Issuu

ISSUE 21

UKâ€™s No

ENERGY SECTOR

PUBLICATION

TEXO GROUP AWARDED A CONTRACT FROM OFFSHORE ELECTRICAL SERVICES SPECIALIST, EOS EUROPE P.13

CONTENTS FEATURES THIS MONTH 06

UK North Sea review

07 08 09

Decom Norh Sea

At OTC, talk of the future turns to diversity, energy transition

OTC 2019 review

14 16 17 17

Oil & Gas in Asia

Rigrun Europe expecting an optimistic 2019 A new approach to subsea and back deck systems

Getting smart with IWOCS Add Energy sets sights on further expansion DQ Offshore maximises prospects with energy sales tool

INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY 18

Restrata unveils digital platform revolutionising the safety of people and assets for the industrial world

Cavitasâ€™ technology set to revolutionise Thermal Heavy Oil Recovery

Integrated technology drives efficiencies in P&A

V-Deckâ„˘ - Innovation in Access

EVERY MONTH 22

Women in industry - Erika Santana, Principal Engineer at ROSEN

A day in the life - John Sim, Project Manager at TRAC

26 28 30 42 44 46 48

World Projects Map

Contract Awards On the move - Recruitment Bassoe Analytics - Rig Utilisation OGA Project Tracker - Pathfinder Events Legal & Finance

Editorial Kenny Dooley C-Growth Ltd / OGV Energy kenny.dooley@ogvenergy.co.uk +44 (0) 7825 885817

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LETTER AND CONTRIBUTIONS

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Editor’s Letter

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Welcome to our post OTC edition with the OGV Energy team back on home soil after an eventful week in Houston. OTC 2019 saw 60,000 people attend from 100 countries to celebrate it’s 50th anniversary. It was clear that technology is a dominating force for the energy industry, with more companies embracing new advancements to bolster their business. For more information, check out our articles dedicated to the event, including an OTC Review and summary of OGV Energy’s inaugural business breakfast.

and modernisation services previously offered by Marine Electrical Services (MES). OOS has grown quickly since its inception with significant turnover and backlog already achieved in the first half of 2019.

This issue, we go East to explore Asia’s emerging markets for our country focus. Today, most Asian countries are energy importers as the continent is home to some of the world’s fasted Oil and Gas demand centres.

For this issue’s day in the life segment, we follow John Sim, Project Manager at TRAC Oil and Gas. John has spanned an impressive career of over 20 years with the company. Moving up the ranks from his beginnings as a Rope Access Technician in 1996 he said “Today as a Project Manager it’s the experience I gained offshore undertaking various work scopes which gives me the ability to ensure our clients are confident we can deliver.”

Major deals, field development updates, services contracts, and reports and plans from leading oil and gas organizations and authorities were the highlights of the UK North Sea oil and gas industry between the middle of April and midMay. Read more on this in our UK North Sea Review, exploring how production efficiency is on the rise. This month our cover star is newly formed Orca Oceanic Systems (OOS). The company combines the hyperbaric, diving, mobilisation and technical services offered by Orca Subsea with electrical system design, manufacture, commissioning

For our “Women in Industry” we feature Erika Santana, Principal Engineer at ROSEN. She started her career as a pipeline integrity engineer, honing a background of experience including a number of years working in Brazil’s Oil and Gas market.

As always, Issue 21 looks at a round-up of the latest innovations in our monthly “Innovation & Technology Zone.” We investigate how integrated technology drives efficiencies in P&A with Coretrax’s new offering. Meanwhile, Restrata unveils their new digital platform, revolutionising the safety of people and assets. We also discover V-Deck™, the innovative alternative to traditional offshore scaffolding and Cavitas’ “THOR” technology for thermal heavy oil recovery.

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UK NORTH SEA

UK North Sea Oil & Gas Review By Tsvetana Paraskova

Major deals, field development updates, services contracts, and reports and plans from leading oil and gas organizations and authorities were the highlights of the UK North Sea oil and gas industry between the middle of April and mid-May. Production efficiency (PE) on the UKCS rose to 75 percent in 2018 – sustaining what has now been a successive six-year rise from the 2012 low of 60 percent, the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) said in its annual performance review, known as the ‘Tier Zero’ meeting with the managing directors of the 22 largest oil and gas producing companies in the UK, which takes place early in the second quarter of every year. “Continuing this improvement in operational efficiency is imperative in order to reach the target of 80% by 2022,” the OGA said. In April, the OGA published the Corporate Plan 2019-2024 outlining its priorities for the next five years. The seven key themes for the OGA will be revitalise exploration, improve asset stewardship, drive regional development, improve decommissioning efficiency, leverage technology & data, create the right conditions, and develop people, processes and systems. The OGA’s ambition is to be a world leading authority setting the framework for a sustainable and competitive UK oil and gas industry, and its purpose is to maximise the economic recovery of oil and gas from the UKCS. In terms of revitalising exploration in the UKCS, the OGA released a new podcast at the end of April, in which Nick Richardson, Head of Exploration & New Ventures at the OGA, said: “It’s a very positive time for exploration, especially in the frontier West of Shetland region which is now a key area for growth. The OGA estimates there is 4 billion boe yet to be discovered from existing mapped prospects, with an additional 11 billion boe possible from new plays in the UKCS. Finding costs have gone from $9 to $1 per barrel, adding a further incentive to explore. The extensive opportunity-set, and improved industry performance, underlines the considerable potential of the UKCS with there being every chance of more significant finds.” In early May, the UK government said that it is backing industry plans for a multi-million pound underwater engineering hub in Aberdeen. The hub would help make Scotland a go-to destination for subsea engineering, creating jobs and business opportunities, the UK government said. Also in early May, the OGA published its UKCS Technology Insights 2018 report, which showed that oil and gas operators spent more than £240 million in 2018 on developing and deploying technologies, an increase of 30 percent since 2016,

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and the rising trend is expected to continue. One of the key findings of the report is that operators need closer engagement with the supply chain as their contribution to providing technology solutions is crucial. In terms of innovative technologies, the Oil & Gas Innovation Centre (OGIC) said at the end of April that it had signed its 100th project, taking its total investment into innovative oil and gas technology to £6 million over the last five years. Energy skills body OPITO published in early May its Skills Landscape 2019–2025 report, which showed that technology advances, internationalisation, and the transition to a lower-carbon future are rapidly changing skills demands in the oil and gas sector. Some 80 percent of the current workforce in the sector will still be working in the industry in 2025, the report, part of the UKCS Workforce Dynamics research series, revealed. However, the rapidly changing industry will need to attract thousands of new people, including specialists in areas that don’t currently exist. “In just six years it is estimated the industry needs to attract 25,000 new people and 4,500 of those will be into completely new roles that do not currently exist in areas such as data science, automation and new materials. Future roles may include ‘Artificial Intelligence Business Developer’, ‘Virtual Reality Journey Builder’ and ‘3D Material Scientist’,” OPITO said. “These new roles will require a different set of skills and competences, which means we need to look at ways of reskilling our current workforce and consider how we compete with other industries for future talent,” the report found. “We have the potential to leverage UK skills and capabilities around the world, but close collaboration and partnership is needed to make an effective and lasting impact,” said Mark Cullens, Director of Strategic Engagement at OPITO. In mid-May Oil & Gas UK said that Southern North Sea is well positioned to support the energy transition and meet the UK’s dual challenge of increasing energy demands with a lower carbon footprint. “Our sector is key to supporting a diverse energy mix which helps us meet the UK’s dual challenge

of satisfying ongoing energy demands with a lower carbon footprint. We can do this by the oil and gas sector working to reducing its operation emissions as well as supporting the advancement of low carbon and abatement technology,” OGUK chief executive Deirdre Michie said at the SNS2019- The Southern North Sea Conference & Exhibition. In deals and contracts, the biggest news of the past month was Chrysaor saying it would buy the UK oil and gas business of ConocoPhillips for $2.675 billion. The acquisition boosts Chrysaor’s pro forma 2018 production to 177,000 boepd. “This deal will make Chrysaor the top producer in the UK in 2019 and keep it among the UK’s largest producers for the next few years,” Romana Adamcikova, senior analyst, North Sea upstream at Wood Mackenzie, said, commenting on the deal. “Considering the company was a relatively small producer before it acquired a batch of assets from Shell in 2017, this is a story of incredible growth,” Adamcikova said, adding that Chrysaor could make further moves in the near future in the region to bolster its mid- to long- term production outlook. On 19 April, Repsol Sinopec said that it targets additional barrels from its UKCS assets, focusing on a number of smaller, incremental production-adding opportunities. On 23 April, Archer Limited said that Chevron awarded it a new five-year firm contract, with two times one year options, for platform drilling services for the Alba Northern and Captain platforms in the UK. KCA Deutag said on the next day that CNOOC Petroleum Europe had awarded it a four-year drilling contract extension to its existing contract for the Scott platform in the UK North Sea. Sparrows Group announced contract renewals with two long standing major operators in the UKCS for the provision of crane management services over periods of one and five years. The contract renewals are worth an estimated £30 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2019. On 28 April, Delek Group confirmed earlier media reports that its wholly-owned subsidiary Ithaca Energy had submitted a bid to buy Chevron’s interests in the oil and gas fields Alba, Alder, Britannia (and its satellites), Captain, El-

UK NORTH SEA

France-based Sercel said on 30 April that the UK had authorised the deployment of its QuietSea Marine Mammal Monitoring System in UK waters. The UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) approved the use of the technology for a seismic survey operated by CGG in waters off the Shetland Islands. Apache Corporation reported on 1 May that its North Sea production averaged 66,000 boepd in Q1—the highest quarterly production in two years, thanks to a full quarter of production from Garten, a new development well at Callater, and strong uptime on producing facilities. Craig International said on 2 May it had secured a five-year contract, with a two-year extension option, to source and supply products for maintenance, repair, and operations at Spirit Energy’s onshore and offshore sites in the UK. The contract is potentially worth £21 million over seven years. Azinor Catalyst said on 3 May it had committed to the OGA to the drilling of two wells in 2020 as part of a three well 2020 campaign.

John Warrender Decom North Sea Since its inception in 2010, Decom North Sea has been committed to reflecting the evolving demands of the oil and gas sector. To begin with, our focus was on conveying the status of the decommissioning industry, acting with our originating partners, to reflect a developing market. Over the last nine years the relationship between operators, regulators and the supply chain has become the dominating factor in decommissioning governance and execution and with that, our membership and its requirements have changed. As we enter our tenth year, our overarching objective is to develop our member proposition to match those changing needs.

“

It’s a very positive time for exploration, especially in the frontier West of Shetland region which is now a key area for growth. The OGA estimates there is 4 billion boe yet to be discovered from existing mapped prospects, with an additional 11 billion boe possible from new plays in the UKCS. Said Nick Richardson, Head of Exploration & New Ventures at the OGA

“

gin/ Franklin, Erskine and Jade in the UK North Sea. Delek Group said it was in discussions with Chevron in relation to its bid, but there was no certainty that the bid and discussions would lead to a binding agreement.

Emerson announced on 6 May that it had been awarded a five-year contract from BP to provide predictive maintenance and operational support services to ensure safe, optimized production from its Clair Ridge platform and Glen Lyon floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.

