Oil and Mineral Exploration
British explorers discovered oil in the Falklands
Rockhopper announced a new oil discovery in the islands, raising the possibility that the islands had become a new oil region. The British oil explorer Rockhopper said that he made a second oil discovery in the Falkland Islands and the same well found more oil in a field-tested, raising the possibility that the archipelago is a new oil region.
The well reached a new finding in the prospectus Casper, indicating that there is another reserve site next to Sea Lion, and was drilled at the site and found that Sea Lion was larger than previously thought, said CEO Sam Moody in a statement.
“This, combined with the discovery in Casper, will, we believe, a very positive impact for minimum volumes located in our area,” he said.
Rockhopper said in August that could have 608 million barrels of crude concentrated in Sea Lion, a low case.
Rockhopper shares today climbed nearly 11% in the British stock, giving the company a value of about 700 million pounds (1,100 million).
“The discovery in Casper suggests that there are more working space in North Falkland Basin,” said Oriel Securities in a note, adding that the news was encouraging.
Plans to transform the islands administered by Britain in an oil producing area are controversial because Argentina continues to claim sovereignty over the archipelago, after fighting a war for control in 1982.
Rockhopper plans an investment of $ s 2,000 million to get the oil begins to flow from its reservoir in the Falkland Islands in October and said he was approached by interested parties who want to partner with the firm in the project.
China got the rights to explore in the international seabed
China has won the right to explore a polymetallic sulfide ore deposit located in the Indian Ocean during the next 15 years. The contract that enabled the project was signed on Friday between the Association for Research and Development of China Ocean Mineral Resources and the International Seabed Authority.
The contract awarded to the association exclusive rights to explore 10,000 square kilometers of the international seabed in the southwest Indian Ocean.
According to the document, after ten years the association must provide 75 percent of the region of mineral deposits, and then you can enjoy preferential rights to commercially exploit the remaining 2,500 square kilometers.
The association will also have to meet specific obligations in terms of environmental monitoring, environmental research and training basic scientists from other developing countries, under the contract.
This is the second time that China gets the right to explore an international deposit of minerals in the seabed. In 2001, the country had a free hand to explore an area of 75,000 square kilometers of seabed in international waters in the northeastern Pacific Ocean, in search of ore for polymetallic nodules.
Extracting oil shale
Brufau estimated to extract oil in Vaca Muerta could cost almost U.S. $ 28,000 million. The president of Repsol YPF, Antonio Brufau, considered that there is a “huge” potential for production of oil and unconventional gas (shale gas and shale oil) in Argentina, but said today the development of these resources requires investing millions .
“We need a lot of money” to develop the first section of the Vaca Muerta deposit in Neuquén Brufau said a group of journalists during the 20th World Petroleum Congress, held in Doha, Qatar. “Let’s assume that producing a barrel cost about $ 30 in exploration and development,” was quoted by Bloomberg.
YPF announced last month that confirmed the existence of “technically recoverable resources” by 927 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) in non-conventional oil, equivalent to five years of its total production.
At the initial estimated cost of production Brufau yesterday, those resources which can not yet be considered reserves, would require investments of nearly 28,000 million dollars. That figure amounts to almost six times the net worth declared by YPF in its latest financial statement. Today the Spanish Repsol has 57.43% of YPF shares, although the management is up to the Petersen Group (Eskenazi family), which holds a 25.46 per cent.
“What is clear is that there is a new frontier” for oil production, Brufau said in reference to this finding. The executive noted that the resources that are YPF is working in an area that is only 430 of the 30,000 km ² which has Vaca Muerta.
BEP 927 million including 741 million of unconventional oil (shale oil) and 186 million BOE of unconventional gas (gas oil). YPF has 15 vertical wells producing 5000 barrels of produced oil shale per day.
During the speech he gave in the event of the World Petroleum Council, Brufau said: “Technology has given us a very abundant amounts of new resources that allow us to ensure the availability of oil provided they have the regulatory and geopolitical stability take place to allow the massive flows of investment required. “
The new oil discovery in the Malvinas Islands
Rockhopper British oil company announced Tuesday a new oil discovery in the northern basin of the Malvinas Islands, whose sovereignty dispute in the UK from Argentina 1833.Rockhopper said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange that the results of this new well exploration could lead to a further increase its estimates for the area, which includes the Sea Lion deposit, discovered in 2010, and with reserves currently estimated at some 1,297 million barrels of oil.
The holes that the oil held in association with the company Desire Petroleum (40% interest in the well), allowed to find hydrocarbons in four areas that had been previously identified.
The findings were made in existing fields of Sea Lion and Casper, for the first time in Beverley (gas) and Casper South (oil and gas).
The Minister of Rockhopper, Samuel Moody, said it was a “fantastic result” that “will further increase our minimum estimates for Sea Lion oil and Casper, as well as bring to light two new discoveries in Beverly and South Casper, our third discovery of oil in the basin “north of the Falklands.
