OGV Energy Magazine-The Subsea Issue

February 2024 - ISSUE 77

THE SUBSEA ISSUE GLOBAL ENERGY NEWS WORLD PROJECTS SUBSEA OUR DIGITAL INDUSTRY RENEWABLES CONTRACT AWARDS DECOMMISSIONING STATS & ANALYTICS EVENTS READ ON PAGE 4 

ACT smart

The subsea Issue also featuring 

Proserv Worley Rotech Subsea Brimmond Viper Innovations

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Ashtead Technology The Impulse Group OEG Renewables JBS Group Mermaid Subsea Services UK

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RCP Sentinel Subsea QHSE Aberdeen ROVOP Westerton Access

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A WORD FROM THE EDITOR Welcome to the February edition of ‘OGV Energy Magazine’ where we will be exploring the Subsea sector, ahead of the Subsea Expo event in Aberdeen this month.

A big thank you to our front cover partner Proserv and you can read their interview with CTO Tore Ernsten on how the controls technology leader can unlock subsea opportunities inside on pages 4 & 5.

We also have contributions from Viper Innovations, OEG, Worley, JBS Group, Rosen Group, Sentinel Subsea, Mermaid Subsea, Ashtead Technology, ROVOP, Impulse Group and QHSE Aberdeen.

The rest of this month’s magazine as always provides you with a review of the Energy sector in the North Sea, Europe, Middle East, the US and Australasia along with industry analysis and project updates from Westwood Global Energy Group, the EIC and Renewables UK. Warm regards Dan Hyland - Director

VIEW THE OGV MAGAZINE ONLINE AT www.ogv.energy/magazine

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Maximising value: possibilities become realities

Proserv’s CTO Tore Erntsen tells OGV Energy’s Dan Hyland how the controls technology leader can unlock subsea opportunities.

Tore Erntsen, CTO, Proserv

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roserv has gained a reputation over the years as a technology pioneer and a supply chain company with an extensive reach across the energy sector. But it is in control system design and innovation where the team finds its roots and for the past 30 years, it has established itself as one of the subsea segments’ leading lights for delivering creative solutions of market-leading quality to challenge the status quo.

Tore Erntsen is one of the key architects of Proserv’s technology roadmap and for the past five years he has been its Chief Technology Officer (CTO), based at its Centre of Excellence in Trondheim, a subsea research and development hub. He is keen to underline the team’s long-standing heritage and traction: “We refer to ourselves as the subsea controls specialists and quite simply, if operators prioritise quality, then they need to talk to us. We recognise just how integral highly reliable, continually supported electronics are to providing smooth and efficient production.

If something goes wrong with the subsea controls, and this occurs a lot, then that operator faces a costly and ever worsening issue.”

Erntsen points to Proserv’s capabilities in both greenfield and brownfield developments, referencing the fact “we have deployed more than 300 subsea systems to dozens of operators right around the globe over the past three decades”.

www.ogv.energy I February 2024

Emissions reduction He is also quick to stress the unrivalled reliability of its subsea controls offering, meaning fewer maintenance campaigns and no need for the retrieval of equipment throughout the life of field, has been central to compelling calculations undertaken by business consultancy Carbon-Zero. These highlight that Proserv can reduce the emissions associated with the use of a subsea control module (SCM) by approximately 56%, when compared to industry standard products.

One would expect Proserv’s CTO to push the positives of its own technology but Erntsen’s words are corroborated by the leading research consultancy in the subsea space, US based Kimberlite International Oilfield Research. Kimberlite uses data collected from one-to-one interviews with industry leaders to identify market trends and build performance benchmarks.

Proserv outstrips the major subsea original equipment manufacturers (OEM) in customer loyalty and tops Kimberlite’s findings in equipment performance “distinguishing itself” in both quality and reliability.

Voice of the customer Erntsen says Kimberlite’s findings reflect the broader approach within Proserv towards technology development where assessing market issues, listening to the feedback from customers, and innovating applicable solutions are the modus operandi:

Proserv's Artemis 2G (A2G) subsea electronics module

“Reliability is arguably the most critical challenge for operators around their control systems. On average, the mean time between failures is less than two years! This is crazy when the equipment is installed in inaccessible locations on the seabed.

“As years pass, more and more subsea modules fail and become unreliable meaning that production efficiency can decline alarmingly. It makes no sense for operators to sit back and accept this as normal practice.”

The latest Kimberlite report, focused on the performance of maintenance and service suppliers, found that an eye-watering 97% of respondents expect subsea controls changeouts through the life of a subsea well.

SCMs were identified as the equipment failing most often, with replacements “on average 2.0 times over an assumed lifespan of 20 years for a typical subsea well” according to the study.

Proserv’s CTO regards such findings as a guide, helping to set his team apart.

“On one hand, these failures represent a massive challenge for the industry but for technology developers like us this is a major opportunity to solve a critical problem, maximise value for customers and unlock opportunities around enhancing production, extending life and boosting profitability.”

ACT now Erntsen explains that Proserv’s Augmented Controls Technology (ACT), driven by its market-leading Artemis 2G (A2G) subsea electronics module (SEM), can deliver a

Cover Feature

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transformative outcome for clients. He reveals that the crux of the problem lies in obsolete electronics where an operator has acquired its subsea controls from one of the larger OEMs, often as part of a package alongside the subsea tree, and after only five or six years of operation begins to encounter serious reliability issues.

“The SCMs begin to fail. Logically, the operator goes back to the supplier for a solution, only to find that the electronics are no longer supported, have become obsolete, as the OEM has moved on to a newer version of the technology. Suddenly, the operator is staring at the time and cost of a full system upgrade as that seems to be the only, and the preferred, option suggested by the original supplier.”

ACT harnesses Proserv’s coexistence and system integration capabilities to be backwards compatible. Instead of full system upgrades, ACT brings smarter, lighter and targeted interventions, switching out the failing SEM and replacing it with A2G. “ACT can completely change the outlook for an operator who is no longer tied into a death spiral of unreliability. We can regenerate things quickly and our coexistence abilities mean our equipment will communicate seamlessly with the other existing SCMs and instrumentation.

Our communications bandwidth allows us to integrate further functionality as a simple add-on to the existing infrastructure with minimal impact.”

New possibilities Proserv’s CTO emphasises that the full impact of ACT can be seen in operators being able to reassess their strategy and future planning as a failing asset becomes transformed.

“We can rejuvenate the controls, eradicate the constraints of obsolescence, while avoiding an expensive full system upgrade, to give an asset a new lease of life. Our technology is OEM-agnostic so if an operator then wants to add in an extension or tieback, ACT makes what was previously unrealistic now economically viable and doable.

We can maximise value and extend life.”

ACT has been deployed around the world but Erntsen wants to see it gain an ever bigger footprint in his homeland:

Image of the Greater Shenzi field ©Woodside Energy

more recent innovation. The two parties signed a memorandum of understanding at the end of 2021 and already their high integrity pressure protection system (HIPPS) has secured sizeable contract wins in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Their technology brings together Trendsetter’s HIPPS module and Proserv’s field proven HIPPS subsea controls into a SIL 3 rated solution, enabling an operator to tie a new high pressure well, safely and flexibly, into existing lower pressure infrastructure. This effectively addresses varying pressure regimes by supplying a high reliability, localised safety system that will shut in automatically in the event of a pressure spike.

Erntsen observes that Proserv’s A2G SEM supplies the backbone control and comms channels, once again allowing flexible coexistence.

“Our HIPPS with Trendsetter is another great example of where technology can unlock new possibilities. The reliability of our controls, the SIL 3 rated equipment offering that extra layer of safety integrity, open the door for this accessible plug and play concept.

“An operator can now commit to a deep water extension, within varying pressure regimes, without the need, time or expense for new high pressure rated infrastructure to be installed to tie in a new well. What wasn’t possible a few years ago, following our innovation and

collaboration, has become a reality and once more can extend life and maximise value.”

Proserv’s CTO references a recent project on Woodside Energy’s Shenzi North expansion where first oil was achieved five months early and just 26 months after the final investment decision. Woodside was able to utilise much of the existing infrastructure, including flowlines, risers and topside facilities, to accelerate the development.

Technology roadmap The subsea market is a central component of Proserv’s current business but the company wouldn’t be the technology leader that it is if it wasn’t seeking to stay aligned to the transition and envisaging a markedly different future in the decades to come: “Oil and gas will remain vital for many years and our solutions support smooth, safe, reliable production. But equally we continue to move ever forwards into renewables and offshore wind via on-going digital tech innovation and our ECG™ holistic cable monitoring system.

We must always pinpoint new possibilities for ourselves.”

Tore Erntsen also hints briefly at future opportunities for the team in carbon capture and storage, again involving its subsea controls capabilities and supply chain collaboration. A further avenue for Proserv’s serial subsea innovators might be opening up in 2024…

“Norway offers mature, brownfield sites and operators want to act smarter – from small independents looking to increase production reliability, or add an extra well to maximise value, through to big operators who need to break out of the usual OEM cycle of controls obsolescence and inefficiency. Norway is an exciting market and we have the agility and flexibility to support any partner.”

Get HIPPS While ACT has been gaining traction over years, Proserv’s technology collaboration with US based Trendsetter Engineering is a much

Graphic of Proserv and Trendsetter's HIPPS technology ©Proserv

Providing leading controls technologies to enhance performance, optimise assets and extend life right across the energy sector.

For more information, see our website: proserv.com

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Community News

COMMUNITY news FIND ALL THE FULL COMMUNITY NEWS ARTICLES ON THE OGV ENERGY WEBSITE

Safelift Offshore Ltd appoint new Managing Director Steven Simpson Handling equipment, lifting and container specialists Safelift Offshore Ltd are delighted to announce the appointment of Steven Simpson as new Managing Director.

Pictured alongside founder and CEO Peter Innes, Steven comments, “ I am both delighted and excited for this opportunity to help lead the organisation to continued growth, new markets, developing our product offering whilst making our clientele core to what we do as an organisation going forward.”

Steven joins with 20 years of experience within the energy sector and formally worked at engineering specialists Brimmond.’ 

ROVOP celebrates unprecedented pipeline of Global Work, seeks ROV professionals Aberdeen-based subsea ROV supplier launches recruitment campaign for experienced ROV professionals ROVOP’s committed backlog of work has hit record highs.

Committed global work includes a number of multiyear contracts with prestigious customers across the Energy Transition.

Neil Potter, CEO of ROVOP, says: “We have had our best year on record resulting in a large pipeline of work that reflects our growth and our standing across the energy industry. We’re on the lookout for the best ROV professionals worldwide to deliver on this wide variety of ambitious projects.” 

Elemental Energies spearheads strategic growth: Appointing respected industry expert as Head of Wells

Xergy opens new international office to support the growth of its game-changing software

Aberdeen, 18 January, 2024: Elemental Energies, leading independent wells expert, has announced the senior appointment of Willem Boon von Ochssee as Head of Wells. The key appointment comes as the company charts a course for continued expansion in the coming year.

Technology company, Xergy, has opened new offices in Perth, Australia, and Dundee in Scotland to support increasing demand for its project management software, Proteus.

In his global role, Boon von Ochssee will be responsible for managing the business’ well engineering and wider technical strategy, providing expertise and oversight to projects across oil and gas, decommissioning and low carbon. With over thirty years’ industry experience, he joins Elemental Energies from Spirit Energy, where he worked as the operator’s Wells Technical Authority.

He is a specialist in well engineering, project management, drilling management systems and well integrity assurance. 

www.ogv.energy I February 2024

The new offices have created 10 new roles, taking Xergy’s total workforce to 34.

Headquartered in Scotland’s energy capital, Aberdeen, with an office in the UAE, Xergy has invested £9.2m in the development of the “gamechanging” management software that is helping companies with their digital transformation.

Proteus is an intelligent, integrated software that dramatically improves the delivery of complex energy, engineering and infrastructure projects. 

AquaTerra embarks on Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Robert Gordon University Aberdeenshire headquartered, AquaTerra Group, will welcome a graduate from Vietnam early this year with the remit of developing and implementing an integrity management system capable of analysing and reporting ultrasonic testing data automatically.

Thanh Nguyen will join the Integrated Services Provider through Robert Gordon University’s (RGU) Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) which is partially funded by Innovate UK for a period of 24 months. The aim of the programme is to transfer expertise and best practise between employers and RGU. 

Coretrax acquires well technology and secures fresh deals Coretrax, a global leader in oil and gas well integrity and production optimisation, has strengthened its well intervention capabilities after acquiring a complementary suite of technology from Wireline Drilling Technologies.

The significant investment has expanded Coretrax’s offering. Since completing the acquisition, the firm has signed a global route to market agreement with a supermajor to support its well intervention requirements internationally and secured additional work in the Middle East with an existing client.

The company has already integrated the new assets and software, which include wireline pump units, drilling units and tractor modules into its existing technology portfolio. 

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'OGV Teams reach for the sky for CHAS charity !'

When OGV Group were contacted by Children's Hospitals Across Scotland (CHAS) earlier this year to see if we could help them raise some much needed funds, the teams at OGV Energy Media Group and OGV Taproom, were only too happy to oblige!

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fter putting on their thinking caps, both teams came up with the idea to combine an exhilarating experience with a charitable event by organising a skydive at the St Andrews skydiving centre.

On Saturday the 5th of December at 6am, both teams drove down trepidatiously to the Glenrothes base camp, trying hard not to let their nerves culminate in a profane explosion of language that they thought the situation deserved. Heading off from OGV HQ in Aberdeen, it was a typical Scottish winters day and temperatures were just above freezing and the frost was as welcome as the impending drop, but these conditions would prove to be truly tropical in comparison to the ice storm that awaited our brave heroes later that day.

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Sporting flattering blue jumpsuits, tightly wound cordage and some questionable headwear, all 9 members of the OGV teams

suited up and dutifully closed their eyes as the light aircraft made the slow climb to over 10,000 feet. From the outside looking in, some commented that:"It looked like a smurf village was being euthanised!", but our brave teams took a deep breath and battled on. Enduring the 20-minute ascent, the temperatures dropped to a bone-chilling minus 17 degrees and chins truly did start to wobble, but like Scotlands' national soft drink, the OGV team is made of girders and we are proud to say that every single member of the team jumped out of the plane and passed the process with flying colours and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

The OGV Group would like to thank our clients and valued sponsors for this event including: OEG Offshore, Petrasco Energy Logistics, JBS Group, Brimmond and Fugro, as we couldn't have done this without you and are delighted to report that we managed to raise over £2000 for CHAS. 

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UK North

HEADER GLOBAL ENERGY REVIEW

Sea Energy Review

By Tsvetana Paraskova

The opportunities ahead for the UK offshore workforce in the energy transition, a large proposed acquisition, new discoveries, and drilling and service contracts featured in the UK North Sea oil and gas industry at the end of 2023 and the start of 2024.

Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) published in December its Workforce Insight 2023 report, in which it said that the North Sea energy workforce offers an unrivalled pool of skilled oil and gas specialists that must be retained to power the transition to clean energy.

The report highlighted the fact that more than 90 percent of all those currently working in oil and gas production and its associated supply chain have skills that are potentially transferable to wind, carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS), and clean hydrogen energy production.

According to the leading offshore industry body, it is vital that the transition from dependence on oil and gas is effectively managed to ensure the existing skills of these workers are taken into account so they can move smoothly into new roles.

www.ogv.energy I February 2024

If the UK manages to achieve a successful home-grown energy transition using existing skills, this could see the UK energy workforce rise by 50 percent with new jobs bringing the total number of people employed in the sector to 225,000 by 2030, the report says.

OEUK also called for a predictable and fair tax regime in the UK to ensure stability to operators and attract more investments in the UK North Sea. The Workforce Insight report has estimated that with the right incentives and stability UK offshore energy companies would invest up to £200 billion in home-grown renewable energy.

The industry body also proposes the creation of a dedicated skills co-ordinating body for each of the UK’s devolved nations to establish effective collaboration between employers and education providers. This would ensure a continuing pipeline of highly skilled and trained workers in areas such as electrical maintenance and pipefitting.

Finally, OEUK is seeking a joint commitment between government and industries to deliver a ‘Skills Passport’ which will help to capitalise on the highly transferrable skills of the oil and gas workforce, show career pathways between related sectors, and help ensure that people can move efficiently back and forth.

“This cannot be a debate about oil and gas versus renewables. We need to support both oil and gas and renewable energy since they are increasingly the remit of the same companies and the same people,” said Katy Heidenreich, OEUK’s director of supply chain and people.

“If we get this investment it will mean the UK can scale up to reach 50GW of wind and 10GW of hydrogen, and speed the development of at least 4 clusters of carbon capture and storage projects by 2030,” Heidenreich added.

“That is what the future could look like, but our research shows we need more action to address skill shortages and to recognise the huge value in the existing workforce.”

Crude oil production from the UK North Sea “is becoming less and less important for UK energy independence and security, and new licences for drilling in UK waters would make little difference,” non-profit initiative Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) said in a new analysis in early January.

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While the UK government is betting on new oil and gas licences in the UK North Sea to reduce dependence on foreign hydrocarbon resources, ECIU’s analysis examined the impact of declining production from UK oil fields, with or without new licences, and found that oil from new licences sent to UK refineries would account for less than 1 percent of the fuels used in the UK in 2030.

“Oil from new fields such as Rosebank will be traded internationally – as the government has admitted, this oil is not earmarked for the UK and it won’t make any real difference to UK prices,” Dr Simon Cran-McGreehin, Head of Analysis at ECIU, said, commenting on the analysis.

