Sweden

Reporting on the latest developments from the Swedish oil and gas sector

St1 to construct a biogas upgrading and liquefaction refinery in Sweden

Energy company St1 has made an investment decision to construct a biogas upgrading and liquefaction refinery in Sobacken, south of the city of Borås in Sweden.

IT is a project of collaboration. St1 has also signed a long-term offtake contract with Borås Energi och Miljö to buy raw biogas, which was a prerequisite in the decision to invest in the refinery. The agreement includes the two public gas filling stations of Borås Energi och Miljö which will be transferred to St1. The company will continue expanding its biogas filling network in the Nordics to distribute this new liquid biogas production.

St1 has started the construction work and the biorefinery is expected to commence its operations at the end of 2023. St1 has signed an agreement with Wärtsilä Gas Solutions to supply the biogas upgrading and liquefaction facilities. The project has also been granted support from Klimatklivet – a Swedish investment support program targeting projects reducing climate impact.

An energy alliance

St1 and Borås Energi och Miljö hope to create a strong value chain in renewable biofuels, both focusing in their own areas of expertise. St1 will upgrade and liquefy the raw biogas Borås Energi och Miljö produces from food waste and sewage sludge, and then sell it in its developing distribution network.

“Our modern facilities, in combination with the more than 30 years’ experience and competence we have within the company, will enable us to produce large quantities of biogas in the future. This collaboration with St1 allows our biogas to reach a large market,” said Magnus Kårestedt, CEO of Borås Energi och Miljö. “We have carefully chosen to start a collaboration with St1 because the company has a solid and versatile track record in the energy sector, as well as a strong growth strategy in the Nordic biogas market,” continued Mr Kårestedt.

St1 is already a leading biogas player in Sweden, with about 30% market share in the road transport segment. Its biogas operations are located in the urban areas of Southern Sweden as well as in Stockholm. The company produces, imports, and exports biogas, and delivers it to customers through several sales channels. St1 has six biogas production and upgrading refineries in Sweden. Two of them, namely, Söderåsen Bioenergi AB and Falkenbergs Biogas AB, are majority-owned subsidiaries.

Nordic Biogas

St1 started off its biogas business in Finland and Norway last year. The company is cooperating with Knapphus Energi and Nor-log in building infrastructure for biogas in Norway. In Finland, St1 and food company Valio established a joint venture to produce renewable biogas from dairy farm manure and other agricultural by-products, mainly as fuel for heavy-duty transport. The joint venture aims to achieve production capacity of up to one terawatt-hour (TWh) by 2030.

“At St1, we reinforce our operations through strategic long-term partnerships. Strengthening our biogas business in the countries where we operate is a concrete step in the consistent and long-term implementation of our growth strategy. We are delighted that our plans with a solid partner, Borås Energi och Miljö, are now materialising, and we can start to decarbonise transport and accelerate the energy transition together,” said Matti Oksanen, Director of St1’s Gas Business.

St1 is an energy company, with a vision to be the leading producer and seller of CO2-aware energy. The Nordic energy group operates in several business areas in Finland, Sweden and Norway. Its vision is to be the leading producer and seller of CO-aware energy and the company opened its first refinery in Sweden in 2004. n

iOG&

inside(( OIL&GAS SEND US YOUR FEEDBACK

Your input matters to us at Inside Oil & Gas and we take all feedback on board to help our readers enjoy the magazine now and for years to come.

Send your feedback to: media@insideoilandgas.com

Reporting on the latest developments from the UK’s oil and gas sector

Kingdom United

Well-Safe Protector to decommission Neptune Energy wells in North Sea

Well-Safe Solutions and Neptune Energy have agreed a contract for the Well-Safe Protector jack-up rig to plug and abandon at least four subsea and 21 platform wells in both the Dutch and UK sectors of the North Sea.

The one-year, firm contract also enables Neptune Energy to take up Well-Safe’s broad range of decommissioning engineering services if required, as well as the option of up to eight three-month extensions. Mobilising during Q1 2023 in direct continuation from an earlier well decommissioning project for Ithaca Energy, the Well-Safe Protector is a harsh environment, independent leg cantilever design jack-up rig with an extensive operational history in the North Sea.

The Well-Safe way

Founded in 2017, Well-Safe Solutions provides the complete well decommissioning plug and abandonment (P&A) capability for the global energy industry. With over 280 employees on and offshore, Well-Safe Solutions operates from international headquarters in Aberdeen, UK. Its decommissioning specialists support clients from front-end engineering and design to project execution and the retention and reintroduction of lessons learned.

Well-Safe’s groundbreaking ‘P&A Club’ approach to decommissioning pairs a wealth of oil and gas experience and knowhow with significant investment in bespoke, fit-forpurpose marine and land-based assets. An option to P&A an additional three subsea wells is also available during 2023.

Dominance in the North Sea

Duncan Morison, Rig Manager of the Well-Safe Protector, said: “With the addition of a further backlog of work to the Well-Safe Protector’s schedule, we are delighted at the level of interest the WellSafe business model continues to generate in mature fields such as the North Sea. The Well-Safe Protector boasts a large volume of deck space for tubing, casing and conductor recovery, allowing effective batch operations and helping our clients to realise considerable operational savings. There are clear operational synergies between Well-Safe Solutions and Neptune Energy, and we look forward to collaborating with the Neptune team to effectively and efficiently plug and abandon these fields.”

Stuart Payne, NSTA Director of Supply Chain, Decommissioning and HR, added: “We have consistently pressed operators and the supply chain to work in a collaborative way to form well decommissioning campaigns, which are more cost-efficient and help save time and lower emissions.”

Mr Payne extolled the virtues of using the technology in the UK market: “The Well-Safe Protector’s upcoming mobilisation for a multi-operator campaign is the latest encouraging sign that industry has got the message loud and clear. The crossborder element of this work also highlights the potential for exporting the considerable decommissioning expertise of the UK supply chain to other regions.”

Multiple contracts

The announcement follows on from news in the summer that the Well-Safe Protector will plug and abandon six wells on the Anglia platform in the Southern North Sea, for Ithaca Energy. The work is taking place approximately 55km from the UK mainland. The contract – for an undisclosed sum –means the Aberdeen-based well decommissioning specialists will provide project management, well engineering and all managed delivery services for the project.

Matt Jenkins, Chief Operating Officer at Well-Safe Solutions, said: “This fullservice contract is further vindication of our operating model and allows Ithaca to realise the benefits of Well-Safe’s extensive experience in the Southern North Sea. Well-Safe delivers environmentally friendly and cost-effective well decommissioning operations, unlocking key learnings over multi-well, multioperator campaigns.”

He continued: “We are thrilled to have reached this agreement with the team behind Ithaca Energy, who have entrusted Well-Safe with this important project, allowing them to maintain resources on their production delivery workscopes and significant capital projects.” n