The announcement was well received by investors as to the 12:45 GMT Rockhopper gained 9.35% to 263.25 pence on the London Stock Exchange.
Rockhopper, Desire Petroleum and Falkland Oil & Gas in February 2010 began a campaign of oil exploration in waters around the Falklands, which revived tensions between Argentina and the United Kingdom.
The petroleum potential of the southern archipelago is one of the main sticking points in the dispute that Argentina has with the United Kingdom for its sovereignty, channeled through diplomatic channels after the short but bloody war that ended with the victory of British troops in 1982 .
Seabed mineral resources
Russia has begun to actively compete for the mineral resources of the ocean floor. The International Seabed Authority (ISA) has approved the request by Moscow to carry out geological investigations in the ocean Atlántico.Según Kommersant sources, this is one of the largest untapped deposits in the world, whose content in copper and gold than between five and ten times that of onshore. The project will be carried out by the Geological Survey Expedition Polar and Marine Research Center VNII Okeangeologia, and have a budget of up to 43 million dollars over the next five years. Kommersant sources in the Russian government initiatives indicate that Russian exploration of ocean resources are related to a strong intensification of China in the same sector.
The Russian Natural Resources Ministry announced on August 3 that the application for exploration of mineral resources in the ocean floor was filed in December 2010 and approved on July 19 during a meeting at ISA headquarters in Kingston, Jamaica. In addition to the Russian request, also adopted from China and Pacific island states, Nauru and Tonga. This is the first time in history that the ISA authorizes drilling in ocean waters without being attached to an economic zone corresponding to a specific state.
Daria Vasilevskaya, deputy director of the department of state policy and regulation in the field of geology and exploitation of natural resources Natural Resources Ministry, told Kommersant that the contract with the ISA will be signed in late 2011 and will last for fifteen years, extended for another five. Explore the territory that Russia has 100 blocks, each of 100 square kilometers and is located in the northern Cordillera Centroatlántica. The sulphide minerals are found at a depth of two to four kilometers. It is understood that Russia will have priority to exploit the deposits, according to the press service of the Ministry of Natural Resources. The contract will run for two public companies: Prospecting Expedition Polar and Marine Geology Research Center VNII Okeangeologia. Read the rest of this entry »
Climate Change Favors the Exploitation of Oil, Minerals and Diamonds in the Arctic
Several conflicts are generated in the seas today, after searching for new sources of energy resources, and now it was the turn of the cold Arctic waters.
Although the scenario becomes more bleak and dividends for decades with little interest, has unleashed the black gold fever frozen, after thawing due to global warming and the revelation of the Geological Survey of the United States, that there is the 25 percent of the hydrocarbons to be discovered on the planet.
According to the study, the Arctic, where territorially converge United States, Russia, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Sweden, Norway and Finland has the second largest reserve of oil, behind only those of Zagros, Iran.
From the shores of Greenland could extract about 45 billion barrels of oil, a figure that would supply global consumption for a year and a half, plus minerals and diamonds becoming more affordable.
“The paradox is that climate change favors Arctic exploration. The oil companies do believe in climate change,” says Mariano Marzo, Professor of Energy at the University of Barcelona, before the advance of new niche.
On August 16 the Arctic ice last occupied 5.95 million square kilometers, 22 percent less than the average for 1979-2000, according to Ice Data Center and U.S. Snow.
That amount was the lowest figure since satellite measurements began in 1979. In one of the glaciers in the region fell off a plate that doubles in size to the city of Barcelona this pace may confirm scientists’ predictions that there could melt all the ice in the summer of 2070, as proof of its high sensitivity face of rising global temperatures.
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Exploration of Minerals, Oil and Gas should not be used within the World Heritage Sites
World Heritage natural sites must maintain high standards, represent a commitment to the future
The World Heritage Committee of UNESCO will launch its annual meeting on June 19 in Paris. The Committee will announce which are the outstanding natural and cultural areas, to be added to the List of World Heritage sites. This year will examine proposals for 42 sites.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an advisory body of the Convention for natural sites, will present its recommendations to the Committee, after specialized studies related to new iconic natural areas added to the prestigious list. 13 sites have been registered as candidates, outstanding for its natural values.
“Natural Heritage Convention turns 40 next year,” about it, Julia Marton-Lefèvrela IUCN Director General, said: “It’s an opportunity to celebrate their successes, but also to make some much-needed reforms to strengthen its role unique exceptional preservation of these sites, as well as their contribution to sustainable development.”
“They have expressed some concerns about a growing politicization of the Convention,” says Tim Badman, Director of IUCN’s World Heritage. “This meeting is important for strengthening the profile of the Convention concerning the application of the highest technical standards to make decisions that enhance conservation outcomes at the field level.”
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