October’s top stories: Chevron to sell stake, Saipem wins $2bn contracts

Chevron sell 30% stake in Duvernay shale play for $1.5bn

Chevron has agreed to sell a 30% stake in its Duvernay shale play to Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC) for $1.5bn.

The deal was signed by Chevron Canada and KUFPEC Canada, and creates a partnership for the development of liquids-rich shale resources in the Duvernay basin.

The purchase price includes cash paid upon closing and a carry of a part of Chevron Canada’s share of the joint venture’s (JV) future capital costs.

The JV features around 330,000 net acres of leases, operated by Chevron, in the Kaybob area of the Duvernay play in Alberta.

Saipem secures $2bn worth of engineering and drilling contracts

Italian oil and gas firm Saipem has secured around $2bn worth of engineering, construction and drilling contracts in the Middle East and Latin America.

Saudi Arabia’s state-run oil firm Aramco has awarded Saipem an EPC contract for the expansion of the onshore production centres at the Khurais, Mazajili and Abu Jifan fields.

Located around 150km northeast of Riyadh, the 127km long Khurais field covers an area of 2,890km².

Egdon completes drilling at Burton on the Wolds-1 conventional exploration well in UK

Egdon Resources has completed drilling operations at the Burton on the Wolds-1 conventional exploration well in UK Onshore Licence PEDL201 in Leicestershire.

The Burton on the Wolds-1 well, which reached a total depth of 1,086m, penetrated thin sands in the primary reservoir objective, the Rempstone Sandstone group.

The company said the deeper secondary objective was encountered as non-reservoir rock.

Egdon acquired electric wireline logs in the well and observed weak hydrocarbon shows through the Rempstone sands.

Egdon Resources UK operates and has a 32.5% interests in Licence PEDL201 and the Burton on the Wolds-1 well.

Energy Transfer and Phillips form JVs to develop two pipeline projects

Energy Transfer Equity (ETE), Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) (collectively Energy Transfer) and Phillips 66 have formed two joint ventures (JVs) to develop the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) and Energy Transfer Crude Oil Pipeline (ETCOP) projects.

Energy Transfer holds a 75% interest in each JV and will operate the two pipeline systems.

PhilliETCOP will provide crude oil transportation service from the Midwest to the Sunoco Logistics Partners and Phillips 66’s Nederland storage terminals in Texas.ps 66 owns the rest of the stakes and will fund its share of the construction costs.

Williams Partners and Access Midstream agree to merge in $50bn deal

Williams Partners and Access Midstream Partners have agreed to merge in a transaction worth about $50bn.

The merger will create a large-cap master limited partnership (MLP) with estimated 2015 adjusted EBITDA of about $5bn.

Upon completion of the deal, Williams Partners will be wholly owned by Access Midstream.

The merged MLP will be named Williams Partners LP and will be based in Tulsa with offices in Calgary Houston, Oklahoma City, Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City.

NEOS starts airborne acquisition operations on Lebanon oil project

NEOS GeoSolutions has started airborne acquisition operations on its CedarsOil project in Lebanon.

The 6,000km² multi-physics geoscience survey will examine onshore oil and gas potential in Lebanon.

It includes the transition zone along the Mediterranean coastline and the northern part of the country.

NEOS will use two separate aircraft to acquire five geophysical measurements that include magnetic, electromagnetic, radiometric, gravity and hyperspectral.

TGS unveils two new onshore 3D surveys in Oklahoma

Norway-based geoscience data firm TGS has unveiled two new multi-client onshore 3D surveys located within the Anadarko Basin in Oklahoma, US.

The surveys, Blanchard and Loyal, mark TGS’ entry into the Anadarko Basin.

The Blanchard survey, which spans approximately 433 square miles over Grady and McClain counties, is designed to image complex faulting and subsurface targets in the Mississippian via Devonian intervals.

It is situated in the core of the South Central Oklahoma oil play, which targets the Woodford Shale and also covers the recently unveiled overlying Springer Shale interval.

Pembina Pipeline unveils plans for $314m diluent terminal development in Alberta

Transportation and midstream service provider Pembina Pipeline has unveiled plans to construct a C$350m ($314m) condensate and diluent terminal in central Alberta, Canada.

The facility, dubbed the Canadian Diluent Hub (CDH), will be located at its Heartland Terminal site near Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta.

Phase one of CDH development is expected to cost $350m and will include 600,000 barrels of above ground storage, various inbound and outbound pipeline connections, and associated pumping as well as metering facilities.