Category Archives: Offshore

Offshore staff

ABU DHABI, UAE Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) has implemented a program to improve efficiency in its tendering process.

This standardizes the terms and conditions for procurement of drilling and oilfield goods and services so that all pre-qualified bidders are now subject to the same terms and conditions in competitive tendering.

One benefit, according to the company, is a reduction in the timeline for legal negotiations from months to weeks.

ADNOCs Legal Function, supported by its Upstream and Commercial & In-Country Value Directorates, developed global and oil and gas industry standard best practice terms and conditions for drilling and oilfield goods and services to support the procurement process.

It also sought feedback on commercial, risk and operational requirements from pre-qualified goods and services providers and negotiated ADNOCs standardized terms.

Jasim M. Saeed, senior vice president, Group Procurement, said: The approach underscores our efforts to drive commerciality across our business and proactively respond to the demands of a fast-evolving energy landscape.

More than 1,100 international companies and United Arab Emirates agent companies have signed up to the program. Participants include Baker Hughes, Halliburton, Schlumberger, and Weatherford.

Hans Klampferer, vice president, Middle East & North Africa at Weatherford, said: With the successful completion of this initiative, the contracting process with ADNOC has been greatly simplified and made more efficient and transparent.

Hichem Bouhlel, Managing Director at Schlumberger, added: We believe the resulting alignment around a set of optimized contractual terms and conditions will further enhance our strategic partnership

ADNOC plans to expand the initiative to encompass process technology licensing and construction agreements.

05/04/2021

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ADNOC streamlines contracting process - Offshore Oil and Gas Magazine

A gathering to oppose offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine brought nearly 500 Mainers to the state capital on Wednesday, April 28. The rally sought to centralize the concerns of Maines fishing communities and fishermen who believe they have been overlooked in the siting and development phases for offshore energy buildout on the Gulf of Maine.

At the gathering organized by the Maine Lobstering Union (Local 207), with support from Maine Coast Fishermens Association and in partnership with the Downeast Lobstermens Association and Maine Lobstermens Association fishermen voiced concerns regarding the unknown impacts to ocean ecosystems, marine habitats, and the fisheries that have supported coastal communities for centuries.

Maine lobstermen are stewards of the sea and partake in the most sustainable fishery in the world. Protecting it and its environment for centuries has been our goal, said Matthew Gilley, a lobsterman from Harpswell, and one of the speakers at the event. The state of Maine believes its a good idea to replace this way of life with unproven foreign-backed power plants in the Gulf of Maine, and we disagree.

Before the rally, Maine Gov. Janet Mills announced her intention to submit a bill to prohibit the siting of offshore wind within three miles of Maines coast for the next 10 years. Maine family fishing businesses and fishing industry organizations have pledged to push the state to provide a clear plan for offshore wind development, as well as a detailed plan outlining the potential of alternate green energy investment opportunities that will protect the Gulf of Maine, our natural resources, and Maines working citizens.

Fishermen are on the frontlines of climate change, said Monique Coombs, director of Community Programs for the Maine Coast Fishermens Association. They are experiencing the impacts of warming waters on their businesses already and we should be taking care to ensure that the solutions to solving global warming do not come at the cost of Maines rural communities and local food system. Todays rally was a plea from Maines fishing communities to the governors office to investigate the potential for offshore wind to solve the climate change crisis through a thoughtful, inclusive process, with a focus on solutions that are appropriate for Maine and its residents and not just push a technology UMaine is invested in.

The state of Maine received a $2 million federal grant last October to conduct a comprehensive planning process, called Maines Offshore Wind Roadmap, intended to focus on planning and data-gathering to support siting decisions, with the goal of minimizing potential effects on the environment and fisheries. Many in the fishing community are calling for this roadmap to be completed before any floating or stationary wind energy industrial sites are selected in the Gulf of Maine.

Rome wasnt built in a day, and we will not stop offshore wind with one rally, said Virginia Olsen, a member of the Maine Lobstering Union, Augusta knew fishermen were here today, they know we are paying attention, and they know we are asking to be heard. We voiced our legitimate concerns about the impacts that this development will have on the Gulf of Maine which has been our home and supported our fishing families for generations. We are not going to be pushed out of the way.

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Mainers rally to oppose offshore wind development - National Fisherman

The Yme development in the eastern Norwegian North Sea.

(Courtesy OKEA)

Offshore staff

TRONDHEIM, Norway OKEA has issued updates on various field development projects offshore Norway in its latest results review.

The Repsol-operated Yme project (OKEA 15%) in the eastern Norwegian North Sea is in the hook-up and commissioning phase, with the jackup platform Maersk Inspirer having been installed at the field location late last year and connected to the wellhead module.

Production and injection risers between the jackup and the wellhead module have been lifted in place. The subsea storage tank and flowlines are tested and ready for operation, and the production wells are ready for start-up.