Siccar Point Energy said on 14 May that it had completed drilling the Blackrock exploration well 204/5b-2 in the West of Shetland, with CEO Jonathan Roger saying: “I am very encouraged by this well result and look forward to further exploring this material exploration play with our partners.”

Independent Oil and Gas said on 7 May it had signed a Letter of Intent with a view to contracting the Maersk Resilient jack-up rig to drill the Harvey appraisal well. The primary objective of the Harvey appraisal well is to confirm gas resource volumes.

Australia-listed Talon Petroleum said on 15 May that it had completed the acquisition of EnCounter Oil Limited, with which Talon now holds 100 percent interests in EnCounter’s highly prospective exploration licences in the UK North Sea.

Exceed announced it had secured a two-year contract for well engineering and well project management to support Serica Energy with its future well operations.

Talon also continues to review prospects to add to its UK North Sea exploration portfolio, with several strong opportunities under consideration, the company said.

From a day-to-day perspective, we have implemented a “key account management” strategy for all members. This provides a point of contact for each member, making it easier for our members to access us, whilst enhancing our ability to ensure they’re aware of - and making the most of - our valuable member services.

to the recent Call for Evidence on the UK as a Decommissioning Hub.

As befits an organisation with lots of market data to share, we have been working to improve our web-based membership services. A significant part of this project has been the introduction of an updated and improved Decom Directory, which will be launched at Decom Offshore, and the completion of a pilot study to develop a new approach to accessing decommissioning knowledge via a digital knowledge hub. A critical part of our remit is to represent our members on a number of levels. To that end, we continue to develop our Decommissioning Leadership Group (DLG) and its associated Special Industry Work Groups, which are already assisting our members to gain traction on issues shared by the industry. Equally, we focus in on the integration between ourselves and other trade associations, government agencies and regulators, providing enhanced relationships and consistent access to relevant knowledge. It is also our responsibility to demonstrate authoritative influence at senior levels within the sector, giving all members better access to the decision makers and policy makers. A topical example of this is our significant contribution

Spanning all our development work is the aim to expand the reach of the Decom North Sea brand. Despite our name, we’ve always appreciated that decommissioning is a global industry, and have encouraged overseas links. Now with a specific focus on internationalisation, we are cultivating our existing links with government development agencies to arrive at a more integrated approach to international market intelligence, and the access we can secure for our membership. Reflecting this, our annual conference, Decom Offshore (29 May), includes a session which will focus around internationalisation, in addition to speaker and panel sessions on the Operator Perspective, the Human Face of Decommissioning and Aggregation/ Economies of Scale. We will also be providing attendees with unprecedented access to operator challenges and opinions, through plenary presentations from senior leaders and decision makers plus a ‘question time’ session on significant sector issues. Based on industry feedback, this event focuses on sector challenges that are 100% topical and 100% relevant to anyone engaged in decommissioning. With a limited number of delegate spaces still available, I would urge you to book now. www.decomnorthsea.com/events

COMPANY NEWS

Rigrun Europe expecting an optimistic 2019! The recent Wood Mackenzie (WoodMac) 11th Annual Survey and Westwood 10th annual ‘State of Exploration’ reports are showing a marked improvement in exploration and drilling, definitely good news for the sector. Whilst 2018 exploration drilling activity increased by nearly 30% in comparison to the previous year, in the latter part of 2018 there were some concerns about market stability when oil prices took a dip and companies held their breath. Results from WoodMac are showing that the global exploration sector regains its “mojo”, and that the global exploration budget totalling some £31 bn in 2019, of which drilling will account for about 50 percent of that budget. Good news all round. Post publication of the survey Andrew Latham, vice president of exploration at Woodmac has been reported in saying: “We’re seeing a continued recovery in the exploration sector, and this borne out by the drilling plans and new licences we’re seeing.” The engineering company, Rigrun Europe, has been supporting the drilling sector for 30 years supplying and refurbishing oil field equipment including drilling equipment, marine riser tensioners, drill string compensators and more. Over the last few months the company has been tracking market conditions, and are now gearing up to support the forecasted growth across the sector. Offering well-proven internationally experienced offshore engineers and technicians, the team are deployed worldwide to support semi-submersibles, jackups and drillships with product surveys, refurbishment programmes and scheduled maintenance for a range of drilling equipment.

The company is very optimistic that the upward trend in drilling will continue, which both reports would also suggest. Woodmac and Westwood have highlighted international regions to watch during 2019. Westwood have highlighted some interesting regional themes including Southeast Asia showing jack-ups operating at 76% utilisation level, a marked improvement for the region, with other regions achieving 85-90% utilisation level for jack-ups. Westwood Global Energy data shows nearly a 10% increase in both Jackups and drillships utilisation levels over the last 12 months. Stewart Findlay, Operations Director Rigrun Europe is feeling confident about the drilling sector: “We recently became IADC members and 2019 market information is something to be positive about, definitely good news for us. We have years of drilling experience and are specialists in refurbishing equipment. The team is available for rig reactivation and drilling equipment maintenance programmes.” With proven International experience the Rigrun Europe team have a demonstrable track record in supporting its clients onsite around the world to assess, audit and carry out refurbishment/maintenance across a range of drilling equipment.

OGV Issue 20_STATS Advert_IWTT and Connector.pdf 1 30/04/2019 10:23:26

Regional Opportunities • Wood Mackenzie is reporting that Deepwater is making a comeback – Latin America. • Major companies are moving to Equatorial Margin, that represents a quarter of all of Latin America’s offshore exploration acreage, to take up acreage. There are now approximately 42 companies present, including majors and leading independents. • Latin America plays account for one third of global large and giant prospects scheduled for drilling in 2019 in Brazil and Guyana-Suriname basin – 2 regions to watch. • High quality prospects in deepwater sweet spots including Gulf of Mexico and East Mediterranean

COMPANY NEWS

A NEW APPROACH TO SUBSEA AND BACK DECK SYSTEMS Dave Clark Head of OOS Electrical Services

Aberdeen Headquartered Orca Oceanic Systems (OOS) was formed to bring together the Hyperbaric, Diving, Mobilisation and Technical services offered by Orca Subsea and combine them with Electrical system design, manufacture, commissioning and modernisation services previously offered by Marine Electrical Services (MES). Effectively creating a one-stop shop for electrical and hyperbaric services for subsea and topside systems. The newly formed company has grown quickly since its inception with significant turnover and backlog already achieved in the first half of 2019. Mike Masson OOS Managing Director heads up the Hyperbaric and Dive System Division with Dave Clark (Ex MES Managing Director) heading up the newly formed electrical division. Mike Masson, MD of OOS Electrical Services: “Its been an exciting time at Orca Subsea and subsequently OOS over the last 18 months, following completion of several Air and Saturation system maintenance programs, numerous modification scopes in addition to the development of our in house asset management and inspection software ‘Max’. We were approached by a client to perform an initial “hyperbaric subject matter expert” consultation role on their new subsea cable repair concept. 12 months later they have just completed the first in water fibre optic repair demonstration with OOS supplying the habitat system tech-

Mike Masson Managing Director OOS Electrical Services

nical expertise along with electrical design, procurement, installation and commissioning & support for the habitat and topside equipment. A very interesting project and a good case study for the transfer of skills and technology from the oil and gas sector to other sectors such as offshore wind and utility infrastructure. Following the cable repair habitat project, OOS also have been working on several more traditional hyperbaric habitat/repair projects for Oil and Gas clients which represents a significant increase in demand over previous years. As a result, we have been able to put together a dedicated hyperbaric project team which collectively has decades of specialist experience working with clients such as Subsea 7, Technip et al.” In addition to the successful year on the habitat and diving system front, OOS added a dedicated Electrical Engineering Division with the inclusion of Dave Clark joining the team in late 2018 firstly supporting a habitat electrical design scope and subsequently as a company director and head of the newly formed electrical division within OOS. Dave Clark, Head of OOS Electrical Services: “It’s great to be part of such an ambitious team and we have already made significant strides with scopes secured from tier 1 clients. Since renewing communications with historical clients/contacts we believe there is a growing confidence returning to the Oil & Gas market, people are now going back

to work and projects which have been delayed or stalled are now being planned and executed. With our new facilities in Aberdeen, we have the inhouse capability to offer the full spectrum of electrical services I previously offered as MES such as;

• Design, manufacture and Installation of Bespoke Control Panels • Installation and Commissioning of Back Deck Equipment • Interfacing Project Equipment to ships electrical systems and Infrastructure • ATEX Design, Manufacture and installation of systems as per client and industry specifications • Supply and Management of Electrical Technicians both and Offshore • System Modification and Modernisation from Initial assessment through, design, fabrication, installation and commissioning. “In addition to supporting the hyperbaric and diving equipment project scopes with onsite installation support.” For more information about OSS Electrical Services, visit www.oos.scot

At OTC 2019, Talk of the Future Turns to Diversity Energy Transition By Loren Steffy

The Offshore Technology Conference isn’t the sort of gathering that’s prone to introspection. It’s primarily a showcase for the industry’s latest gee-whiz technology, after all, and the side conferences tend to be more echo chamber than a critical assessment of the energy industry’s shortcomings. This year, though, for OTC’s 50th anniversary, the tone of the conversation, like the industry itself, is changing. Nowhere was that more obvious that at OGV Energy’s Business Breakfast. Two topics dominated the panel discussion — energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables and the need for companies to change their cultures to become more diverse, more responsive to employees and consumers, and to ensure their operations are “intrinsically safe.” In fact, the panelists all agreed that issues of corporate culture, safety, talent acquisition and technological change were all related. Even smaller independents are working to brand themselves as socially responsible, said Roderick Larson, President and chief executive officer of Oceaneering. While technological innovation has traditionally driven many of the changes in the industry, companies ignore changes in public sentiment at their own peril, he added.

To attract young talent, energy companies need to think about what a new generation of worker looks for in an employer.

“We are struggling to get talent into the oil and gas industry,” said Steve Hamilton, technology manager for XODUS. The technology that attracted people to the industry even a decade ago no longer has the draw it once did. Energy companies are competing with high-tech enterprises and Silicon Valley startups for the brightest young minds. The transition to renewables excites young talent in today’s job market far more than traditional oil and gas technology. “The young people that are coming into the industry will have these transformative skills that are going to help us change,” Hamilton said. “It’s really important that an organization embraces this change and that we sell this transition as a way to the future.” If young people don’t believe the industry supports the transition to renewables, then it will become increasingly difficult for companies to attract talented new hires, Larson said. “They’ve got to believe we are not working against renewables or what comes next in energy,” he added. “Because otherwise, this industry is going backwards by 2025 or 2030. That’s within their career. So if they believe we’re the buggy whip manufacturers of the modern age, we’re not going to get them.”

