High Potential of North Sea development
Confidence among investors in the exploration potential of the North Sea is increasing. This positive outlook is confirmed by the Wick well drilling in the Moray Firth and other activity offshore the Scotland coastline. Wick is attracting new and existing investors courtesy of the fact that lies in shallow water around a mile from the shore.
Free as the wind
Since the beginning of human life on planet Earth, wind is reckoned as one of the largest sources of energy. Sail ships and windmills for centuries allowed exploration of the continents and gave free power to communities all over the world.
Now there is a renaissance in the “wind power race” and this is particularly true for the strong winds that blow over the oceans and seas. Their steady flow is the most fit for giving power to huge and efficient wind turbines and Europe is particularly active in this race. Since 2002, when Europe’s first business-scale wind farm came online in Denmark, the continent’s installed offshore wind capacity has grown from approximately 250 MW to around 12,600 MW. The trend is to increase the share of offshore wind farms because of big advantages on the efficiency and economies of the plants.
OPEC meeting and oil price
The next June 22 meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will surely be a crucial event. OPEC and major producers, like Russia, will probably agree to raise production.
This is in open contrast with the Declaration of Cooperation, signed in 2016 to set production-cut targets.
Barclays analysts said, “the increase could be around 700,000-800,000 b/d,” but Commerzbank will push the increase till to 2.0-2.5 million b/d for Saudi Arabia and Russia only.
This outlook is confirmed by May data that fix to 31.87 million b/d the total OPEC oil production, a higher value compared to the April and March data.
New rising in the offshore drilling market
Many clues are indicating a new rise in the offshore oil and gas market. The most clear and important are the high demand for crude oil and the maturing of onshore oil and gas wells. These are pushing the market towards the offshore drilling rigs, with additional resources dedicated to continuous development of offshore reserves.
On the other side, offshore drilling projects require a much longer timeline and investments than onshore drilling rigs. These factors drive the companies involved in it to put particular care and attention to planning and cost reductions, two crucial drivers that will be more and more vital for the growth od the sector forecasted between 2018 and 2022.
New systems for North Sea Sverdrup development
Equinor Energy (previously Statoil) has issued a new contract to Kongsberg Maritime to provide safety and automation systems (SAS) for the Johan Sverdrup Phase 2 development in the Norwegian North Sea.
The latest agreement includes delivery of SAS and digital technology for the new processing platform, due to start production in 2022. Furthermore, the contract encompasses extension and modification of existing systems and new equipment to support three subsea production system tiebacks at Haugsneset, near Haugesund.
Scope of supply includes process control, the subsea control unit, power distribution control, process shutdown, emergency shutdown, fire and gas systems, life cycle simulator, information management system, and OPC-UA data gateway.
Allsea’s PIONEERING SPIRIT vessel installs Sverdrup drilling platform topsides
PIONEERING SPIRIT construction vessel completed the heaviest installation lift work for the Equinor’s Johan Sverdrup development in the Norwegian North Sea.
The 147-m (482-ft) tall topsides was transferred from a barge to the PIONEERING SPIRIT at Bømlafjorden, in western Norway. The installation program lasted three hours.
The PIONEERING SPIRIT will return to the field in spring 2019 to install other sections of the platforms (additional topside and living quarters).
Equinor points out that the new lifting technology on the Pioneering Spirit allows entire topsides of up to 48,000 metric tons (52,911 tons) to be lifted in one operation, a new world record.
Equinor expects the drilling platform to be onstream from 4Q 2018, and first oil in late 2019.
New plans for Balder field in the North Sea
Point Resources plans a further lifetime extension of the Balder field, through a re-deployment of the Jotun FPSO to the Balder area in the North Sea. This adds interest to an area already focused by the company: drilling on the Ringhorne and Ringhorne East fields in the Norwegian North Sea is planned in short time, a result of the “changing of the guard” between Point and ExxonMobil on all three fields.
New Zinia 2 project offshore Angola
Total and its partners launched the new $1.2 billion Zinia 2 project, (150 km (93 mi) offshore Angola.
The combined nine wells are located in water depths of 600-1,200 m (1,968-3,937 ft) and will produce 40,000 b/d, but other tiebacks could follow.
Total shares the project with Equinor (23.33%), Exxon Mobil (20%), and BP (16.67%), while Sonangol is concessionaire. In the meantime the French company will start production this summer from the deepwater Kaombo project in offshore block 32.
The global development is designed to extract 650 MMbbl via two converted FPSOs with a total production capacity of 230,000 b/d.
ENI AIMS ON PHOTOVOLTAIC
ENI new green policy adds another corner stone to its development. The recent rumours on ENI acquisition of Rtr- Rete Rinnovabile company – by the equity fund Terra Firma and in partnership with Qatar Petroleum are a confirmation. The new acquisition will contribute to reaching the target of 5 gigawatt produced by renewables within 2025.
Project Financing will be based on the usual ENI policy of gradually disinvesting from settled projects (called “dual exploration”), like the Mexican and Indonesian wells.
Mubadala expands in Indonesia
Mubadala Petroleum signed for the Andaman I production-sharing contract, directly with the government of Indonesia under the country’s 2017 License Round.
The Abu Dhabi company has been involved since 2011 in the adjacent Andaman II PSC and this contract re-invigorates the presence in a very promising area. New gas demand will surely increase in the region, both for domestic and export markets.
Work commitment for the first three years in the Andaman I exploration block are subsurface studies and acquisition of 3D seismic.