The remaining activities concern finalizing hookup and commissioning for the Maersk Inspirer and the wellhead platform. Yme is expected to come onstream during the second half of 2021.

OKEA is a partner in the current Harbour Energy-operated Ilder exploration well in North Sea license PL973, and will also participate in Equinors Ginny well in PL1060 this summer.

At the Draugen field in the Norwegian Sea, which OKEA operates, production has declined to 7,246 boe/d, and production availability has also been lower due to two process trips.

The E1 well was temporarily shut-in at the end of March ahead of a scale squeeze campaign planned for 3Q, although the impact should be limited as volumes will be produced by nearby wells.

A gas import project at Draugen, completed late last year, has cut diesel consumption by more than 80% with a positive impact on operating costs and the environmental footprint.

OKEA and its partners expect to take FID shortly on a tieback development of the Hasselmus gas field to the Draugen platform, 7.5 km (4.67 mi) to the southeast. First gas should follow in 2023.

The company is also working on a scheme to supply Draugen with power from shore, with the option to extend the power supply to other nearby fields.

The Draugen and Njord licensees have a joint study agreement to assess the potential shared infrastructure, and concept selection involving a 130-km (81-mi) long subsea cable may follow in mid-year. This could be operational in 2025.

05/04/2021

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North Sea Yme wells ready for operation ahead of second-half start-up - Offshore Oil and Gas Magazine

The drillship Noble Sam Croft drilled the Keskesi East discovery well in the Total-operated block 58 offshore Suriname.

(Courtesy Noble Corp.)

Offshore staff

LONDON Exploration drilling will likely follow current trends over the next five years, according to a webinar staged by Westwood Global Energy Group last week.

Dr. Keith Myers, president of Research, speaking at Exploration 2026: the impact of the energy transition, said exploration activity continues to correlate strongly to the oil price. The higher the price, the more cashflow that is available, along with perceived higher returns on exploration.

But more drilling does not necessarily mean more success, he cautioned, so smaller, more successful exploration in future might not be a bad thing.

Westwood calculated that 81% of the global oil discoveries in 2010 (the total volume proven was 9.6 Bbbl) are now in production, led by Johan Sverdrup in the North Sea and Bzios in the Santos basin offshore Brazil.

However, only 6 tcf of the gas discovered in the same year has so far gone forward to development. Oil, not gas, remains the focus for explorers as companies seek to cover future demand for energy.

And even under a 1.5 global warming scenario, he added, there will still be plenty of take-up for oil discoveries made in 2026, if the forecasts are correct.

At the same time, operators will push for resilient exploration that can deliver short-cycle field developments. $40 as a full-cycle breakeven price seems a reasonable numberThere is no point discovering something that could take 20 years to produce, so [explorers] will be targeting five years to production and 10 years to break even.

Prospective developments will either have to meet net zero scope 1 and 2 criteria, or be viable at future carbon prices. A low-hydrocarbons footprint could attract customers.

Over the past five years, Myers continued, spending on exploration capital in mature plays rose to 58% (compared with 44% in 2010-14), while over the same period, frontier exploration declined from 28% to 20%. But by 2026, currently hot plays such as offshore Suriname could be maturing, so the industry will still need frontier successes in other regions.

Recent frontier activity has focused more on proven plays to deliver high success rates, and this trend looks set to continue, he said. Westwood has identified up to 60 potential frontier wells that could be drilled over the next five years targeting 28 oil plays in total.

The typical success rate of frontier drilling is 8%, but two to three of these new plays could work, resulting in the statistical likelihood of finds containing 2 Bbbl or less. But the hurdles for drilling in frontier basin will also get higher over the next five years.

Infrastructure-led exploration should remain strong, delivering high-value (although low-volume) barrels, especially to small or mid-size E&Ps in northwest Europe. Where the focus is on gas plays, this will be with a clear route in mind to market the gas (i.e. Egypt).

This year, 83% of wells are targeting oil, and the industry is still finding a lot of gas relative to oil. In the mid-term (2021-23), Myers added, Latin and Central America will remain the most active regions.

The exploration hotspots out to 2026 will likely be similar, but with an emphasis on lower well costs - unless there are significant, basin-opening discoveries.

05/03/2021

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Frontier drilling has a future in energy transition, Westwood claims - Offshore Oil and Gas Magazine

Model runs are lending increasing weight to the prospect of good to epic conditions opening up across the NSW coast later this week.

The early stages of this event are already falling into place as an upper-level low and associated surface trough deepen over the NSW interior. The system is forecast to move quickly northeast across the state before shifting off the southern Queensland/northern NSW border on Wednesday.