According to Professor Gavin Bridge, Fellow of the Durham Energy Institute at Durham University, “The notion that more drilling on the continental shelf boosts our energy security doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Most of the oil is extracted by private or foreign state-owned companies over which the Government has little control.”

In company news, Harbour Energy, the largest oil and gas producer in the UK North Sea, announced at the end of December that it had reached an agreement with BASF and LetterOne, the shareholders of Wintershall Dea AG, for the acquisition of substantially all of Wintershall Dea’s upstream assets for $11.2 billion, in a deal that would transform Harbour Energy’s scale and geographic diversification.

The acquisition is expected to make Harbour one of the world’s largest and most geographically diverse independent oil and gas companies, adding material gas-weighted portfolios in Norway and Argentina and complementary growth projects in Mexico.

Harbour will also benefit from an increased reserve life and improved margins with lower operating costs and greenhouse gas intensity.

The completion of the acquisition, subject to, amongst other things, regulatory, antitrust and foreign direct investment approvals, as well as Harbour shareholder approval, is expected to occur in Q4 2024.

"The addition of Wintershall Dea’s assets will increase our production to over 500 kboepd, extend our reserves life, and enhance our margins and cash flow, all supporting enhanced

UK Energy Revew

shareholder returns over the longer run,” Harbour CEO Linda Cook commented.

“Importantly, the acquisition also advances our energy transition objectives by shifting our portfolio towards natural gas, lowering our GHG emissions intensity and expanding our CCS interests into new European markets.”

Perenco UK announced in December a near-field discovery on Ravenspurn South with a new well, C06, proving gas in a previously undrilled fault block downdip of the currently producing RS field. This was the third well in Perenco UK’s Southern North Sea 2023 drilling campaign using the Valaris-247 rig, and follows the successful drilling of Ravenspurn North sidetracks, D15 and D16 producing all together 30 MMscf/d as of December 2023.

Repsol has been fined £160,000 by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) for flaring and venting more than 73 tonnes of gas—the highest fine the NSTA has issued to date for emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere without permission.

“Repsol has engaged with the NSTA to learn from its failings on this occasion and taken steps to ensure it does not happen again,” said Jane de Lozey, NSTA Director of Regulation.

Deltic Energy Plc said its JV finalised the positive well investment decision on Licence P2252 and approved the 2024 work programme and budget that allows for drilling the Pensacola appraisal well in late 2024.

Furthermore, Shell U.K. Ltd, the operator of Licence P2437, has informed Deltic that the geotechnical site investigation works on the preferred surface location of the Selene exploration well has been successfully completed and the vessel has been de-mobilised from site. The well remains on track to be drilled in Q3 2024.

Deltic also said in early January that it had been certified as a Carbon Neutral Business by Carbon Neutral Britain Ltd. Deltic’s Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 emissions were assessed for the 12-month period ending 31 October 2023 by Carbon Neutral Britain Ltd and 100 percent of corporate emissions have been offset through independently verified carbon offsetting projects. The carbon neutral certification will require renewal on an annual basis.

Petrofac has secured a three-year engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) framework agreement with TotalEnergies.

Under the deal, Petrofac will have the opportunity to deliver brownfield EPCC solutions across TotalEnergies’ UK North Sea assets.

“In a mature basin like the UKCS - where enhanced recovery, field life extension and decarbonisation are key - this framework recognises our ability to combine our extensive engineering and construction expertise and offshore operations experience to support TotalEnergies,” said Nick Shorten, chief operating officer of Petrofac’s Asset Solutions business.

EnQuest PLC has reached an agreement with Viaro Energy’s subsidiary, RockRose UKCS 10 Ltd, to sell a 15-percent working interest in each of the Bressay field and the EnQuest Producer floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO), both located in the UK North Sea.

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“We continue to progress the development of the wider Kraken area, including a Bressay gas tie-back solution to reduce Kraken emissions, as well as an early production solution project at Bressay,” Steve Bowyer, GM North Sea for EnQuest, said.

Dolphin Drilling AS has announced a Letter of Intent (LOI) for a 500-day drilling campaign for the semisubmersible rig Borgland Dolphin with an undisclosed operator in the UK. The drilling campaign is planned to commence directly after the firm contract period with EnQuest, previously announced.

Subsea7 has been awarded a sizeable extension of an existing frame agreement by bp, for subsea construction, inspection, repair and maintenance services (IRM), across bp’s North Sea assets.

Subsea7 defines sizeable as being between US$50 million and US$150 million.

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This is the agreement’s latest extension since the original frame agreement began in 1998. Under the terms of this two-year extension to the end of 2025, Subsea7 will provide an IRM, survey and light construction vessel, complete with work class and observation class remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROV), capable of performing inspection, survey, intervention, subsea construction, and emergency response services.

Lerwick Harbour is set to be the main marine support hub for Equinor’s first phase of development of the Rosebank oil and gas field northwest of Shetland, the port authority said in January.

Contractor TechnipFMC is responsible for integrated engineering, procurement, installation and construction for Rosebank. The subsea production systems, umbilicals, risers and flowlines it manufactures will be delivered, stored and mobilised at the deep-water port.

“It is another significant opportunity for Lerwick and Shetland to continue serving the energy sector,” said Calum Grains, Lerwick Port Authority Chief Executive.

Wood has been awarded a major contract to deliver topside modifications supporting bp’s latest subsea tieback in the UK North Sea. Wood’s Operations business will deliver engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) services to enhance the central processing facility of bp’s Eastern Trough Area Project (ETAP) production hub in the central North Sea. Repurposing of existing equipment on ETAP will be a key focus under the twoyear contract to enable the platform’s connection to Murlach, bp’s two production well subsea tieback development.

Valaris has announced several contract awards and extensions, including for jackups in the UK North Sea. Valaris was awarded a three-year contract extension with Harbour Energy in the UK North Sea for heavy duty harsh environment jackup VALARIS 120, a rig contract with TotalEnergies in the UK North Sea for heavy duty ultra-harsh environment jackup VALARIS Stavanger, two one-well priced options exercised

by Shell in the UK North Sea for heavy duty harsh environment jackup VALARIS 121, and one-well contract with Ithaca Energy in the UK North Sea for heavy duty harsh environment jackup VALARIS 123. 

Oil & Gas I Wind CCS I Nuclear Marine I Defence three60energy.com

Oseberg C; Credit: Øyvind Hagen/Equinor

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HEADER GLOBAL ENERGY REVIEW

Europe Energy Review

By Tsvetana Paraskova

New oil and gas discoveries offshore Norway, a new wind power record in the UK, and a lot of green energy projects and deals featured in Europe’s energy sector at the end of 2023 and early 2024.

Oil & Gas Neptune Energy and its partners announced in December a new discovery at the Kyrre prospect and confirmed the volumes for the Ofelia appraisal well, both located in the PL 929 licence, close to the Gjøa field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. Neptune has completed the Ofelia appraisal well, 35/6-4 ST2, in the Agat formation.

www.ogv.energy I February 2024

The estimated recoverable volume is in the range of 16-33 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe). In addition, the 35/6-4 A side-track was drilled into the overlying Kyrre prospect, resulting in a new gas discovery, whose estimated recoverable resources are between 11-19 mmboe of gas, bringing the total recoverable volume from both discoveries to approximately 27-52 mmboe.

“Confirming the Ofelia volume as well as making another discovery nearby, further strengthens our understanding of the Greater Gjøa Area which is an important growth hub for the business in Norway,” Neptune Energy’s Managing Director for Norway and the UK, Odin Estensen, said.

“The dual discoveries allow for a potential fast track, low cost, and low carbon development.”

Norway’s Equinor and Germany’s SEFE have entered into long-term gas sales agreements and pledged to pursue large scale hydrogen supplies. After the Troll gas sales agreement in 1986, the deal to supply SEFE (Securing Energy for Europe) with around 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year from 1 January 2024 until 2034 is one of the largest gas sales agreements Equinor has signed as a company.

“This is a response to Europe’s need for longterm, reliable supply of energy and a viable route to decarbonization at scale”, Equinor’s CEO Anders Opedal said.

Equinor has also agreed to sell all its assets in Azerbaijan to Azeri state firm SOCAR. The assets comprise a 7.27-percent non-operated

interest in the Azeri Chirag Gunashli (ACG) oil fields in the Caspian Sea, an 8.71- percent interest in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, and 50 percent in the Karabagh field.

“Equinor is in the process of re-shaping its international oil and gas business, and the divestments in Azerbaijan are in line with our strategy to focus our international portfolio,” said Philippe Mathieu, Equinor’s executive vice president for international exploration and production.

Low-Carbon Energy The UK set at the end of December a new wind energy generation record of 21.8 gigawatts (GW) of clean electricity, according to National Grid ESO, which said that the record was set in the half-hour period between 8.00 and 8.30 am in the morning on December 21, providing 56 percent of Britain's electricity. This beat the previous record of 21.6 GW set on 10 January 2023.

“Wind power is taking centre stage in our modern clean energy mix, strengthening our energy security and keeping Britain powered up at the coldest, darkest time of the year,” RenewableUK's Chief Executive Dan McGrail said.

“In the new year, the renewable energy industry will be working closely with the Government to ensure that we maximise investment in new projects, most critically through the next auction for new clean energy projects, to lower everyone’s energy bills and get us to net zero as fast as possible,” McGrail added.

Europe Energy Review

The amount of UK electricity generated from fossil fuels fell by 22 percent year-on-year in 2023 to the lowest level since 1957, an analysis from Carbon Brief found.

Thanks to a rapid expansion of renewable energy sources, electricity from fossil fuels in the UK has dropped by two-thirds since the peak in 2008, according to Carbon Brief.

Within that total, coal power generation has plunged by 97 percent and gas – by 45 percent. At the same time, electricity from renewables has jumped six-fold since 2008.

The UK government unveiled a plan to make the country a global market for carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS). The plan, CCUS Vision, sets out how the UK will transition from early projects backed by government support to becoming a competitive market by 2035, meaning UK companies will compete to build carbon capture facilities and sell their services to the world.

CCUS Vision includes measures such as moving to a competitive allocation process for carbon capture projects from 2027 to speed up the building of the UK’s CCUS sector, and creating the conditions for projects that cannot transport CO2 by pipeline to enter the market from 2025 onwards, using other forms of transport such as ship, road, and rail.

“The UK holds a strategic advantage compared to other countries thanks to its unique geology, skills and infrastructure as an island nation.

It also offers enough space under the North Sea for up to 78 billion tonnes of CO2,” the government said.

In response to CCUS Vision, Offshore Energies UK said that “the announcement takes the UK a step closer to net zero and will also bring investment into a new industry which will ultimately create 50,000 new jobs.”

OEUK sustainability and policy director Mike Tholen commented, “The UK is on the brink of a transformation that will allow us to provide carbon capture and storage facilities to industry here and to help our European neighbours. This is good news for tackling climate change and for boosting the UK economy.”

Separately, OEUK said in a report that the North Sea energy workforce offers an unrivalled pool of skilled oil and gas specialists that must be retained to power the transition to clean energy.

A successful homegrown energy transition using existing skills could see the UK energy workforce swell by 50 percent with new jobs bringing the total number employed in the sector to 225,000 by 2030, according to the OEUK’s Workforce Insight 2023 report. More than 90 percent of all those currently working in oil and gas production and its associated supply chain have skills that are potentially transferable to wind, carbon capture, usage and storage, and clean hydrogen energy production, the report highlights.

“This cannot be a debate about oil and gas versus renewables. We need to support both oil and gas and renewable energy since they are increasingly the remit of the same companies and the same people,” said Katy Heidenreich, OEUK’s director of supply chain and people.

The Crown Estate has announced an Offshore Wind Leasing Round 5, which seeks to establish a new floating wind sector in the Celtic Sea off the coasts of South Wales and South West England. It is expected to be the first phase of commercial development in the Celtic Sea, bringing an exciting opportunity to create up to 4.5 GW of new renewable energy capacity.

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energy potential, ensuring sustained and lowest prices for consumers and creating good quality jobs.”

EDF Renewables has obtained planning consent for its Tye Lane Solar Farm northwest of Bramford. The solar farm will be capable of generating enough low carbon electricity for the domestic needs of more than 14,500 households annually while saving around 17,100 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

The Richborough Energy Park battery storage project, developed by Pacific Green, and owned by the Sosteneo Energy Transition Fund, is now connected and energised on the electricity Commenting on the announcement, OEUK wind transmission network following work by & renewables manager Thibaut Cheret said, National Grid to plug the facility into its 400kV Richborough substation in Kent. Richborough “Combined with INTOG and ScotWind, Energy Park’s 100MW/100MWh battery will this leasing round will not only help the UK boost the capacity and flexibility of the network, establish a new floating wind sector, but helping balance the system by soaking up it will also provide opportunities for local surplus clean electricity and discharging it back communities, expand our energy mix, and help the UK to maintain a homegrown when the grid needs it – with a capability energy transition.” to power 250,000 homes for an hour.

The project is built on brownfield “The UK Following the launch of the first land previously occupied by a holds a strategic hydrogen allocation round coal-fired power station.

(HAR1) in July 2022, the UK advantage compared government has selected Renewable Power Capital to other countries the successful projects (RPC) and Elmya Energy thanks to its unique to be offered contracts— have entered into a joint geology, skills and these are 11 projects venture to develop 4 GW totalling 125 MW capacity. infrastructure as an of battery energy storage This round will provide island nation." systems (BESS) and co-located over £2 billion of revenue solar PV assets in the UK. The support from the Hydrogen partners are targeting a development Production Business Model, which will start to be paid once projects pipeline of 4 GW in total, made up of largebecome operational. scale transmission and distribution assets spread across England and Scotland.

The pipeline of energy storage projects which are operational, under construction, consented, or being planned has increased by more than two-thirds over the last year in terms of capacity, a report released by RenewableUK showed in December.

In company news, RWE said it would acquire the UK Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone portfolio from Vattenfall. The portfolio comprises three offshore wind development projects off the east coast of England – Norfolk Vanguard West, Norfolk Vanguard East, and Norfolk Boreas. Vattenfall said in 2023 it would halt the development of Norfolk Boreas due to surging costs and challenging market conditions pressuring new developments.

After 13 years of development, the three development projects have already secured seabed rights, grid connections, Development Consent Orders, and all other key permits, RWE said.

Tom Glover, RWE’s UK Country Chair commented, “We very much welcome the UK government’s recent decisions on future offshore wind auctions which provides us with the confidence to invest and represents a positive step in maximising the UK’s clean

Statkraft has agreed to buy the Red John Pumped Storage Hydro Scheme in Scotland from Intelligent Land Investments Group (ILI).

The 450 MW project on a site south-west of Inverness was granted consent by Scottish Government ministers in June 2021. Pending a final investment decision, the project will capture excess renewable energy, and store it until needed, helping provide security of supply.

The Bluefield Solar income fund, focused primarily on acquiring and managing solar energy assets, has signed an agreement with GLIL to create a long-term strategic partnership to invest in UK focused solar assets.

Empower Renewables and Galileo Green Energy formed a joint venture, Galileo Empower Ltd, which will target an overall development pipeline of 10 GW across six key markets in Northern Europe.

Octopus Energy’s generation arm launched a joint venture with Nexta Capital Partners to develop up to 1.5 GW of commercial-scale battery storage systems across several projects in Italy. 

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USA Energy Review

By Tsvetana Paraskova

Oil and gas activity in the Permian basin remained unchanged in the fourth quarter while most companies in the biggest US oil-producing basin expect little change in their capital spending for 2024 compared to 2023, the latest Dallas Fed Energy Survey showed.

The US Administration received high bids in the US Gulf of Mexico lease sale in December 2023, in what could be the last oil and gas lease sale until 2025.

from 26.5 in the third quarter to 5.3 in the fourth. Meanwhile, the natural gas production index increased from 15.4 to 17.9, according to the survey.

US oil and gas industry associations continue to reiterate the importance of homegrown crude oil and natural gas resources in ensuring energy security and reducing imports from countries with higher oil and gas operational emissions.

Uncertainty increased as the company outlook index turned negative in the fourth quarter and plunged by 48 points to -12.4, suggesting some pessimism among firms.

The company outlook for E&P firms changed more drastically, as the company outlook index for these firms fell sharply from 46.8 to -9.0. The overall outlook uncertainty index jumped 39 points to 46.1.

Oil and Gas Activity Remains Unchanged Activity in the oil and gas sector in Texas, southern New Mexico, and northern Louisiana remained essentially unchanged in the fourth quarter 2023, according to oil and gas executives responding to the Dallas Fed Energy Survey for Q4 in December.

The business activity index, the survey’s broadest measure of conditions energy firms in these regions face, remained positive but slipped from 10.9 in the third quarter to 3.6 in the fourth quarter. The business activity index was 7.5 for E&P firms versus -4.2 for services firms, suggesting activity slightly grew for E&P firms, but declined slightly for service firms.

Oil production increased but at a significantly slower pace compared with the prior quarter, according to executives at E&P firms. The oil production index remained positive but fell

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On average, respondents expect a West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil price of $78 per barrel at year-end 2024, with responses ranging from $51 to $110 per barrel.

Most companies in Texas, New Mexico, and Louisiana expect to increase slightly or keep capital spending flat in 2024 compared to 2023, the survey showed.

In addition, oil and gas company executives expect the consolidation drive in the industry to continue in 2024, after the two large acquisitions valued at over $50 billion that Exxon and Chevron announced at the end of 2023. Of the executives responding to a question in the survey, 77 percent said they expect more acquisitions of $50 billion or more to occur in the next two years.

USA Energy Review

In terms of the primary goal for companies this year, the most-selected response among large firms was “acquire assets”, picked by 35 percent of respondents, followed by “reduce debt” for 20 percent of respondents.

