Woodside Progresses with Trion

Among this week’s top stories, Woodside is proceeding onto the next stage of Trion’s development, initiating a bidding process for offshore equipment to service the deepwater field. In other news, investment in fields awarded from the bidding rounds is up 9.92 percent while the price of gasoline is now cheaper on average in the US than in Mexico.

Here is this week in oil and gas!

Mexico:

Woodside Launches Call for Mexico's Trion Deepwater Field

Woodside is advancing with the Trion deepwater project in the Gulf of Mexico. Having completed the FEED phase in August, Woodside is now issuing a call for bids to provide floating production units (FPU), floating storage and offloading units (FSO) and other field support works. Estimated to have reserves of more than 1 billion boe, Trion is seen as one of the most interesting deepwater prospects in Mexico.

PEMEX Confirms Act of Sabotage in Tabasco

PEMEX has confirmed that the oil leak from a pipeline in the municipality of Comalcalco, Tabasco, was due to a deliberate act of sabotage. A press release issued this week reported that the leak from the pipeline that runs from TMDB (El Escribano) to the Cunduacán battery occurred after someone closed the valve that allowed for the flow of oil. This generated an increase in pressure that burst the pipeline.

PEMEX Monitoring Trajectory of Hurricane Ian

PEMEX has informed that it is continuously monitoring the trajectory of hurricane Ian, which it said currently does not represent a risk for the marine installations in the Bay of Campeche. If necessary, however, a Hurricane Emergency Response Plan (PREH) would be applied, which includes the total evacuation of the platforms, in the event of an imminent impact.

Gasoline Cheaper in the US Than in Mexico

At the beginning of the last week of September, the average price of regular gasoline is 8.1 percent lower in the US than in Mexico. The average price of regular gasoline in the US began this week at MX$20.02/l (US$0.99/l) while in Mexico the cost was MX$21.78/l (US$1.1/l), which makes US gasoline 8.1 percent cheaper than Mexican gasoline. The advantage Mexican gasoline held in border states has begun to reverse during the past few weeks due to the decrease in oil reference price.

Investment From Bidding Rounds Up 9.92 Percent in August

Investments registered from E&P contracts awarded during the bidding rounds held under the previous administration reached US$11.88 billion in August 2022, up US$1.07 billion from the previous month, according to information from CNH. This figure, which includes both contracts awarded to private companies and PEMEX migrations, represents a significant increase compared to the previous month when investment barely grew by 1.62 percent. Overall, the pace of investment in blocks operated by private players has slowed over the last 11 months.

Two Producing Wells Added to Ayatsil Field

Mexico’s state oil company PEMEX has announced the launch of an additional two producing wells at the Ayatsil shallow-water field. Assignment A-0032-M-Ayatsil is located off the coast of Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico, around 120km from Ciudad del Carmen, and borders PEMEX’s top-producing Ku-Maloob-Zaap (KMZ) cluster. According to a video uploaded to Twitter by PEMEX CEO Octavio Romero, the two wells will increase the field's production by 7Mb/d bringing the total number of wells active at Ayatsil from 22 to 24.

Industry Leaders Gathered at Mexico Oil & Gas Summit 2022

Mexico’s oil and gas industry is one of the key drivers of the country’s economy. Since the beginning of his administration, President López Obrador pledged to make its development a priority. At this year’s Mexico Oil & Gas summit, industry leaders met to discuss some of the past year's key events and some of the biggest projects set to take place over the next 12 months. Sign up for next year’s event here.

International

ExxonMobil: $13 Trillion of Oil and Gas Investments Will Be Needed By 2050

US supermajor ExxonMobil expects oil and natural gas will remain an important part of the energy mix in the decades to come to meet an expected rise in energy demand around the world. Third-party studies estimate that US$13 trillion of new oil and gas investments will be required by 2050 to meet the world’s projected energy demand, said Alberto Ferrin, ExxonMobil's Brazil President.

Denmark Tightens Security After Nord Stream Pipelines Damaged, Russia Calls for Investigation

Offshore gas leaks and alleged ruptures on segments of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines this week have prompted Danish officials to step up emergency preparedness, surveillance and security for the country’s energy sector, a spokesperson for Denmark’s gas transmission operator Energinet told Upstream. Two gas leaks are in the Danish economic zone portion of the routes for the pipelines that were built to carry gas from Russia to Germany, with the third leak in the Swedish zone. Danish Armed Forces released a video on Tuesday showing an area of turbulence on the sea surface one kilometer in diameter created by gas escaping at one of the incident sites.

Norway to Deploy Military to Protect its Oil and Gas Installations

Norway will deploy its military to protect its oil and gas installations against possible sabotage after several countries said two Russian pipelines to Europe spewing gas into the Baltic had been attacked, the prime minister said on Wednesday.

Taliban Sign Deal With Russia to Buy Cheap Oil and Gas

Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban has signed an agreement with Russia to import fuel and wheat at a discount, as the country struggles to feed its population and seeks to boost regional trade a year after regaining power. Items like gasoline, diesel, gas and wheat will be purchased in Russian rubles and at a “special discount,” said Abdul Salam Jawad Akhundzada, Spokesman, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.