It’s not just the type of work, but also who’s doing it that will play a significant role in future recruiting. “If we don’t look at diversification, not just in gender but also in geographical, we will fail,” said Thomas Sunde, vice president of technology for Subsea 7. Hiring alone won’t draw more young people to the business, said Proserv CEO David Currie. Given the competition for talent, companies need to be more aggressive in promoting based on competency. If prospective employees see an opportunity to advance rapidly, they are more likely to join a company, he said. While the industry is dealing with changing talent, it also must embrace changing technology. Larson pointed to the auto industry as a cautionary tale. A decade ago, its biggest worry was how to make cars better. Today, the industry is wrestling with automated vehicles, the switch to electric cars, and the growing role of ride sharing, which threatens the nature of automobile ownership.

David Clarke

Roderick Larson

Steve Hamilton

Thomas Sunde

Energy Director

CEO / President

Technology Manager

VP Technology

CEO

Lloyd’s Register

OCEANEERING

XODUS

SUBSEA 7

PROSERV

David Currie

MAY RIG STATISTICS

“The only thing that you can count on is that [change] is going to go faster than you thought,” Larson said, adding that the industry needs to get in front of these changes and talk about energy’s role in addressing pressing global issues such as population growth and quality of life. The message the industry should send is: “More energy — cleaner and safer — will make a better world.” Even now, the industry has the ability to bring incremental energy online faster than renewables can grow, and that can be delivered to remote parts of the world to improve development and raise living standards. The problem is, energy companies need to do a better job of getting that message out, the panelists said. “As an industry, our failures are public, but our successes are private,” Hamilton said. “We have to change the public perception.” That’s not easy when the industry supports the Trump administration’s efforts to expand offshore drilling in the U.S. while scaling back regulations enacted after BP’s 2010 Macondo disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. “Any time there’s a perception that there’s less focus on safety, it deserves more scrutiny,” Larson said. “If there’s any indication that we’re going backwards, it’s going to be bad.” Hamilton agreed, adding that “It’s up to us to demonstrate to the public that this is a safe industry.” The future of energy production, like many other industries, will be defined by automation, as more operators look to reduce their carbon footprint

and improve safety, Larson said. The industry will need better batteries, improved connectivity, machine learning and augmented reality as it makes the transition to the future. One example of this new, low-carbon future is Baker Hughes’ announcement in early May that it would use excess natural gas from its wells to power turbines at the drill site for running hydraulic fracturing equipment. With limited pipeline capacity for moving gas out of the Permian Basin, the so-called electric fracks reduce the need for flaring of natural gas and lower carbon emissions at the well site. It will also improve efficiencies, reducing the amount of equipment and people needed for each well, the company said. Another example is remotely-operated vehicles with greater range than current models. For example, Oceaneering is developing a charging station, capable of holding 10 drones, that can be dispersed remotely along the entire Norwegian coast to meet customer demands as they arise. “That technology is sitting on the floor of OTC today,” Larson said. The key, all the panelists agreed, is finding the best path toward more digitization without compromising the safety of rig workers, the public or the environment. Whilst it was just one panel among dozens at the conference, it was refreshing to see an open discussion about the need to make energy companies more diverse and to embrace changes that the industry has long tried to ignore.

Source: Infield Rigs 17/05/2019 The data above focuses on the marketed rig fleet and excludes assets that are under construction, retired,

destroyed, deemed non-competitive or cold stacked.

OTC 2019 Looks to the Next 50 Years as It Celebrates Golden Anniversary of Offshore Energy’s Leading Event By Tsvetana Paraskova

Houston hosted in early May the 2019 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), which celebrated this year its Golden Anniversary with a eye to the next fifty years of offshore energy development and innovation. Nearly 60,000 people from more than 100 countries attended the event which brought together engineers, technicians, executives, operators, scientists, and managers to discuss the next fifty years of offshore energy and to highlight the latest technological innovations and breakthroughs in the offshore sector. Executives and visionaries shared with the audience how their companies use the latest technology, including robotics and machine learning. More than 2,300 exhibiting companies from over 40 countries showed their latest technology for the future of offshore activities. International companies made up 52 percent of all exhibitors, while 328 new exhibitors showcased their products and services at OTC 2019. As usual, the event recognized innovative technologies with the Spotlight on New Technology Awards. Offshore sector professionals arrived in Houston with more optimism this year than in previous years, as estimates point to continued recovery of the industry.

Rystad Energy, for example, expects 6-percent annual growth for offshore oilfield services through 2023, with the subsea market as a whole outpacing other oilfield services segments with 12-percent annual growth. The key contributors to the growth will be the markets for subsea equipment, as well as the subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines (SURF) market, according to Rystad Energy. The offshore industry is already seeing a notable increase in final investment decisions (FIDs) for subsea tieback projects— nearly 40 subsea tieback projects were committed to in 2018, jumping from the 2016 low when fewer than 20 subsea tieback projects were approved. “In the coming three years, Rystad Energy also expects a significant increase in FIDs for floater projects, largely driven by upcoming FPSO projects in Brazil as well as the continued development of the Stabroek Block off the coast of Guyana,” the research firm says. The number of subsea trees installations, which is often seen as a primary driver of the subsea market, is also expected to grow—by 6 percent annually and currently driven by the wave of subsea tiebacks in Norway and the UK up to 2021, Rystad Energy reckons.

According to Wood Mackenzie: “The subsea market received a major shot in the arm in 2018. Operators placed orders for 325 trees—the highest count since 2013 and up by 60% on 2017’s orders. This is significant for players in the subsea space and as a leading indicator that better times are ahead for the offshore sector as a whole.” Subsea tiebacks to existing infrastructure are prevailing over greenfield projects, as operators look to cut upfront capital expenditure (capex) and shorten cycle time, WoodMac said, noting that the Troll, Zinia, and Gorgon projects have shown that subsea tiebacks don’t mean only small projects. Wood Mackenzie believes this trend is here to stay, and that it is good news for the subsea sector, which is expected to witness the sanctioning of more “Phase 2” or “Phase 3” projects in 2019. Meanwhile, in drilling in the US Gulf of Mexico, for example, the top operators have achieved

massive improvements in efficiency over the past few years, Rystad Energy says. At the OTC 2019, top company executives and exhibiting firms highlighted the importance of technology and innovation in making offshore operations more efficient and unlocking new opportunities and more energy resources. As usual, the conference awarded technologies with the 2019 Spotlight on New Technology® Award for innovative products for offshore exploration and production and a total of 18 technologies made the list.

Rystad notes.: “The disciplined style of efficient drilling, along with the hub-and-spoke strategy, has helped boost the popularity in lease sales among GoM operators. The March 2019 lease sales were double the total sales in August 2017 proving that operators are willing to increase activity and are confident in their ability to competitively exploit GoM resources,”

www.ogvenergy.co.uk

AFGlobal took home two awards—one for its Active Control Device (ACD), a purpose-built device which eliminates the bearings and rotating components that are a regular source of maintenance and failure in conventional RCDs, and another for DuraStim 6,000 HP hydraulic fracturing pump—the industry’s first variable displacement frac pump. Baker Hughes, was awarded for its NovaLT™16 double-shaft gas turbine used in both onshore & offshore applications. Dril-Quip Inc was recognized for its industry-first Double Expansion XPak™ Liner System, which eliminates the need for fixed landing profiles and risk associated with sub-mudline hangers, boosts operational flexibility, and saves costs. FutureOn was awarded for FieldTwin platform application FieldAP, a cloud-based application enabling digital subsea field planning, subsea data and asset visualization, and installation planning for subsea projects. HYTORC won one of the three 2019 Spotlight Small Business Awards for its LITHIUM SERIES® II Electric Torque Tool for industrial bolting. NOV’s Subsea Automated Pig Launcher (SAPL) for pig launching from subsea to topside, which eliminates the need for a second flowline solely for pigging and wax handling, also received a Spotlight on New Technology award. Oceaneering International was recognized for its Subsea Pumping Technology (SPT) that allows operators to reduce or eliminate their topside footprint by moving chemical storage and injection systems subsea, reducing the cost and complexity of conventional umbilicals. Saipem received the award for its Offset Installation Equipment (OIE)—a remotely operated subsea system designed to allow the positioning of a capping stack onto an erupting subsea well. Schlumberger won for its Concert well testing live performance which gives everyone the same real-time information and interactive capabilities. Schlumberger’s company OneSubsea received an award for the OneSubsea Vx Omni subsea multiphase flowmeter. Siemens took home two awards—one for its BlueVault™ lithium-ion battery-based energy storage solution, and another for its Subsea Power Grid. Stress Engineering Services was recognized for its Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) of Drilling Riser Systems, which provides automation, digitalization, and data analysis techniques to allow drilling contractors to make real-time data-driven decisions. TechnipFMC received an award for its Subsea 2.0™ In-line Compact Robotic Manifold designed to improve subsea field economics. Green Pin was one of the three Spotlight Small Business winners for its Tycan® fibre lifting chain, and the third small business award went to XSENS AS, producer of XACT™ Ultrasonic clamp-on Flowmeter.

Texo Compliance, Texo Group’s dedicated training, skills development and competency specialist, has been awarded a contract from offshore electrical services specialist, EOS Europe, for managing Competence Assurance utilising their ‘Minerva’ cloud-based competence management system. ‘Minerva’ enables staff and contractor competence to be tracked regardless of client and contractor operational location. George Macleod, Managing Director of EOS Europe said: “After having worked through the demonstration and pilot trial on an offshore MODU, EOS Europe saw this as the solution to improving the competence management of both staff and our contractors in an extremely efficient and cost effective manner”. George added: “This system has minimised the impact of competence assurance on day-today operational activities but has maximised both knowledge capture and development”. The ‘Minerva’ Training and Competence Management System has been developed to specifically manage training and competence assurance processes in austere and challenging operational environments within the Oil & Gas, Green energy and Infrastructure & Construction sectors and can also be used to control and manage interim competence of contractors and temporary staff. The system utilises a cloud/web-based system used for data storage and Zone 1 Ex-Rated equipment to video capture assessments and ‘Live-link’ technology (negating the need for onsite assessment) such as EX IPAD’s and Android devices which allows real time viewing of evidence and defined percentages of competencies. James Murphy, Managing Director, Texo Compliance commented: “We have developed Minerva after years of looking at current methodologies for competence assurance systems and looked to create a system that eases the burden of application with the additional aspect of controlling sub-contractor competence”.

Weatherford was awarded for its TR1P™ single-trip completion system which reduces deepwater completion installation time by up to 60 percent.

James added: “We are currently in discussion with a number of offshore operators to implement ‘Minerva’ throughout the UKCS”.

Announcing the winners, OTC 2019 Board of Directors Chairman Wafik Beydoun said: “We are very proud, at this special Golden Anniversary of OTC, to present these 18 Spotlight on New Technology Award outstanding winners. They are proof that the highway of the future in offshore development is being paved by innovations.”

For more information on the Texo Compliance ‘Minerva’ Competence Management system and to find out how it can enhance your business, please contact:

infocompliance@texo.co.uk

OIL AND GAS IN ASIA

Asia’s emerging markets import growing volumes of oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) as their own resources are unable to meet soaring demand. As a result, countries like China and India and their respective oil and gas needs have become one of the most important factors for analysts to estimate global demand growth for crude and natural gas. At the same time, the upstream industry in Asia has emerged from the downturn and confidence is returning to the sector. Yet, some major international oil companies are starting to see their operations in Asia and South East Asia as non-core areas and have begun to offload stakes in oil and gas fields in the region. The buyers have mostly been companies based in Asian countries, who look to strengthen their domestic operations. State-held oil and gas giants in China, the world’s top oil and natural gas importer, have started to increase their production, as per government orders, and have managed in recent months to stop the decline in Chinese oil production over the past three years.