At the same time, the most-selected response among small firms was “grow production” – 41 percent of respondents, followed by “maintain production” for 25 percent of respondents.

In comments to the survey, one E&P executive said “We are still worried about the current political climate and turmoil in the Middle East.”

An executive at a services firm noted that “The consolidation of operators will impede the growth and sustainability of the oilfield service sector.”

“This will lead to the demise of small independent oil and gas operators, as they will be unable to obtain reasonable pricing from the few remaining service providers,” the executive added.

The sale generated $382,168,507 in high bids for 311 tracts covering 1.7 million acres in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico. A total of 26 companies participated in the lease sale, submitting 352 bids totalling $441,896,332, BOEM said.

Holly Hopkins Vice President of Upstream Policy at the American Petroleum Institute

“Simply put, this final 5-year program fails to meet the energy needs of the American people and could threaten to increase reliance on foreign energy sources.”

Under the plan, 2024 will be the first year since 1966 without an offshore oil and gas lease sale.

Commenting on the final five-year offshore oil and gas lease sale plan, Holly Hopkins, Vice President of Upstream Policy at the American Petroleum Institute (API) said that “Simply put, this final 5-year program fails to meet the energy needs of the American people and could threaten to increase reliance on foreign energy sources.”

“Demand for affordable, reliable energy is only growing, yet the administration is choosing to limit future production in a region that plays a

API’s Hopkins commented that the lease sale generated the highest bid amount in nearly a decade, “demonstrating that our industry is working to meet growing demand and investing in the nation’s long-term energy security.”

“We urge the administration to reconsider its shortsighted approach and plan today for tomorrow’s energy demand.”

In the middle of December, the Department of the Interior published the final 2024–2029 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, which envisages the fewest oil and gas lease sales in history.

The Program schedules three oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico Program Area in 2025, 2027, and 2029. These three lease sales are the minimum number that will enable the Interior Department’s offshore wind energy program to continue issuing leases in a way that will ensure continued progress towards the Administration’s goal of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030, the Interior said.

Pursuant to a ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, BOEM included lease blocks that were previously excluded due to potential impacts to the Rice’s whale population from oil and gas activities in the Gulf of Mexico.

“Although today’s congressionally mandated lease sale is a positive step after multiple delays, the lack of any offshore sales in the year ahead is a prime example of the administration’s failure to implement a longterm energy strategy,” Hopkins noted.

Federal Oil and Gas Leasing Plans and Auctions

Under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) cannot issue a lease for offshore wind development unless the agency has offered at least 60 million acres for offshore oil and gas leasing in the previous year.

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Tim Tarpley, president of the Energy Workforce and Technology Council

This large bid total is important in that it opens the way for further growth in the Gulf, and puts some pressure on this Administration to stop slowwalking additional sales.”

critical role in powering our nation and supplies among the lowest carbon-intensive barrels in the world,” Hopkins added.

“This program is a step in the wrong direction for U.S. energy security and will only make it harder to meet growing energy demand over the long-term.”

A few days after the 2024-2029 lease sale plan was published, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) held at the end of December the Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Lease Sale 261, as required by the IRA. The lease sale offered 13,482 unleased blocks on 72.7 million acres in the Gulf’s Western, Central and Eastern Planning Areas.

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According to Tim Tarpley, president of the Energy Workforce and Technology Council, “This large bid total is important in that it opens the way for further growth in the Gulf, and puts some pressure on this Administration to stop slow-walking additional sales.”

“This could be especially important should the Administration flip in the 2024 elections, as we can expect increased calls for additional sales beyond the limited number that the Biden Administration has scheduled,” Tarpley said.

Mfon Usoro, Principal Analyst at Wood Mackenzie, commented on the lease sale, “The increase in high bid amount reflected a pull forward in the demand by companies looking to secure prime, deepwater acreage. This was the last chance for companies to bolster regional portfolios outside of farm-in deals and swaps until the next sale in 2025 and, unsurprisingly, companies took advantage.”

Bidding activity shifted to deepwater blocks, which accounted for 83 percent of the blocks attracting bids compared to 66 percent in the previous lease sale, Usoro noted.

“Fewer lease sales going forward will mean US Gulf of Mexico companies will need to re-think leasing strategies. Companies will need to be more flexible with exploration budgets to add material acreage in each sale and the selection of blocks will need to be more astute,” the analyst said.

byvalet/Shutterstock

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MIDDLE EAST Energy Review

By Tsvetana Paraskova

The threat to international shipping in the Red Sea from attacks on vessels bound for the Suez Canal has grown in recent weeks and cargo shipping firms and international oil majors have been on edge since attacks from the Iranaligned Houthi rebels intensified in the middle of December.

Major container shipping groups, including Maersk Tankers, A.P. Moller - Maersk, HapagLloyd, MSC, CMA CGM, and Evergreen, have also rerouted vessels away from the Suez Canal, sending them on the longer journey via the Cape of Good Hope south of Africa. The longer route has the potential to roil global supply chains again as delivery times and costs are set to increase, stoking inflation just as major central banks, including the Fed, signalled that interest rate cuts were in the cards for 2024.

The attacks prompted the United States to announce the establishment of Operation Prosperity Guardian, a new multinational security initiative under the umbrella of the Combined Maritime Forces and the leadership of its Task Force 153, which focuses on security in the Red Sea. “The Red Sea is a critical waterway that has been essential to freedom of navigation and a major commercial corridor that facilitates international trade,” US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement.

Royal Navy Destroyer HMS Diamond has joined the Operation Prosperity Guardian task force to protect merchant shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, the UK government said.

Threat to Shipping through the Red Sea UK oil supermajor bp said in December it was pausing all shipments through the Red Sea following the spate of attacks on commercial vessels in the area earlier in the month.

Despite the task force, attacks continued into the new year and forced A.P. Moller – Maersk to announce a decision to pause all vessels bound for the Red Sea / Gulf of Aden in light of an incident involving Maersk Hangzhou and ongoing developments in the area.

“The situation is constantly evolving and remains highly volatile, and all available intelligence at hand confirms that the security risk continues to be at a significantly elevated level. We have therefore decided that all Maersk vessels due to transit the Red Sea / Gulf of Aden will be diverted south around the Cape of Good Hope for the foreseeable future,” A.P. Moller – Maersk said in an update on 5 January.

“While we continue to hope for a sustainable resolution in the near-future and do all we can to contribute towards it, we do encourage customers to prepare for complications in the area to persist and for there to be significant disruption to the global network.”

As 2024 began, Iran upped the ante in the area, sending a warship to the Red Sea, after the US Navy destroyed three boats used by the Houthis.

Despite the rising tensions in the Middle East, oil prices did not move above $80 per barrel in the first week of 2024, as concerns about economies, rising inventories, and surging non-OPEC+ crude oil production offset geopolitical risks.

OPEC Expects Rising Non-OPEC Supply OPEC, the organization led by Saudi Arabia and other major oil producers in the Middle East, also acknowledged the higher-thanexpected supply from the United States and other producers that are not part of OPEC or the wider OPEC+ group in its Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) for December.

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OPEC noted in the report that “US crude and condensate production as well as NGL output continue to reach new highs. Total US liquids output reached a record 21.6 mb/d in September due to persistent outperformance of onshore and offshore production.”

OPEC expects US liquids supply to grow by 1.3 million bpd in 2023.

The non-OPEC liquids supply growth forecast remained unchanged at 1.8 million bpd for 2023, driven by the US, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Norway, Guyana, Mexico, and China, the cartel said.

For 2024, non-OPEC liquids production is expected to expand by 1.4 million bpd, broadly unchanged from the previous month’s assessment. The main drivers for liquids supply growth this year are expected to be the US, Canada, Guyana, Brazil, Norway, and Kazakhstan. In addition to the US shale basins, accounting for about 48 percent of expected non-OPEC liquids supply growth, offshore project ramp-ups are expected to substantially support growth in 2024, OPEC said.

The organization also maintained its oil demand growth forecasts for 2024, citing better-than-expected economic performance in 2023 and blaming “exaggerated concerns about oil demand growth” for the slump in oil prices in December.

For 2024, OPEC expects world oil demand growth at 2.2 million bpd, for an average of 104.4 million bpd, unchanged from the November assessment.

“Oil demand is expected to be supported by resilient global GDP growth, amid continued improvements in economic activity in China,” the cartel said.

“Continuous improvements in economic activity, steady manufacturing, and transportation activity mostly in China, Other Asia, and the Middle East, as well as in India and Latin America, are expected to account for the bulk of oil consumption,” according to OPEC.

Deals and Projects In company and project news, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) entered into a sale and purchase agreement with OCI Global, under which ADNOC would buy OCI’s entire majority shareholding in Fertiglobe plc, the world’s largest seaborne exporter of urea and ammonia combined, the largest nitrogen fertilizer producer in the Middle East and North Africa, and an early mover in sustainable ammonia, with production facilities in Egypt, Algeria, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

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QatarEnergy and Shell have a long-standing strategic partnership through several shared investments in the energy industry in Qatar and globally, including in QatarEnergy LNG projects and the Pearl GTL Plant.

Saudi Arabia’s oil giant Aramco said that its Yanbu Refinery had become the fourth Aramco facility to be added to the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Lighthouse Network, having been recognised for its pioneering deployment of cutting-edge technologies to deliver a range of operational, commercial and environmental benefits.

ADNOC also signed a 15-year Heads of Agreement with ENN LNG Only manufacturing facilities (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. for the “Oil demand that can demonstrate the delivery of at least 1 million successful adoption of Fourth is expected to be metric tons per annum Industrial Revolution (4IR) (mmtpa) of LNG—the first supported by resilient technologies at scale are long-term LNG deal from global GDP growth, amid considered for inclusion the Ruwais Low-Carbon in the Network. Yanbu continued improvements LNG Project. The LNG Refinery is Aramco’s fourth will primarily be sourced in economic activity in from ADNOC’s low-carbon facility to be included, joining China,” Ruwais LNG project, which is the Abqaiq oil processing currently under development in and crude stabilization facility, Al Ruwais Industrial City, Abu Dhabi. the Uthmaniyah Gas Plant, and the The deliveries are expected to start in Khurais oil complex.

2028, upon commencement of the facility’s Saudi Aramco has also signed definitive commercial operations. agreements to buy a 40-percent equity stake QatarEnergy, the state firm of Qatar, has in Gas & Oil Pakistan Ltd, a downstream fuels, signed a five-year crude oil supply agreement lubricants and convenience stores operator, with Shell’s unit Shell International Eastern which is one of the largest retail and storage Trading Company, Singapore, to supply up companies in Pakistan. to 18 million barrels per year of Qatar Land and Qatar Marine crude oils to Shell starting The planned acquisition is Aramco’s first January 2024. entry into the Pakistani fuels retail market, advancing the oil giant’s strategy to strengthen “This agreement further strengthens its downstream value chain internationally.

QatarEnergy’s relationship with Shell, which is The deal would enable Aramco to secure not only a reliable crude oil off-taker, but also additional outlets for its refined products and a major customer and a strategic partner of further provide new market opportunities QatarEnergy. We look forward to building on for Valvoline-branded lubricants, following our historic relationship and hope we achieve Aramco’s acquisition of the Valvoline Inc. greater success with Shell,” said Saad Sherida global products business in February 2023, Al-Kaabi, Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs and President and CEO of QatarEnergy. the Saudi firm said. 

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Ghasha development: Artificial islands at a key Adnoc offshore field Photo: ADNOC

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World Projects Map

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SPARTA OFFSHORE OIL FIELD USA

$7.5 billion

WASSANA REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT THAILAND

$5.5 billion

ConocoPhillips

$100 million

PTTEP

Shell

ConocoPhillips has made a final investment decision (FID) to move forward with the project. CAPEX is estimated at US$7-7.5bn and start-up is expected in 2029. The field is expected to produce approximately 600 million barrels of oil during its lifecycle.

Valuera Energy Inc

PTTEP has made an oil discovery through the drilling of Chenda-1 exploration well located in SK405B. The discovery is proven to be high-quality oil and gas reservoirs. PTTEP also mentioned that it has achieved a positive outcome with the Sirung-2 appraisal well. The project is now moving to the engineering study phase.

Seatrium has been awarded a contract by Shell to build and integrate the hull, topsides and living quarters of the 90,000 boe/d FPU. The award follows the announcement that Shell and Equinor have reached a final investment decision on the project.

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WILLOW OIL DISCOVERY USA (ALASKA)

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The operator is currently working towards a potential longer-term redevelopment of the Wassana oil field with the aim to commercialise two discoveries that were made in Q3 2023. Concept selection of the Wassana expansion project is on-going and final investment decision is aimed to be concluded in 2024.

Energy projects and business intelligence in the energy sector The EIC delivers high-value market intelligence through its online energy project database, and via a global network of staff to provide qualified regional insight. Along with practical assistance and facilitation services, the EIC’s access to information keeps members one step ahead of the competition in a demanding global marketplace.

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SIRUNG OIL & GAS DISCOVERY MALAYSIA $250 million

The EIC is the leading Trade Association providing dedicated services to help members understand, identify and pursue business opportunities globally.

It is renowned for excellence in the provision of services that unlock opportunities for its members, helping the supply chain to win business across the globe.

The EIC provides one of the most comprehensive sources of energy projects and business intelligence in the energy sector today.

World Projects Map

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6 CAMPBELL PLATFORM DECOMMISSIONING AUSTRALIA

$50 million

IDD AL-SHARGI NORTH DOME (ISND) OFFSHORE OIL FIELD, PHASE 5 QATAR

Santos

$1 billion

McDermott an engineering, procurement, removal and disposal (EPRD) contract for the full disposal and removal of the Campbell platform structure. McDermott will provide engineering and project management services to enable the removal and transportation of the topsides, substructure, and related components of the platform to an onshore facility.

QatarEnergy

GREATER TORTUEAHMEYIM PHASE 1 SENEGAL $1.8 billion Bp Petrofac has signed a three-year operations services contract for the GTA project. The Master Services Agreement covers a wide range of services, including, but not limited to, onshore and offshore management and supervision, personnel supply, and equipment maintenance.

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NORDIC-BALTIC HYDROGEN CORRIDOR MULTIPLE LOCATIONS $5 billion Gasgrid Finland Gasgrid Finland, Elering, Conexus Baltic Grid, Amber Grid, GAZ-SYSTEM and ONTRAS has signed a contract with AFRY Management Consulting for a pre-feasibility studies on the Nordic-Baltic Hydrogen Corridor aimed to create a cross-border hydrogen infrastructure to connect green energy production regions in Northern Europe to main consumption centres in Central Europe. This project is expected to be implemented by 2030.

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$3.5 billion Petrobras

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MOPANE-1X OIL DISCOVERY NAMIBIA

BLOCK 17: GIRASSOL FPSO LIFE EXTENSION PROJECT ANGOLA $500 million

TechnipFMC has been awarded a contract by Petrobras for the engineering, fabrication and installation of the manifolds, flexible and rigid pipes, umbilicals and power distribution units that make up the Hisep system.

Work is expected to be concluded in 2028.

The EPC contract for ISND-5 batch 2 has been awarded to COOEC and the contract is worth around $609 million.

Construction is expected to be completed 43 months after signing of the contract.

The contract covers the EPCI of at least three additional wellhead platforms and associated subsea infrastructure.

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MERO OIL & GAS FIELD (PHASE 3) BRAZIL

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Total E&P Angola Ocean Installer, in consortium with Oceaneering, has secured a major contract to carry out the transportation and installation work at the project. Ocean Installer's scope includes recovering the old risers, transporting and installing ten replacement risers, as well as a gas lift umbilical, fabricating and assembling the permanent equipment in-country, and conducting extensive topsides support and modification work.

Oceaneering will manage all in-country operations and air and saturation diving services, including project management, engineering, and procurement.

$500 million

ARAMIS CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE PROJECT NETHERLANDS

Galp Energia

$250 million

Galp Energia has confirmed a light oil discovery in a well located in Block 2813A licence PEL 83 offshore Namibia, near Shell's Graff and TotalEnergies' Venus discoveries. The Mopane1X prospect, spudded on November 17, 2023, is located at the southern end of PEL 83. The Hercules semisubmersible rig is expected to drill two wells, the first being this exploration well. Galp intends to continue analysing the acquired data and plans to conduct a drill stem test (DST) in the coming weeks to determine the commercial viability of this discovery.

TotalEnergies

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Petrofac has won the FEED contract for the project.

Petrofac will design the CO2 trunkline, including onshore, landfall and offshore sections, together with the offshore CO2 distribution hub platform.

Petrofac will also design a CO2 pipeline linking the distribution hub to a nearby storage facility, as well as the overarching control and safety systems.

Petrofac is collaborating with partners Peritus International and Offshore Independents in the Netherlands. Peritus International is executing the offshore trunkline design and Offshore Independents the landfall design and offshore installation analysis.

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SUBSEA

The Subsea Sector Looks Ahead to 2024 with Optimism The offshore energy industry and the subsea supply chain sector had a mixed bag of fortunes in the past year, as offshore oil and gas showed it has made a comeback while offshore wind faltered amid soaring costs, supply chain issues, and project cancellations.

This year, the offshore upstream is set for further growth while the prospects for offshore wind look brighter as interest rates have likely peaked and governments, including in the UK, have raised the maximum prices available for offshore wind for the Contracts for Difference rounds for 2024.

The subsea sector contractors are poised to benefit from more awards in offshore oil and gas and a recovery in offshore wind this year.

“As such, offshore remains a key segment to watch in the upstream landscape.”

