Svein Rennemo proposed as new chair of StatoilHydro

The nomination committee of StatoilHydro has nominated Svein Rennemo as the new chair of the board of directors. Marit Arnstad will remain deputy chair.

Ms Arnstad has been acting chair since Eivind Reiten resigned on 4 October last year. The election of a new chair will take place at an extraordinary meeting of StatoilHydro’s corporate assembly on 30 January.

Svein Rennemo (60) has since 2002 been chief executive of Petroleum Geo-Services ASA (PGS). PGS is a global oilfield service company involved in providing geophysical services. Mr Rennemo will according to agreement leave his position with PGS on 1 April. To avoid any conflict of interest he will not join the board of directors of StatoilHydro before that date.

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StatoilHydro: New oil discovery in Fram area

The results of an exploration extension drilled by StatoilHydro to well 35/11-B23-H in the Fram area of the North Sea indicate that a valuable discovery has been made.

This could be quickly phased in via fixed installations in the Troll and Fram areas. The well is about 10 kilometres north of the northern flank of the Troll West oil province.

Made in block 35/11 in production licence 090 in the eastern part of the Fram field, the discovery could extend into PL090D in block 35/12.

The well was drilled from Bideford Dolphin as part of a combined design which includes an exploration target as well as a horizontal producer in a previously proven Fram East reservoir.

“This type of combined well has become an important part of our exploration strategy in parts of the Norwegian continental shelf with existing infrastructure,” says Tom Dreyer, vice president for infrastructure-led exploration North Sea.

The extension of drilling into the exploration target also functions as a commitment well for PL090D, handed out as part of the 2005 awards in predefined areas (APA).This C East discovery contains both oil and gas, but crude accounts for the bulk of the volume.

Resources in place are expected to total some 100 million barrels of oil equivalent. That could yield recoverable reserves of 20-40 million boe, depending on such considerations as the recovery factor and reservoir thickness.

StatoilHydro has already proven oil and gas resources during recent years in the Astero and H North discoveries in the same part of the NCS.

Exploration in the Fram area – PL090 – has so far proven resources in place totalling more than 600 million boe. Oil accounts for three-quarters of this total.

Studies will now be launched to see whether the C East discovery can be brought on stream quickly, perhaps through a tie-back to installations such as Fram East or Troll C.

The licensees in PL090 and PL090D are StatoilHydro (operator) with 45%, Gaz de France with 15%, Idemitsu Petroleum with 15% and ExxonMobil with 25%.

StatoilHydro's Kizomba C development in Mondo Mondo field starts production offshore Angola

The Kizomba C development in block 15 off the Angolan coast started production from the Mondo field on 1 January 2008. The second phase consisting of the Saxi and Batuque fields will follow later in 2008.

Mondo production is expected to reach a plateau rate of 100,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd).

Production from the three fields (Mondo, Saxi and Batuque) in the Kizomba C Development is anticipated to plateau at a total of 200,000 bopd.

Eni SpA and Associates return back equity in Kashagan operations

KazMunaiGaz National Co. (KMG) is pleased to announce that agreement has now been reached with the entire Kashagan consortium in a new Memorandum of Understanding signed today.

The new Memorandum, which implements the Memorandum of Understanding signed on December 20, 2007, confirms the agreements tentatively reached in December regarding economic adjustments to the PSA and the operating model for future petroleum operations in Kashagan.

It also sets forth the agreement of all private Contracting Companies to transfer equity to KMG's subsidiary, bringing its participating interest in the PSA equal to that of the largest shareholders as of January 1, 2008. The parties will now proceed to draft and execute the appropriate amendments to the PSA. In the meantime, operations will proceed in accordance with the new arrangements.

With this successful end to the long and difficult negotiations which began last August, the way forward for the Kashagan Project has been found.

Winfield Resources Awaits Libya's Decision on Refinery Proposal

Winfield Resources Limited said that it has made a proposal for its own account to build, own and operate a new 300,000 bbl/day oil refinery at the Port of Ras Lanuf, in the Great Jamahiriya of Libya.

By letter dated Sept. 20, 2007 the company was invited to put forward a detailed proposal to the Libyan National Oil Co. (NOC) for the installation of a new stand-alone oil refinery at Ras Lanuf.

Based on such invitation, Winfield engaged KBC Process Technology Ltd. of Surrey, UK, under a services agreement (dated Nov. 12, 2007), to provide consulting services and technical support to include: Refinery Configuration Review; Refinery Product Yields and Qualities; Marketing Plans; Technology Selection and Licensor Selection; Energy Efficiency Review; Project Design Basis Document review and Project Schedule strategy review. To date, Winfield has paid KBC $120,000 under the Service Agreement.

Winfield and KBC representatives met with NOC representatives on Nov. 28, 2007, and presented a technical presentation on the proposed refinery configuration, product yields and technology. Winfield now awaits a formal response from the NOC as to whether it will grant the company conditional approval to its Ras Lanuf EPMC Refinery proposal. If conditional approval is granted by the NOC, the company will move forward to investigate sources of crude oil feedstock and financing.

Winfield confirmed that it has not entered into, settled or negotiated any agreements (oral or written), or any agreement in principle, and that a Change of Business has not yet been triggered (as such term is defined in section 1.1 of TSX-V Policy 5.2). It also be noted that with respect to the proposed refinery at Ras Lanuf, Winfield has no firm commitment from the NOC, and the company is only at the stage where it is investigating the opportunity. There is no assurance that Winfield will receive conditional or final approval from the NOC to construct and operate a refinery at Ras Lanuf on terms acceptable to the company, or at all. There is also no assurance the company will be able to source crude oil feedstock or financing for such refinery project.

Mazeikiu Nafta started sales of Sulfur-Free grade 95 gasoline

This week Mazeikiu Nafta, the only Refinery in the Baltic States, has offered its customers – wholesale and retail networks – sulfur-free gasoline grade 95.

Sulfur-free gasoline, as called in accordance with the EU requirements, is low-sulfur gasoline containing sulfur compounds up to 10 ppm (10 mg/kg). The Company started producing and supplying gasoline grade 98 to all Lithuanian customers in 2004. In 2005 the Company commenced deliveries of sulfur-free gasoline grade 95 to the Polish and Estonian markets, and with commissioning of the gasoline desulfurization unit in August 2007, all gasoline grade 95 produced by Mazeikiu Nafta and delivered to the markets of the Baltic countries and CIS already meets the EU requirements to be effective on January 1, 2009. The Company will discontinue production of gasoline with the larger sulfur content – gasoline of all grades will be sulfur-free.

Dresser-Rand wins Angola FPSO contract

Dresser-Rand has won a $44-million contract to supply advanced turbomachinery for the FPSO that will be installed on the Pazflor field offshore Angola.

Under the terms of the contract, Dresser-Rand will supply gas compression packages and four DATUM centrifugal compression trains. Two trains will be driven by gas turbines and the other two will be driven by electric motors.

"This award is representative of the value our technology brings to our clients," says Jesus Pacheco, Dresser-Rand's executive VP of new equipment worldwide. "Our DATUM technology adds value to Total by reducing the weight and footprint of the compression system, as fewer casings are required. It also maximizes gas throughput compared to competitor offerings as a result of the high efficiency of the compressors."

Pazflor's floating production unit will operate in block 17 and will be designed to process 200,000 b/d of oil and store about 1.9 MMbbl of crude. First oil production is expected in 2011.