Oil & Gas in Asia By Tsvetana Paraskova Although Asia is rich in crude oil and natural gas in general, many Asian countries are net energy importers as the continent is home to some of the world’s fastestgrowing oil and gas demand centres. www.ogvenergy.co.uk

In March 2019, China’s crude oil production increased by 2.1 percent on the year, while output between January and March inched up by 0.6 percent, the latest available data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China showed. Natural gas production jumped by 9.8 percent annually in March and rose by 9.4 percent yearly in Q1 2019. But even with increased efforts to boost oil and gas production, China will continue to need large import volumes of oil and natural gas to meet its demand going forward. Despite an expected 146-percent surge in Chinese gas production between 2017 and 2040, gas import dependence will rise from 38 percent to 43 percent in 2040. Oil import dependence, on the other hand, is expected to grow to 76 percent in 2040 from 67 percent in 2017, according to BP’s closely watched annual outlook.

COUNTRY FOCUS

YEAR AGO

- BRENT OIL PRICE 2018 - $76.98

In the near term, China and other countries in Asia will drive the rise in global LNG demand. Asia’s total natural gas demand is expected to rise to 884 Bcm by 2019 from 862 Bcm in 2018, driven by higher consumption in China and selected other countries, Rystad Energy said in a report earlier this year. “China, already the world’s largest gas importer, is expected to import around 87 Bcm of LNG this year, an increase of 21% from last year,” according to the energy research firm. “South East Asian demand tends to be more sensitive to prices, but could be supported by a lowprice environment helping absorb some of the new supply. As for Japan and South Korea, declining demand due to some nuclear restarts and milder weather may lead to lower LNG imports this year, which would compensate for the overall Asian increase,” Rystad Energy’s head of gas market research Carlos Torres Diaz said. Rystad Energy also estimates that China’s efforts to boost gas production will hold back the decline in Asia’s total oil and gas production. New projects will not be enough to offset declining production from mature fields, so oil and gas output from Southeast and East Asia is forecast to fall by 17 percent between 2018 and 2025. However, China is expected to grow its gas production to around 2.6 million boe/d by the early 2020s and keep it at that level until 2025. “China’s gas projects will be especially key for the region’s supply going forward,” Rystad Energy reckons. In terms of investments, capital expenditure in the region has been growing since 2017 and reached almost US$48 billion in 2018. Capex is expected to stay on a positive track and exceed US$50 billion by 2025, thanks to projects under development and discoveries yet to be sanctioned, Rystad says.

Confidence is returning to the Asia Pacific oil and gas industry, and spending is set to increase in 2019, according to research by DNV GL, a technical advisor to the oil and gas industry, published in January. Three quarters, or 76 percent, of senior oil and gas professionals in Asia Pacific are optimistic about the industry’s growth in 2019, compared with 58 percent in 2018, while a third—34 percent—expect higher capex this year, DNV GL’s research showed. “Increasing expectations for capital spending and recruitment in Asia Pacific are welcome news for the oil and gas supply chain. It has had to adapt after new developments were put on ice within the region and across the world during the market downturn, reducing demand for services, assets and equipment from Asia Pacific’s manufacturers and service providers. Despite fluctuations in the oil price at the end of 2018, the industry is entering 2019 with a greater sense of resilience to volatile market conditions,” said Brice Le Gallo, Regional Manager, South East Asia & Australia, DNV GL - Oil & Gas. This year, Asia Pacific’s upstream mergers and acquisitions (M&A) were off to a strong start with a total of US$2.8 billion worth of deals announced in Q1 2019, according to Wood Mackenzie. The deal value includes Murphy Oil’s US$2.1 billion sale of its Malaysia business to Thailand’s national oil company PTTEP. While last year’s upstream M&A deal making in Asia Pacific hit US$8.7 billion led by Australia and New Zealand, this year Southeast Asia is expected to take centre stage, with more than 5.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) of predominantly gas assets potentially coming to market, WoodMac reckons. Up to US$14 billion worth of assets in Southeast Asia could switch hands this year, according to the consultancy.

According to the BP Energy Outlook 2019, China’s demand for oil will grow by 19 percent by 2040, while demand for gas will surge by 166 percent as the share of natural gas in the Chinese energy mix is set to double to 14 percent.

The Trump administration responds to a looming production decline in the Gulf of Mexico by quickly reducing regulations to open up leasing across U.S. waters in an effort to attract more oil and gas companies. North Sea oil platform ‘Alba Northern’ is shut down following a suspected gas leak, the 124-man crew stay aboard while the investigation is carried out. Royal Dutch Shell agreed to sell out of oil-sands producer Canadian Natural Resources, stating it sheds off its dirtiest assets while reducing debt accumulated after the purchase of BG Group.

YEARS AGO

- BRENT OIL PRICE 2014 - $109.54 International sales by Scottish companies serving the oil and gas industry leapt to £10 billion, accounting for more than 50% of total sales. A subsidiary of Genel Energy was preparing to start drilling the Hagar Qim-1 well offshore Malta after the rig for the program was accepted under the contract. The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change said it had received 173 applications for acreage under the 28th offshore licensing round, which covered around 370 blocks of part blocks, this was the third highest number of blocks applied for on record.

YEARS AGO

- BRENT OIL PRICE 2009 - $56.84 Petrobras has made a light oil and gas discovery with its 6-BRSA-661-SPS (6SPS-53) “Piracuca” well on Block BM-S7 in Santos Basin, offshore Brazil. The company estimates in-place reserves of 550 million boe. Western Well Tool set a record for the longest distance travelled in an open-hole section during an acid stimulation and Production Logging Tool (PLT) run. Petrobras announced that it was planning to search for new deepwater floaters to develop its massive offshore oil and gas reserves—28 floaters over the next five years.

Getting smart with IWOCS Carl Pilmer, Global VP, IWOCS, Field Technology Services, Proserv, explains how controls technology is set to transform subsea well interventions. Through the lifetime of a subsea field, intervention workover control systems (IWOCS) represent an integral piece of equipment. On the one hand, IWOCS enable operators to undertake a myriad of well interventions when required, while, on the other, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can use the systems to land the subsea tree and subsequently bring a well online. At Proserv, in the North Sea for instance, we typically utilise IWOCS for interventions such as well stimulation, chemical injection or controlling valves to shut down production while wireline logging operations are undertaken down the open wellbore. For operators, it makes perfect business sense to have an IWOC umbilical on standby, ready to go and compatible with the various interfaces into the tree, so the system can then be used for any manner, or number, of interventions during the entire period the well is in production.

Greater reliability Ask any operator what it prioritises from its IWOC system, and its supplier of choice, and it will invariably emphasise the need for safety - a secure environment for the service technicians on site to operate in - as well as speed of response, so that when remedial work is required, support is available quickly and it is conveniently accessible within the local region.

Applying controls technology As a controls technology company, we naturally believe developing a form of “smart” IWOCS is the way forwards. If an IWOC system incorporated enhanced monitoring technology, then there would be major benefits for both the operator and the supplier. Increasingly, IWOCS are taken on a lease basis as such an arrangement avoids the need for a major initial lump sum investment and provides the sort of flexibility attractive to cost-conscious operators. By integrating controls technology, it would be possible to generate detailed service logbooks so that any prospective customer could assess the equipment’s previous usage and wear and tear. It would be feasible to catalogue all operations carried out by the IWOC system. For instance, in deep water, there could be 21 different hydraulic lines in the umbilical. But, via the development of smart IWOCS equipment, the supplier would have the capability to tell the operator, at any time, which specific hoses in the umbilical had been used, what levels of pressure they had experienced, how many times they had been deployed and retrieved, had they been clamped correctly – the narrative behind that one umbilical would be extremely detailed.

Even smarter There would be further additional benefits from smart IWOCS. By directing fibre optics down the umbilical itself, it would be possible to gauge temperature readings. This would be valuable when the IWOCS equipment was being operated in shallower waters, as a significant length of the umbilical might simply be heating up, as an electric coil, lying on the deck of a vessel. So, temperature monitoring could help prevent damage and would significantly enhance on-board safety. Being able to draw such a picture of how an IWOC umbilical had been utilised would also enhance the potential leasing model, again corresponding to the prevailing philosophy of moderate operational expenditure. Some IWOCS providers have preferred to supply not only the equipment itself but also a dedicated team of personnel to operate it – increasing the prospective outlay for the customer.

But the advent of smart systems would allow the IWOCS specialist to rent out the equipment separately, as the supplier would be able to assess how the operator’s team had used it once it had finally been returned. This would negate the necessity for personnel to be deployed and so the investment required by the customer would be reduced accordingly. Implementing controls technology is the future direction for IWOCS. By connecting to an offshore facility’s virtual private network, it would be viable for the supplier, as well as the operator’s subsea control managers and IWOCS technicians, to monitor the umbilical in real time, hundreds of miles away, assessing how it is performing and what it is doing. There is no question the extra reassurance provided by detailed service logbooks and the close monitoring of the IWOCS equipment’s performance would be a very attractive package for operators wanting to steer clear of costly downtime and potentially unreliable kit. Market analytics undertaken by Proserv suggests that the way forward for the subsea segment is into increasingly deeper waters. By 2025, we estimate that more than 400 new subsea wells will have come on-stream over the previous ten years at depths greater than 600 metres. Wider industry experts also see a compound annual growth rate of 3.9 per cent in the installation of subsea trees below 600 metres across the next four years. These are exciting opportunities for operators and service providers alike, but they also represent ever-greater challenges for the equipment required. Umbilicals may have to withstand pressures of up to 20,000 pounds per square inch in very deep water and so knowing that their IWOC system is reliable and able to be assessed every step of the way, via controls technology, would instil greater confidence in the operator. Whether it is in the deep waters off West Africa, or supporting a decommissioning project in the North Sea, the challenge for independent IWOCS specialists like us is to generate cost-effective and disruptive innovations, such as smart IWOCS. Our goal is to encourage operators to make a smart decision of their own, by choosing the best in class option for the whole life of the field and not just relying on a standard IWOC system delivered alongside the subsea tree.

But the reliability of the equipment, while always a crucial factor, has become ever more important for operators as they continue to adjust to a conservative investment model since the industry began emerging from the challenges of 2014-2015 onwards. You can understand why. If an operator steams out into the North Sea in a vessel for several days to the West of Shetland, shipping vital IWOCS equipment, only to see it fail, then it has had a very costly and frustrating journey, with its on-going issue still unresolved. So, with efficiency at the apex of requirements, IWOCS suppliers such as Proserv need to provide extra reassurance to its customers.

www.ogvenergy.co.uk

Carl Pilmer, Global VP, IWOCS, Field Technology Services, Proserv

Add Energy sets sights on further expansion Add Energy’s Asset and Integrity Management (AIM) division is on track to achieve its growth ambition of expanding its international reach and increasing the range of sectors it works with.

