Many oil and gas development projects remain on schedule, but companies also have deferred many projects so that start-up and completion dates have become less certain.
The accompanying table lists projects in 45 countries that may proceed. Expected peak production from these projects will occur in 2009 or after.
If all the projects’ peak production rates occurred in the same year, world production capacity would increase by 30 million b/d of liquids and 70.5 bcfd of gas.
The list includes both individual fields and in some cases, the accompanying infrastructure. Listed are:
- Discoveries that have announced publicly available development plans.
- Field redevelopments for recovering bypassed oil.
- Stranded-gas projects and projects to eliminate gas flaring. These projects often include new infrastructure such as pipelines for transporting gas to end users or facilities for producing LNG and gas-to-liquids.
- Heavy-oil projects that may include new infrastructure such as pipelines, crude oil upgraders, and mines.
- Deepwater projects, some of which rely on long flowline tiebacks and hub facilities.
- Unconventional resources such as tight sands, shale gas, and coalbed methane.
Although joint ventures operate some projects listed in the table, for simplification, the table only lists the name of one company in each joint venture (see accompanying table listing the parent companies’ full names).
The year shown in the project list reflects when production may peak or enter a peak production plateau that could last for several years. The + after the year indicates that the year of peak production is uncertain and may occur later than the year shown.
Asia-Pacific
LNG projects continue to dominate the Asia-Pacific region with Australia having several.
Greater Gorgon will develop fields containing about 40 tcf of gas. The proposed Gorgon project will have three 5-million tonne/year LNG trains on Barrow Island and will also supply gas to the domestic market. The project also involves reinjection and sequestration of carbon dioxide on Barrow Island. Gorgon may start shipping LNG in 2014.
Development of the Sunrise and Troubadour projects off East Timor and Australia remain in the planning stages. The projects would involve development of about 8 tcf of gas that an expansion of the Bayu Udan LNG plant at Darwin would process.
Ichthys is a large 9.5-tcf deepwater gas and condensate project off northwest Australia that may include a semisubmesible production facility with a flowline to shore connected to a new liquefaction plant.
Petrobras, in September 2008, started a long-term production test of a subsea completed presalt well in the Jubarte field, off Brazil. The presalt 30° oil flows to the P-34 floating production, storage, and offloading vessel that also processes production from wells completed in a Jubarte heavy oil reservoir above the salt layer. Photo from Petrobras.
Other Australia LNG projects include a two-train, 4.3 million ton/year project for Wheatstone and Iago fields and the Burrup Park LNG project for Pluto field. Woodside also has plans to develop 14 tcf gas and 37 million bbl of condensate from Torosa, Brechnock, and Calliance fields.
In Indonesia, several new fields will supply gas to existing and new LNG plants and power stations. The largest new LNG project is Tangguh that started shipping LNG in June of this year. The gas is from fields in Papua Bintuni Bay.
Indonesia's largest new oil development is Banyu Urip field in the Cepu block on Java. The field may go on stream in August at an initial 15,000-20,000 bo/d. The project includes a floating storage vessel moored off Tuban in the Java Sea for oil export.
Development of Natuna D-Alpha field in South China Sea remains in question because ExxonMobil Corp. and the government of Indonesia failed to reach an agreement on the project. The field, discovered several decades ago, contains about 40 tcf of gas. Complicating field development is the large amount of carbon dioxide present in the gas.
India has both onshore oil and gas discoveries. The gas off the eastern coast will be produced through subsea-completed wells brought ashore with long flowlines.
New projects will develop fields off China in both the South China Sea and Bohai Bay.
Development of gas fields in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea includes construction of a 960 MMcfd gas conditioning plant and a 440-mile gas pipeline to a new 6.3 million tonnes/year, two-train LNG liquefaction and storage facility near Port Moresby. The gas would come from Hides, Angore, Juha, Gobe, Moran, and Kutubu fields.
Western Europe
The UK and Norway offshore holds the main fields under development in Western Europe. Most of these fields are small and will tie into the extensive existing infrastructure in the area.
In Italy, the onshore Tempa Rossa project will develop an estimated 200 million bbl of heavy oil reserves.
Eastern Europe, FSU
Phased development of Tengiz field, in Kazakhstan, continues with a $9.5 expansion project that will increase oil production by 260,000 b/d after 2010. Also in Kazakhstan, an expansion of Karachaganak field will increase production by 1.6 bcfd in 2012.
Because of delays, the first phase of the 13-billion-bbl Kashagan field, off Kazakhstan, is now slated to start producing after 2012. With future phases, the field's production may surpass 1 million b/d.