As offshore activity picked up, the recovery in the offshore rig market continued in 2023, Westwood Global Energy Group said at the end of last year.

The offshore oil and gas sector is set for the highest growth in a decade in the next two years, with $214 billion of new project investments lined up, Rystad Energy research showed in 2023. Annual greenfield capital expenditure (capex) broke the $100 billion threshold in 2022 and was set to break it again in 2023 – the first breach for two straight years since 2012 and 2013, according to the independent energy research and business intelligence company.

The year brought a further 3-percent increase in global marketed offshore rig utilisation compared to 2022 levels, a demand increase of 29 rigs, a 7-percent rise in average contract duration, 16 further reactivations and newbuild deliveries, and floating rig day rates exceeded the ‘magical’ $500,000 mark, according to Westwood’s analysis.

Offshore activity is expected to account for 68 percent of all sanctioned conventional oil and gas volumes in 2023 and 2024, up from 40 percent in the period 2015-2018.

In terms of total project count, offshore developments are expected to account for nearly half of all sanctioned projects in 2023 and 2024, up from just 29 percent in 2015-2018, per Rystad Energy’s analysis.

“Westwood’s overall outlook for the offshore rig market remains highly optimistic, albeit with the potential for more availability during the first half of 2024,” said Teresa Wilkie, Director – RigLogix at Westwood.

“These new investments will be a boon for the offshore services market, with supply chain spending to grow 16% in 2023 and 2024 , a decade-high year-on-year increase of $21 billion. Offshore rigs, vessels, subsea and floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) activity are all set to flourish,” the research firm said.

Westwood sees day rates trending higher in 2024 across the board, due to tightening supply/demand balance in the rig market, costly reactivation and new construction economics, as well as inflationary pressures.

However, $500,000 day rates are unlikely to be the norm.

Offshore Oil and Gas

“Offshore oil and gas production isn’t going anywhere, and the sector matters now possibly more than ever,” said Audun Martinsen, head of supply chain research at Rystad Energy.

“As one of the lower carbon-intensive methods of extracting hydrocarbons, offshore operators and service companies should expect a windfall in the coming years as global superpowers try to reduce their carbon footprint while advancing the energy transition.”

Offshore oil and gas was the supply segment that saw the strongest growth in investment in 2023, Rystad Energy’s vice president in the Upstream Research team, Sonya Boodoo, wrote in an article in Offshore magazine at the end of last year.

The industry will keep the current high level of offshore project sanctioning, which is set to keep investment in the offshore sector robust, Boodoo noted.

“The sector’s performance on key metrics suggests that offshore is one of the safer segments in which to invest, providing low breakevens, high returns and a relatively low-carbon footprint,” Boodoo said.

www.ogv.energy I February 2024

“With that in mind, we predict that operators will continue locking in rigs earlier for their contracts in a bid to secure the right assets at as low a price as possible,” Wilkie said.

Specifically in the UK, the offshore and subsea sectors saw in 2023 a major new oilfield development approved, Rosebank.

The UK Government approved in September the Rosebank oil and gas field, which could produce at peak 69,000 barrels of oil per day–equivalent to 8 percent of the UK’s entire output between 2026 and 2030. It could also produce in excess of 21 MMSCF

SUBSEA

of natural gas every day, equivalent to the daily average use of Aberdeen city, the leading trade body for the offshore energy sector, Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), said in comments on the approval.

OEUK, however, warned that more projects will be needed to manage reliance on imported oil and gas as UK production declines.

“We need more projects like Rosebank if we are serious about delivering a homegrown UK energy future,” OEUK chief executive David Whitehouse said.

“We have around 283 fields in the North Sea, but over 180 of those will stop producing within the next decade. If these are not replaced, we will import 80 percent of the oil and gas the UK will need at a higher cost to the consumer, our economy, and ultimately the climate.”

Offshore Wind While the offshore oil and gas activity picked up in 2023, the offshore wind sector suffered setbacks as several developers ditched previously announced projects offshore the UK and the US, due to surging costs, supply chain delays, and low auction prices for the future power generation contracts.

In Europe, solar installations surged, but the wind power industry had a difficult year and expansion faced hurdles, according to Rystad Energy.

“Rooftop solar is driving the transformation of Europe's renewable energy landscape, from a niche market to a powerful force in reshaping the continent's energy mix,” says Vegard Wiik Vollset, vice president and head of EMEA renewables research at Rystad Energy.

“However, wind energy – including onshore and offshore, both of which were previously on a robust growth path – has faced hurdles that could hinder its expansion.”

Increasing development costs, difficulty in securing desirable offtake deals, and regulatory changes challenged the industry in Europe. The European offshore wind sector was expected to see modest 2-percent annual growth in installations for 2023. Offshore wind was on a strong upward trajectory, but a recent spate of delays to key projects has highlighted the vulnerability of the market, Vollset noted.

At the end of 2023, some governments took steps to bolster the offshore wind sector.

The UK raised in November the maximum price for offshore wind projects in its flagship renewables scheme, the Contracts for Difference (CfD) auction in 2024. The CfD scheme ensures renewable energy projects receive a guaranteed price from the government for the electricity they generate, encouraging continued investment in the UK, the government said.

The maximum strike price has been increased by 66 percent for offshore wind projects, from £44/MWh to £73/MWh, and by 52 percent for floating offshore wind projects, from £116/MWh to £176/MWh ahead of Allocation Round 6 (AR6) next year.

“We recognise that there have been global challenges in this sector and our new annual auction allows us to reflect this,” Energy Security Secretary Claire Coutinho said.

According to Wood Mackenzie, “Improving tender pricing and conditions is the most impactful lever policymakers can pull following recent cost escalations,” WoodMac analysts said in December, commenting on Ørsted’s final investment decision on the Hornsea 3 offshore wind project in the UK. Despite cost escalations and high interest rates, elevated subsidies enabled the offshore wind sector to end 2023 on a high note, WoodMac noted.

“The higher more favorable conditions of AR6 have also helped get Vattenfall’s 4.2 GW Norfolk cluster back on track and allowed Vattenfall advance the projects and now sell the cluster for an enterprise value of £1 billion to RWE who is looking to connect these projects by 2030,” Wood Mackenzie’s offshore wind and power researchers said.

“Building these projects is key for the sector because it helps provide the certainty investors in supply chain companies need to get new factories and vessels built.”

Subsea Sector Supply Chain Seeks Diversification Companies in the supply chain are seeking greater diversification into energies other than oil and gas compared to two years ago, according to the Business Survey 2023 of the Global Underwater Hub, which represents the UK’s subsea supply chain.

Comparisons with the 2021 Subsea UK Business Survey showed a substantial broadening of focus across the full underwater market. Asked in 2021, which sectors were to be prioritised in the next three years, more than half of respondents – 60 percent – pointed to oil and gas.

Two years later and the results present a wider mix of sectors, supporting the broad attractiveness of the underwater industry, with growing constituent parts and greater opportunities for transition across them by the supply chain. Oil and gas was picked by 27 percent of respondents in the 2023 survey, with offshore wind a close second selected by 21 percent. But in the 2023 survey, wave and tidal energy, carbon capture and storage, and hydrogen were picked as a priority focus by much higher percentages of respondents compared to the poll from 2021.

“With parallel projects across multiple underwater sectors, companies have strong drivers to consider market diversification,” the authors of the survey wrote.

“As our results show, companies are keen to be, or already are active in this diversification, identifying strategic and efficient transition from their core markets into adjacent opportunities.” 

By Tsvetana Paraskova

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22

Subsea

The world is our local Playground!

The Pipelines and Subsea team at Worley are based primarily out of their Aberdeen and London offices, with skilled personnel deployed all around the UK. The team is unified through an integrated strategy to deliver the best fit solutions to their customers in the UK and worldwide.

With an experienced global presence, Worley are always able to draw on the best local talent across multiple geographical regions, ensuring that they are always able to deliver the best value solution for their growing client base.

The Pipelines and Subsea team at Worley are specialists in providing solutions to offshore and subsea developments and their projects range from early concept stages, all the way through to execution and construction - for conventional energy, as well as renewables and new energy, including electrification and emissions reduction for all types of brownfield and greenfield assets.

Worley are leaders in conceptual development for new energy projects. This is achieved by building on the foundations of our many years of experience in upstream oil and gas projects and calling on the huge network of subject matter experts within Worley globally. They view each new development as a fresh challenge, seek to establish a vision for excellence for the development and how they can measure success, ensuring all ESG aspects are considered and applied. They seek to understand and implement multiple metrics on how these different drivers interact and use this understanding to screen and rank many alternative development schemes. This approach has been used to create various project plans for the future North Sea developments and also to look at the conversion of existing assets from gas into new energy infrastructure.

If the key to securing subsea projects is the funding, then the gateway to its ultimate success is the technical delivery. The team can tackle the biggest of challenges with: 1. Technical ability and expertise - Keeping on top of the latest technologies and software; a shortlist of papers in the very recent past and coming up is listed below.

2. Partnership with the customers and ensuring their team is a key part of the execution, working in collaboration.

www.ogv.energy I February 2024

3. Customer local delivery, and ability to draw on the key resources with the right skillsets in a timely manner, for a effective kick-off and delivery.

Following on from the points above, skills are a critical element for almost any engineering endeavour, including the conventional energy sector. The challenge at this time is that rather than a gradual extension of skills and knowledge, such as has been the case throughout decades of advancement in the Oil and Gas industry, a step change in terms of skills and new areas of knowledge are required to realise marginal conventional energy extraction, the energy transition, and the emissions reduction and associated sustainability mandate.

In the context of pipelines and subsea, a drive towards standardisation is helpful and heavy optimisation of offshore infrastructure in a way that very much differs from traditional Oil and Gas measures, and the use of novel computing tools to facilitate operational optimisation and condition-based maintenance in a way that was not previously possible. This includes the use of more novel processes, like PINN/SciML, CEL, and other more advanced numerical methods.

These changing requirements place new demands on the key engineering disciplines that form the Pipelines and Subsea team, including Flow Assurance, Pipeline Design & Analysis, and Materials & Corrosion.

It is now more important than ever to have a diverse and highly motivated team that can think outside the box and approach problems from new directions. This defines the approach Worley are taking towards recruitment and people development in the Pipelines and Subsea area, with a focus not only on bringing in specialist knowledge and experience, but fostering an atmosphere where people feel comfortable working beyond the limits of their current knowledge and ensuring that the whole team is always available for support and advice.

Subsea

Worley case studies :

STRUCTURAL RESPONSE OF SUBSEA PIPE ELBOWS UNDER MONOTONIC AND CYCLIC LOADING, presented at OMAE 2022 Pipe bends (elbows) are commonly used components in subsea piping systems protecting the system from failure. Because of their flexibility, they develop significant deformations and may cause either buckling or rupture of the elbow pipe wall.

The main feature in those elbows is the presence of external pressure in subsea systems, which has a destabilizing effect, especially in deep water applications.

The paper, motivated by the use of steel elbows in subsea systems, describes a finite element simulation of elbow response under static and cyclic loading, in the presence of external pressure simulating the response of steel material said loading.

Large deformation finite element analyses to evaluate the influence of the ice gouging process on buried pipes. To be presented at ISOPE 2024 Drifting icebergs might come into contact with the seabed resulting in ice scour, which can be identified as traces in bathymetry surveys. Ice scour can pose a significant threat for sub-sea pipelines: for embedded pipelines within the scour zone the moving ice ridge and the displaced soil can directly impact the pipeline; while for pipelines buried deeper the deformed soil will force the pipe to move simultaneously inducing stressing on the pipeline.

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design point of view, the on-bottom stability analysis of an unburied static cable is conducted for the definition of the required cable weight for stability. The stability requirements for Inter-array and Export cables, as well as the installation process and the cable material costs are dominant parameters for the evaluation of the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE). There is an opportunity to reduce LCOE for the whole offshore development by optimizing the cable stability weight requirements, which will also reduce the material and installation costs.

This paper focuses on the near-bed oscillatory-flow induced hydrodynamic forces on smalldiameter Inter Array Cables, installed on the seabed. For relatively shallow water applications, such as in North Sea, and large waves, the hydrodynamic forces are dominated by the wave loading.

To reach a cost-efficient conclusion for on-bottom stability weight requirements for subsea cables, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations are conducted in ANSYS Fluent. The analysis aims at investigating the effect of near-bed hydrodynamic conditions on fixed cables on the seabed, taking into consideration the boundary layer that is generated by the wave-induced near-bed oscillatory-flow and the seabed roughness. The resulting drag and lift hydrodynamic forces are evaluated and compared with design code provisions and experimental data.

Response prediction of monopile supported offshore wind turbines using conventional and advanced soil representation methods The design of monopiles under lateral loading has been traditionally conducted using the “p-y method”, which is included in relevant design standards. According to this method, the soil layers around the monopile are represented by equivalent nonlinear springs. The “p-y” design methodology, initially developed for slender piles with diameters up to 1m, may provide nonconservative predictions for large diameter monopiles in certain cases. Recent advances in computational mechanics tools allow for the design of offshore wind turbine (OWT) monopiles using a more sophisticated approach, in which an elastic-plastic continuum representation of the soil is employed.

The current study is numerical and presents a comparison of the “p-y” and 3D FEA soil representation methodologies employed for the analysis of a monopile-supported OWT system under wind loading, also considering scour effects. A typical monopile geometry and North Sea representative metocean data are used as a case study. The analysis focuses on the predicted stress and deformation fields, as well as the predicted modal vibration characteristic. The comparative analysis results show that an overestimation of the system lateral stiffness is possible using the conventional “p-y method”, which results in underestimation of the stress and deformation fields, and it may affect fatigue life predictions. 

In order to evaluate the influence of the ice gouging process on a typical buried pipe embedded in sand, large deformation finite element analyses (LDFE) were performed utilising the Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian (CEL) method in Abaqus/Explicit.

This paper evaluates the a 2D plain strain model as well as full 3D pipe response. The resulting pipe stresses should be considered together with induced stresses due to other design aspects, in order to select the appropriate pipe burial depth or mitigation measure.

Hydrodynamic forces on near-bed subsea cables. To be presented at ISOPE 2024 The design of subsea cables is a complex process involving several engineering disciplines. From the structural analysis and

For more information visit www.worley.com

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Subsea

ROTECH SUBSEA SIGNS OFF BUSY YEAR IN OIL & GAS MARKET WITH NEW CFE JET TRENCHING TECH IN HIGH DEMAND

Rotech Subsea, the leading provider of subsea jet trenching and controlled flow excavation (CFE) services to the energy industry, may have captured the headlines recently for being the global leader in offshore renewables pre-commissioning, commissioning and IRM but that is only half the story.

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Decommissioning market. Indeed, Rotech has just signed off on another busy year in the oil and gas sector, with the outlook for 2024 looking rosy too.

Taking the subsea excavation sector by storm in the 1990s, focused on oil & gas, Rotech Subsea emerged from a noncompete period in 2015 (following the sale of its first-generation technology) with a new generation of excavators with greater power, cutting capability, and controllability, opening up new opportunities in the renewables cable trenching sector. It has experienced exponential growth in that market ever since, and the technological advances that have driven that success have also proven to be in high demand in the oil and gas IRM and

With Rotech Subsea’s R&D team constantly evolving and expanding its suite of sectorleading non-contact CFE, Suspended Jet and Hybrid Jet Trenching tools, the company provides a range of efficient and cost effective excavation services to the oil and gas market, including pipeline deburial, repair, access, cutting and removal. No stranger to adapting to an evolving energy landscape, the team continues to develop new tools and applications specifically for the oil and gas market - including the Twin RSG for retrieval of decommissioned pipelines and umbilicals, and the 10” Suction Dredger - as well as

he Aberdeen-based technology-driven contractor known for its cutting-edge proprietary range of CFE, Jetting and Hybrid Jetting tools built its reputation in oil and gas - and continues to service the sector.

www.ogv.energy I February 2024

adapting its suite of tools which deliver the narrower, deeper trenches to be cut in harder, deeper soils demanded by the offshore wind sector - for use in oil & gas decommissioning or maritime dredging.

In the last 18 months, Rotech has mobilised its project teams and equipment far and wide for oil & gas projects, including to Turkey, Trinidad and the North Sea, delivering a range of commissioning, IRM and decommissioning work scopes.

In December 2022, Rotech wrapped up an umbilical post-trenching project for a global installation contractor in Turkey, using its TRS1-LD Suspended Jet Trencher, complemented by the 350 kPa capable RS3.

January 2023 saw Rotech in the North Sea

Subsea

delivering pipeline deburial works for a major subsea solutions provider with its TRS1 tool.

In April 2023, Rotech was active in the North Sea again, completing two major IRM scopes - an umbilical trenching scope with its TRS1 and rock dump removal and re-profiling with its TRS2 - for a leading international dredging and maritime services provider. The Aberdeen-based contractor delivered multiple other oil and gas pipeline deburial scopes in the region as the year progressed.

“Renewables has been a huge growth area for us in recent years, but providing commissioning, IRM and decommissioning

services to the oil & gas market is a vital part of our business,” says Director of Subsea, Steve Cochrane. “Our first-generation equipment was purpose built for the oil & gas sector but our new, more precise and more powerful non-contact tools are much in demand in both sectors, globally, and we have equipment strategically placed in the USA and Asia to service those markets.

“2023 was a really busy one for us in oil & gas in the North Sea and beyond, and with 2024 shaping up to be another great year we look forward to working with long-term partners, helping deliver their key commissioning, IRM and end-of-life projects.” 