Speaking exclusively to OGV following the company’s Queen’s Award For Excellence win last month, Executive Vice President of Add Energy AIM, Peter Adam, says the company has been able to buck the downward trend in the oil and gas industry in recent years thanks to the expertise and hard work of the team. He said: “The award is a fantastic achievement. It’s a reflection of years and years of hard work. It’s been a long-term process that’s resulted in this win so it’s something the team can be really proud of. “There are a number of things that set us apart from our competitors. The delivery side of things and the reputational piece. I think it’s also the use of our blend of analysts, engineers and software solutions that keeps us competitive in a low-cost market.”

“We’ve seen major wins from power generation companies, from oil and gas companies, from drilling companies and we’ve even had scopes of work in the mining industry as well. “With the oil and gas downturn the focus was on delivering value for clients so everything we do has a return on investment, which can range from quick wins through to long term improvements for the client,” added Mr Adam.

During the last six months, Add Energy AIM has secured contracts across oil and gas, power and mining totalling more than £5m. It saw earnings rise from £1m to £12.4 m between 2016 and 2018.

“Looking ahead, we’ll be continuing to reinforce our message to the industry, to make sure people know who we are and what we can do. We’ll deliver a good service for our clients and continue to grow into new markets and new industries,” he said.

The company launched its cloud-based Aim-Hi™ maintenance and performance management software earlier this year and recently expanded into Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi while also strengthening its position in the USA with the appointment of Susan Steyn as Vice President. It is now planning to create up to 25 new jobs across the business.

Add Energy’s AIM team offers strategic asset management and maintenance optimisation solutions to oil and gas production facilities, power generation plants, FPSOs, drilling facilities, and mining companies. The delivery of business improvements is supported by analysis and consultancy, enabling clients to use resources effectively and safely.

Peter Adam, Executive Vice President, Add Energy AIM

maximises prospects with energy sales tool Quintin Milne, Managing Director, DQ Offshore

“We supply project data for upcoming projects far in advance of their tendering phases, when they’re still in their infancy. DQ Intel puts this information on the sales radar for companies to go out and pursue.” As information is more accessible from larger operators, DQ Offshore differentiates their offering with a small operator focus. DQ Offshore has built a strong network of clients over the years and established relationships with industry decision makers.

Aberdeen-based DQ Offshore is a commercial intelligence company opening the door to global business opportunities. Their combined business model acts as an energy sales tool, giving companies a competitive edge. The team of experts provide a business development service, allowing access to early sales leads. By signing up to “DQ Intel” on their website, businesses can follow weekly leads and be the first to hear about the latest Oil and Gas projects and contracts.

The team attends key Oil and Gas events, utilising their network to funnel upstream leads to clients. This creates significant cost savings for companies with limited budgets. With DQ Offshore’s assistance, information is available directly without the need for travel, accommodation and event fees. Additional savings are created through the time spent on sales activities. For businesses with a smaller network and geographical reach, a subscription to DQ Intel can be more efficient. It presents the initial research in a fraction of the time it would take for a business development person to obtain.

In addition to the DQ Intel tool, DQ Offshore offers a full business development package. Their consultancy service combines the skills of 8 business development experts who can act as a representative. DQ Offshore can support companies throughout the initial sales process, setting up new opportunities and introductions on their behalf. Clients can choose to use the DQ Intel tool on its own or combine the consultancy service for maximum potential. DQ Offshore can work with clients to tailor a package to suit their individual needs. The team are amongst a hub of engineering in the city. With substantial work in Europe and Africa being delivered from Aberdeen, DQ Offshore are well placed at the epicentre of Oil and Gas. However, the company also plans to expand globally, adding employees in the Middle East and Mexico.

www.dqoffshore.com

INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY ZONE SPONSORED BY LEYTON

RESTRATA UNVEILS DIGITAL PLATFORM REVOLUTIONISING THE SAFETY OF PEOPLE AND ASSETS FOR THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD

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Interview: Craig Menzies, Head of Emergency Crisis and Continuity Preparedness – Restrata

Restrata, a technology and services company focused on security, safety and emergency response solutions has unveiled the Restrata platform. The Restrata platform is an enterprise software platform providing real-time monitoring and control of people, environments, assets and reputation, ensuring safer operational management and immediate response times across the energy and industrial sector. Craig Menzies, Head of Emergency Crisis and Continuity Preparedness discusses the new concept for crisis management. Tell us about the Restrata platform that’s recently launched? The Platform is a new product we launched last month in Abu Dhabi. It’s a very exciting time for us. This is a new concept in crisis management that cuts across a number of strings which allows a unified people management approach by clients. By that, I mean that we can now bring together access control to reflect global, site or zone POBs. We can look at everyone you’ve got on site from a global perspective, take that down into individual countries, into sites and zones within sites, onshore and offshore. If you combine that with the people management side in terms of live travel management and a live view of mustering, it becomes a powerful tool in emergency management. If we have an issue on a site or an offshore asset which goes to muster, it’s vital that we know who’s there, who’s accounted for and more importantly who’s not accounted for. We feel the Platform brings all these elements together in one place.

What are the key benefits of this platform when it comes to improving health and safety? As alluded to, a unified operating picture is vital for effective crisis management and incident management. We need to know where our people are. We always think of people first as our priority and our primary asset. The Platform can tell remotely or on site where everybody is, so we have a good idea of who’s mustered, who’s

www.ogvenergy.co.uk

accounted for and equally or more importantly, who’s missing. The Platform also allows us to see where people are within very close proximities so that emergency teams can accurately go looking for them. This means we can account for them safely and quickly.

How will this increase motivation and help empower personnel who are in charge of running the crisis? Any crisis management at a strategic level or incident management at a tactical level requires information. The key for the Platform is getting that information live. We don’t rely on feed from the site or the offshore asset to tell us muster numbers, who’s missing, who’s accounted for. We can see that live as it comes in through the system, so we can make informed decisions about how to best manage the incident.

What is the global potential for the digital platform in the future? It’s a new product but we’ve had a lot of interest so far. We’re speaking to our current and new clients. The key to this is that it’s very scalable. We can scale up or down depending on ongoing operations, and that’s very cost effective for clients. It allows them to adapt to their operating environment at that time. As the Platform is Web and App based, it’s easily scalable to a number of sites across the globe without any issues to reflect client staffing and work scopes in a changing operational environment.

INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY ZONE

CAVITAS’ TECHNOLOGY SET TO REVOLUTIONISE THERMAL HEAVY OIL RECOVERY

Whilst innovation plays a fundamental role in every economy, many UK firms remain unaware of the full range of Government incentives available to them in support of their product or service developments.

Developing an industry-changing technological solution for heavy oil, Cavitas has been awarded funding by the Oil & Gas Technology Centre (OGTC) which will be dedicated to the fast-track development of their 3rd Thermal Heavy Oil Recovery (THOR) prototype.

Increases production rates Maximises flow assurance Increases recoverable reserves Increases customer shareholder value Steve Johnstone, MD of Cavitas, comments: “As we continue to push the boundaries with our technology, we are exceptionally pleased to have the support of OGTC. THOR is approaching market entry, and with the help of OGTC we can realise this much sooner”. “With the UK’s OGA predicting that by 2025 42% of daily North Sea production will be heavy oil, we recognise that THOR has the potential to play a very large part in the future of the UKCS. Releasing this technology to the marketplace will help operators to increase recovery of heavier crudes, potentially unlocking some 400 million barrels stranded within marginal developments.”

Thermal Heavy Oil Recovery (THOR)

In the UK, in addition to our tax expertise, Leyton’s specialism sits with our Technical Consultants. Coming from a broad range of industries and sectors, they understand our clients’ processes and the challenges they face in day to day projects. As a result they can easily relate to the advancements being sought to proactively highlight your R&D activity. “Leyton’s specialism is not only in their tax knowledge around R&D legislation, but in their technical knowledge. Their technical team have done our job, therefore they are readily able to identify areas of R&D that we previously thought were routine. The ease of the process really helps our staff get on with their work, and gives us peace of mind that such a niche area is being looked after. Would highly recommend them to businesses even if they already claiming, their record speaks for itself.” MD, Oil & Gas Engineering. With the changes in the industry, now is the ideal time to understand what help is available to your business from government incentives or to review your existing process in claiming relief.

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Niki Chambers, Marginal Developments Project Manager at the OGTC, said: “Cavitas’ technology THOR has the potential to increase recovery by 10-20%, representing approximately 74 million barrels that would be unrecoverable otherwise, and we’re looking forward to supporting them through the first stage of their project.”

Injects heat into the well bore at source

Leyton are proud to have returned over £35million in R&D Tax Relief, R&D Allowances, Patent Box Relief and Grant Funding to our Oil & Gas and supply chain clients. In many instances, our clients were already claiming under these schemes, often with the support of accountants or other specialist firms. In these situations we have been able to enhance their existing claims processes, resulting in a typical claim uplift of 40% for R&D tax relief alone.

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THOR is suitable for deployment in wells with the specific goal of utilising thermal properties to enhance production while limiting the buildup of waxes, scales etc. The devices have the ability to heat liquids at source as opposed to traditional methods where this is typically done topside and pumped to the location where inevitably large energy losses occur.

Brings Thermal EOR to previously discounted wells

Although the use of steam in thermal EOR is currently applied throughout the industry, Cavitas’ THOR technology is an industry first. Its smaller equipment footprint yields the potential to unlock previously discounted heavy oil reserves.

Key benefits of the innovative technology include:

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THOR acts as a downhole heating device, which allows bypassing fluid to be heated at source as opposed to traditional methods where steam is generated at surface and pumped into the reservoir which can lead to large energy losses.

Leyton, with 20 offices, are Europe’s largest R&D Tax Consultancy, having assisted over 8,000 UK clients and returned over £500million in reliefs and incentives. The challenges and opportunities faced within Oil & Gas mean that now more than ever, firms are thinking differently about how they do things and are continually developing and improving their products and services.

INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY ZONE

INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGY DRIVES EFFICIENCIES IN P&A

Figure 2: The CX-Double Perf and Squeeze system can be easily adapted depending on

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the demands of the application.

To prepare a well for plugging and abandonment (P&A), combining conventional techniques can improve efficiency and cut the hefty cost associated with permanently ending a well’s productive life. Wellbore clean-up and abandonment specialist Coretrax has designed and created the unique CX-Double Perf and Squeeze system (Figure 1), a one-trip solution for annular cementing operations.

Whilst the CX-Double Perf and Squeeze system does not generate high volumes of swarf like section milling operations, the perforation burrs need to be captured at surface. Placed in the flowlines, the high strength CX-SRM (Figure 3) is used to collect up to 30kg of metallic debris and prevent debris from returning downhole. It has a high surface area and is designed to be easily cleaned, minimizing exposure of swarf to the rig crew.

Figure 1: Utilizing the CX-Double Perf and Squeeze system allows for annular cement to be placed and a cement plug to be placed in a single trip. The Aberdeen-headquartered company combined tried and tested tools to reduce costs and improve the reliability of well abandonment preparation.

