Energy, Oil & Gas Issue 175 December 2019

issue 175 DECEMber

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Fuel for

thought

With significant investment in expansion and improvement projects underway, Oikos Storage Ltd is strengthening its ability to supply essential fuels across the UK

Energy 4.0

How energy companies are harnessing the latest technologies in order to enhance asset management and boost efficiency

Next generation technology

With only two per cent of global biowastes currently utilised, biogas offers a massive potential alternative fuel resource Horizon Geosciences mobilises an additional offshore geotechnical site investigation spread Costain’s Aberdeen team to deliver £4m worth of new contracts for the energy market

T: 01773 534 555 | E: Meters@dmsltd.com | W: www.dmsltd.com

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CORE PRODUCTS JS/MWN

SPECIALIST PRODUCTS NON INVASIVE

DMS support a full range of Domestic, Commercial and Industrial WRAS and MID approved Cold or Hot Water Meters, including the Apator Powogaz, Elster Honeywell (Kent) and GWF brands.

Clamp on ultrasonic metering which delivers significant installation savings and non-invasive, dry servicing benefits.

SONTEX DMS can assist with the selection and provision of Metering for any Heating or Cooling Systems, including the exclusive Sontex range of SuperStatic Meters; Our range of Heat and Cooling meters (also known as Energy Meters) are all MID and RHI approved and incorporate multiple data output options.

GAS Our comprehensive ranges of Gas Meters include Diaphragm, Turbine and Rotary Meters from Elster Honeywell, and Dresser. A full suite of gas regulators and Solenoid Valves are also available

METERING SOLUTIONS

MAG The MAG5100W Electromagnetic Flow Meters are high grade in their construction and measuring principle that allows them to be used on a variety of applications. By using an electromagnetic sensor to detect flow and convert it into an electrical signal to proportion it against the velocity.

ELVACO CMe2100 (gen.3) is an M-Bus Metering Gateway for Mobile Network that reads up to 128 M-Bus meters, compiles meter data into customized reports and delivers it to a receiving system by a set schedule and integration protocol via GPRS.

SIEMENS When looking to monitor Heating and Cooling systems with extreme requirements the paired Siemens FUE380 Flow Meter and FUE950 Calculator provide a solution that is available in a broad size range of 50mm to 1200mm with MID Class 2 Approval.

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editor Editors Chairman Andrew Schofield Editor Libbie Hammond - libbie@schofieldpublishing.co.uk Assistant Editor Will Daynes Staff Writer Vladi Nikolov

Technology is offering them ways to obtain and use data, streamline processes and enhance asset management – all very useful tools in today’s challenging environment

Art Editor Fleur Daniels Advertising Designer Fiona Jolliffe Managing Director Joe Woolsgrove Operations Director Philip Monument Operations Manager Natalie Griffiths Sales Mark Cawston Dave King Theresa McDonald Gary Silk Sam Surrell Web Sales web@schofieldpublishing.co.uk Exclusive Features Darren Jolliffe - djolliffe@schofieldpublishing.co.uk Research Managers Ben Richell Kieran Shukri Editorial Researchers Mark Cowles Wendy Russell Richard Saunders ­Office Manager/Advertisement Administrator Tracy Chynoweth Digital Subscriptions Iain Kidd - digital @schofieldpublishing.co.uk Social Media Abigail Blake

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Top tech for 2020 It’s not unusual for the topic of technology to take centre stage in the features of Energy, Oil & Gas – given the current drive to find efficiencies, operators are constantly striving for ways to do more with less, reduce waste, save energy and increase profits. Technology is offering them ways to obtain and use data, streamline processes and enhance asset management – all very useful tools in today’s challenging environment.

To try and pinpoint what will be the next big things on the tech agenda, in our Trends for 2020 article on page 12, Graeme Wright of Fujitsu UK makes some predictions for next year – with security and Augmented Reality both making the list.

I am looking forward to sharing more news and features with you in 2020, as well as shining a spotlight on the successful companies in the sector that are leading the way with their innovative thinking and interesting approaches.

I am always keen to hear from my readers if they’d like to be included in EOG – please do get in touch!

Energy, Oil & Gas Magazine

@EOG_magazine please note: The opinions expressed by contributors and advertisers within this publication do not necessarily coincide with those of the editor and publisher. Every reasonable effort is made to ensure that the information published is accurate, and correct at time of writing, but no legal responsibility for loss occasioned by the use of such information can be accepted by the publisher. All rights reserved. The contents of the magazine are strictly copyright, the property of Schofield Publishing, and may not be copied, stored in a retrieval system, or reproduced without the prior written permission of the publisher.

editor LIBBIE HAMMOND ENERGY,oil&gas

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regulars

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Biogas Biogas produces not just electricity, but also energy for heat and can be upgraded to vehicle fuel – the

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potential of this resource is enormous

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Industry 4.0 By harnessing the right technologies, energy businesses can secure the essential savings that will help them to do more with less

10 Olympus OmniScanÂŽ instruments from Olympus are globally recognised for portable phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) thanks to their power, reliability and ease of use

12 Trends for 2020 What are the key technologies that are currently impacting the oil and gas sector and are set to drive

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further change for energy companies?

14 Case study The Virtual Engineering Centre has worked with Sellafield to create a cutting-edge, mixed reality training tool that mimics a real-life working environment

16 News Some of the recent developments within the oil and gas industry

18 Digital tech wTo remain competitive, utility companies need to build on their ambitions to deliver end-to-end automation and programmable grid strategies

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Profiles

22 Oikos Storage 28 Viridor 32 BWSC 36 MPC Renewable Energies

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42 Dolphin Drilling 46 Fluxys

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52 W&T Offshore 58 Brightmark Energy 62 Pentagon Freight Services 68 Alba Power 72 Atlantica Tender Drilling

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Next generation

technology David Newman explains why it is high time to harness the global potential of biogas

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he potential of the biogas industry is enormous, especially in the context of addressing the climate emergency. Unlike solar and wind, biogas not only produces a sustainable energy source to replace fossil fuels, but also recycles food waste, sewage, manures and crop residues which emit harmful emissions when left untreated – sadly the situation in 70 per cent of the planet today.

Also, unlike solar and wind, biogas produces not just electricity, but also energy for heat and vehicle fuel when upgraded to biomethane and is a dispatchable source

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of energy, available 24/7, which can act as a battery for when other renewables are unavailable.

We are currently tapping into only two per cent of the global biowastes available to produce biogas. Working with the International Energy Agency, we estimate that treating the full volume of feedstock available around the world and removing all barriers to the industry growth would enable us to cut global greenhouse gases emissions (GHG) by at least 13 per cent by 2030.

Plants of the size of Montello near Milan (700,000 tons of food waste treated annually) or SESA near Venice

Biogas

(550,000 tons) or Nature Energy in Denmark (500,000 tons of manure) show that at scale, biogas can become a major industrial player in the energy landscape.

India has announced plans to build 5000 plants whilst the Chinese already have 110,000 industrial plants in operation - a number expected to grow to over 300,000 by 2030. Our members think they can reduce the costs of producing biogas by 50 per cent over the next decade by improving efficiency, perfecting processes and using research to industrialise and standardise the building of these plants in a systematic way. Such savings would

make our industry even more competitive.

As mentioned earlier, whilst producing a cubic meter of biomethane offers a clean alternative to coal, oil and gas, it does so much more by treating millions of tonnes of organic wastes that would otherwise end up in landfills and incinerators, where they emit greenhouse gases rather than contribute to reducing them. As all EU countries move to implement separate food waste collections from 2023, some 70 million tons of food waste will need recycling. The opportunities for making energy from these volumes are significant, as well as

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generating by-product such as nutrients to restore depleted soils and stripping out the CO2 for food and drink use.

