by rockdoc123 » Wed 14 Sep 2005, 11:02:56
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')hunderhorse is not a major find and it's only meaningful if they can manage to keep the rig afloat. I don't know Buzzard.
Shaybah is extremely complex geology with poor prospects for intense extraction like Gawar. It already has a water cut, difficult gas capping and is very isolated.
Caspian oil is heavy with very high sulphur. And take a look at your own references, Caspian peaks in 2010 and starts it's decline 5 years later. Compare that to Gawar, compare that even to the North Sea. A five year production run, if everything goes according to their plans is almost meaningless and there's a good likelihood the companies won't get a positive return on their investments in that short a time.
You've taken my comments out of context. This was in response to a previous poster who suggested we had already reached peak. Not sure what you classify as big but 250,000 bopd capacity out of Thunderhorse is still pretty significant. Buzzard is likely going to be in the >300,000 bopd range. There are a number of fields of similar sizes that will come on stream in the next couple of years offshore West Africa. Check your figures but there aren't a lot of fields still producing over 500,000 bopd.
As to Shaybah we are still talking Arab D...yes it is variable but it is variable pretty much everywhere in the basin. Note that according to Aramco Shaybah has 20 billion barrels of recoverable reserves of which 5% has been produced. From 1999 to 2003 they show production at 500,000 bopd steady with no increase in water production and no drop in reservoir pressure. They recently noted they planned on increasing production to 800,000 bopd from Shaybah in the next two years. The advantage of Shaybah is the low viscosity hydrocarbon.
With regards to the Caspian....not all of the oils are the same. Kashagan and Tengiz both are Permian carbonate reservoirs and both have high sulphur contents (up to 18%)....this sulphur is removed prior to pipelining. Tengiz has heavy oil fractions (it has gravity segregation) but Kashagan which is anywhere from 30-40 billion barrels has gravities in the 42-44 API range which makes it equivalent to the Arab super-light oils. Other fields such as Kalamkas and Kurmangazy produce from other reservoirs and the oils are variable.
The five year production run is not what is planned by companies....this is what Woodmac has inferred in their models. The issue here is that Kashagan and a couple of other fields will not come on stream for a few more years and will ramp up over a couple of years. We are talking in excess of 30 billion barrels from the Caspian alone that will be produced yet.....no way we have reached peak yet and I think the 2015 number seems reasonable with everything else being equal (which of course it won't be).
And as to Shaybah being very isolated......have you ever been to this part of the world....everything is isolated. The advantage is it is all flat and building facilites, roads etc. is very easy.