The largest proposed development in Russia is the 130-tcf Shtockman field in the Barents Sea. The first phase of Shtockman may start producing gas in 2013 at 2.4 bcfd with LNG exports starting in 2014. Subsequent phases may increase production to 8.7 bcfd.
The 70-tcf Kovykta is another large field under development in eastern Russia. Gazprom now operates the field that will require new pipelines for moving the gas to potential users, such as in China.
Middle East
Iran continues to develop light and heavy oil resources, including the phased development of offshore South Pars gas field, which is an extension of Qatar's giant North field.
International oil companies largely rejected Iraq's terms for developing its many oil fields with only BP PLC and China's CNPC International Ltd. accepting a $2/bbl agreement to work in Rumaila oil field, which has reserves of 17.7 billion bbl of oil. The table lists some potential fields that might be developed to allow Iraq in the next 5 years to increase oil production to 4 million b/d from the current 2.4 million b/d.
Kuwait continues to redevelop several fields that will increase its production capacity by 450,000 bo/d in 2012.
In Oman, several enhanced oil recovery projects are planned for several fields. The main processes include steam injection and sour-gas injection.
Phased development of 900-tcf North field off Qatar continues with additional LNG trains and a GTL plant. Saudi Arabia is adding production capacity, such as the Khurais expansion with a designed 1.2 million bo/d peak production capacity.
ADCO in Abu Dhabi is expanding production capacity in various fields by 560,000 b/d. Also ExxonMobil is involved in the Upper Zakum redevelopment that will increase production by about 250,000 b/d from the field.
ConocoPhillips is also involved in developing the Shah sour gas field in Abu Dhabi.
Africa
Activity levels remain high in deepwater Angola and Nigeria. Projects mostly involve installation of floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessels and subsea wells.
Also being built in Angola is a one-train LNG plant that will receive associated as well as nonassociated gas.
Nigeria also has several new LNG projects that will monetize primarily associated gas, some of which is now flared.
Jubilee is a 300 million bbl deepwater development off Ghana. Production will flow to a leased FPSO that can process 120,000 bo/d
Western Hemisphere
Petrobras, besides its phased development of several giant fields in the Campos basin, also has substantial discoveries in the deeper presalt layer in both the Santos and Campos basins. It currently has under test two wells in the Tupi block that may contain about 7 billion bbl of recoverable areas. These new fields will add several billion bbl of reserves and may produce more than 1.8 million bo/d by 2020 from about 20 development projects, not listed in the table.
Although Petrobras is the main producer in Brazil, new companies with development projects include units of El Paso Corp., Chevron Corp., StatoilHydro ASA, Devon Energy Corp., and the Shell Group.
Chevron’s Frade field went on stream in June 2009 and Shell Group's Parque de Conchas field started producing in July 2009.
Although companies have deferred, many Canadian oil sands projects, most likely will be developed but timing is uncertain. In its June report on Alberta's 2008 reserves and supply-demand outlook for 2009-18, Alberta's Energy Resources Conservation Board lowered its forecast of bitumen production to 2.7 million b/d in 2018. Last year's report showed production reaching 3.2 million b/d in 2017.
The projects listed in the table would add 2 million b/d to the current 1.2 million b/d being produced from the oil sands.
Operators and the Canadian government are still negotiating an agreement for the proposed $6-billion (Can.), 760-mile Mackenzie Delta pipeline that would allow for producing the large stranded gas resources in the Northwest Territories. First gas seems farther off and production may not be realized until later in the decade. The large amounts of unconventional gas discovered in the US and British Colombia have lessened the importance of developing Northwest Territory gas.
The large unconventional gas discoveries also may delay construction of a gas pipeline from the Alaska North Slope, with its estimated 40 tcf of stranded gas.
The undelineated projects in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska may contain an estimated 10 billion bbl. These prospects could produce up 1 million bo/d if the US congress allows drilling in ANWR.
Deepwater developments in the Gulf of Mexico will continue to add substantial new production capacity. Chevron’s Tahiti, Shell's Perdido, and BHP's Shenzi are three of the largest deepwater fields to start producing in 2009.
Technological advances as well as higher gas prices have made feasible many tight gas, shale gas, and coalbed gas developments, such as the Piceance tight-gas projects in Colorado, the coalbed methane in the San Juan basin, and the Barnett shales of Texas.
Venezuela has many potential development projects, but its government's actions have created uncertainty as to their completion.