Major European corporates like Suez, SHV Energy, Engie and IES (SNAM) have recently joined WBA because they believe in the value of this industry and in its enormous potential to contribute to decarbonising the economy and to meeting the UNFCC Paris Agreement objectives. Now is the time to harness the potential of the biogas industry and play our part in addressing the global environmental challenges that we face today and in the years to come.

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Biogas - a growing industry for global decarbonisation When the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP25) takes place this December in Spain, the deadline for world governments to submit their Nationally Determined Contributions towards achieving the Paris Agreement will be just a year away. The biogas industry, led by the World Biogas Association (WBA), is working hard to ensure that it is integrated in those submissions as a significant contributor to reducing global greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions and

Biogas

developing a sustainable, low carbon circular economy.

As a ready-to-use technology that cuts emissions in the hardest-to-decarbonise sectors, the next decade will be crucial for the sector’s growth. Companies from leading biogas producing countries, such as China, Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands, the USA and the UK have been working together to ensure all resources and infrastructure are in place to build on current achievements and unlock the industry’s potential to abate 3.8bn tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2030.

Biogas in 2019 The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) statistics show a global capacity of 18,126MW for the biogas industry in 2018 - producing over 87.9TWh of biogas each year. Europe is by far the largest contributor with 73 per cent of the global production, and Germany leads the industry, with close to 11,000 plants currently in operation. Outside of Europe, the USA and China are the largest producers, with a combined capacity of 3,014MW and output of 16.1TWh per year.

The global biogas industry has grown by over 90 per cent between 2010 and 2017, and the climate emergency is focusing minds to invest further into developing its infrastructure and realising its full potential to decarbonise the economy across multiple sectors. The latest WBA report, the Global Potential of Biogas, shows that only two per cent of the feedstocks available globally are treated to produce biogas. This means that there is a 98 per cent untapped volume of organic wastes worldwide that could be turned into biogas in the future.

UK, in July 2019, Niclas Svenningsen, of UN Climate Change, the Secretariat for the UNFCCC, described the biogas industry as a multiple-win sector. “Biogas has all the features of the next generation technology,” he said.

“It is a win-win-win-win-win industry: turning GHG into energy; using that energy to replace fossil fuels; turning global waste that releases dangerous levels of methane gas every day into a valuable resource; creating jobs and contributing to the new low-carbon economy; offering a stable energy source that can be built and used even at the household scale in remote areas.”

He called on biogas to be at the table when the future policies of governments are designed and for business, government and civil society to work together to realise its potential. “We have the power and the responsibility to build the world that the future generations, that will inherit this planet, want and deserve,” he said, and he considers biogas to be part of that world.

Industry stakeholders are now joining forces to live up to these expectations. The future for the industry is huge, and that future is now.

Optimising plant performance Biogas is produced from the natural process of anaerobic digestion - the breaking down of organic matter such as food waste, sewage, wastewater and agricultural waste under oxygen-free conditions, in a plant called a digester. Optimising the performance of those plants will be crucial to enabling the biogas industry to fulfil its potential.

Training, regular maintenance and routine monitoring are the only ways to achieve process efficiency.

Developing technical standards, such as the AD Certification Scheme in the UK, and sharing innovation and expertise among global operators will also be key to ensuring that growth is not only rapid but also robust, with high environmental and health and safety requirements embedded, to give confidence to investors, policymakers, regulators, insurers and the general public in support of the industry.

A winning sector

World Biogas Association David Newman is President of the World Biogas Association.

Launched at COP22 in Marrakesh in 2016, the World Biogas Association is the global trade association for the biogas, landfill gas and anaerobic digestion (AD) sectors, dedicated to facilitating the adoption of biogas globally. It believes that the global adoption of biogas technologies is a multi-faceted opportunity to produce clean, renewable energy while resolving global issues related to development, public health and economic growth.

For further information please visit: www.worldbiogasassociation.org

At the inaugural World Biogas Summit in Birmingham,

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Energy 4.0 Lee Sands examines how energy companies are harnessing the latest technologies to enhance their asset management, boosting efficiency right across the business

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n a UK energy sector worth £32 billion, there are now over 70 active domestic energy suppliers, all competing for their share of the market. It’s easier than ever for customers to vote with their feet, switching supplier at the click of a mouse, which, in combination with a volatile socio-economic climate, makes it harder than ever for energy companies to stay profitable.

There’s a real need for energy businesses to improve performance, minimising customer churn while maintaining that all-important competitive edge, meaning that energy companies are under greater pressure than most when it comes to optimising efficiency levels. In an effort to increase efficiencies, more businesses are turning to technology for help, making more use of sensors to improve asset management and with Industry 4.0 innovations in particular proving to be a welcome addition to underpressure businesses.

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Industry 4.0 The dawn of Industry 4.0, or the fourth industrial revolution as it’s also known, really couldn’t have come at a better time for the energy industry. With its focus on establishing networks of machines, devices, sensors and people that communicate freely with each other, Industry 4.0 increases automation and facilitates the application of data-based business insight to all business decisions and processes, driving efficiencies right across businesses. It mirrors the gradual shift that we’re seeing from analogue to digital monitoring of assets, as well as the improved speed and reliability of data capture.

Sensors are cheaper and smarter than ever before, and the birth of the Internet of Things to connect this everincreasing abundance of smart devices has meant that many businesses are well on the way to becoming the highly automated, intelligent organisations that lie at the very heart of the concept of Industry 4.0.

The sheer amount of assets at play, not to mention

Industry 4.0

A good Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) system such as Infor CloudSuite EAM will readily identify where performance improvements can be made, measuring performance against KPIs to highlight what changes need to be made to boost productivity across the board.

Preventative maintenance Such systems also enable a move away from corrective and interval-based maintenance and a move towards preventative maintenance. It’s possible to identify looming faults and take the necessary action before it impacts on service, as well as scheduling maintenance so it’s in-sync with the strategic priorities of the organisation as a whole. Maintenance activities can be carried out at optimal times, minimising downtime and causing minimal disruption to operations. What this does is to boost uptime, increase customer satisfaction and maximise the longevity of your assets, for a greatly improved ROI. Not only this, but a comprehensive preventative maintenance programme enables you to focus time and resources where they’re most needed, deriving maximum value from the business.

Reap the benefits

the complex interdependency that’s vital to keeping things running, mean that solutions to effectively manage assets are vital. The fact that more and more of these assets now produce data make it a necessity to have systems in place that can make full use of the information generated, automatically analysing the data to provide not only in-depth performance insight, but to signal failure warnings before they occur, preventing the inevitable negative effect on service.

The right systems can automatically capture and analyse the huge amounts of data that energy businesses need to take into account, analysing multiple measurements from multiple sources, such as visual inspections, smart devices and operational data. This allows the business to build-up an accurate picture of the location and condition of their assets, as well as providing in-depth insight into their performance too, highlighting any inefficiencies and pain points and paving the way for remedial action to be taken.

By harnessing the right technologies, energy businesses can secure the all-important efficiency savings that enable organisations to do more, for less and more effectively. The automation and in-depth data analysis that are crucial components for all Industry 4.0 initiatives lie at the heart of the best EAM solutions on the market today, providing the information and insight needed to underpin valuable efficiency savings. Those businesses who embrace the technology available will soon reap the benefits, with more focused maintenance and engineering efforts and the end of the break-fix cycle making a real, tangible difference to the bottom line.

Sapphire Systems Lee Sands is EAM Practice Manager at Sapphire Systems, a leading global provider of enterprise software, delivering cloud-based industry specific solutions. With over 1000 customers worldwide, Sapphire partners with market leading software authors, develops unique customisations, and offers unrivalled customer service and support. Headquartered in London with offices across the United Kingdom, United States, Latin America and Asia, Sapphire offers 24-hour support and has extensive knowledge and experience in helping clients to achieve a measurable return on investment.