An industry first The company’s CX-2 bridge plug, which can be used for multiple applications in the oilfield, including well abandonment, was the inspiration to design and develop a cement retainer without a mechanical setting tool. This led to the grouping of a perforating gun system with three of Coretrax’s established products; the CX-SV (sliding valve), CX-Superflow, and the CX-SRM

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

(swarf recovery magnet). The system addresses several of the essential steps in the placement of annular cement for well abandonment. The one trip device sees two sets of perforating guns combined with pressure actuated firing heads run beneath the CX-SV and CX-Superflow. Each firing head is set at different pressures to ensure that only one set of guns is fired at a time.

Run in hole simultaneously cleaning the casing and removing micro annulus At top perforation depth, close the BOP annular and pressure up to fire guns Continue to run in hole Reach retainer setting depth, reciprocate string to clean retainer setting area and set retainer With communication below the plug, pressure up to fire second set of guns Establish circulation, pump Coretrax slops reduction clean-up pill and perform cement squeeze Pick up to disconnect from retainer and spot cement plug

Whilst running in hole, the disposable CX-Superflow scrapes, brushes and jets the casing ID to remove debris build-up, such as cement and other foreign debris. With patented features, the combined scraper and brush tool can be run in con-

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Effective swarf recovery

junction with bridge plugs and cement retainers. Once the annulus is cleaned, cement is pumped through the CX-SV, allowing a conventional cement squeeze to be carried out through the bottom perforations (Figure 2).

Figure 3: The CX-SRM (swarf recovery magnet) is a high strength magnetic system used to recover swarf and metal debris from the drilling mud.

Integrated technologies for P&A The CX-Double Perf and Squeeze systems effectively address the challenges associated with the placement of annular cement in an abandonment environment. As the industry continues to drive for efficiencies, this technology saves operators valuable rig time while creating a turn-key solution for this vital aspect of the decommissioning process. Key benefits: • Eliminates the requirement for a dedicated scraper trip prior to plug setting • Remove casing burs • Reduces the number of trips in the hole with perforating equipment, therefore reducing crew exposure to explosives • Cement can be displaced immediately after disconnecting from the retainer, allowing cement squeeze and a balance plug to be placed in one trip.

INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY ZONE

V-DECK™ INNOVATION IN ACCESS Velco Tech Systems, “V-Deck™” is a modular temporary work platform that provides a strong and stable platform for underdeck works. The innovative product replaces the need for traditional scaffolding and can be used for large or small work areas dependent upon the customer requirements.

V-Deck™ is best suited to bridges, under deck structures, helidecks, internal storage tanks, piperacks, jetties and flare booms.

The average install rate from is 50m² per day for a 4-person team. Some experienced teams achieve over 80m2 per day. The maximum span for the V-Deck™ is 6m from suspension point to suspension point. The maximum UDL is 5kN/m². Up to three levels of V-Deck™ may be suspended from anchor points.

The V-Deck™ can be stepped, lifted, lowered and angled while the platform is in situ in order to overcome obstacles and to provide the exact height required for the works. You can build the system multi-directionally as the system can punch out at 90° angles and build out from there. This means that the V-Deck™ provides an easily erected platform for structures with curves like jetties and bridges. It also means that the system can follow the 90° angles of pipework under structures. Scaffold boards are used for infill where obstructions dictate. The V-Clamps™ can be moved sequentially while the platform is in situ meaning that there are no contact points when the system has been removed. This is particularly beneficial for coatings projects resulting in a top- quality coatings finish.

InitialDrawing

The V-Deck™ has a low self-weight which reduces the imposed load on the structure to 25- 35kg/m². The V-Deck™ has a low profile of 120mm which means that it can easily be designed to take winds of 50m/s or 112mph. Higher wind speeds can be engineered if required.

INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY ZONE SPONSORED BY LEYTON

Z O N E

Following its success, Velco Tech will look to collaborate with more companies, using the V- Deck™ for further projects throughout 2019.

The V-Deck™ is fully compatible with all types of scaffolding. Standard scaffolding hand rails, toe boards and access towers cab be easily used as the system is fully compatible with all scaffolding types.

T E C H N O L O G Y

In Q4 2018, the product underwent its first Offshore project on the Ninian Central platform. Global Energy Group ICON division were tasked with changing out an 8” control valve (XCV) and facilitating the inspection of the associated downstream gas export riser with the use of the V-Deck™.

All the component parts are manufactured in the U.K. to BS or EN standards. The Safety Factor is a standard at a minimum of 3:1 for all components. The components to the VDeck™ System meets the following standards: V-Deck™: BS EN1004:2004 Class 4, UDL Max 5kN/m² V-Truss™, VClamp™ and Scaffold Components: BS EN 1999-1-5, BS EN74 Class B, BS EN39, BS 1139-1.2 V-Chains™: EN1677-1-2, EN818-2 V-Net™: BS EN1263-1, ANSI A10-11-2010

In comparison to conventional tube and fit suspended scaffold, the V-Deck™ offers up to 80% time savings and 75% less volume for storage. It is 5 times lighter with 100% less contact points. It also offers a UDL of up to 5.0kN/m².

Benefits

I N N O V A T I O N

The V-Deck™ System is based upon high tensile steel V-Trusses™ which are supported off Grade 10 steel V-Chains™ and attached to the structure by high tensile steel locking V-Clamps™. The 100% marine grade aluminium V-Decks™ latch on to the V-Truss™ forming a continuous work platform.

Features

WOMEN IN INDUSTRY

Women in industry Erika Santana Principal Engineer at ROSEN I believe that, whatever your area of interest, what really counts is your professionalism, competence and commitmentâ€Ś ...not your gender

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How did you get in to the oil and gas industry, was this always the industry for you? I had just moved to Rio de Janeiro when the biggest accident in the Brazilian oil and gas industry history, the Guanabara Bay spill, happened in 2000. Although I already had a few years of experience, including work in the offshore industry, a Master’s in Fracture Mechanics, and had kick off a researching project on nano-damage mechanisms, but that was the first time I experienced the consequences of a major, catastrophic failure at a personal level. I realised then that I didn’t want to work to just understand how events like that happen, I wanted to help to prevent them. I joined Petrobras, as a pipeline integrity engineer, soon after.

What sparked your interest in engineering? I was born with it, I think. As a kid, I used to play with broken parts at my family’s mechanics workshop. I remember being fascinated by how seemingly unrelated things could be put together to work with clock-like precision and how suddenly they could lose their ability to do so. If I could go back in time and hang around with six-year-old me, I believe we would get along quite well. My heroes are still the Apollo 13 guys and Han Solo, and I even ended up captaining my own ship (a sailboat, not a spaceship) every bit as old and prone to disastrous breakdowns as the Millennium Falcon.

What has been the high point of your career so far? I wouldn’t say the high point but rather the most exciting moment: my first session at a TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy) with a sample of the nickel-chromium super alloy I was investigating for my doctorate. Navigating through the grain crystals and able to actually see the dislocations piled at the grain borders, the perfect alignment of the atomic planes and the well-defined, nanometric precipitates I knew should be there, was a surreal experience.

Have you had to face any challenges?

What would you like to see happen in the industry in 2019?

I would say none, but also several. My career has unfolded in a very organic, natural, way so the challenges have been at more of a personal level. Something I never anticipated was that I would end up transforming my bookworm, couch-lover, nerdy self into an adrenaline junkie.

The pipeline industry is on the verge of incredible change. For years, decades even, we have accumulated enormous amounts of operational and damage distribution data, yet we still make most of our integrity management decisions based on unrealistic models or lab-based criteria. I believe we have reached the maturation point where it will be possible to channel and process all that data, and create entirely new, and much more robust, integrity management frameworks.

Since getting into this industry, my hunt for evidence and facts started to involve a little bit more than a trip to library or lab. I have crossed thousands of miles over non-existent roads and unbridged rivers; climbed unstable mountain slopes; baked under scorching suns and almost dissolved under diluvium rains; hiked through rainforests, swamps and third world favelas and even got into a tete-a-tete encounter with illegal tapping criminals. The most staggering thing, at least to me, is that I’ve loved every single minute. It is a little bit difficult to compare, because my career took a sharp turn when I moved.

You have a lot of experience working in Brazil, how did you find that in comparison to the UK? In Brazil, I worked with remaining life extension of critically aged/damaged lines, since moving to the UK and joining ROSEN I work with the development of digital technologies for pipeline integrity. The mind-set is completely different. Formerly, I had to come up with tailored solutions, for very specific cases, where I would be personally responsible for the implementation of every detail. Now, my task is to come up with generalised solutions, that can support the decision-making process for pipeline engineers, all around the world. That means meeting the regulatory demands of several countries, as well as failure modes, operation and environmental conditions that I might not be familiar with to consider. I also must navigate through the uncharted waters of software development, analytics and big data. Luckily, we have an amazing team here at ROSEN, with extremely experienced individuals as well as bright young talents joining the ranks, who are happy to share their knowledge and learn together. It has been a pleasure – and an invigorating experience - to work with them.

I got out of there so excited I wanted to stop people on the streets to show reciprocal space patterns and explain how those precipitates, that nobody had ever seen before, were behind the corrosion pits we had been observing in a material that was supposed to be immune to corrosion. That sense of wonder - and connection with the atomic structure of the matter - is still inside me whenever I am investigating a failure mechanism in one of my pipelines.

The roll out of new digital technologies that will pave the way to this new age has already started and I would love to see them really gain momentum in 2019, partially because I am so eager to see the tsunami after-effects, but also because I miss getting involved on a more personal level. I like to know my pipelines, their names and their quirks but, most of all, I miss field work. I will be looking forward to the opportunity to work in the North Sea, the birth place of the offshore and pipeline accident prevention industry. I have even taken a weekend sailing around some rigs there, emanating wishful thoughts, while I tacked round and around. Besides female toilets availability, I can’t say I have faced any specific difficulties or obstacles.

What would be your advice to other women looking to get in to the industry?

I believe that, whatever your area of interest, what really counts is your professionalism, competence and commitment… not your gender. As general advice, I would say that specialist and generalist profiles are highly valued, but the gurus are usually the ones who can combine – at least at some level - both. It is a vast industry, with many tribes: try to find yours. There are many technical associations you can join as well as events to attend, and you should not shy away from investing time, money and - most importantly – personal energy on them. Do not underestimate the power of networking and look out for mentors. People are surprisingly eager to teach those who are keen to learn, so don’t be afraid to reach out. Don’t be afraid of change either, if there is a better way to do something, embrace it, if there is not and you think there should be, create it!

DAY IN THE LIFE

Day in the Life John Sim

Project Manager at TRAC My current role at TRAC is Project Manager but as I’ve worked for the company for over 20 years, I’ve had a few! I started back in 1996 as a Rope Access Technician (Level 1) following a move from Hi-Rope. Over the years I’ve relished the challenge to cut my teeth and successfully moved through the ranks. Today as a Project Manager it’s the experience I gained offshore undertaking various work scopes which gives me the ability to ensure our clients are confident we can deliver. My typical day usually involves client meetings and liaison with my colleagues. I’m now office based usually working 08.00-16.00 -a far cry from my days offshore in the North Sea. At the beginning of a project I have the responsibility to meet with the client to establish their requirements and more importantly, understand their expectations. In my experience comprehensive ground work at this stage helps to ensure the project runs smoothly. From these initial meetings I prepare the work scope for the project which results in a project work pack. This pack then becomes our bible, consisting of documents such as lift plans, RAMs and method statements. An offshore survey forms part of the prep work to ensure we understand the extent of the works required and can allocate the appropriate personnel.