For more information visit: www.rotech.co.uk

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As the leading innovator, we are your competent partner to support you in the challenges brought on by the energy transition. Our technical expertise and a data pool of 40 years’ experience in pipeline industry allow for the best integrity and risk assessments when it comes to introducing future fuels into your asset base. We are at your side for your continued success in a sustainable future. hydrogen.rosen-group.com

Partners in De-risking the Energy Transition

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BRIMMOND :

the go-to for marine cranes in decom and beyond Following a £750K investment, Brimmond now boasts one of the largest rental fleets of high-capacity marine cranes in the UK. Combined with the growth of their team of specialist technicians, this expanded capability has seen them working on an increasing number of exciting cross-sector projects in recent months.

By Paul Dingwall, Technical Sales Manager for Marine Cranes at BRIMMOND

RRS Sir David Attenborough We are delighted to continue to support the RRS Sir David Attenborough - one of the most advanced polar research vessels in the world.

It has been an honour to maintain and service the 7 Heila marine cranes onboard as well as assisting with other hydraulic related support.

We currently have: • 11 technicians onboard • 59 work scopes carried out in total • 16 pieces of equipment re-hosed, totalling 614 hoses, as part of our client’s planned maintenance works.

Andy Webb, Technical Superintendent of the RRS Sir David Attenborough said he was: “Very impressed with the Brimmond team working this period. Hard working, excellent standard of work, adaptable and able to react quickly to emergent work.”

We look forward to continuing to work in partnership in 2024.

Resolving the decom cranes conundrum We are also well placed to tackle what is a recognised challenge in the decommissioning sector: projects being held up as a direct result of the aging platform cranes’ operability and reliability. This not only has implications for the safety of personnel, but also for the subsequent downtime caused by delays in lifting activities.

These aging cranes are often de-rated, meaning there are limitations placed on their lift capacity and the weather conditions in which they are allowed to operate. Given that

the North Sea is not renowned for its balmy climate, this leads to delays, which then impacts on project timescales and budgets.

We have extensive experience in providing temporary lifting solutions to support wellhead operations, reducing the reliance on platform cranes, and enhancing the safety and efficiency of these operations.

UK’s longest reach marine knuckle boom cranes Having identified that deck coverage on platforms and vessels is integral to supporting our clients’ decommissioning projects, we have invested in two top-quality marine cranes with 6 extensions and an impressive 27 metres outreach. This allows us to offer the longest reach marine knuckle boom cranes available for hire in the UK. These cranes have been specifically designed to cover a wide range of decommissioning lifting projects. One of these cranes is now at our premises and available, with the second due for completion in February. The two new cranes are longer versions of our existing popular rental 175txm crane previously utilised on North Sea platforms.

Collaborative working with WellGear A recognised means of reducing costs and increasing efficiencies in the North Sea decommissioning industry, collaboration is a tried and tested way of working for Brimmond.

Combined with our deep understanding of well P&A lifting requirements, we are the go-to firm for cranes and specialist personnel in the North Sea decom sector.

For more information visit: www.brimmond.com/marine-cranes +44 (0) 1467 633805 I info@brimmond.com

This was recently illustrated in the work we carried out with well P&A expert, WellGear.

Having collaborated on a number of workscopes since 2017, we share an excellent working relationship.

Our ‘two companies – one team’ approach saw us working seamlessly together for a total of 967 days on two of the North Sea’s highest profile decommissioning campaigns.

With its ability to remain operational during higher wind speeds, thus minimising downtime and reducing the risks inherent with reliance upon aged infrastructure, our unique modular crane was key to unlocking optimal operational efficiencies.

Maintaining lean crew numbers, as well as personnel uptime was another factor in the success of the relationship. This was achieved through the introduction of crosscrew training, with personnel from Brimmond undertaking tasks for WellGear and vice versa.

In total this collaborative approach reduced risk, minimised bed-space requirement, and critically, was massively cost-efficient, saving 3,868 days on the project.

As the global energy industry transitions towards a net zero future, and decommissioning activity ramps up across the North Sea and beyond, it will become increasingly important to draw on innovative, collaborative solutions such as these, which prioritise safety and efficiency.

Brimmond offer tailored marine crane packages, drawing on our world-leading range of rental and stock marine cranes, boosted by our team of skilled technicians who provide installation and maintenance.

Visit us at

SUBSEA EXPO STAND 69

to find out more about our latest tech developments

V-LIFE INSULATION RESISTANCE RECOVERY Designed to recover the electrical integrity of failing subsea circuits.

If you are experiencing low IR, a timely decision is essential. Ignoring the issue may result in expensive subsea fault-finding interventions and the replacement of cables, equipment and umbilicals; not to mention a very real risk of electric shock.

V-LIFE is a tried and tested preventative and active ‘healing’ solution for low IR caused by water ingress.

Key Benefits: • Increases IR without subsea intervention • ‘Finds’ and recovers multiple IR failures throughout the system • Avoids replacing costly and long-lead time umbilicals • Maximises asset yield by extending field life • Mitigates against loss of production through continuous system health monitoring

For more information, visit

www.viperinnovations.com/v-life

or speak to one of our experts on:

enquiries@viperinnovations.com

V-LIFE technology supporting operators for over a decade

Subsea

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EXTENDING SUBSEA ASSET LIFE USING DATA AND TECH-DRIVEN TRANSFORMATIONAL INTELLIGENCE Data and technology innovation will intersect at this year’s Subsea Expo.

The Viper Innovations team is showcasing our latest asset life-extending tools for owners and operators, PlatformVi and V-LIM2. We’re predicting that transformational intelligence and technology evolution are shaping the future of subsea asset management.

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hat future is happening already at Subsea Expo in Aberdeen in February.

Join us and learn directly from the team that developed these solutions which enable you to maintain your subsea cables and assets at optimal performance levels.

How data has become an enabler and a predictor for asset managers First on our development roadmap has been creating an ecosystem that captures and transforms data into actionable insight and, ultimately, into a predictive operating and maintenance tool for operators and asset managers.

What do we mean by that? Insulation resistance (IR) in electrical system cables is the subsea equivalent of the canary down a mine – it warns of problems and possible electrical system failure. When IR is fluctuating, and in the real world it is constantly changing, what does this mean?

A statutory requirement for monitoring the types of electrical systems used subsea, most existing, integrity, or line insulation monitors (LIMs) simply tell us when IR changes, and if that’s a steep fall, it probably means something bad is happening to the cable.

This has been a useful indicator used in the industry for decades. If the LIM’s IR reading shows a significant loss of integrity, an operator probably has time to act, make repairs or replace the umbilical, electrical flying lead, or other system components.

Do this before the cable fails and causes a loss of production and an expensive subsea intervention.

This basic yet valuable functionality is the first half of the challenge, but it is largely reactive.

What if deeper insights were possible? What if almost undetectable patterns in the voltage,

capacitance and IR revealed the nature of the fault so it could be resolved much earlier?

This would enable asset owners to make more accurate strategic maintenance and capital expenditure plans.

Data as a Service (DaaS) for subsea asset management – PlatformVi Viper Innovation’s PlatformVi does just that, with several additional steps. Having operated LIMs for a decade, across oil and gas, rail and industrial, Viper Innovations has accumulated huge volumes of electrical measurement data that is correlated with events and actual performance.

Suddenly, the LIM that has been with us for many years monitoring IR could be transformed into a core element of a DaaS platform. Add data extraction, analysis tools using machine learning, user centred design to identify relevant insights, and you have datadriven decision making for areas such as: • Proactive and predictive maintenance • Enhanced safety, by predicting and indicating potential and developing issues • Operational efficiency • Equipment service life extensions • Quality control PlatformVi fully integrates our V-IR condition monitoring technologies such as V-LIM and V-SLIM, and draws on the patterns detected from correlating our data with real events.

V-LIM2 evolved: the fusion of data and technology The humble LIM has also evolved. Like any data analysis tool, the ‘GIGO’ principle applies – garbage in, garbage out. So, the partner to DaaS is the data gathering tool that gathers

high quality information. Our technology roadmap includes evolving our existing line insulation monitoring technology, V-LIM, into V-LIM2.

The evolved V-LIM2 does everything V-LIM currently does and includes genuinely exciting new features that provide multiple benefits to operators and asset owners. Firstly, like the V-LIM, our evolved technology is PlatformVi compatible, so as soon as an installation goes live, users can benefit from everything that PlatformVi contributes.

It is also easy to upgrade existing V-LIM and other IMD installations to V-LIM2. Being connected to PlatformVi means intuitive and easy configuration, regular firmware upgrade notifications and real-time remote monitoring, with the operator always in complete control.

Enhanced IR, IC and power monitoring capabilities There are several other upgrades in the roadmap, such as expanding the IR monitoring range to 10GΩ, insulation capacitance (IC) to 500uF, and enhanced line power monitoring capabilities through reliable measurement of line voltage, current and frequency. Some of these features are unique and incredibly powerful, enabling asset managers and operators to proactively manage their subsea electrical systems to minimise downtime and optimise performance and output.

But rather than reading about Viper Innovation’s technology roadmap that currently includes PlatformVi and V-LIM2, why don’t you come and talk to the team that developed them?

To learn more about PlatformVi and V-LIM2, visit us on Stand 69 at this year’s Subsea Expo, 20-22 February 2024 in Aberdeen. 

If you can’t contain your excitement and want to know more now, visit www.viperinnovations.com/new-tech or email enquiries@ viperinnovations.com for more information on how you can almost predict the future using our advanced data and subsea products.

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Subsea

Q&A FEATURE: POSITIONING FOR GROWTH Phil Middleton, Head of Survey & Robotics

Phil Middleton Ashtead Technology’s Head of Survey & Robotics joined the company in May 2022 to further strengthen existing capability across Ashtead Technology’s core markets and drive forward our ambitious growth strategy. Now almost two years into the role, Phil shares his thoughts on Ashtead Technology’s worldclass technology portfolio & expertise and how through continued investment in our survey & robotics rental fleet and our people, we remain at the forefront of what we do to support our customers globally.

Ashtead Technology’s growth journey has been an exciting one over recent years. Discuss your time with the company so far.

It has been a whirlwind couple of years and quite the adventure. Even though I have been in the role for some time now, I continue to be blown away by the breadth and depth of capability across the business and the company’s unwavering commitment to quality and service excellence, which is interwoven into everything the company does, and stands for. Ashtead Technology is on an ambitious growth journey and it is great to be part of a business that has the expertise, talent, resources and buying power to lead the way in the industry and make a real difference to our customers.

What are the biggest challenges in the market and how is Ashtead Technology addressing these?

The main challenges facing customers is the availably of equipment, the lack of competent and skilled personnel and supply chain constraints which all have the potential to negatively affect the timely, safe and efficient delivery of our customers’ projects.

Ashtead Technology is addressing the equipment availability shortages through ongoing investment in our subsea equipment rental fleet which has in excess of 23,000

www.ogv.energy I February 2024

assets. Early engagement with both customers and our suppliers is key to ensuring we have visibility of their short, medium, and longerterm requirements enabling us to plan ahead and secure the availability of equipment.

We also take a proactive approach to training our people so we have a highly competent and available workforce to support the mobilisation of mission critical equipment.

Mentorship and on-the-job training are fundamental to the career development journeys of our employees. This ensures that essential expertise is nurtured within the business and passed on to the next generation of talent enabling them to excel and thrive in a fast-growing environment and deliver for our customers. Should we feel there is a competency gap, we provide our employees with practical training from the OEM so our global pool of technicians have an expert understanding of our entire fleet of subsea equipment.

This commitment to technical excellence is also evidenced by our local community involvement in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) initiatives, where our broad knowledge and expertise is shared with local schools, colleges and universities.

Furthermore we provide technical awareness training to customers on equipment application, operation, maintenance and preservation to help increase user confidence and minimise any operational downtime in the field.

For more information please contact us at www.ashtead-technology.com

What’s next for Ashtead Technology in the survey and robotics field?

As a progressive and pioneering business, we continually aim to offer the broadest and most technologically advanced subsea equipment from leading manufacturers to support our customers’ projects worldwide.

Some of the recent additions to our portfolio have included unmanned surface vehicles from Maritime Robotics for oceanographic, hydrographic and environmental monitoring, Orphie camera systems from i2S for advanced underwater inspection and multibeam sonars systems from NORBIT Subsea. We have also made further investments in equipment and technology solutions from Nortek, exail, PODS, Valeport, Subnero and Datawell to support our commitment to the metocean market and meet our customers’ environmental survey requirements in this space.

As our customers’ trusted subsea technology partner, ongoing investment in our fleet is essential and we have committed to further significant capital expenditure for 2024 and beyond to ensure that our portfolio of technologies continues to meet our customers‘ current and future project challenges and supports their mission-critical operations. 

Subsea

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FLEXIBLE RISER ANNULUS VENT PORT CLEANING UNLOCKS POTENTIAL TO EXTEND THE LIFE OF SUBSEA FIELDS Showcasing a real breakthrough in riser integrity management for offshore oil and gas operations, Chris Spraggon, managing director at The Impulse Group, explains their pioneering Flexible Riser Annulus Vent Port Inspection and Cleaning System.

In the ever-evolving landscape of the oil and gas industry, the continuous drive for efficiency and cost reduction remains a constant. A pivotal focus is extending the design life of flexible risers, integral components of subsea infrastructure crucial for offshore exploration and production.

Chris explains: “While traditionally seen as single-use assets with a finite lifespan, industry experts are recognising the untapped potential for reutilising flexible risers.

“This not only aids in extending the life of aging assets, it also opens up opportunities for optimising investigations in new and diverse oil and gas exploration areas.”

Flexible risers are widely used in offshore oil and gas operations to transport fluids from the seabed to surface facilities. These risers are equipped with annulus vent ports, which

are essential for releasing permeated gases and vapours from the pipe annulus. If these vent ports become blocked, it can lead to overpressure and rupture of the outer sheath, potentially resulting in environmental damage and operational disruptions.

The Impulse Group has various products and services that ensure the release of these permeated gases and maintain the integrity of the outer sheath.

Alongside systems and kits for cleaning and debris removal, they also have unique inspections systems to check and verify flow paths and flow rates – even for the smalldiameter tubing found with the end fitting that can be challenging to inspect due to restricted access.

Chris adds: “Our innovative inspection and cleaning system utilises an articulating

For more information about The Impulse Group’s products, services, consultancy and training, see www.theimpulsegroup.com

camera and can be inserted into the vent port tubing to provide a visual inspection of the end fitting’s interior.

“This is so much more than just a visual aid, as it also allows for early detection and prevention of blockages or corrosion within vent ports, safeguarding the structural components and overall performance of flexible risers, whilst debris or corrosion within the vent pipe is also removed using the cleaning arrangement.

Essentially improving operational efficiency and reducing downtime for our customers.”

If you want to enhance safety and reliability for the continued success of your oil and gas operations, contact The Impulse Group today about their Annulus Vent Port Inspection and Cleaning System. 

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OEG RENEWABLES: ENSURING A SUSTAINABLE ENERGY FUTURE OEG Renewables has positioned itself as a key player in the provision of specialist topside, subsea and marine services on major offshore wind projects globally, expanding its operating footprint and range of services to pursue the company’s ambitious growth strategy. © Maciel Photography

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ormed in 2023 OEG Renewables, part of the OEG Energy Group with a 50-year heritage and a global operating footprint across 60+ countries, is a global offshore renewables services business that provides specialist solutions for offshore wind farm development, construction and operations and maintenance.

OEG Renewables is a rapidly growing business whose purpose is to support the strong market drivers in the global offshore wind sector which has an expected growth rate in installed capacity of ~22% per annum, reaching 344GW operating capacity by 2035.

With topside, subsea and marine divisions providing specialist services, OEG Renewables is able to offer both standalone and integrated solutions to support customers throughout the entire offshore wind project lifecycle.

Topside Division The topside division provides customised solutions to support the safe and efficient operation of offshore assets including marine coordination, offshore communications, balance of plant services, temporary power, cable handling and portable welfare solutions.

www.ogv.energy I February 2024

Subsea Division The subsea division offers an integrated range of underwater capabilities including diving operations, the provision of customised ROVs, subsea cabling services, seabed preparation and excavation, including the surveying and removal of unexploded ordnance (UXO), ensuring the integrity of the entire offshore wind infrastructure.

Marine Division The marine division operates a global fleet of fifteen multipurpose crew transfer vessels (CTVs) for both offshore wind construction and operation and maintenance activities, complemented by specialist survey and dive support vessels. Additionally, OEG Renewables has a range of vessel services which extend to customised solutions tailored to meet the requirements of our clients.

By leveraging the expertise from these three specialist integrated divisions, OEG Renewables provides clients with tailor-made solutions that reduce complexity, mitigate risks, and drive project efficiencies, ultimately enabling the successful realisation of their offshore wind objectives.

The company has around 450 skilled professionals with a deep pool of knowledge developed from working on 95% of all offshore wind farms built to date globally (excluding China).

With bases in the UK, Europe, Taiwan, and the USA, OEG Renewables provides a full suite of industry-leading integrated topside, subsea and marine solutions to an international client base.

Eric Briar, Managing Director of OEG Renewables comments, “OEG Renewables takes pride in offering specialised services that cater to the specific needs of the offshore wind industry. By combining our expertise with an integrated approach, we streamline processes, reduce costs, and minimise downtime. Our commitment to innovation and sustainable practices drives us to constantly push boundaries and deliver exceptional results for our clients.”

OEG Renewables has recently announced a series of successful contract awards and completions in the UK delivered by the following companies:

OEG Renewables is proud to be an exhibitor at Subsea Expo 2024, at STAND 34 www.oegrenewables.com I sales@oegrenewables.com

Subsea Hughes Subsea provided ROV services to facilitate subsea inspection work for Vattenfall on three of the company’s UK offshore wind farms.