For further information please visit: www.sapphiresystems.com

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OmniScan® X3 Flaw Detector

Confidence You Can See Stunning images and thoughtfully designed software—the standard in portable phased array is now even better. Building on the reliability and ease of use OmniScan flaw detectors are known for, we’ve added powerful new tools for an even better OmniScan experience.

Total focusing method (TFM) images collected through full matrix capture (FMC), including 64-element aperture support.

Improved phased array imaging, including an innovative live TFM envelope feature and acoustic influence map (AIM) simulator for TFM mode.

Create your whole scan plan in a single workflow and verify that you haven’t missed anything in your plan with visualization tools.

www.olympus-ims.com/omniscan-x3 Olympus and OmniScan are registered trademarks of Olympus Corporation.

Olympus

Improved inspections OmniScan® X3 Flaw Detector redefines the standard for phased array

O

mniScan® instruments are recognised globally as the benchmark for portable phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) thanks to their power, reliability and ease of use. The new OmniScan X3 flaw detector elevates the standard with innovations that improve the entire inspection workflow. Setting up for a job is faster and more efficient while total focusing method (TFM) images collected through full matrix capture (FMC) give users more confidence in their decision making. When an inspection is complete, leading-edge software tools make analysis and reporting easier.

The OmniScan X3 flaw detector combines the essential tools needed for PAUT inspections, such as TOFD, two UT channels, eight groups and 16:64PR, 16:128PR and 32:128PR configurations*, with powerful innovations, including: • TFM/FMC with 64-element aperture support • Improved phased array imaging, including an innovative live TFM envelope feature • Acoustic influence map (AIM) simulator for TFM mode • 25 GB file size • Up to 1,024 × 1,024-pixel TFM reconstruction and four simultaneous, live TFM propagation modes • Simplified user interface with on-board scan plan • Wireless connectivity to the Olympus Scientific Cloud™ (OSC) makes it simple to keep the instrument’s software up to date The comprehensive on-board scan plan tool enables users to visualise the inspection, helping reduce the risk of errors.

The entire scan plan, including the TFM zone, can be created in one simple workflow. Creating a setup is also faster with improved calibration tools and support for simultaneous probe and beam set configuration, on-board dual linear, matrix and dual matrix array creation and automatic wedge verification.

Certified IP65 dust proof and water resistant, the instrument has the reliability and ease of use that OmniScan flaw detectors are known for combined with high-quality images that help make interpreting flaws more obvious. With the total focusing method, users can produce geometrically correct images to confirm the characterisation of flaws identified through conventional phased array techniques and obtain better images throughout the volume of a part.

Additional features that enable outstanding images include a 16-bit A-scan, interpolation and smoothing and a vivid 10.6inch WXGA display that provides clarity and visibility in any light.

The OmniScan X3 flaw detector makes analysis and reporting faster, both on-board the instrument and on a PC. The instrument also comes with a variety of helpful data interpretation tools: • Circumferential outside diameter (COD) TFM image reconstruction to facilitate interpretation and sizing of long seam weld indications • Merged B-scan to facilitate the screening of phased array weld indications while keeping the workflow simple Whether inspecting pipes, welds, pressure vessels or composites, the OmniScan X3 flaw detector enables users to complete their work efficiently and interpret flaws with confidence.

For more information about OmniScan flaw detectors, visit www.olympus-ims.com *The 16:64PR configuration limits the number of groups to 1 TOFD, 2 PA and 2 TFM. Olympus and OmniScan are registered trademarks, and Olympus Scientific Cloud is a trademark of Olympus Corporation.

Olympus…

True to You. True to Society. True to LIFE.

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Embrace the change The five technologies set to impact the energy, oil and gas industry in the year ahead.

By Graeme Wright

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he world is experiencing some of the most significant geopolitical, economic and technologically advanced changes of the past five decades. Without doubt, industries across the board are facing uncertainty, with the unknown resulting in a landscape of nervousness about what the future holds. However, amidst all of this uncertainty, has been the constant of the everincreasing rate of technological change, and the energy, oil and gas industry is no exception.

So, what are the key technologies that are currently impacting the sector and, furthermore, set to drive even further change for energy, oil and gas companies?

have already seen advancements thanks to quantum inspired computing, accelerating the speed and power at which organisations can solve complex problems.

This could be huge for the energy, oil and gas industry and help companies optimise and take pressure off their power grids and networks. Quantum inspired computing will allow energy, oil and gas companies to make advanced production optimisation and trading calculations, which will help them reach new capabilities which will be critical to the sector as it looks to address the challenge of producing energy to power economies and meet consumers’ needs, while looking at new ways of managing the risks involved of climate change.

Quantum Quantum computing, while seemingly a futuristic concept, it is much closer than we might think. We

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Moving to the edge In the world of work for energy, oil and gas companies,

Trends for 2020

a sizable proportion of its skilled workforce and assets are out in the field away from the corporate centre. Undertaking repetitive visual inspection tasks across quality control is not only monotonous for the engineer, but it adds significant costs to operations, in a period where price pressures are ever increasing.

These current processes are also susceptible to human error, risking product quality with potential reputational damage.

Next year, we expect to see more companies in the sector begin to deploy Edge computing, using IoT and computer vision to bring the digital and physical worlds together. As a result, they will be able to use this technology to better monitor their equipment, receive image analysis and image recognition which can be used to identify and fix any problems, quality issues or security threats much more quickly and efficiently and enable their workforce to focus on bigger, more time-consuming tasks.

Digital Twins As the sector looks to find digital ways of planning, designing and simulating situations to improve operations, we expect to see a further increase in the use of ‘Digital Twins’. The term ‘Digital Twins’ is where companies build digital models of the physical world, creating a digital replica or ‘twin’.

Through this, energy, oil and gas companies can run simulations and optimisations of their equipment and harness insights of these simulations and as a result make decisions and execute them with accuracy. Digital twins will help drive efficiency across energy, oil and gas companies as they will already have run the digital version of the operation before executing it in the physical world, and therefore will have the version that works best on the first attempt, rather than having to continually test and tweak it, saving time and money for the organisation.

reputationally. Security therefore needs to be built in by design and incorporated in an energy, oil and gas company’s core and play a fundamental part of the processes and polices to protect the systems and data.

Augmented reality Augmented Reality (AR) has widely been spoken about and adopted in the realms of gaming and entertainment. However, in the energy, oil and gas sector, there are some truly transformative ways that AR can be used to improve employees’ ways of working.

For the first time in history, we have five generations in the workforce. As a result, not only do these different generations have different knowledge and skill sets, but the eldest generation will be moving into retirement, or to less physically demanding tasks, taking with them their vast years of experience.

Through implementing the use of AR however, companies in the sector can transfer this knowledge to new entrants in the company, providing on-site guidance from experienced colleagues.

Another form of adopting AR for employees in the field is by having a two-way video on a head-mounted display which provides step-by-step advice on how to make fixes. In the year ahead, we expect to see the use of AR increasingly adopted to improve ways of working for the workforce.

For companies in the energy, oil and gas that want to capitalise on the new opportunities that technologies such as AR, digital twins, security, moving to the edge and quantum has to offer, they need to be savvy to the ways in which they can adapt and advance their business. By seeking the right initiatives and understanding how technology can support their business, they can create new, and safer ways of working for employees, run more successful operations and give them longevity in such a disruptive market.

In the end, those that are agile and embrace it will reap the rewards in the years to come.

Building security in the bedrock As companies in the sector become more connected and data driven businesses, the need to have security integrated and built into the foundations and all aspects of the business will only increase. More and more networks will become connected and companies will be receiving consumer data and insights and so the need for tougher and more robust security measures has never been so essential.