This means an expansive east to NE fetch across the Tasman Sea, gradually strengthening as it feeds into the lows eastern and southern sectors. Wind-speeds are pretty light through this early phase, thus the early trend in east swell may not break any records, but it should offer up surf in the three to four foot range across southern Queensland and NSW during Thursday, with scope for more size into the afternoon/evening.

Premium Surf Forecasts: Newcastle | Sydney | Wollongong | NSW Mid-North Coast | NSW South Coast

As the trough and embedded low drift south, roughly parallel to the NSW coast, a stronger, 30-35 knot ENE fetch should push on an already active sea-state, driving deepwater seas and swell to peaks of 15-20 feet later Thursday.

That sea-state will be aimed more directly at the southern half of the NSW coast. With the upper boundary for the prime swell-window loosely positioned around the Hunter region, all signs point to Friday as the day to be targeting the peak of this event as it kicks in and around Sydney, Newcastle, and the South Coast.

The swells arrival looks like coinciding with mostly favourable, cross-offshore winds as the low moves south on Friday, pulling winds around from the SSW to the W/SW, opening up all manner of pumping conditions as the bulk of mid-period easterly swell peaks throughout the morning.

For more on size, timing and local conditions for your surf zone, stay tuned to the Premium Forecast for updates.

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Late This Week In NSW: Offshore And Pumping - Surfline.com Surf News

Claxton, the lead brand of UK-based Acteons drilling and decommissioning business segment, has signed a master services agreement with Thailand-based Beacon Offshore for the severance and recovery of more than 100 subsea wells in the Gulf of Thailand.

The relationship with Beacon Offshore is a milestone for long-term collaboration in the region which was underpinned by significant effort and commitment by all parties. We are very excited about this project as it highlights Claxtons rigless P&A capabilities and reflects the expertise of Claxton as a trusted partner in vessel-based decommissioning, said Claxton chief executive Sam Hanton.

Decommissioning Southeast Asias ageing oilfields offers a vast but challenging market opportunity. More than 200 offshore fields are expected to stop producing in Southeast Asia by 2030 with total decommissioning costs estimated to range from $30 billion to as much as $100 billion.

Indeed, the potential market opportunity in Southeast Asia could be huge with more than 1500 platforms and over 7000 wells projected to need decommissioning by 2030.

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Beacon Offshore hires Claxton for Thailand decommissioning work - News for the Oil and Gas Sector - Energy Voice

(Bloomberg) -- Building power plants in the middle of the sea was never going to be easy.

The worlds largest developer of offshore wind farms Orsted A/S has found that some of its cables connecting to wind farms have been damaged by scraping against rocks on the seabed and will need to spend as much as 3 billion Danish kroner ($489 million) to fix them. Its part of the growing pains for the offshore wind industry thats become one of the fastest-growing sources of electricity.

Offshore wind farms involve a network of turbines with cables that connect to shore and into the power grid. The open seas provide stronger and more consistent wind speeds than on land.

Orsteds Race Bank wind farm, off the east coast of England capable of powering about 500,000 homes, experienced a cable failure recently. Investigators discovered that a system meant to protect the cables had been damaged by scraping against the rocks that had been placed on the seabed to prevent erosion.

With movement in the sea, these cable protection systems get damaged, said Marianne Wiinholt, Orsteds Chief Financial Officer.

The company identified a total of 10 projects in the U.K. and Europe that used the same design that may need to be remedied.

Some projects will be easy to fix. The company can just dump more rocks on top of the cables to make them stay in place.

Its quite a limited cost to dump more rocks, Wiinholt said.

But in other cases, Orsted will have to repair or replace the cables. Thats the pricey option that will make up the bulk of the cost, Wiinholt said.

Laying cables on top of rocks this way was industry standard at the time the wind farms were built several years ago, but is no longer used. Its possible that other developers will find similar issues with their existing wind farms as well.

2021Bloomberg L.P.

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Cable Failures Hit Offshore Wind Farms - Rigzone

The Danish wind power firm rsted has warned that up to 10 of its giant offshore windfarms around the UK and Europe will need urgent repairs because their subsea cables have been eroded by rocks on the seabed.

The renewables firm, which is behind plans to build one of the worlds largest offshore windfarms off the coast of Grimsby, told investors it might need to spend up to DKK3bn (350m) over the next two years to repair the cables.

rsted has found that the rocks placed at the base of the wind turbine foundations to prevent the erosion of the seabed were responsible for wearing down the cable protection system which, in a worst case scenario, could cause the cables to fail.

The problem was first discovered earlier this year after its Race Bank offshore windfarm off the Norfolk coast, which can generate enough electricity to power 500,000 homes, suffered an outage due to cable damage caused by the seabed rocks. The windfarm includes 91 turbines standing in ocean depths of between 19ft and 85ft.

Marianne Wiinholt, rsteds chief financial officer, said: When we investigated the cause we found that more cables were damaged, and that the damage is caused by the fact that the cable protection system is placed on top of rocks. With movement in the sea, these cable protection systems get damaged.