Services included General Visual Inspection (GVI) and 3D photogrammetry of Cable Protection Systems (CPS) and cable-ends using the VALOR Observation class ROV on Thanet, Kentish Flats and Kentish Flats Extension offshore wind farms, located in UK waters near Ramsgate.

23 Degrees Renewables, specialists in onshore, nearshore, and offshore cable installation, completed a 13.5km fibre optic cable installation project for BT in the Southern Highlands of Scotland. The project involved the construction of a modular barge, the laying of the fibre optic cable and the installation of associated protection shells.

GEOSIGHT 3D, specialists in 3D mapping and modelling, conducted a large-scale hydrographic survey within Scapa Flow and Kirkwall Bay in Orkney, paving the way for the development of a new deepwater facility to support wind farm expansion off the coast of Scotland.

Internationally, OEG Renewables has continued to expand its global footprint with growing activities in the APAC Region, the US and Europe. In Taiwan, OEG Renewables has been involved in all the major offshore projects (with over twenty contract awards) providing integrated service solutions, leveraging its in-country resources and capabilities, and positioning the company to support the development of offshore wind projects in Japan, South Korea and the wider APAC region.

These recent achievements demonstrate OEG Renewables’ commitment to delivering innovative and cost-effective subsea solutions for the offshore renewable energy industry.

OEG Renewables continues to be a leader in innovation, its multimillion-dollar investment in SEAJET Systems Limited (SEAJET) made a major impact last year as it entered the subsea energy sector as the world’s only dedicated all-electric controlled flow excavation (E-CFE®) service provider.

• This revolutionary E-CFE® system (HYDROMOLE) is the most powerful and advanced system available in the market, with the ability to deliver 400kW of power to the seabed, independent of water depth.

• The system is 50% more powerful than existing hydraulic technology, and is safer and cleaner with no risk of pressurised oil leaks to the environment.

• The advanced subsea equipment has all been designed and manufactured in partnership with Soil Machine Dynamics Limited (SMD) in the UK, underlining OEG and SEAJET’s strong commitment to developing highly skilled green jobs for the benefit of the local economies in which it works.

As a trusted industry leader, OEG Renewables continues to pursue an ambitious growth strategy with their latest acquisition of Bluestream Offshore in December 2023; a highly respected industry leading specialist in subsea and topside services based in the Netherlands. The acquisition of Bluestream greatly expanded OEG Renewables subsea and inspection capabilities and granted the Group further access to the growing European offshore renewables sector.

With the global energy transition gathering pace, a remarkable shift towards offshore renewable energy sources is underway, and OEG Renewables is positioned to be an integral part of this transformative journey. 

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JBS GROUP'S SEA AXE: A SMART APPROACH FOR SUBSEA EXCAVATION

JBS Group, established in the market as a provider of innovative solutions, has experienced a rise in global demand for its Sea Axe controlled flow subsea excavation technology – a testament to the solution’s award-winning status.

The environmentally-friendly system stands out for its compact design, small deck footprint – 8m x 10m – and safe deployment from a vessel's A-frame or crane.

The innovation works through facilitating natural erosion of the seabed and is therefore the most environmentally acceptable method available for subsea excavation. Natural erosion significantly reduces the impact on the ecological environment.

Alex Whyte, operations director, JBS Group, said: “Clients are looking for a smarter approach, one that also takes the environment into account. This is why we have seen a significant surge in demand for our patented Sea Axe CFE technology, not just for UK projects but international ones as well.

“We are on track for substantial growth as our relationships with clients develop and they gain a deeper understanding of how we can help to optimise their operations.”

Sea Axe CFE in action: proven technology Sea Axe, utilised in major projects such as pipeline de-burial in Australia and the 475mile HVDC interconnector programme between Denmark and the UK, has consistently demonstrated its effectiveness and versatility. Its deployment for a recent North Sea decommissioning project further underscores its wide-ranging capabilities.

Crucially, Sea Axe’s design aligns with the increasing emphasis on sustainable practices in offshore operations. Its ability to operate efficiently in various environments, from shallow coastal regions to deeper waters, makes it a sought-after choice in seabed intervention projects across the globe.

Seabed intervention: a rising imperative Pipelines traversing long distances over rough seabed terrain require significant preparatory work to ensure stability and prevent issues like spanning or overstressing. Sea Axe is instrumental in these interventions, offering a solution that combines efficiency with environmental consideration.

Design and environmental benefits One of Sea Axe's distinguishing features is its smart design. Sea Axe is easily adaptable and can excavate a wide range of seabed materials up to 200kPa shear strength using built-in auxiliary jets. It can remain in the water for up to 72 hours and requires minimal maintenance. Sea Axe’s subsea trenching capabilities have evolved from the traditional mass flow excavation subsea technology.

Applications in diverse markets Sea Axe has been applied in several highprofile projects, including harbour expansion projects in Scotland. It's suitable for use in both shallow and deepwater areas, proving

Sea Axe Expertise – Alex Whyte, JBS Group’s Operations Director.

its effectiveness in different geographical and climatic conditions. The technology's ability to work in non-cohesive soils and soft clays, even in extreme environments, makes it a go-to choice for offshore projects around the world. Sea Axe is available for lease and sale, complete with a full complement of experienced operational personnel available 24/7 to support operations globally.

Project capability: How Sea Axe support operations Subsea trenching; Pipeline excavation and de-burial; Subsea engineering; Controlled/ mass flow excavation; Subsea dredging; Freespan correction and Seabed rectification; Access to subsea structures; Windfarm cable array and export trenching / deburial; Cable joint burial / IRM; Jack-up leg / Spud can clearance; Harbour / pontoon seabed clearance; UXO de-burial / access; Cable and Pipeline Route Clearance; Umbilical & Flowline Trenching and de-burial; Salvage de-burial / access; Access to subsea structures / IRM / Decommissioning; Subsea cable location and recovery; umbilical / Pipeline recovery; Rock dump dispersal; Subsea pipeline and Cable Installation.

Market overview: Oil & gas; marine; defence; renewable energy; ports & terminals; industrial and utilities. 

KEY JBS APPOINTMENT IN THE US Houston-based Graeme Morgan has joined JBS Group as vice-president sales, Americas.

Graeme will lead the firm’s ambitious plans for its patented Sea Axe as well as other products and services in US and Gulf of Mexico markets. He said: “There are huge opportunities to increase our presence. Sea Axe is a remarkable technological innovation that can also support companies that are looking to be more environmentally efficient.”

Originally from Dundee, Graeme has been based in the US since 1997, apart from a four-year spell in Singapore. He has held several business development and senior leadership positions during a 35-year career in the energy sector.

www.ogv.energy I February 2024

JBS Group’s success is reflected in its international presence, trading as it does in over 80 countries, and in winning accolades such as the Going Global category at the 2023 Northern Star Business Awards. In addition to Sea Axe, JBS Group offers expertise in fabrication, blast containment and screw conveyor projects.

Visit the JBS website: www.jbsgroupglobal.com I Email: info@jbsgroupglobal.com

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MERMAID SUBSEA SERVICES UK COMMENCES NORTH SEA DECOMMISSIONING CONTRACT FOR MAJOR UK OPERATOR

Mermaid Subsea Services UK recently got the ball rolling on a decommissioning contract in the North Sea for a major UK-based operator, marking the latest milestone in the history of the rapidly growing company.

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he contract involves the recovery of structures, concrete mattresses, grout and miscellaneous other debris, and further solidifies Mermaid’s growing reputation for decommissioning projects in the North Sea. Despite a slight delay due to adverse weather conditions, the Island Valiant supply vessel is set to depart Aberdeen in early March, with completion of the project expected in the first quarter of 2024.

Mermaid Subsea Services UK is the latest extension of a pedigreed and globally renowned company that has been a keyplayer in the industry for decades. Established in the UK in 2020, Mermaid specialises in a wide range of services, such as project management and engineering, diving, vessel operations, IRM, subsea construction, decommissioning and well plug and abandonment (P&A).

The company has a proven track record of enhancing project delivery, reducing overall risk and bolstering environmental sustainability for clients, and has solidified its position as a leader in vessel and diving services worldwide. The UK establishment serves as a testament to Mermaid’s continued expansion and commitment to providing exceptional services on a global scale.

Scott Cormack, Mermaid Regional Director expressed his satisfaction over this contract, stating: “It is great to be able to offer the Valiant

to clients and to be working with the team at Island Offshore once again. It is a vessel with a robust track record, which is perfectly suited to the rigours of the North Sea, and this project will set it up perfectly for what promises to be a busy few months.”

This campaign marks the beginning of an exciting year for the Valiant, which has already secured several other contracts for 2024. Despite the high demand, Mermaid still has some availability and flexibility for other clients starting from March.

In conjunction with the company’s highly skilled team of subsea experts, in-house project management and team of engineers, the Valiant is well equipped to handle a range of subsea tasks, using its fully integrated Work Class ROV, moonpool with 200t A-frame and 90t AHC crane. The vessel also boasts an extensive and successful track record in light construction, decommissioning, air diving and well P&A, which attests to its capabilities in navigating the challenges of North Sea operations.

Cormack emphasises: “This decommissioning project is yet another great landmark for us and we are thrilled that work will get underway in earnest soon. Unsurprisingly there has been a great deal of interest from other companies looking to use the Valiant to support the delivery of their subsea projects, and while there is still some availability, it’s likely to go fast.”

As Mermaid’s project pipeline continues to expand, the company is preparing for a substantial growth period with plans to expand its Aberdeen headquarters in Westhill.

They are actively recruiting new staff, with a specific focus on hiring a Procurement Officer and a Contract Engineer to support operations in the UK and Europe. Part of a broader expansion strategy, these plans align with the company’s vision to become a leading integrated subsea service provider, capable of meeting the demands of an everevolving subsea landscape.

Mermaid will be attending Global Underwater Hub’s Subsea Expo at the P&J Live in Aberdeen where senior staff members alongside Cormack will be available for meetings and catch-ups to discuss vessels such as the Valiant and how their in-house experts can provide you with the complete solution. Cormack commented: “We are really looking forward to seeing clients old and new at this year's event. It’s a brilliant opportunity for representatives and stakeholders from all parts of the North Sea to get together and discuss the challenges and opportunities that we face as an industry.”

Looking ahead, Mermaid is poised for continued success as it takes on more projects, strengthens its position in the market, and expands its capabilities and workforce. With several engineering and decommissioning projects lined up for the rest of the year, the company is wellpositioned to navigate the ever-changing subsea landscape and contribute to the growth and development of the industry. 

Committed to delivery through collaboration, we provide the sector knowledge and turnkey solutions that enable the Energy Transition For more information visit www.mermaidsubsea.co.uk

DECADES

FIBRE OPTIC + TRAINING COURSE

OF INNOVATION & EXPERTISE IN ENGINEERING AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

INSTRUMENTATION & CONTROL SYSTEMS

FIBRE OPTIC TRAINING

for the onshore, offshore and renewables markets RCP - Instrumentation and Control System specialists have made significant investment in fibre optic equipment such as fusion splicing machines, mechanical splicing kits, fibre optic ovens, optical power meters, optical microscopes and polishing equipment to terminate and test fibre optic cables, connectors, junction boxes and patch panels to a very high standard.

In 2021 a dedicated fibre optic workshop was set up at our Blackburn facility to provide fibre optic training to the onshore, offshore and renewables markets.

preparation including the use of fan out kits, the use of fibre breakout boxes and fibre optic plug socket connectors and an understanding of loss budgets for fibre optics.

The delegates will be able to fault find and repair fibre optic cables and connectors, prepare and splice a connector onto a fibre optic core known as fusion splicing.

Fibre Optic Training includes

Delegates will learn how to manually splice using a Corning Kit with ST, SC and LC connectors. They will learn how to measure insertion loss of splices, connectors and cables. The delegate will use a fibre optic power meter. There will also be an introduction to fusion splicing.

The course material can be created bespoke to a company’s specific requirements. The course runs over 2 days.

Fusion Splicing of single mode and multimode cables using Fujikura fusion splicers, construction of bespoke fibre optic cables and connector sets, construction of circular plug/socket connectors for hazardous area use. ATEX/IECEx zone 1 connectors, cables made up with pre-potted glands and tails to facilitate ease of fitment to drilling platforms, rigs offshore and renewable assets.

Mechanical splicing – Corning and Huber + Suhner connectors, ST, SC and LC, insertion loss and cable loss measurements, testing connectors and cables for insertion loss and return loss. OTDR testing using Fujikura machines.

The format of the course starts with the theory of Fibre Optics. Safety when using Fibre Optics, FO cable selection and connector types. Stripping fibre optic cables and

www.ogv.energy I February 2024

The training course consists of both theoretical and practical elements with approximately 75% of the course being practical exercises where the delegates get to practice the skills taught.

By the end of the course each delegate will be able to identify different types of fibre cable for use on/offshore, select the correct type of cable and connector for the application in hand, prepare and manually splice a connector onto a fibre optic core(mechanical splice), test the integrity of the connector and measure the insertion loss of the cable or cable system.

For more information please contact us at www.rcpat.com +44(0)1224 798312 I sales@rcpat.com

A certificate of competence will be issued to the delegate's employing company on successful completion of the course.

RCP provide the following site services on or offshore Fusion Splicing of single mode and multimode cables – Fujikura fusion splicers, Construction of bespoke fibre optic cables and connector sets, Mechanical splicing – Corning and Huber + Suhner connectors, ST, SC and LC. Construction of bespoke fibre optic cables and connector sets – Insertion loss and cable loss measurement, testing connectors and cables for insertion loss and return loss. 

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INDUSTRY EXPERT WARNS OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY MUST BE PREPARED FOR LOOMING ‘EU METHANE EMISSIONS REGULATION’ Ray Riddoch OBE, industry expert and Chairman of Sentinel Subsea, is warning the industry to be prepared for the new EU Methane Regulation.

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he new regulation will enforce the oil and gas sector to track and reduce methane emissions and ensure exploration and production activities have detection and monitoring measures in place including subsea infrastructure. The rule will come into place for EU nations in 2024, which will soon also impact importers into the EU. This rule signifies a broader ripple effect, affecting not only domestic entities but soon also those importing into the EU to adhere to stringent measures aimed at curbing methane emissions.

“As a collective industry, we recognise the need for low carbon production until there can be a transition away from hydrocarbons - even by 2050, the UK Climate Change Committee estimate that 25% of the UK’s energy will come from oil and gas production. The reality is we need to continue focusing on solutions to reduce emissions and with recommendations that the sector impose Leak Detection and Repair (LDAR) routines as standard, passive technologies are part of this risk-based and balanced approach to subsea LDAR.

Discussing the new regulation, Ray said: “The proposal for the Methane Regulation was launched by the EU Commission in December 2021, and with the large number of subsea wells that would require to be monitored, it is no surprise that the industry has been focusing on technologies that can be utilised to prepare for this new, hugely impactful regulation.

As the industry debates the requirement of what wells should fall under this ruling (i.e. permanently P&A wells, inactive wells, exemption of offshore wells under a certain depth etc) the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) highlights that tackling methane emissions and leak prevention is ‘inherent to our industry’s license to operate’ and therefore must be addressed.

Ray admits that “given the remote nature of subsea infrastructure, tackling the challenge of methane emission will require a different approach than is being adopted for onshore or platform facilities, however, we are already seeing reports incorrectly stating that technologies to support the EU regulations haven’t been developed yet. Sentinel Subsea has successfully implemented offshore WellSentinel™ technology that can effectively tackle many of the industry concerns. Whist continuously monitoring an asset, the systems non-invasive and straightforward deployment sets it apart. Moreover, its economic viability throughout the life of the field adds to its appeal, making it a sustainable choice.

This technology boasts the capability to detect low-level emissions, offering a heightened environmental sensitivity. With a field-proven track record, Sentinel Subsea's technology is already making huge advancements to the offshore industry, addressing issues with wellheads and Christmas trees, showcasing its practicality and reliability in real-world applications.

Sentinel Subsea has developed industries only completely passive subsea monitoring technology which can detect a range of emissions and rapidly alert the well owner.

The field-proven WellSentinel™ system provides reliable and continuous monitoring without the use of active subsea power, data communication or complex intervention. The remote monitoing technology has already been deployed globally for multiple operators to help de-risk subsea well operations.

Ray continued “We continue to work with the industry to support the forthcoming EU Methane Regulation and help oil and gas companies with targets to limit emissions. At Sentinel Subsea, our mission is to support the sector in reaching the ‘Oil and Gas Climate Initiatives’ aim for zero methane emissions by 2030 and to do this, technology needs to be understood, and innovation must be embraced”.  Ray is an esteemed industry expert having worked in key leadership roles at organisations including CNOOC, Nexen, Total and Elf. His 40 years of energy sector industry experienced was recognised when he was on the New Year’s Honours list and received an OBE for Services to the Oil & Gas Industry. He joined Sentinel Subsea as Chairman in 2021.

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NOW IS THE TIME TO SET COMPANY

FOR 2024 As we usher in a new year, it is crucial for organizations to reflect on their Quality, Health, Safety, and Environmental (QHSE) performance and set meaningful objectives for continuous improvement.

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he International Organization for Standardization (ISO) emphasises the importance of establishing, monitoring, and reviewing objectives as a key element of an effective management system. Objectives should be established at relevant functions, levels and processes, as appropriate, to ensure the effective deployment of the organization’s strategic direction and its policies. We will therefore explore the significance of setting QHSE objectives in accordance with ISO standards and provide insights into the process.