While connectivity and data can open a range of new possibilities for organisations, it also exposes added chances for hackers to attack, which could have severe repercussions as we have seen on numerous companies both financially and

Fujitsu UK Graeme Wright is CTO for Manufacturing, Utilities, and Services at Fujitsu UK. Fujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company, offering a full range of technology products, solutions, and services and employing over 9000 people in the UK and Ireland.

For further information please visit: www.fujitsu.com/uk/

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AR training Liverpool’s Virtual Engineering Centre Delivers £20m savings for Sellafield with a cutting-edge mixed reality training tool

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eading centre of digital engineering technology, the Virtual Engineering Centre (VEC) worked with Sellafield to co-develop a unique mixed reality training simulator that precisely mimics the real-life working environment of Sellafield’s newly commissioned nuclear waste removal crane.

The initial challenge After hearing about the VEC innovation facility and the trusted advisory offering of its team, Sellafield approached the VEC with a challenge to understand how virtual reality (VR) could be used to inform and benefit the design process of new facilities and the installation of planned capital equipment – such as specialist cranes – in the early development stages.

Sellafield was looking to ensure the safety of specialist operators of its newly commissioned nuclear waste removal crane, designed to scoop up and remove hazardous material from Sellafield’s 70-year-old Pile Fuel Cladding Silo. The building was originally designed to be permanently sealed, meaning innovative ways of accessing and retrieving the waste have had to be developed.

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The solution Experts at the VEC, part of University of Liverpool, met with the Sellafield team at the VEC innovation facility at Sci Tech Daresbury. A simulator was developed from existing Sellafield 3D design models containing information of the silo and crane. The VEC team integrated crane movements into the simulator, controlled from a chair with a built-in joystick identical to the real crane. The VR model replicated the real plant CCTV camera views and allowed the virtual cameras to be controlled exactly as they would be onsite.

Cross-functional teams from Sellafield’s training, operations and specialist human factors were active in the co-development sessions. The team developed the training modules, including compliance and focus steps before finalising the crane training programme. The documented outcome was then used to familiarise and provide confidence to key Sellafield stakeholders, including senior management, ONR (Office for Nuclear Regulation) and NDA (Nuclear Decommissioning Authority).

Using an exact replica of the crane’s operator chair, control joystick and spatial working environment, together with selected digital tools, a precisely scaled

Case study

immersive, mixed reality model of the crane and its operating waste-removal environment was created.

The crane training simulator provides a realistic environment for Sellafield’s operators, both visually and physically, including accurate manipulation and haptic feedback of all control systems. It mimics both the look and feel of the crane waste removal process and the environment in which the operator will be working, as well as including the potential challenges they may face within their day to day tasks. This allows operators to learn to ‘drive’ the nuclear waste retrieval crane in a safe environment before the full-scale training environment was available, ensuring greater levels of safety whilst increasing productivity.

The benefits The realistic user experience of the training simulator builds operator confidence and has shortened the overall project delivery schedule. In the design phase, the operators could identify where visual aids would help them position the crane more precisely. These spatial and design features were added to the real plant during its construction. The operators fed back differences between the simulator and real plant to help improve the accuracy.

Being able to quickly identify project needs enabled Sellafield to make quick and easy changes before the crane went into manufacture, reducing resources used such as time and money, ideal for projects with specific deadlines.

The simulator is now at such a level of sophistication that the project team have decided to use it as the primary tool for crane operator training. In the long term,

this allows the full-scale training rig to be ‘re-purposed’ as a second operation retrieval system, saving £20m on the cost of future waste retrievals.

The first time the real-life waste retrieval process using the crane was attempted, the operators completed the task of filling a waste container in just one day, a much shorter time than expected. The progressive training approach using the mixed reality simulator made this remarkable achievement possible. The operators at Sellafield are now able to undertake manoeuvres requiring a high degree of accuracy and space perception in the virtual world, before they advance to the real equipment and working environment.

With the crane being a completely new site installation, the simulator has allowed Sellafield training and operations teams to test different training approaches and assess, develop and implement the best training protocols and methodologies. Furthermore, the simulator has allowed Sellafield to train all of its operators on the new equipment before installation and potentially being placed in a hazardous environment.

The VEC and Sellafield collaboration has also recently achieved a highly commended in the Safety in Innovation category at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority Safety and Wellbeing Awards.

Lynn Dwyer, Head of Commercial for the VEC, said: “As a team we are extremely proud of this project. It showcases the in-house expertise we have at the VEC. It was a pleasure to work with the Sellafield team to produce a cutting-edge training solution that has reaped huge cost and productivity savings.” www.virtualengineeringcentre.com

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In Brief Hungary plant overhaul The Dunamenti Power Plant in Százhalombatta, Hungary, is the largest gas-fired power plant in the country with a capacity of 794 megawatts (MW), making it a major source of reliable electricity in Hungary. Recently, in collaboration with the customer and plant owner, MET Asset Management AG, and within the scope of an overhaul project, Siemens Gas and Power replaced the entire rotor of the plant’s SGT5-2000E gas turbine and installed a new, state-of-the-art

Time for testing

SPPA-T3000 control system.

The rotor exchange for the SGT52000E at the Dunamenti Power Plant led to an increase in output from 148 MW to 155 MW and increased the unit’s efficiency by approximately 0.8 per cent.

Savings from solar Pressure vessel manufacturer Portobello-RMF has achieved an incredible reduction in its carbon footprint thanks to a solar panel installation.

Managing Director Graham Avill, said: “Solar panels provide us with a renewable energy source with zero greenhouse gas emissions or other pollutants. The panels provide our company with clean power from the sun and are just another step towards improving the climate and environment in general.”

The new solar panels have had a positive impact company-wide.

In addition to significantly lower energy usage, the company has also made considerable savings. The team is now looking forward to re-investing these savings into other areas, such as materials and tools for forthcoming projects.

In total, the panels offer a capacity of almost 100kW. This exceeds the business’ power output, which will result in large savings and considerably fewer emissions in the long-term.

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A nacelle from GE Renewable Energy’s Haliade-X 12MW offshore wind turbine has arrived at the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult’s testing facility in Blyth, Northumberland, ahead of a rigorous testing programme designed to prepare it for years of operation at sea.

This nacelle, comparable in size to six double-decker London buses, will undergo full indoor testing as part of an advanced technology programme, replicating real-world operational conditions.

John Lavelle, President & CEO of GE’s Offshore Wind business, said: “GE’s Haliade-X technology will have an important role to play in helping the UK to achieve its Offshore Wind Sector Deal goals of 30GW by 2030, and UK Government’s ambition to work for greenhouse emission reduction to ‘net-zero’ by 2050. Our Haliade-X global testing program will allow us to put different components under controlled and extreme conditions in a faster way, to adapt our technology in a shortened time while introducing new features to meet customers’ demands, and reduce the validation time before starting serial production in 2021.”

GE Renewable Energy is investing close to £15 million in testing and research and development activities on the Haliade-X in the UK. In addition to the nacelle and blade testing programme, GE and ORE Catapult are also developing the ‘Stay Ashore!’ programme, which aims to reduce the time people spend at sea, increasing safety and contributing to energy cost reduction by focusing on developing technology in robotics, digital and remote operations.