The company did not name the other windfarms that may need repairs, but the majority of its European projects are based in the UK. rsteds 12 UK windfarms generate enough electricity to power 3.2m British homes a year, contributing a significant amount of the UKs renewable electricity.

rsted is considering a two-phase approach to the problem. In phase 1, the company plans to stabilise its cable protection systems to prevent further damage, which may include a low-cost plan to dump more rocks on top of the cables to keep them in place and prevent the movement that leads to erosion.

In phase 2, the company will begin repairing or replacing cables that are already damaged, which is likely to be more expensive.

John Musk, an analyst at RBC Capital, said the cable damage was likely to cause concern for investors until the full cost implications are ironed out, and might also raise concerns over whether other offshore wind developers would face similar issues.

Offshore wind made up 13% of the UKs total electricity generation last year, surpassing onshore wind for the first time. The government expects offshore wind to play a major role in the UKs future electricity system, and aims to quadruple the UKs offshore wind capacity to generate enough electricity to be able to power every home in the UK.

This article was amended on 30 April 2021. rsted plans to build a windfarm off the coast of Grimsby, not off the Yorkshire coast at Dogger Bank where a separate group has plans for a windfarm. Also, its Race Bank farm can generate enough electricity to power 500,000 homes, not 3.2m as an earlier version said; 3.2m is the number of British homes for which all 12 of rsteds UK windfarms can generate enough electricity each year, not 4.2m.

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rsted says offshore UK windfarms need urgent repairs - The Guardian

Qatar launched its first offshore aquaculture project in 2019. TheSamkna fish farm, which was established 50 km offshore, harvested its first batch of fish in November 2020. It currently has the capacity to produce2,000 tonnes of fish annually, but now intendsto ramp this up, according to Reuters.

"We have started an expansion plan to double our production capacity to 4,000 tonnes. We are obtaining permits for the expansion and building new cages," Mahmoud Tahoun, operations and development director for marine aquaculture at Al-Qumra, told Reuters. "Five years from now, we expect to cover 60 percent of local demand."

Fish farm production is supposed to prevent the depletion of fish stocks in offshore waters, which have been affected by warming waters in the Gulf. However, Pedro Range, research assistant professor at Qatar University, told Reuters that if that the broader international problem of excessive production of greenhouse gases that create climate change is not tackled, then none of the local fish preservation efforts can be effective.

A University of British Columbia study in 2018 found that a third of marine species could become extinct in the Gulf by 2090, notes Reuters, because of rising water temperature, changing salinity and oxygen levels, and human activities such as overfishing.

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Qatar aims to increase offshore aquaculture production - The Fish Site

This file photo, taken on July 31, 2018, shows workers checking the quality of newly-manufactured wind turbine blades at a factory in China.

AFP | Getty Images

A collaboration between academia and industry is to focus on the recycling of glass fiber products, in a move that could eventually help to reduce the waste produced by wind turbine blades.

In an announcement on Thursday, the University of Strathclyde, which is based in Glasgow, Scotland, said it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Aker Offshore Wind and Aker Horizons.

Among other things, the trio will work together to scale-up and commercialize a process developed in the laboratory which centers around recycling glass-reinforced polymer composites used in wind turbine blades.

According to the university, the system focuses on the "thermal recovery and post-treatment of glass fibres" from glass-reinforced polymer composite scrap, with the end result "near-virgin quality glass fibres." The idea is that, using this system, the composite waste could be re-used.

"This is a challenge not only for the wind power industry, but for all industries reliant on GRP materials in their production and manufacturing," Liu Yang, who is head of the Advanced Composites Group at the University of Strathclyde, said in statement.

"Retaining and redeploying the embodied energy in the fibres is essential as we move to a more circular economy," he added.

The issue of what to do with wind turbine blades when they're no longer needed is a headache for the industry. This is because the composite materials blades are made from can prove to be difficult to recycle, which means that many end up as landfill when their service life ends.

As the number of wind turbines on the planet increases, the problem will become even bigger. Strathclyde says blade waste could hit 400,000 tons a year in 2030.

In recent years, a number of companies involved in the sector have attempted to find solutions to the issue.

Last December, for example, GE Renewable Energy and Veolia North America signed a "multi-year agreement" to recycle blades removed from onshore wind turbines in the United States.

In an announcement at the time, GE Renewable Energy said the blades would be shredded at a Veolia North America site in Missouri before being "used as a replacement for coal, sand and clay at cement manufacturing facilities across the U.S."

In January 2020, Danish wind energy giant Vestas said it was aiming to produce "zero-waste" wind turbines by the year 2040.

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Offshore wind firm to work with researchers on recycling glass fibers to tackle blade waste - CNBC