles (DDGS) were produced in the month, below the 1.811 million tons produced in the previous month.
Z Energy picks up Chevron operations
WELLINGTON: New Zealand petrol retailer Z Energy said it plans to acquire Chevron Corp’s downstream operations in the country as the US energy company unloads assets in the region in response to falling oil prices and struggling margins. Under the NZ$785 million ($556.41 million) deal, Z Energy will pick up all of the roughly 150 Caltex service stations and 70 truck fuelling stations operated by Chevron.