Alternative solution i-Tech 7, Subsea 7’s Life of Field business unit, has successfully completed an underwater inspection in lieu of dry-docking (UWILD) project for Borr Drilling in the North Sea. Borr Drilling required a hull inspection for its Paragon MSS-1 mid-water semi-submersible, to meet ABS intermediate survey certification requirements. In place of conventional methods using divers, i-Tech 7 presented a solution using an ROV to reduce cost, risk, and allow drilling operations to continue without interruption. i-Tech 7 mobilised an observation class ROV and supporting UWILD equipment to be installed on the Paragon MSS-1, along with two ROV personnel and one inspector to complete the operations. i-Tech 7’s innovative portfolio of vessel based UWILD solutions can carry out inspections on mobile drilling units (MODUs) and floating production, storage and offloading units (FPSOs), using cutting-edge ROV machine-vision technology combined with fast acquisition, processing and reporting of data.

Bjoern Ritter, rig manager at Borr Drilling, said: “i-Tech 7 presented a service at an attractive cost, with less risk and minimal disruption to operations.

We were thoroughly impressed by the i-Tech 7 team who completed the hull survey in less than two weeks, despite some very testing weather conditions.”

energy-oil-gas.com

news Versatile system Horizon Geosciences Limited has recently mobilised an additional offshore geotechnical site investigation spread. The rig has been mobilised to DP2 vessel Kommandor Susan owned and operated by its long-term partner Hays Ships. It is currently performing its first project offshore Poland.

Horizon’s K3 geotechnical drilling system has been designed based upon over 15 years of conducting offshore geotechnical investigations and is the fourth offshore heave compensated Copyright Equinor-Bilde Tampen Gullfaks

rig to be brought into service in that time. It incorporates a number

Cable installation contract

of state-of-the-art features such as mechanical drill pipe handling,

Seaway 7, Subsea 7’s Renewables and Heavy Lifting business unit, has been awarded a contract from Equinor Energy AS for the installation of 11 inner array and two export cables on the Hywind Tampen floating offshore wind farm project, offshore Norway.

Commenting on the deal, Steph McNeill, SVP Subsea 7 Renewables & Heavy Lifting, said: “We look forward to continuing our long-standing, collaborative working relationship with Equinor and supporting them on their energy transition journey, with the development of their pioneering floating offshore wind farm.”

The Hywind Tampen project is an 88 MW offshore wind farm comprising 11 wind turbines, each being supported by a floating foundation structure. The field is located between the Snorre (PL089) and Gullfaks (PL050) licenses, to which the windfarm will provide electricity.

Hywind Tampen wind farm contracts are subject to final approval of the plan for development and operation (PDO) by Norwegian authorities.

The wind farm is scheduled to start production at the end of 2022.

which removes all manual handling

Scottish success

boreholes as well as to deploy

Costain has secured some £4m worth of design, engineering and consultancy contracts for the energy market, which will see the Group shaping the future for sustainable operations and improved efficiencies at several UK onshore gas terminals.

Sean Close, Costain’s director based in Aberdeen noted that these wins are testament to the broad range of capability in its Aberdeen team and underline the city’s status as a hub of engineering provision. He added: “Oil and gas remains a key focus area as we help the UK transition to a low carbon economy by continuing to apply our 60 years of hydrocarbons experience in other energy markets such as nuclear, hydrogen and carbon capture. In particular, we are leveraging our expertise in gas processing to help make hydrogen a reality for the UK’s power, transport and heating sectors.”

The contract awards being delivered by the Aberdeen team also include topside modification projects for several subsea tie-backs in the North Sea, both at front-end engineering design (FEED) and pre-FEED phases as well as providing subsea engineering support to nuclear sector projects. Other work secured involves the pre-FEED for a carbon capture usage and storage project that includes the onshore and offshore dimensions.

penetration data also in combination

requirements from running and pulling drill string and electronic recording of drilling parameters to provide additional ground data and operational feedback during drilling.

The rig has the ability to switch to

REAL COPY

a nested coring system and also has the ability to deploy conventional downhole CPT, sampling and wireline coring, plus seismic CPT, geophysical borehole logging, pressure meter testing and other downhole tools.

The rig can be used for deep Horizon’s 200kN seabed CPT unit for acquisition of deep push cone with seismic CPT as required. A fully equipped soil laboratory capable of undertaking a wide range of testing offshore completes the spread, making it a very versatile system for all ground investigation applications.

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Going through

changes

Digital technologies and the future of grid management. By Rohit Gupta

E

arlier this year the potential for wide-scale disruption of the electric grid was highlighted, following a nationwide powercut. This vulnerability was caused by the combined complexity of integrating more renewable energy and distributed energy resources (DERs).

We need to treat this as a serious wake-up call.

The electricity grid, as we know it today, is built for efficiency - capable of connecting bulk generation with distributed consumers, balancing supply with demand and executing it like clockwork every single day.

However, as more and more DERs and renewable energy (utility scale or otherwise) gets integrated to the grid, grid operations and maintaining uninterrupted supply

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become significantly more complex thanks to the variable nature of renewable energy.

The accelerated integration of DERs and renewables into the grid is also a challenge to many of the utilities’ core processes and functions, such as network planning, demand forecasting and scheduling, and customer service.

This all begs the question: how can utilities manage these complexities and make the most of the opportunities that they present?

Transformation via digital technologies The traditional grid, with its tools and approaches geared towards centralisation and one-way energy flow,

Digital tech

is ill-equipped to manage two-way power and the complexities of the new energy network. It needs what we call ‘the programmable grid’ – a software-controlled electricity network that ensures optimum operating state and autonomously manages itself using distributed AI and advanced control mechanisms. And it does so with the help of real-time data from thousands of smart sensors on the grid in a continuous feedback loop.

The programmable grid will thus take in data faster than humans can process it, allowing utilities firms to manage the grid in real-time, and to deliver the most efficient services at the highest achievable levels of reliability. It is also an enabler for digital technologies such as machine learning (ML), big data, augmented

reality (AR) and analytics, which can, collectively, support the complexity increasingly required to handle the grid.

The development and use of these technologies are not hypothetical; they are being deployed today. Big data analytics, combined with AI and ML, for example, are already supporting Virtual Power Plants – cloudbased distributed power plants that aggregate the capacities of heterogeneous DERs to enhance power generation, as well as trade or sell power on the open market. They can also be found within Local Energy Marketplace Systems – another mechanism that enables wholesale market integration of DERs. Similarly, grid connected vehicles, smart street lighting and tailored

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Digital tech

service plans for customers based on their usage patterns are all happening now.

Readiness to evolve The broader adoption of software-driven solutions is on the horizon, but how digitally ready are incumbent utilities to embrace this model? To explore this, Cognizant and Ovum conducted a survey of 100 utilities in the USA, Europe, Australia and the Middle East to understand the drivers, threats, opportunities and readiness for this type of transformation.

The overriding result was that the majority of

Cognizant Rohit Gupta is vice president and head of manufacturing, logistics, energy and utilities at Cognizant, one of the world’s leading professional services companies, transforming clients’ business, operating and technology models for the digital era.

Its unique industry-based, consultative approach helps clients envision, build and run more innovative and efficient businesses.

Headquartered in the US, Cognizant is ranked 193 on the Fortune 500 and is consistently listed among the most admired companies in the world.

For further information please visit: https://www.cognizant.com/en-uk/

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respondents (almost 84 per cent of the utilities) are at initial levels of preparedness and maturity – focused on evaluating products and solutions, conducting feasibility studies, blueprinting and developing their strategies.

However, an ambition to progress beyond the concept stage is already evident. Eighty-three per cent of the utilities believe that, by 2020-30, DERs will have a transformational impact on their current business models. Almost half (46 per cent) would like to improve key areas like grid automation to better handle renewables. On the other hand, 38 per cent of vertically integrated utilities aspire to increase their digital maturity. This means having systems to monitor and control dynamic networks in real time or even become fully capable of handling DERS and microgrids with the use of cutting edge technologies such as ML and AR. With the need to embark on this digital transformation journey acknowledged by utility companies, now is the time for them to build on ambitions to deliver end-to-end automation and programmable grid strategies to ensure they remain competitive as the industry continues to evolve.