What the Standard requires: a) what will be done; b) what resources will be required; c) who will be responsible; d) when it will be completed; e) how the results will be evaluated.

The Do’s and Do Not’s of Objectives

QHSE objectives should be closely aligned with the organization's strategic goals and mission. By integrating QHSE objectives into the overall business strategy, companies can foster a culture of continuous improvement and demonstrate a commitment to all interested parties. Engaging stakeholders is a fundamental aspect of the objective-setting process. By involving employees, customers, suppliers, and other relevant interested parties, organizations can gain diverse perspectives, insights, and support, fostering a collaborative approach to achieving QHSE objectives.

Set objectives at relevant functions, levels and processes

Monitoring and Measurement:

Importance of Setting QHSE Objectives: ISO 9001 for Quality Management, ISO 14001 for Environmental Management, and ISO 45001 for Occupational Health and Safety, play a pivotal role in guiding organizations toward excellence. These standards require organizations to establish measurable objectives that align with their overall mission and strategic direction. Setting QHSE objectives serves as a roadmap for organizations to enhance their performance, reduce risks, and meet regulatory requirements. These objectives should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) to ensure clarity, effectiveness, and accountability.

www.ogv.energy I February 2024

Aligning Objectives with Organizational Goals:

ISO standards emphasize the importance of monitoring and measuring performance against established objectives. Regular assessments provide organizations with valuable data to evaluate the effectiveness of their QHSE management system and make informed decisions for improvement.

Continuous improvement lies at the heart of ISO standards. Setting QHSE objectives is not a one-time activity but an ongoing process. Organizations should regularly review and adjust their objectives based on performance data, changes in the business environment, and evolving stakeholder expectations. The evaluation of results on achieving specified objectives can be part of the management review, performance appraisals or done through other means such as project management with proposed completion dates, KPIs, or ongoing review / feedback meetings.

For organisations looking for guidance or training on Risk Management, please contact us at www.qhseaberdeen.com

Do

Ensure objectives are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound Determine: what will be done; what resources will be required; who will be responsible; when it will be completed; and how the results will be evaluated, Communicate the objectives to relevant interested parties Measure, Monitor and update objectives as required on an ongoing basis Maintain documented information on objectives Identify the objective in relation to Quality, Environmental, H&S, Business etc.

Do Not Recycle the same objectives year after year Leave responsibility / accountability for objectives ambiguous Set unrealistic objectives or so many it is impossible to maintain control / monitor

Conclusion: As we embark on a new year, organizations must prioritise the establishment of meaningful QHSE objectives in adherence to ISO standards. By doing so, companies not only enhance their overall performance but also contribute to the well-being of their employees, protection of the environment, and satisfaction of their customers. Remember, setting SMART objectives is not just a requirement; it's a strategic investment in the sustainable success of your organization. 

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ROVOP celebrates unprecedented pipeline of Global Work, seeks ROV professionals Aberdeen-based subsea ROV supplier launches recruitment campaign for experienced ROV professionals ROVOP’s committed backlog of work has hit record highs.

Committed global work includes a number of multi-year contracts with prestigious customers across the Energy Transition.

Neil Potter, CEO of ROVOP, says: “We have had our best year on record resulting in a large pipeline of work that reflects our growth and our standing across the energy industry. We’re on the lookout for the best ROV professionals

worldwide to deliver on this wide variety of ambitious projects.”

With a vast amount of international work committed in the coming years, ROVOP is now looking for experienced and talented ROV professionals to deliver a broad range of remits alongside its portfolio of 42 ROV systems on 26 vessels worldwide.

The pipeline of work has amassed following an extremely strong 2023 for contract wins, client retention, and project success. ROVOP recently revealed record revenues, whilst noting robust growth is set to continue into 2024.

ROVOP says that it is looking for ROV professionals across a range of positions, including ROV Supervisors and ROV Pilot Technicians, with immediately available roles.

The roles are based across the world and reflect ROVOP’s on-the-ground presence in the UK, the US, the Middle East and Singapore.

The Aberdeen-headquartered company has recently secured several high-value and longterm contracts, which, amongst our global operations, include but are not limited to a 5-year project in the Middle East; a 3-year contract (6 ROVs) in Europe; a 5-year dual ROV frame agreement in the Americas and two 1 year contracts for 3 ROVs in APAC. ROVOP says that these new projects mean that the company can offer its current and future internationally mobile workforce even more regular and sustained rotations, something that is valued highly by offshore personnel. The backlog of work spans the energy spectrum, including those in offshore wind construction and interconnecting cable lay works.

Neil Potter continues: “2024 and beyond is looking extremely bright. We are trusted by our partners to deliver on demanding projects thanks to our commitment to deploying the very latest ROV vessel technology and using the best teams of people.”

Visit jobs.rovop.com for the full range of available positions across ROVOP’s international operations.

For more information please contact us at www.rovop.com

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Subsea

Westerton Access Launches in UAE & USA - A Client’s Gateway to World-Class Inspection Services.

When it comes to routine subsea structural inspections, Westerton Access has been a go-getter for their worldwide clientele thanks to their innovative subsea inspection methods, which have allowed them to maximise cost and safety efficiency with little operational downtime.

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ow the company has strengthened their global presence by establishing two additional international sites, to support its growing client needs.

Alongside the previously established sites in the UK and Saudi Arabia, Westerton Access UAE and USA are now operational. Louis Pietranek, Managing Director has said, “We are thrilled to add two new operating locations to our business.

These strategically placed business units are vital to the business growth plans, and will greatly assist our clients with the support they need locally in these regions and beyond”.

Established in 2015 in the UK, the organisation has subsequently risen to become a worldwide frontrunner in providing project services and offshore UWILD on mobile rigs and vessels.. The firm's client base has become more diverse due to the introduction of additional services, such as asset deployed offshore platform inspections.

Further commenting on the growth objectives, Louis Pietranek noted that “The success of Westerton Access over the past few years can be attributed to the business's determination to innovate and create unique solutions to client needs”.

By securing large contracts with prominent national energy companies and drilling contractors, Westerton Access has been able to accelerate its ambitious expansion plans, which include additional operating locations in the next 12 months. 

www.ogv.energy I February 2024

For more information visit: www.westerton.com

BRENT OIL PRICES

OVER THE YEARS Brent Oil Column February 2024 Today's Price $79.77

1

YEAR AGO

1 year ago - $82.14 Analysts cut their price forecasts for Brent crude oil across 2023 and for 2024 on the back of higher-thanexpected Russian exports. In a research note sent to clients, they projected Brent would trade in a range between $90-100 per barrel over the back half of 2023, which was down from a prior estimate for a range of $100-110.

5

YEARS AGO

5 years ago - $68.30 With prices just below the $70 mark, the President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, tweeted that oil prices were getting too high and asked OPEC to “relax.” This came a week after Saudi Arabia called for OPEC members to stick to pledges to cut output during the first half of 2019.

10

YEARS AGO

10 years ago - $108.67 Oil prices began to drop slightly in February as fresh U.S. economic data and higher-than-expected crude supplies pointed to weaker demand.

The Energy Department said crude stockpiles rose 3.3 million barrels, more than analysts had expected. It was also predicted this fall would continue over the coming months.

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Innovation & Technology

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We simplify your access to these complex incentives. Our combined teams of highly skilled Tax and Technical specialists, enhanced with cutting-edge digital tools developed internally, maximise the financial benefits for any type of businesses.

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With compliance always front of mind, we have been delivering optimal services for our clients for over 24 years. This provides peace of mind that you will always receive the maximum benefit, without taking risks.

Unlocking the Potential: Enhanced Oil Recovery Techniques Aiming to Revitalize the UK Oil and Gas Sector

Mariusz Kucharek PhD Senior Technical Consultant - R&D Tax Incentives

The UK possesses numerous mature oil and gas fields that are experiencing declining production rates. To address this challenge, various solutions are being developed to recover a greater share of the remaining oil reserves. One promising approach revolves around the advancement of an innovative and highly efficient technique known as enhanced oil recovery (EOR). This technique focuses on extracting oil from reservoirs beyond what primary and secondary recovery methods can achieve. It involves injecting substances like steam, chemicals, or gases into the reservoir, thereby modifying the physical and chemical characteristics of the oil or reservoir rock. Ultimately, this leads to an increase in the oil recovery factor. Within the UK oil and gas sector, the implementation of EOR techniques can make a significant contribution to overall production and reserves replacement. Additionally, it can enhance the country’s energy security, reduce import dependence, and extend the lifespan of existing oil fields.

These goals, however, cannot be achieved without ongoing research and development efforts which seeks to improve our understanding of reservoir characterization, fluid dynamics, and chemical reactions within the reservoir. Additionally, the development and deployment of

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cutting-edge technologies, such as nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, and advanced materials, can revolutionize the EOR field by increasing recovery rates, reducing costs, and enhancing operational efficiency. Ultimately, continuous innovation in EOR technologies holds the potential for significant economic, environmental, and energy benefits on a global scale.

The UK’s leadership in improving oil and gas recovery rates, including the development of enhanced oil recovery technologies, exemplifies the country’s commitment to transforming the energy sector towards cleaner and sustainable practices. This innovative spirit is evident throughout the industry, with companies actively undertaking challenging developmental work to drive technological innovation.

To support these efforts, companies engaged in pioneering projects can explore the potential benefits of HMRC’s R&D Tax Relief Scheme.

Leyton, a renowned innovation funding leader, offers expert guidance and support to help firms secure financial backing for their research and development initiatives. Leveraging Leyton’s extensive experience ensures that companies can confidently apply for R&D funding, maximizing the rewards for their innovative endeavours. 

For more information visit: leyton.com

Renewables

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Offshore wind Your partner in the energy transition Optimizing the performance of your offshore wind assets to generate and transmit clean power efficiently and sustainably. abb.com

New Technology Development Centre in Blyth set to drive forward innovation in offshore renewable energy The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult has started construction at its Blyth site to transform a former paper storage shed into a home for small scale innovation in the offshore renewables sector.

T

he new £6 million two-storey facility, to be named the Technology Development Centre (TDC), will provide testing, validation and demonstration capabilities for small and medium sized companies working on products and services for the offshore wind industry - adding to the globally unique range of services already available at ORE Catapult’s National Renewable Energy Centre in Blyth.

Development of the facility is expected to generate as many as 30 new jobs, and it is anticipated that 100 new learners will be supported within the first five years of operation, including local apprentices and students from Northumbria University, who will have direct access to the building.

The TDC will house a 1MW test rig, a mini electrical grid system where clients can test and certify the electrical compliance of their devices for any grid in the world, and a wind tunnel supplied by Northumbria University to study aerodynamics in offshore wind.

It will support companies accelerating the advancement of power conversion systems, rotating components, and hardware in the loop testing for energy storage systems such as hydrogen and battery storage.

The 1900sqm former storage facility and surrounding land was bought from the Port of Blyth with investment from the North of Tyne Combined Authority (£2m), the Blyth Town Deal (£2m), Innovate UK (£1.3m) and ORE Catapult (£600k).

Independent North of Tyne Mayor, Jamie Driscoll, said: “The new Technology Development Centre (TDC) will provide space for entrepreneurs, engineers, students and apprentices to test and refine their products. As an engineer, I know how important it is to fail - to fail better each time and ultimately develop the vital green technologies that will help us reach net zero.

“We’ve put £2 million into the TDC as part of my commitment to create good jobs and boost the regional economy. We’ve already invested £25 million in offshore wind power. This is the Green New Deal in action in the North East.”

Computer generated image of ORE Catapult's new Technology Development Centre in Blyth.

Tony Quinn, Director of Technology Development at ORE Catapult, said: “This is a hugely exciting project that adds to the fantastic testing facilities we have in Blyth - providing an incubator for new technologies capable of disrupting the offshore wind market, as well as creating jobs and learning opportunities through apprenticeships, and partnerships with higher education.

“We expect the facility will provide demonstrable benefits to the regional and national supply chain, generating significant growth in companies by helping to advance novel technologies, and will contribute to the conveyor belt of talent required to drive the growth of the offshore wind sector.”

Councillor Wojciech Ploszaj, cabinet member for Supporting Business and Opportunities at Northumberland County Council, and member of the Blyth Town Deal Board, added: “This is the latest in a number of exciting developments taking place across Blyth which are transforming the town and the county.

“We’re committed to making Blyth an international centre of renewable energy and advanced manufacturing growth and innovation and this new facility is another great step towards this.”

Exterior building work will include treating and painting the steel frame, new acoustic lined cladding, and installation of solar roof tiles, in partnership with Solar Capture Technologies. Inside the building, a new entrance will be installed, an operational area created, and office and workshop facilities will be constructed over the two floors. It is anticipated that the TDC will open in Winter 2024. 

OGV Renewables Sponsored by: new.abb.com/process-automation/energy-industries

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Contracts

SPONSORED BY

Infinity Partnership: Your Partner in Business Infinity Partnership is an award-winning, multi-disciplinary accountancy and business advisory practice, with a proactive approach to customer service.

www.infinity-partnership.com

Infinity has been a five-time winner at the British Accountancy Awards and has been a three-time finalist at the Scottish Accountancy Awards in recent times.

OSSO marks geothermal milestone with trio of mud-cooling project wins

OSSO, the specialist provider of fluid temperature control and separation solutions, has been awarded three individual contracts representing a combined seven-figure sum. The award wins will see OSSO deploy its highvolume mud cooler technology to key geothermal projects within Europe.

Chosen for its extensive drilling knowledge and proven technology, OSSO’s mud cooling offering will provide clients with a unique advantage in reducing downhole temperatures. For one of the contracts, OSSO is providing services for Eavor's groundbreaking Eavor-Europe geothermal project, the world's first commercial implementation of a closedloop geothermal energy extraction system.

This project will generate 8.2 MWe and mitigate approximately 44,000 tCO2e GHG emissions per year, providing clean energy to an estimated 20,000 homes.

James Scullion, CEO of OSSO said: “These contract wins are a significant milestone for OSSO as we continue expanding our global footprint in geothermal energy. Our decades of expertise in high-pressure, hightemperature drilling and proven mud cooler

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technology have uniquely positioned us to support the geothermal sector and we have made significant investments to redeploy our existing technology and create a specialist geothermal offering that can be tailored to the specific needs of each individual customer.”

With a strong focus on health and safety, the company will aid the operators of each project in maintaining a manageable temperature in the mud system during drilling. This will create a safer environment for rig crews, but also minimise operational delays and extend the longevity of downhole tools and rig equipment in high-temperature applications..

Reflecting on the news, Alasdair Carstairs, Business Development Manager at OSSO said: “As the burgeoning sector picks up pace, geothermal projects are facing higher CAPEX and lower immediate returns than those in oil and gas. During a project in 2022, we demonstrated that our technology was effective in reducing the mud temperature of a geothermal well by 25% and we aim to provide operators with the technology they need to effectively manage downhole temperatures, ensuring that projects are as safe as possible while protecting tool life and avoiding costly delays to projects.” 

Wood wins detailed engineering design for Trion project in Gulf of Mexico

Wood, a global leader in consulting and engineering, has secured a contract from HD Hyundai Heavy Industries for detailed engineering of the topsides facilities on Woodside Energy's Trion Floating Production Unit (FPU) in Mexican waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

When complete, Trion will have a production capacity of 100,000 barrels per day and connect to a 950,000 barrel capacity floating storage and offloading vessel.

Under the agreement, the financial terms of which were not disclosed, Worley will provide engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) services covering for BP’s new energy portfolio including strategic projects in green and blue hydrogen, lower carbon fuels and sustainable aviation fuels, and for the operator’s global refinery assets.

The EPCM services will be executed by Worley’s offices globally with support from global integrated delivery teams.

“We’re pleased to be working with BP as a trusted partner on this framework agreement, which strengthens our longstanding relationship and will contribute to helping bp meet the world’s changing energy needs,” commented Chris Ashton, Worley chief executive.. 

Contracts

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BP award Worley with a 5 year frame agreement

THREE60’s EPCC service line broadens international expansion with BW Offshore contract wins THREE60 Energy (THREE60), an industrially diversified global service company delivering innovative solutions across the asset lifecycle, has secured two engineering & construction contracts with global offshore floating energy solutions provider, BW Offshore (BWO).

THREE60 will provide extensive engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) services for BWO’s Catcher and Adolo FPSOs, delivering complex brownfield modifications through innovative multidiscipline engineering solutions to the assets located offshore in the UK and Gabon.

Expanding an ongoing relationship between the two companies, THREE60 has provided valuable expertise of multi-disciplinary engineering and construction teams to deliver responsible, fit for purpose EPCC solutions, particularly in production enhancement, debottlenecking and obsolescence, for the past 2 years.

These evergreen contracts demonstrate THREE60’s proven capability in successfully delivering projects for FPSOs in the North Sea and internationally and is part of a broader global expansion of THREE60’s EPCC service line. This has included delivering services to clients and assets located in 14 different countries throughout Europe, North Africa, West Africa, South East Asia and South America.

Alasdair Smith, Managing Director THREE60 Energy’s EPCC business, said:

of

“These two perpetual EPCC contracts demonstrate BWO’s ongoing confidence in our global offering and how the benefits of our flexible, agile, and responsive delivery approach have been received in our relationship to date.

“Leveraging our expertise in floating systems, we remain committed to delivering value for BWO and look forward to building a positive, collaborative relationship in the years ahead.”

MODEC picks Dutch contractor for FPSO work on ExxonMobil’s oil development off Guyana

Australian engineering and services company Worley has won a new five-year global framework agreement for UK supermajor BP. Under the agreement, the financial terms of which were not disclosed, Worley will provide engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) services covering for BP’s new energy portfolio including strategic projects in green and blue hydrogen, lower carbon fuels and sustainable aviation fuels, and for the operator’s global refinery assets.