As we look to grow TRAC’s products and services, part of my role also includes product development which I really enjoy. I’m currently leading a project to develop splashzone solutions which are remotely deployed from the platform to enable safe inspection of various types and configurations of caissons and conductors. This zone presents a number of specific hazards including variations in tide and weather making it difficult for divers to inspect. This tooling will negate the need for divers, ROVs and DSVs. Our aim is that it will lead to improved asset integrity, increased safety and major cost efficiencies. We’ve recently successfully completed field trials with a North Sea operator, and I am genuinely excited about the positive impact these solutions will create for our clients. My role is hugely client focussed and I am constantly listening to how we can provide better ways of working, so it’s been great to work on a tool that I know our clients will benefit from. At TRAC I am proud to say that we continue to invest in the younger generation taking on apprentices to future proof our business. We have a great environment for them to learn in, ensuring that they have a designated mentor. The open culture within the company also means (I hope) that they feel they can approach any member of the team should they need support. Having been a technician (albeit a long time ago!) I am happy to share my knowledge and support them where I can.

So, in summary it’s a varied role with no two days the same, but that’s what keeps it interesting.

At TRAC we are very lucky to have a highly skilled team with backgrounds in various trades which allows us to offer flexible offshore teams. When offshore it is quite common for teams to be unable to complete the scheduled work scopes due to bad weather, especially in the North Sea. In this instance our teams can be called upon to undertake other works which are not weather dependent, ensuring that the personnel are utilised to maximum productivity. During all stages of a project I am in constant contact with our other support departments including logistics, ensuring we have the right people, doing the right job, in the right place, at the right time. A key part of this is people having the right equipment to do the job too, so I also work closely with our stores facility to ensure this happens. Of course, there is no getting away from managing budgets and spreadsheets, so I liaise with our Finance team regularly too.

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A DAY IN THE LIFE

WORLD PROJECTS MAP

WORLD

PROJECTS MAP

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MAY 2019 1

BRAZIL - Shell to invest US$ 2bn annually in Brazil until 2025 Shell plans to invest as much as US$2 billion annually in its Brazilian operations by 2025, Shell’s chief executive officer Ben van Beurden told Brazilian business daily Valor Economico in an exclusive interview published on Thursday. Shell, one of the most active foreign players in the Brazilian oil and gas sector, may even increase that amount in order to seize acquisition opportunities in three oil and gas auctions in the Latin American country. Shell will not focus its operations and investments only in the oil sector, and will pursue opportunities in natural gas, biofuels, and solar energy, van Beurden told Valor Economico. The super major, however, will not be investing in refineries in Brazil, he noted. Shell has been one of the most active foreign companies in many recent auctions that Brazil has held for its coveted offshore pre-salt layer. Back in 2017, a senior executive at Shell said that the company is confident that it can produce oil from Brazil’s promising prolific pre-salt layer for less that US$ 40 per barrel. At an auction in September 2018, Shell, in a consortium with Chevron, won a 35-year production sharing contract for the Saturno pre-salt block located in the Santos Basin off the coast of Brazil. With the addition of the Saturno block, which Shell won in Brazil’s Fifth Pre-Salt Bid Round, the Anglo-Dutch major boosted its total net acreage offshore Brazil to around 2.7 million acres. “We are pleased to add another material, operated exploration position to our leading portfolio in one of the world’s most prolific deep-water areas” Andy Brown, Upstream Director, Royal Dutch Shell, said last September. Shell is also a partner pf Brazil’s state oil firm Petrobras in many deepwater projects offshore Brazil. Shell is a strategic partner of Petrobras in the pre-salt layer, holding minority interests in the Libra and Lula fields and in other areas such as Sapinhoá, Lapa, and Iara, all of which are located in the Santos Basin.

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CANADA - Lost 3,000 oil and gas jobs in April Canada’s oil and gas sector continues to bleed jobs, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada. Direct oil and gas employment declined by more than 3,000 positions in April, with about 40 per cent of the net job losses in Alberta, PetroLMI said on Friday. Total direct employment of 194,500 workers in April was down approximately 1.5 percent compared to 197,600 workers in March. “Overall, we have seen a net loss of about 2,700 jobs since the beginning of January. While there have been gains in the exploration and production sub-sector of about 12,500 jobs, the services sub-sector has lost about 9,800 positions and the pipeline sub-sector has lost about 5,400,” said Carol Howes, vice-president of PetroLMI, in a statement.

SAUDI ARABIA - Saudi Arabia shuts oil pipeline after attack in latest sign of rising Middle East tensions Tensions over threats to oil flows from the Middle East escalated sharply after an attack claimed by Houthi rebels halted flows through Saudi Arabia’s main oil transport pipeline to the Red Sea. Citing Saudi energy minister Khalid al-Falih, the Saudi Press Agency said Saudi Aramco’s key East-West oil pipeline suffered limited damage from armed drones on Tuesday, referring to the incident as “terrorist and sabotage act.”

“Despite strong employment gains experienced across other industries last month, Canada’s oil and gas industry continues to see job losses.”

The drone attack came just days after one of the biggest attacks on oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz transit chokepoint, fueling concerns over a new wave of coordinated strikes on key oil infrastructure and transit routes in the Middle East.

Alberta saw the bulk of the job losses in April, or about 1,200 positions. This reduced the province’s direct oil and gas workforce to approximately 145,100, PetroLMI said.

The East-West Pipeline to the Red Sea has a nameplate capacity of about 5 million b/d, with current movements estimated at about 2 million b/d.

British Columbia was the only province to see an increase in oil and gas employment, up 2.3 per cent (or 300 jobs), while Saskatchewan, Central Canada and Atlantic Canada also experienced losses in April.

Also known as the Petroline, the 1,200-km pipeline runs from Abqaiq to the Yanbu Port where it feeds export terminals and refineries on the Red Sea.

Year-over-year, oil and gas jobs increased across Canada by approximately 2,400 compared to April 2018, however employment in Alberta and Saskatchewan decreased by nearly 3 per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively. This resulted in a loss of 4,300 jobs in Alberta and 200 jobs in Saskatchewan, PetroLMI said.

The pipeline was shut after a fire at Pump Station No. 8 that was later contained, leaving minor damage, Aramco said, adding it is currently evaluating damage from the attack and working to restore operations. It said its gas and oil production was unaffected by the incident and there were no injuries.

WORLD PROJECTS MAP

MEXICO - JPMorgan, HSBC and Mizuho underwrite $8bn syndicated loan for Pemex

RUSSIA - Russia Contaminates Its Oil And Is Finally Forced To Cut Production

JPMorgan, HSBC and Mizuho are underwriting an $8bn syndicated loan for Pemex, Mexico’s state oil company — the largest in the company’s history — designed to enable the debt-laden company to refinance its borrowings.

Russia finally is being forced to cut its oil production. After buyers in Europe discovered that $2.7 billion worth of oil they had purchased from a Russian producer was contaminated, Russia announced that it will be cutting production by about 1 million barrels per day for five days—about 10% of its total oil production.

The new loan goes hand-in-hand with tax changes announced by Carlos Urzúa, finance minister, to ease the burden on Pemex, whose total borrowing is $106.5bn. Speaking at President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s news conference, the three banks said they hoped Mexican and international banks would participate widely in the process of syndication of the loan.

USA - Oil & Gas decides to focus on new well plans US Oil & Gas Plc (USOP) told investors it has decided to focus on plans for new wells rather than frack the previously drilled Eblana-3 well. The decision comes after a technical review of the project. “Recommendations to the board are that it should not proceed with fracking Eblana-3, as it may not offer a sufficiently high chance of producing a well capable of flowing hydrocarbons for an extended period at acceptable rates,” the company said in a statement. “The decision of the board is therefore not to proceed with the frack but instead to allocate the funds to drilling a further well or wells.” USOP added: “The latest geological studies carried out by the company indicate that oil in the valley centre is mostly migrating through the lease area of Eblana-1 and Eblana-3 rather than being trapped in large quantities. “Significantly more prospective locations with possibly superior traps are believed to exist within the company’s lease area to the west and to the east.” “Subject to funding and regulatory permissions, the company is considering drilling a further well or wells to the west, where the current basin model indicates a structural analogue of Railroad Valley’s Grant Canyon field may be present. “Grant Canyon historically included the most productive onshore well in the USA, flowing at over 4,000 bopd.” USOP noted that more funds will be required for drilling, although cash previously earmarked for Eblana-3 fracking eases the burden.

Nuno Matos de Macedo, chief executive of HSBC Mexico, said the loan “showed the confidence HSBC has in Pemex, in Mexico and the current administration” and added that the funding would give Pemex more stability and flexibility in the allocation of resources. Felipe García-Moreno, chief executive of JPMorgan Mexico, said this type of credit typically paid Libor plus 2.35 per cent - or some 4.85 per cent in total. “Below 5 per cent, for this type of instrument, is very attractive,” he said. Octavio Romero, Pemex chief executive, said the deal would enable the company to refinance $2.5bn in debt and renew two revolving credit lines for up to $5.5bn and extend them by three to five years. “With this renegotiation, we are not taking on additional debt for Pemex,” he stressed. Pemex’s debt had grown 17 per cent a year on average under the previous government, he said, but the current administration has vowed not to take on new debt at Pemex this year.

Russian oil minister Alexander Novak agreed to cut Russian oil output by 2%, or 228,00-230,000 barrels per day over the first 6 months of 2019. Until this week, Russia had yet to comply with this cut at all. In fact, Russia had been talking about increasing production to fill in any gaps left by the sanctions on Iran’s oil industry. Now it seems that Russia has to cut production. Transneft is the pipeline company that transported the contaminated oil. On April 19, Transneft alerted an array of customers in Europe that the oil currently on its way to them via its 3,400 mile pipeline was “heavily contaminated” with organic chloride. Organic chloride is a compound used to increase oil production and accelerate the flow of oil. It is typically removed from crude oil before transportation because it can damage refineries but, for some reason that Transneft has yet to explain, was not removed. In all, about 36.7 million barrels of oil were contaminated. Apparently, at least one Russian firm has been trying to resell the contaminated oil at a discount, but buyers are wary. Transneft was forced to shut most of its operations on the contaminated line and requested the production cut while it figures out what happened.

He said the new credit had taken five months to negotiate. Pemex is one of Mr López Obrador’s top priorities and the company is battling to stabilise production that has been falling for the past 15 years. The government has poured in cash to prop up the company, which has vowed not to take on new debt for now and has used about half of its current revolving credit facilities so far this year to meet repayment obligations. Rating agencies have turned increasingly negative on Pemex, questioning the policy direction at a time of fragile finances. Mr López Obrador has doubled down on plans to build an $8bn refinery, which he says will enable Pemex to stop exporting oil and refine domestically in order to sever dependence on imported fuel. Analysts and rating agencies question the wisdom of halting lucrative oil exports and Fitch Ratings this year downgraded the company to one notch above junk. The president said his fight against fuel theft was delivering results and that if things continued,

Pemex should save 50bn pesos this year.