Those that do not, run the risk of losing out to new, nimble incumbents who will challenge perceived value and offer significant competition for existing and prospective businesses.

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Fuel for thought For over eight decades, Oikos Storage Ltd (Oikos) has been operating its bulk liquid storage facility, which primarily imports, stores and distributes refined petroleum products.

Playing what Tony Woodward, General Manager, describes as ‘a key strategic role’ in the fuel supply chain in the South-East of England, the Oikos site on Canvey Island provides a

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convenient ingress point that helps to meet the demand for bulk liquid fuel in the region. A critical supplier of jet fuel to London Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted Airports and diesel to the South-East and Midlands of the UK, Oikos has over 70 acres of bulk liquid storage capability available, from which to service its clients.

Since the company was last featured in EOG six years ago, it has undergone significant

PROFILE

Oikos Storage

The other activities that deserve to be highlighted at Oikos are the extensive site expansions and infrastructure upgrades that have already been achieved and are still ongoing. Tony gave some more details about what he termed ‘significant and continued investment in infrastructure.’ He started with Project Vela – the refurbishment of two existing tanks in Compound 10 (C10) together with the connection of a further tank in Compound 2 (C2). “As part of this project, the existing bund and tank foundations were removed and replaced with a new concrete bund wall and an impervious bentonite liner was installed. A new culvert was excavated under the North Road to install pipework, services to connect C2 and C10 together. New pumps, instrumentation and safety equipment were installed to feed two new road loading bays from any of the three tanks as described above. New gates were installed together with new drainage, lighting and other necessary infrastructure. The operation is driver controlled using pre-authorised swipe cards, which allow each vehicle and driver access to the terminal to collect the pre-designated load. Each vehicle can be fully loaded in approximately eight minutes.

“Project Vela was successfully commissioned in December 2018 and delivers the first phase of renewed road loading for Oikos. The fuel (Jet) is delivered to a number of airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Southend and Luton and is a 24/7 operation.”

The commissioning of the Southside development tankage will allow our existing and future customers access to a safe, modern terminal, which will allow them the full benefit of LR1 and 2 vessel imports, sophisticated blending and additive systems, and re-export by vessel, pipeline and road

Substantial project

changes, one of the most recent of which was its acquisition by Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI) in 2019. “ASI are long-term players and they acquired Oikos as part of their Energy portfolio. We have already seen an increase in investment in people, training and further commitment to developing the medium- and long-term aspirations for the Oikos Terminal,” noted Tony.

He also noted Project Serpens – an internal project to promote the safe and efficient transfer of Jet fuel between various parts of the terminal, before moving onto Project Aeris, perhaps the most significant project that Oikos has ever undertaken not just in terms of scale but, also investment.

“To summarise, this project consisted of the refurbishment and extension of the existing Jetty 2 into the River Thames, the refurbishment and renewal of an existing tank storage compound (Compound 4 – 12 tanks in total), and the provision of associated pipework and supporting plant and infrastructure,” explained Tony.

The substantial nature of Project Aeris has to be appreciated in the overall context of Oikos’ position and operations, as Tony pointed out, this is a facility of national significance, occupying a strategic Thames ENERGY,oil&gas

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23

side location within the South East of England - which is one of, if not the, largest petroleum markets in North West Europe. “We benefit

from excellent marine access via the deepwater navigable channel of the River Thames and have good links to the strategic road network.

“We also benefit from connections to key national pipeline distribution networks, namely the Compania Logistica de Hidrocarburos - Pipeline System (the CLH-PS) (formerly known as the Government Pipeline Storage System - GPSS) and the United Kingdom Oil Pipeline (UKOP). In this regard, the Terminal is believed to be unique within the South-East of England.

“We took the decision to extend the existing Jetty 2 out into the Thames as far as possible, as there is a continued demand from our customers to increase the potential to accept larger ships and consequently, the size

First Intervention Team - Proud suppliers to Oikos Storage Ltd “Oikos Storage is strategically critical for the supply of fuel to the South East of the UK and indeed, its key airports. Doing all of this whilst maintaining an exemplary safety record requires exceptional suppliers.

First Intervention Team are certainly that. Being specialists in the oil & gas industry means we enjoy the benefit not only of their excellent rescue stand-by, security, health and safety support, and training services, but also their vast experience within our industry.

They help us to achieve and enhance our practices to meet the increasingly rigorous standards demanded by the HSE and other regulatory bodies. We’re glad to have them as part of our team.”

Tony Woodward, General Manager, Oikos Storage Ltd

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PROFILE

Oikos Storage

of incoming parcels of fuels. In bringing larger parcels into Oikos, our customers can benefit from a significant freight cost advantage together with further options on the origins of the incoming cargoes. Furthermore, the replacement of the 12 tanks in Compound 4, provides additional bulk storage capacity to permit the safe receipt, storage and despatch of the increased parcel sizes.�

The new Jetty was delivered in December 2018 with the tank farm coming on-line in two phases – six tanks at a time in Spring 2019 with final commissioning in June 2019.

Tony noted that the main challenge that Oikos faced was commissioning the tanks safely whilst construction was still ongoing in Compound 4. “This process had to be very tightly managed with significant restrictions Knowsley SK Knowsley SK is renowned for the design and manufacture of firefighting products and systems for the protection of high value oil, gas and petrochemical installations.

The Knowsley SK brand is recognised worldwide with an extensive reference list with the major IOCs. Knowsley SK products include; foam proportioning solutions, fire hydrants, monitors and sophisticated system packages, including deluge skids, foam making skid packages and RC monitor systems for process plant area and marine terminals.

When combined with an in-house system design capability and full after sales service and maintenance activities, Knowsley SK is the first choice for high-value asset protection.

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25

on where and how any contractors could operate in that particular area,” he said.

On this project Oikos worked hard to achieve the agreement and co-operation of the Port of London Authority (PLA) and undertook the extension without impinging on the main shipping channel, thanks to a comprehensive set of berthing simulations carried out at the PLA’s shipping and berthing simulator at Gravesend.

Ambitious plans Given the extremely technical and complex nature of the above projects, it would be natural to think that Oikos might take some time to acclimatise to the new facilities, but nothing could be further from the truth – several more significant schemes are already underway. “Project Premo involves the installation of a third road loading bay and the new connection of existing tanks to service an additional demand for supplying road fuels into the South East of England. This project is expected to come fully on stream in April 2020,” Tony highlighted, before adding:

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PROFILE

“We are also working on Project Annexus to recommission the Oikos Feeder Line, which goes underground from the Oikos Terminal to the pump station at Thames B in Thurrock which connects into the CLH Pipeline System (CLH-PS). This existing line was subject to a successful, full third-party inspection, using an intelligent pig, in February 2018. This project is due to be completed and commissioned at the end of January 2020.”

With work on Premo and Annexus still underway, there is also another major scheme on the agenda, the Oikos Marine & South Side development (OMSSD) project. This is not undertaken via conventional planning route – rather it is an NSIP (Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project) which requires considerable work to be undertaken before any planning application is submitted. “We are currently progressing the project through the early stages, so there is a lot of design, assessment and analysis work that needs to be done before we can ultimately fix on what the details of the project will be,” noted Tony.

Significant development

Oikos Storage

projects on time and on budget are at the top of the agenda going forward, but as ever, we will always ensure that the operation of a safe, environmentally responsible terminal, together with meeting the needs of our customers are our priorities at all times.”

Oikos Storage www.oikos.co.uk .........................................