The EPCM services will be executed by Worley’s offices globally with support from global integrated delivery teams.

“We’re pleased to be working with BP as a trusted partner on this framework agreement, which strengthens our longstanding relationship and will contribute to helping bp meet the world’s changing energy needs,” commented Chris Ashton, Worley chief executive.. 

Jumbo Offshore’s latest contract award is for the pre-installation of the mooring spread of the FPSO Errea Wittu, which will be located on ExxonMobil’s Uaru project – the U.S. energy giant’s fifth development on the Stabroek block offshore Guyana. The oil major sanctioned Uaru in April 2023. This project’s start-up is targeted in 2026.

The $12.7 billion Uaru development targets an estimated resource base of more than 800 million barrels of oil and includes up to 10 drill centers and 44 production and injection wells. Japan’s MODEC secured a FEED contract for the Uaru FPSO. The firm got the green light to proceed with the engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) scope for the FPSO in May 2023.

The Netherlands-based heavy lift shipping and offshore transportation & installation contractor Jumbo Offshore Installation Contractors has got a job with Japan’s MODEC on a project for a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel, which is destined to work on ExxonMobil’s fifth oil development in the Stabroek block offshore Guyana.

The vessel, which will have the capacity to store 2 million barrels of oil, will produce approximately 250,000 barrels of oil per day. The FPSO will also come with a gas treatment capacity of 540 million cubic feet per day and a water injection capacity of 350,000 barrels per day.

Igor Rijnberg, Head of Sales and Business Development Subsea at Jumbo Offshore, commented: “The Jumbo Offshore team is very grateful to MODEC for this opportunity. We will use the extensive deepwater mooring installation experience gained over the last years to deliver a reliable, smart and efficient project execution.”. 

CONTRACT AWARDS SPONSORED BY

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Decommissioning

SAFE, SMART & EFFICIENT The complete package for well decommissioning

SPONSORED BY

www.wellsafesolutions.com

Well-Safe Solutions provides a ground-breaking approach to the safe and cost-efficient decommissioning of on and offshore wells. We offer a specialist well abandonment service that allows operators to meet the challenges and regulatory imperatives around decommissioning, while significantly reducing costs.

Revolutionising subsea decommissioning with the C1-46 Chopsaw £1 million investment pays off for Decom Engineering A £1 million investment in developing its largest subsea Chopsaw to date has paid off for Decom Engineering (Decom) following impressive results on its first deployment.

The C1-46 Chopsaw played a pivotal role in a subsea infrastructure decommissioning project on behalf of DeepOcean in the Northern North Sea. This ambitious project involved the removal of pipelines, control umbilicals, and various subsea structures from the seabed in water depths of up to 180 metres, each requiring precise and efficient cutting.

The Decom team was tasked with cutting a wide range of pipe sizes, from 1,042mm OD concrete-coated carbon steel pipes to 220mm OD super duplex pipes. These subsea pipelines needed to be segmented into 9.5 metre sections for efficient recovery to the vessel deck.

Powered from topside and ROV using a Hydraulic Power Unit (HPU), reeler, hot stabs and control panel, the C1-46 exceeded all expectations, proving its worth in the harshest of subsea environments. The smaller C124 chopsaw was utilised for certain tasks and also operated with a mix of topside and ROV controls.

The C1-46 averaged 15 cuts before requiring a blade change, significantly reducing the need for recovery to the surface and impressively completed 79 cuts on its first deployment, showcasing a remarkable 100% success rate.

Substantial time savings of almost 300% were achieved compared to using traditional diamond wire saws which typically have longer cut times, carry a risk of wires breaking, and require multiple trips to the

surface vessel for blade replacement. Using customised insertable and replaceable tips voided the need for blade changes, reducing costs and increasing efficiency by minimising vessel time.

In contrast, the C1-46 completed some cuts in as little as 20 minutes, while the C1-24 saw excelled in cutting super duplex and flexible risers - materials that traditional shears can’t handle.

Furthermore, Decom’s innovative approach to reducing seabed dredging time by modifying the saw’s clamps reduced dredge time from 3.5 hours to just 30 minutes.

Established in the United Kingdom in 2011, Decom is an R&D specialist focusing on the design and fabrication of cutting solutions and innovative decommissioning equipment, with a growing reputation for providing complex deep water project solutions Decom Engineering managing director, Sean Conway, said: “The C1-46 Chopsaw is a remarkable piece of subsea engineering which was designed, developed, and deployed in under six months, specifically for this North Sea decommissioning campaign.

“This project underlined our commitment to engineering innovation and underlined our credentials for pushing the limits of what’s achievable in subsea decommissioning. To efficiently cut through a submerged 1,042mm reinforced concrete coated pipe is not without its challenges, but the C1-46 was more than up to this difficult task.

“It’s been a valuable learning experience and the performance of the C1-46 Chopsaw sets the benchmark for going on to roll out our technologies which offer multiple benefits to contractors and operators engaged in complex subsea decommissioning projects.”

The C1-46 Chopsaw has been designed to cut tubulars and other materials up to 46” diameter and is able to cut a wide range of materials, including inconel alloys, duplex and concrete.

It can be operated in water depths of up to 2,000 metres, has the ability to cut in any orientation, and is capable of multiple cuts per blade (20-100), resulting in large cost savings and increased efficiency. Blade changes are efficient and safe and the chopsaw can be supplied set up in a number of configurations and settings to suit project requirements. 

More new contract news available @READ MORE DECOMMISSIONING NEWS ON OUR WEBSITE https://www.ogv.energy/news/decommissioning

www.ogv.energy I February 2024

Decommissioning Decom Week 2024 Launches Call for Abstracts and Decom Mission Award Entries Decom Mission, the only trade organisation solely focused upon late life and decommissioning, has launched Decom Week 2024 with a call for abstracts, and by opening entries for this year’s Decom Mission Awards.

A fixture in the industry calendar for over ten years, Decom Week ’24, entitled “Changing Perspectives: Meeting Demand for Future Challenges” will take place at the Ardoe House Hotel in Aberdeen, UK between 20 - 24 May. Decom Mission Chief Executive, Sam Long, says the agenda has been developed to examine the detail of decommissioning across the energy industry: “We’ve spent the past year visiting our members and stakeholders, conducting deep dives into their businesses and reviewing current and future needs. The themes for Decom Week ‘24 have been developed as a result.

“Our members, whether supplier or operator, are looking for us to bring them the specifics across Decom Week’s three key themes and we invite abstracts which examine The Role of Technology, Application of Lessons Learned and Driving Material Change.

“In other words, we’re asking for submissions which delve right into the heart of the development of decommissioning and answer the current challenges presented by this sector.”

Full details on invited abstract topics and submission details can be found at www.decommission.net/events-training/ decom-week-2024

“They reflect the emphasis placed on technical innovation and how we harness those advances, the material changes that are happening across the sector - from company structure to the recruitment and development of people, and the on-going challenges faced in ensuring a sustainable supply network as demands open up from competing locations and industries.

This week also sees the launch of seventh Decom Mission Awards. Open to Decom Mission members and nonmembers, they will focus upon all forms of innovation, the sector’s community of emerging professionals and sustainable activity in decommissioning. The “Decom Mission Member” category will once again recognise outstanding achievement from within the organisation’s UK and international membership. 

Well-Safe selects Interventek Technology to enhance efficiency of global decommissioning operations

market availability, so the provision of our new solution to tier one service companies will help to enhance industry efficiency and cost-competitiveness, particularly in the decommissioning sector. We’re delighted to have been selected by Well-Safe as a new equipment supplier and are dedicated to supporting them in delivering optimum results to operators”.

Steven Chalmers, Wells Subsea Manager at Well-Safe Solutions said: “Well-Safe Solutions is committed to realising safe, smart and efficient well decommissioning operations. New technology plays a vital role in making operations as efficient as possible and Interventek’s Bore Selector will help to boost efficiency when deployed from the Well-Safe Guardian.”

Subsea technology specialist, Interventek, has been appointed to supply a newly developed, compact and lightweight Bore Selector technology to Well-Safe Solutions, to enhance the efficiency of global well decommissioning operations. Interventek will also provide life of tool support including training, services and critical spares.

The Interventek Bore Selector will be deployed for the first time from the Well-Safe Guardian vessel as part of a North Sea well decommissioning project in 2024.

Interventek’s CEO, Alan Duncan explained: “This type of compact and lightweight technology is currently limited in

The design of the Bore Selector supports the industry’s move towards more compact and lighter weight systems with improved deck handling and deployment efficiency.

The tool’s function allows a monobore riser or riserless system to be used for intervention on a dual bore Xmas tree. This means that dual bore interventions can be carried out without returning the system to surface to realign the riser for annulus bore access, enabling access to a large number of wells in a shorter period of time, with increased operational efficiency. It is positioned between the Tree Running Tool and the Lower Riser Package and uses an actuated flapper which can be moved manually via a standard ROV interface or hydraulic surface controls. The flapper position directs the wireline toolstring into either the production bore or the annulus. A bi-directional ball valve is also integrated into the annulus access route to enable circulation of fluids during operations.

Interventek is active in the development and commercialisation of a range of subsea technology for well access operations. The company’s products are compact and lightweight and are built to complement their original shear-seal Revolution valve. The range includes in-riser and open-water valves and components, plus intervention systems including an API 17G qualified ‘Revolution-7’ landing string.. 

DECOMMISSIONING SPONSORED BY

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Stats and Analytics

Offshore Field Development Update As we look ahead to 2024, a review of offshore O&G-related engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracting activities in 2023 indicated that the total EPC contract award value closed at approximately US$39 billion, excluding letters of intent (LoI). A total of 273 subsea tree unit awards were recorded, over 3,330km of subsea umbilical riser and flowline (SURF) and 2,800km of pipeline in 2023. A total of 13 floating production systems (FPS) were sanctioned in 2023, including newbuild floating liquified natural gas (FLNG) units, of which four units were newbuilds, three conversions and six upgrades/redeployments. 99 fixed platform EPC awards were recorded, with the Middle East accounting for 77%. Since the turn of the year, several notable contracts have been awarded, including an award to Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) for a newbuild FLNG unit that is set to be installed at Cedar LNG's project in British Columbia, Canada. Seatrium also confirmed an EPC contract award for a newbuild floating production semi-submersible (FPSS) unit for Shell's Sparta field, for which the supermajor announced a final investment decision (FID) in the final week of 2023. Considering fixed platform-related awards during the period under review, China Offshore Oil Engineering Company (COOEC) was awarded an engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) contract for the supply of wellhead platforms, the modification of existing platforms as well as associated subsea pipelines and umbilical at QatarEnergy's Idd El-Shargi North Dome (ISND) expansion project offshore Qatar.

In the subsea sector, Trendsetter Engineering will supply subsea manifolds with foundations, valves, and connection systems at Woodside Energy’s Trion project offshore Mexico, whilst TechnipFMC announced an integrated engineering, procurement, construction and installation (iEPCI) contract award to supply the HISEP technology at Petrobras’ Mero-3 development offshore Brazil. In the USA, Shell took FID on a phased drilling campaign at its Great White field, which will be developed as a three-well subsea tieback. Finally, Saudi Aramco continued its investment into brownfield expansion projects in Saudia Arabia through the awards of CRPOs 135, 136, and 137, which comprise multiple sections of subsea pipelines and cables and upgrade existing platforms.

Looking forward, Westwood anticipates 2024 O&G-related EPC contract value will rebound to close at approximately US$76 billion, a 77% increase compared to 2023. This will be driven by the demand for approximately 324 subsea trees, 22 floating production units (including seven FLNG units), over 130 fixed platforms, 4,500km of SURF and approximately 3,900km of line pipes.

Offshore Drilling Rig Update The global committed jackup count averaged 413 units in December. Marketed available and cold-stacked jackup counts now stand at 26 and 57, respectively, with marketed committed utilisation and total utilisation at 94% and 83%, respectively. During the month, a total of 17 contracts were awarded, amounting for 8,258 days (22.6 rig years) of backlog added. Of these contracts, 62% were awards for drilling activities in the Persian Gulf.

The global committed semisubmersible count remained at 67 during December. There are 11 available and 16 cold-stacked rigs remaining in the fleet. Marketed committed and total utilisation remained at 86% and 71% during the month, respectively. Seven contracts were awarded in December, including a three-year contract awarded to Essar Wildcat from Pemex off Mexico, with work starting in 2Q 2024.

Finally, the global drillship count came in at 81 units during the month, leaving five marketed rigs available plus 12 cold-stacked units. Marketed committed and total utilisation fell to 94% and 83%, respectively. Seadrill was awarded two contracts for work in Brazil’s Buzios field from Petrobras for the Polaris and Auriga. Total contract value for both rigs is at US$1.1bn with commencement in 4Q 2024.

Offshore Wind Update Since the last update, Vestas secured a preferred supplier agreement to provide 26 V236-15MW turbines for the 390MW Shinan Ui project offshore South Korea. The agreement also covers a 20-year operations and maintenance service element.

Dominating headlines was news that Orsted took FID on the 2,852MW Hornsea Three wind farm offshore UK. In July 2022, Orsted was awarded a Contract for Difference (CfD) for Hornsea Three at an inflation-indexed strike price of GBP 37.35 per MWh in 2012 prices. The CfD framework permits a reduction of the awarded CfD capacity. Orsted will use this flexibility to submit a share of Hornsea Three’s capacity into the UK’s upcoming CfD Allocation Round 6.

Finally, the developers of the 1,260MW Empire Wind 2 project located offshore New York, USA, have come to an agreement with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to terminate the Offshore Wind Renewable Energy Certificate (OREC) for the wind farm. Inflation, interest rates and supply chain disruptions were the reasons cited for the OREC being considered unviable. The wind farm is being jointly developed by BP and Equinor. The project developers are aiming to continue developing the project via new offtake opportunities. 

www.ogv.energy I February 2024

STATS & ANALYTICS PROVIDED BY

Westwood Global Energy Group are specialist providers of detailed market intelligence for the offshore energy sector, covering; offshore rigs, production facilities, subsea equipment, subsea services, offshore marine and offshore renewables and power.

www.westwoodenergy.com

Offshore Energy Dashboard December/January 2024

STATS & ANALYTICS SPONSORED BY

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UPCOMING HEADER GLOBAL EVENTS Feb-March 2024

Energy Travel

Electric Tele Valo AV 7-9 February 2024 Jyvaskyla, Finland EGYPS 12 February 2024 Cairo, Egypt International Petroleum Technology Conference Subsea Expo 20 February 2024 Aberdeen, UK Sub Saharan Africa International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference 20 February 2024 Lagos, Nigeria E-World 20-22 February 2024 Essen, Germany OTC Asia 27 February 2024 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia KEY Energy 28 February-1 March Rimini, Italy Smart Energy Week 28 February -1 March Tokyo, Japan Future of Energy 29 February-1 March Amsterdam, The Netherlands Oil & Gas World Expo 4-7 March 2024 Mumbai, India Refining & Petro Chemicals 4-7 March 2024 Mumbai, India Oil & Gas World Expo 4 March 2024 Mumbai, India

The energy sector does account for more than two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions, but there are steps that businesses can take to work more sustainably. There are many ways that the energy sector can pivot to reduce its impact on the environment while also making itself more resilient for the future.

Implement a long-term strategy Change doesn’t happen overnight, but it won’t happen at all without a robust plan in place. A comprehensive long-term sustainability strategy should look to fundamentally alter the way you work. This means addressing every aspect of your business, from the disposable cutlery used in your staff canteen to the way your senior team travels internationally. Implementing a strategy can also allow your business to consider diversification and potential new revenue streams such as renewable energy, electrical charging stations, biofuels, hydrogen, and advanced chemicals.

Harness the power of data Data is one of the most important tools that the energy sector can use to become more sustainable. The increasing digitisation of the industry makes it easier for businesses to process data and prepare an agile response to issues as they arise.

Making data more accessible can also help to influence stakeholders and inform commercial decisions. Tracking and measuring your emissions could be the first step towards implementing more environmentally friendly ways of working and making a commitment to reduce harmful gas emissions at every stage of the energy production process.

Review infrastructure Setting the production of energy aside, there are several parts of the industry that can be optimised to help reduce the sector’s carbon footprint. Source materials can be chosen from ethical and sustainable providers, equipment can be operated in the most energy-efficient manner, and transport and delivery methods can also be assessed. Transportation can become more sustainable if you optimise loads, reduce mileage, and choose newer, greener vehicles to help cut emissions.

Offset your CO2 when travelling Despite being one of the biggest contributors to global warming, the energy sector can become more sustainably by offsetting its carbon emissions. Offsetting CO2 is one way that companies can take responsibility for unavoidable emissions such as those caused by travel. Every time your business offsets one tonne of CO2, there will be one less tonne of CO2 in the atmosphere.

ATPI Halo can support your business to reduce its CO2 footprint by employing its Measure–Reduce–Compensate methodology. The ATPI team will work with you to review your current travel emissions, implement a transparent reporting process, and help you plan future travel that is as sustainable as possible.

By partnering with Respira, one of the world’s leading CO2 project providers, ATPI can help you to offset the entire impact of your travel. ATPI Halo offers a varied offset portfolio, built in conjunction with the world’s leading carbon reduction project verifiers and aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development goals. 

VIEW ALL EVENTS AT www.ogv.energy/events www.ogv.energy I February 2024

atpi.com

The World’s Largest Subsea Exhibition and Conference SubseaExpo.com

P&J Live, Aberdeen

20-22 February 2024 Organised by