$1.3B contract for Saipem

Italian oilfield company Saipem has won two contracts with Saudi Aramco worth $1.3 billion. The contracts involve engineering, procurement, installation and construction for the development of Berri and Marjan offshore fields in Saudi Arabia

Shell chooses subsea compression technology for Ormen Lange field

Subsea compression is the concept chosen by Shell for the third phase of the Ormen Lange field development. The field is located 140 kilometers north-west of Kristiansund, in the Norwegian Sea and the concept is a winning one for reduction of the pressure near the wellheads. Natural gas from the deep-water Ormen Lange project meets around 20% of the UK’s gas needs.

Innovative PowerBuoy system deployed by ENI

Ocean Power Technologies deployed its innovative PowerBuoy in the Adriatic Sea, acquired by Eni in the perspective of the R&D MaREnergy project. With this project the Italian company aims to develop, deploy and demonstrate suitability of wave energy renewable technologies in oil & gas operations.
In detail, PowerBuoy is used in the Adriatic Sea to advance Eni’s proprietary integrated subsea technology systems designed to allow applications for remotely controlled field developments using autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) powered by green power.

S&P: Offshore rig rates stand low

Standard & Poor’s credit rating agency feels the rates for ultra-deepwater rigs will still stand low for the next two years. Despite the increase in floaters, S&P doesn’t see an increase over the “magic” 85% utilization rate, historically the line which leads to a significant increase in rig dayrates. In 2019 new contracts on ultra-deepwater rigs will be in the $200,000 to $225,000 per day range.

New Samsung platform for Equinor

Samsung Heavy Industries delivered to Equinor a new processing platform (P1) for the Johan Sverdrup field offshore Norway. The contract amounts to $575.5 million and the large oil production platform is 136 m long, 69 m wide and 72m high, weighing 28,100 tonnes. After its arrival in Stord, Norway, it will be commissioned during the 2019 spring and it is expected to produce and refine up 440,000 barrels of oil each day.

New contracts for DOF Subsea in the North Sea.

DOF Subsea awarded three contracts related to works in the Norwegian North Sea. These include activities for the Geosund vessel, initial phase of a decommissioning program in the central North Sea and a subsea IMR and intervention scope.

First all-electric boosting system from OneSubsea

The first all-electric actuated subsea boosting system will be realized from OneSubsea for the Vigdis field in the North Sea. The company has been awarded an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract by Equinor, including a pump station with pump module, topside equipment, umbilical, and all-electric controls with electric actuation. The first delivery is scheduled for February 2020.

US Wolfcamp shale: the largest potential basin ever assessed

US Geological Survey (USGS) assessed that the Wolfcamp shale and overlying Bone Spring formation in the Delaware basin portion of Texas and New Mexico contains 46.3 billion bbl of oil, 281 tcf of natural gas, and 20 billion bbl of natural gas liquids. This is the first assessment of continuous resources in the Delaware basin portion of the Permian. Oil and gas companies are currently producing oil here using both traditional vertical well technology and horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing.

Goliat field Stril Barents vessel goes on hybrid power

Eni Norge communicated that an energy storage system is to be installed on board the Stril Barents vessel owned by Simon Møkster Shipping and working in the Goliat field. This will provide significant reductions in fuel consumption, better control and higher safety too. The battery will act as an energy buffer that supplies the required energy immediately and as a redundant power source, allowing lower hours of running on internal combustion engines.

Eni started production from the Vandumbu field – Angola

Eni communicated that the Angolan Vandumbu field (350 km North west of Luanda and 130 km west of Soyo) started production in late November 2018, three months ahead of schedule. The ramp-up of Vandumbu will be completed in 1Q 2019, giving a total production of about 170,000 barrels of oil per day. Eni also announced a new oil discovery in the Afoxé exploration prospect located in Block 15/06, estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million barrels of light oil.