Services: Marine fed oil, fuel and bulk liquid import and storage facility

He described the project as ‘quite straightforward’ from both a mechanical and construction perspective, as once the works are constructed, the operation of the OMSSD project will simply replicate the activities that already take place at the site. However, this doesn’t entirely represent the enormous scale of OMSSD, which will be a nationally significant facility and includes substantial amounts of construction, such as new marine loading arms, new import/export pipelines, ten x 30,000m3 storage tanks, two x 5000m3 Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) storage tanks, consideration of up to an additional seven road loading bays, additional ancillary infrastructure and other support development including an extension to the site office, a new workshop building and additional parking, necessary operational and safety infrastructure and appropriate and necessary habitat mitigation provision.

“The commissioning of the Southside development tankage will allow our existing and future customers access to a safe, modern terminal, which will allow them the full benefit of LR1 and 2 vessel imports, sophisticated blending and additive systems, and re-export by vessel, pipeline and road,” Tony noted. “Continuing to develop the plans for Southside, while also achieving beneficial operation of both Annexus and Premo ENERGY,oil&gas

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Game changers Modern problems require modern solutions. While waste management has been a matter of discussion for decades, today, the process is more closely associated with the goals of the climate agenda than ever. This calls for a significant increase in efficiency and integration with other processes in an attempt to create a holistic circular economy and respond to the challenges the planet is facing.

In the vision of Viridor – a market-leading recycling, renewable energy, and waste management company – the former of the three is just one component that needs to be taken care of. Playing in tune with the renewed vigour with which a circular economy is being pursued, the company aims to maximise recycling while, at the same time, minimise landfill by diverting nonrecyclable waste in the production of useful, green baseload electricity and heat via energy recovery facilities (ERFs). By doing this, it also strives to complement the shift towards typically intermittent renewable energy.

“Here, in the UK, we are still struggling to realise the recycling rates the public is hoping for. We at Viridor are working with our local authority partners to make sure people are putting the right stuff in the right bin, but we’re also investing in new recycling facilities and upgrades back by

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long-term contracts. Alongside recycling, our ERF portfolio uses black bin bag waste to deliver lowcarbon energy from waste that otherwise could not be recycled,” begins Phil Piddington, Managing Director of Viridor. “The next leg of the journey towards a circular economy is to develop what we call ‘energy parks’ where the ERF units are built next to recycling assets and as close as possible to landfill sites, so that the different functions these facilities play can be brought together.”

A telling example of Phil’s latter claim is the agreement Viridor signed with Dutch company CarbonOro at the beginning of November. The collaboration will see the delivery of the world’s first gas clean-up system, which transforms landfill gas into transport fuels in a process, which also allows the successful capture of CO2. Another programme that highlights the benefits of trying to make the most of landfill sites, includes a partnership between Viridor and water purification company LAT Water in a pilot project demonstrating how landfill gas energy can be harnessed to extract water from the leachate produced at a Devon landfill site. The project will use low-grade heat from Viridor’s landfill gas engines at ambient pressure to concentrate the leachate and extract the water, achieving environmental benefits in retaining the water resource while reducing CO2 emissions by

PROFILE

a potential 80 per cent reduction in tankering requirements.

Viridor is proud to be offering solutions specifically within the UK. The organisation has now grown into the unique position of being the biggest UK-owned recycling and energy recovery company, working with over 150 local authority and major corporate clients with 32,000 customers across the country. As such, it has created and continues to extend a large network of advanced recycling, energy recovery, and landfill diversion facilities.

One of the business’ latest projects is the construction of a £252m resource recovery centre (RRC) in Avonmouth, which is being developed at the same time as a £65m multi-polymer plastic plant on the same site. “The ERF will divert 320,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste away from landfill. It will transform this waste into fuel to create 282GWh of electricity, which will power the facility itself, as well as the multi-plastics plant, which will be the largest of its kind in the UK,” Phil discusses.

Speaking in a greater detail about the plastics plant, he points out that because recycling plants are energy-intensive, the integrated project will leverage environmental efficiency and cost benefits.

“It will create a sophisticated plastics recycling and reprocessing centre in the South West, which taps into the low-carbon power created by the ERF. In year one, it will produce 60KTPA of recycled plastic (PET, HDPE, and PP flake and pellet) from 81KTPA feedstock, rising to 89KTPA in year three, producing 63KTPA of recycled material.”

Phil goes on to describe the strategic importance of the plant: “There is considerable demand for recycled plastic due to the sustainability targets of the consumer brands we are proud to partner with. Crucially, further demand will be fuelled by legislation such as the 2022 plastics tax, which will come into effect for material that has less than 30 per cent recycled plastic. Therefore, our investment in the plant and the replication of the model it follows elsewhere in the UK, will be vital, if we are to address the plastic reprocessing capacity gap in the country.”

The opening of the Glasgow Recycling & Renewable Energy Complex (GRREC) in August will go down as one of the major highlights of 2019 for Viridor. Operated by the company on behalf of Glasgow City Council, it is a first for the country and has the capacity to divert more than 200,000 tonnes of the city’s waste from landfill every year, using state-of-the-art technology. The GRREC also has the ability to extract recyclable material from general waste and boost Glasgow’s overall recycling rates, diverting 90 per cent of all council waste

from landfill and saving 90,000 tonnes of carbon emissions each year.

“Three main technologies make up the GRREC,” Phil adds. “First, we have a smart recycling facility, which extracts recyclable material from general waste to create a refuse derived fuel (RDF) that can be further processed to release energy. Then, there is the anaerobic digestion facility using bacteria to break down organic waste and release methane for fuel to generate renewable electricity. Finally, the advanced conversion facility (ACF) heats the RDF, thus creating a gas, which is captured and combusted to generate steam, which powers a turbine to generate renewable electricity exported to the National Grid.”

What was remarkable about the construction of the facility is that the commissioning ended up as a self-delivery by Viridor, after the company had to terminate the contract with its main contractor, Interserve. “Building an ERF is a complex project.

Consequently, even more complex facilities like the GRREC with three parts and using gasification technology, which was a first for Viridor and for Scotland,” Phil comments. “We have learned some valuable lessons and we have modified the detailed due diligence process we conduct on our contractors, because there really are a lot of boxes that need to be ticked. Of course, we look at pure technical capability, depth and breadth of skills and resources, but also at specific experience in successful delivery of complex ERF projects.

Contractors can work across many sectors and often so do seamlessly, at GRREC we saw that ERFs require unique experience and require the full contract team to commit to solely working on that one project. They can’t manage multiple projects like these at the same time.

“Furthermore, technology providers need to understand the very specific types of technology that we want to install,” he continues.

“Gasification gets everyone excited, but it is still being established as a proven technology and every ERF is slightly different. We used gasification technology at GRREC because that was the specification our client requested and it’s working well now the ERF is operating, but it needs carefully configuring and takes longer to optimise. At the end of the day, we completed that project ourselves under significant pressure, but I am exceptionally pleased with the fantastic effort from our technical team who have done an excellent job. They stepped in, finished the plant, and took it successfully through commissioning.

Of course, the journey has just begun, as we continue to optimise performance improvements to increase its efficiency.”

It is precisely the strong skillset of its personnel

Viridor

Phillip Piddington

As far as collaboration goes, the UK Plastics Pact of which we are a founding member, is a very good example of how we can bring the entire plastics packaging value chain behind a common vision, which is, namely, to create a future where plastics never become waste. It is our firm belief that everyone has to play their role in increasing recycling rates and if we all approach the challenges with a solutions-focused mind, we should be able to meet the ambitious targets we have set ourselves by 2025

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that gives Phil confidence that Viridor will maintain its position at the forefront of the recycling and energy recovery industry.

He emphasises, though, that no marked progress in the space can be achieved unless all stakeholders collaborate and work towards a common objective. This involves establishing and deepening fruitful partnerships with the Government, local authorities, commercial and industrial customers, and local communities.