SOUTH AFRICA - Signs oil deal in war-torn South Sudan South Africa has signed a deal to explore for oil in South Sudan, as part of a potential $1bn investment that the petroleum minister in the wartorn east African country hopes will eventually help to boost production. The two governments signed a six-year exploration and production sharing agreement for an untapped block in Jonglei state, just south of the current oil producing areas. South Sudan is seeking to restore daily oil production to 350,000 barrels after a civil war and a disagreement with Sudan to the north disrupted oil operations and caused output to halve since 2012. South Africa has committed to spending at least $50m on exploration and is interested in building a pipeline and a refinery.

CONTRACT AWARDS

CONTRACTS

DOF Subsea books North Sea contracts Bergen, Norway, headquartered DOF Subsea, a subsidiary of DOF ASA, reports that it has recently secured several new contracts for projects to be carried out over the next few months in the North Sea. The contracts, which have been secured with key clients in the U.K. and Norway, involve a variety of different activities and capabilities including UXO (unexploded ordnance) inves-

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tigation/detonation, seabed mapping, pipeline and structural inspection and seabed rectification support using DOF Subsea’s vessels Skandi Skansen, Geosund and Skandi Hera. In addition, the company has also recently been awarded three new North Sea frame agreements for IRM and survey work. The accumulated revenue from these contract awards is estimated to be around 80 million

NOK (about $9 million) and secures utilization of approximately 100 vessel days. Commenting on these awards, Jan-Kristian Haukeland, EVP DOF Subsea Atlantic said, “The award of these contracts and frame agreements highlights DOF Subsea’s versatility and ability to respond to differing client requirements using the extensive experience and competence within our resource pool.”

CONTRACT AWARDS

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CONTRACT AWARDS

TechnipFMC wins iEPCI subsea contract for Thunder Horse expansion project The Thunder Horse project is expected to further accelerate the output at the Gulf of Mexico oil fields and marks BP’s latest investment in the US offshore region. The project is estimated to add approximately 50,000 gross barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) of production at its peak at the existing Thunder Horse platform, and the first oil is expected in 2021. TechnipFMC has secured an integrated Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation (iEPCI) contract from BP for the Thunder Horse South Expansion 2 Project located in the Gulf of Mexico. The Thunder Horse field is located in Mississippi Canyon Blocks 776, 777 and 778, in the Boarshead Basin, 200kms south-east of New Orleans. The Thunder Horse platform was developed by the BP along with its co-owner ExxonMobil and started production in June 2008.

Under the contract, TechnipFMC will manufacture, deliver and install subsea equipment, including subsea tree systems, manifolds, flowline, umbilicals and subsea tree jumpers, pipeline end terminations, subsea distribution and topside control equipment. TechnipFMC said that the present contract marks its second iEPCI contract from BP after the Atlantis Phase 3 awarded in the first quarter of 2019. TechnipFMC subsea president Arnaud Pieton said: “We are very pleased to have been

awarded this iEPCI contract for BP in the Gulf of Mexico. This award confirms the trust we have built over the long term with BP and demonstrates the continued adoption of our iEPCI offering.” The Thunder Horse South Expansion phase 2 project will include installation of two new subsea production units approximately 3.2km to the south of the existing Thunder Horse platform with two new production wells in the near term. BP Gulf of Mexico and Canada regional president Starlee Sykes said: “This latest expansion at Thunder Horse is another example of how the Gulf of Mexico is leading the way in advantaged oil growth for BP, unlocking significant value and safely growing a high-margin business. “It also highlights our continued growth and momentum in a region that will remain a key part of BP’s global portfolio for years to come.”

McDermott awarded EPCI contract by Petrobras for Sepia Field Project McDermott International, Inc. has announced the award of a significant* contract by Petrobras for engineering, procurement, construction and installation of subsea risers and flowlines for the first phase of the Sepia field, located 174 mi (280 km) from the Rio de Janeiro coastline in Brazil.

tremendous opportunity for growth in the region,” said Mark Coscio, McDermott’s senior V.P. for North, Central and South America. “We will use our first-class assets and proven track record to deliver the highest levels of safety, quality and cost-efficiency during the first phase of this important greenfield development.”

The project scope includes detailed engineering, surveys, supply, installation and pre-commissioning of rigid pipelines, jumpers, buoyance modules, strakes and riser monitoring systems for seven-riser wells (3 producers and 4 injector wells) connected to the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) Carioca vessel.

McDermott’s Rio de Janeiro office will perform the work with support from its Houston office. McDermott plans to use five vessels for the installation work at ultra-deepwater depths up to 7,021 ft (2,140 m).

“McDermott has had a strong presence in Brazil going back more than four decades, and we see

The engineering work is expected to begin immediately, and the contract will be reflected in McDermott’s second quarter 2019 backlog. The first phase is part of a 15 well Sepia field

development located in the pre-salt layer of the Santos Basin in Block BM-S-24. First oil is expected in 2021. * - McDermott defines a significant contract as between $250 million and $500 million.

Exceed Awarded Serica Well Engineering and Well Project Management Contract With a main focus on the production and development in the UK North Sea, complemented by a portfolio of oil and gas exploration opportunities, Serica’s interests include offshore licence blocks in the UK North Sea, Ireland and Namibia. Initial operations under this contract will be concentrated on the Columbus Development Well which is planned to be drilled in 2020, with additional work to drive maximum production from its recently acquired assets also planned. Aberdeen-headquartered Exceed, a well management and performance improvement specialist, has successfully secured a two-year contract to support Serica Energy (UK) Limited with its future well operations.

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John Anderson, Exceed Commercial Director, commented: “This award further demonstrates the capacity of Exceed as a multi-disciplined well management organisation capable of supporting the comprehensive wells requirements of one of the leading independent companies operating

on the UKCS. Serica Energy is a company of great ambition and Exceed looks forward to working as its wells partner on what will be an exciting journey for both companies.” Exceed provides well engineering and project management services with its head office in Aberdeen, Scotland. Exceed works for a wide range of operators in the oil and gas business in the UKCS and internationally utilising the company’s multi discipline team of professionals. Serica Energy (UK) Limited is a British independent upstream oil and gas company with operations focused on the UK North Sea, where its assets span the full cycle of exploration, development and production.

CONTRACT AWARDS

Renewables Contract Win For AISUS Award winning inspection company, AISUS, has announced its first major contract win in the renewables industry. This marks an important milestone for the Aberdeen based firm in its aim to deliver remote inspection solutions globally across multiple industries, including renewables, oil and gas, petrochemical and nuclear. The inspection project saw AISUS complete two full caisson inspection scopes, including high-pressure cleaning, remote visual and ultrasonic inspection. The inspection campaign was completed for German transmission system operator TenneT on a converter platform off the coast of Germany. Andrew Mitchell, Business Development Manager at AISUS, commented: “Entering the renewables market is a massive breakthrough for the company and truly a reflection of our successful growth strategy, and dedication to provide market leading services. We have seen an exponential increase in demand for AISUS’ capabilities globally across industries, and project types, which demonstrates the adaptability and innovation of our inspection solutions.” “Innovation, continuous improvement and high adaptability is what sets us apart in the market of inspection solutions providers. The process of providing tailored inspections solutions for gathering accurate and reliable inspection data from tubulars, in challenging and difficult to access areas, is what AISUS is becoming world renowned for.” Mr Mitchell added.

Alongside deploying its in-house developed and tested ultrasonic inspection tool SIRIUS®, AISUS designed a new tailored scanning tool capable of gathering wall-thickness data around the 4 metre radius caisson bend. This innovative tooling was designed and manufactured to inspect larger diameter caissons from 20” upwards. AISUS have the capability to design, develop, and manufacture inspection systems tailored to various types of project demands, and to adapt to current industry needs. The latest scanning tool designed and manufactured by AISUS.

Mat Meredith, Technical Director of AISUS said: ‘Since the company was formed in 2013 we have invested heavily in Research and Development, not only to design and develop bespoke inspection tools, but also to find ways to make our tooling and reporting system adaptable to various operational environments, and client requirements. Achieving this adaptability in our systems is definitely one of the key areas that sets us apart from other inspection companies in the market. ’ “All in all, entering the renewables market will enable us to harness and expand our expertise, broaden our product range and geographical reach, as we look to fulfil our ambition of becoming a world leader in innovative inspection solutions.”

Pipeshield Bags New EA1 Contract and transportation. This is removed prior to installation. Once the mattress is in place on the seabed a detachable safety net is pulled away releasing the frond system and starting the burial process.

Lowestoft-based Pipeshield International has been awarded the contract by the offshore construction company DeepOcean to supply the 2nd phase scour protection for the East Anglia One (EA1) offshore wind farm. The award follows the successful delivery of the 1st PHASE manufactured and supplied at the end of 2018, said the provider of specialised subsea pipeline protection systems to oil and gas majors and offshore contractors. Similar in scope to the first phase, Pipeshield will manufacture and supply over 300 bespoke fronded concrete mattresses, manufactured at the port of Great Yarmouth within close proximity of the deep water berth. To optimise loadout operations, Pipeshield will supply 34no. patented Wet Storage bases. Preloaded

quayside, the high payload system will enable the fast loading of stacks of mattresses, securely fastened on the bases and secured in place to the deck of the installation vessel. The system means mattresses are lifted in a horizontal position, retaining the integrity and protection of the FCM system in situ. This system is commonly used for both installation of multiple mattresses as well as decommissioning mats. Fronds are a dense carpet of strands, like seaweed, woven together to create a system which slows down the sediment on the seabed, causing it to fall and create natural burial. The fronded concrete mattresses or FCM’s, are of Pipeshield’s own design and utilises their specialist three part frond system. A recyclable protective cover protects the system during storage

The frond system is fixed to one of Pipeshields 6m x 3m concrete bi-flex mattresses with their patented nose to notch block design (N2 Edge). This block design is proven to provide up to three times more edge stability compared to a standard block design. Pipeshield’s General Manager David Blake said: “Following last years award we are delighted to receive the 2nd PHASE contract by DeepOcean. We were ahead of schedule the first time and received very positive feedback from the client so it was important that we doubled our efforts to build upon that success.” “The EA1 project is such a significant project and with so many huge projects on the horizon it is important that we let our actions do the talking. Local content has been discussed a lot during contract negotiations, so again it is particularly nice that we have been able to utilise both Lowestoft for this project (Design & Contracts) and Great Yarmouth (Manufacture & Delivery),” he added.

ON THE MOVE

ON THE

MOVE “Last week’s Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) marked the event’s golden anniversary; from its launch 50 years ago in response to the growing need for technological solutions to successfully leverage opportunity in the offshore industry, OTC’s reach and influence has spread to almost every pocket of the sector globally. For many in Aberdeen, making the annual trip to Houston has become nothing short of a calendar staple. Despite this, reported attendance fell for the fifth consecutive year, marking a 46% decline from peak figures in 2014. Inarguably, the downturn has impacted heavily on these numbers, but this should not be used as a mask for deeper discussions about OTC’s relevance in the industry. While the event has historically been considered as an unconsented melting pot for international and domestic players, we can’t ignore the significant