“There is no doubt that both the Government and the society are willing to take bolder decisions in tackling the issues at hand. The ‘Blue Planet’ effect continues to encourage action and we are happy to see the Government’s Resources & Waste strategy aligned to our own strategy, with plastics on a fast track. It is quite interesting to observe that there is a universal

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consensus between all political parties that more needs to be done to encourage recycling and increased recycled content across packaging.

In this situation, however, it is all about the different methods of implementation that are being proposed. One of our key messages is that everyone needs to be extremely careful, lest they do it in the wrong way that may well destroy previous investments in the sector. As a chairman of the Environmental Services Association (ESA), I am in constant dialogue with the Government, trying to get them to understand what good implementation looks like,” Phil explains.

“As far as collaboration goes, the UK Plastics Pact of which we are a founding member, is a very good example of how we can bring the entire plastics packaging value chain behind a common vision, which is, namely, to create a future where plastics never become waste. It is our firm belief that everyone has to play their role in increasing recycling rates and if we all approach the challenges with a solutions-focused mind, we should be able to meet the ambitious targets we have set ourselves by 2025,” he reasons.

PROFILE

The UK Plastics Pact has committed to eliminating problematic or unnecessary singleuse packaging through redesign, innovation or alternative delivery models. A lot of work has already been done by Viridor and other organisation members in conjunction with large retailers such as Unilever, Marks & Spencer, and Sainsbury’s, to replace black plastic trays with colourful ones, thus enabling the higher recyclability of the latter. This and other innovative initiatives are expected to help the UK Plastics Pact achieve objectives such as having 100 per cent of plastics packaging reusable, recyclable, or compostable, and 70 per cent of it being effectively recycled or composted, within the next five-year period.

In conclusion, Phil expects the UK residual waste market dynamics to remain favourable, with demand for ERFs exceeding the capacity into the long term. He wraps up: “Given our confidence in the business climate and our ongoing investment in growth projects, we anticipate Viridor’s strong contribution to Pennon Group’s profit to continue to increase.

We are currently assessing three further ERF

options where we see under-capacity in the local market and the opportunity for attractive long-term contracts. As mentioned earlier, the company is also keen on replicating the co-location model, which places energy-intensive recycling and reprocessing operations alongside our sophisticated ERFs. In this way, innovation, investment, and a focus on our contribution to the circular economy, resource, and energy efficiency will continue to be at the heart of what we do.”

Viridor

Viridor www.viridor.co.uk ............................................

Services: Recycling, renewable energy, and waste management

...with exciting plans for new developments, upgrades and refinery expansions on the agenda, the business can be viewed as a leading light for not just Pakistan but for the wider energy industry

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Enabling sustainable development Being able to analyse a client’s energy needs, look at the bigger picture and make sound judgements with public and private stakeholders is a characteristic that has distinguished Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor (BWSC) over the years. It is also a trait cited by the company’s Commercial Director Hybrid Energy Systems, Flemming Juel Jensen, when he was asked to pinpoint some of the secrets to the ongoing success achieved by the designer and developer of turnkey power plants.

“Our ability to look at power production from a holistic perspective and act as a trusted partner to our customers is pivotal. A typical

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medium-sized power plant costs hundreds of millions of euros. To ensure a return on investment, it must operate for decades.

Therefore, we need to be careful in selecting the right power sources and components, based specifically on our customers’ needs and a project’s specifications. In this, we fully rely on our engineers and specialists, whose vast experience allows us to go in and analyse the energy needs, thus supporting the public or private stakeholders when looking for ways to expand and/or optimise the grid,” Flemming explains.

There are three market areas, in which BWSC delivers its turnkey power plants. These

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BWSC

Flemming Juel Jensen

With the start of the new decade, the organisation will be looking to optimise its core competences and broaden its markets technology-wise.

Building upon its strong experience in delivering power plants to the world’s harshest climates – including Greenland’s frozen terrain and Iraq’s scorching desert – BWSC has set its sights on delivering a maximum renewable penetration to the mining industry

are biomass-to-energy, waste-to-energy, and hybrid power systems. Following the purchase of Burmeister & Wain Energy (BWE) in 2017, the company acquired the in-house capability to design, build, and service biomass boilers, as well as convert coal-fired power plants to biomass. In addition to being able to handle all phases of EPC power plant projects – from the development and design phase to construction and commissioning – BWSC also offers operation and maintenance contracts both for its own turnkey projects and for plants built by other contractors.

Throughout its history, the company has supplied EPC power plants in 54 countries in

a wide range of markets. BWSC is particularly well-positioned in the UK and in Africa, and has grown an enviable reputation for providing off-the-grid countries with energy solutions to islands and remote areas. Flemming details: “Our long experience of building plants on remote islands has given us valuable knowledge of smaller isolated grids, which, in turn, gives us the edge when adding renewable energy sources to existing baseloads. We keep electrical stability as our main focus and our analysis helps us to configure it as such, while at the same time minimising the cost of energy.

BWSC has long acknowledged the importance of a well-balanced system and this has never ENERGY,oil&gas

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held truer now that renewable energy sources are being added to the system.

“With most islands interested in utilising solar and wind power, some also want to adopt more effective waste management and minimise landfill on valuable and scarce land. In response to that, we have the ability to take on projects of this kind, either as mass burn or gasification of the household waste,” he adds.

In fact, it is one of BWSC’s missions to help the reduction of CO2 emissions through the use of greener fuels. Having added biomass capabilities to its offering, the company has now built turnkey biomass power plants that have already reduced the emissions in Northern Europe by burning biomass waste from fields, instead of burning the fields themselves as it used to be done up until the early 1990s.

“Waste-to-energy plants remain the best and more efficient solution to reduce landfilling,” Flemming maintains. “Uncontrolled landfills

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release large amounts of methane gas and waste-to-energy plants convert the waste into energy, instead of releasing the methane gas directly into the atmosphere.

This contributes significantly to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. While many countries in the world are trying to cut CO2 emissions by adding more renewable energy sources to their grid, in some places, even a highly-efficient engine can do the trick.”

He continues: “If you take Mali as an example, two years ago, less than two-thirds of the country’s 12 million people had access to the electricity grid. When we added 90MW to the grid in the autumn of 2018, we boosted power access by 20 per cent.

While getting access to a national grid is certain to change the habits and electricity usage of the users, we must also assume that a high number of smaller generators will also be taken out of use. This could then lead to a reduction of CO2 emissions by about 90,000 tonnes annually.”

Being quite active on the African continent, BWSC, in consortium with MAN Energy Solutions, handed over a 120MW dual-fuel power plant for inauguration in Benin in August 2019. The plant takes an important step in boosting the social and economic possibilities in a country where two-thirds of the inhabitants have no or limited access to electricity.

“Back in Europe, we are currently involved in the Hooton Bio Power Resource Recovery Centre project in the UK, which will be the largest gasification plant in the country and is scheduled to be finalised in 2021. At the same time, we are also working on the Sund power station in the Faroe Islands to which, across three phases, we have delivered turnkey solutions. As Sund is the largest power supplier on the island, our power plants and control system have proven crucial in controlling the hybrid island grid, which also consists of wind power and several storage solutions such as batteries and pumped storage,” Flemming highlights some of the main projects BWSC is taking part in at the moment.

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With the start of the new decade, the organisation will be looking to optimise its core competences and broaden its markets technology-wise. Building upon its strong experience in delivering power plants to the world’s harshest climates – including Greenland’s frozen terrain and Iraq’s scorching desert – BWSC has set its sights on delivering a maximum renewable penetration to the mining industry.

“Combining our Scandinavian knowhow of renewable energy with our project management and logistics expertise, we can get maximum penetration to the mines, resulting in lower operating costs, higher earnings, and accountability, all while lowering environmental impact,” Flemming points out.

“Furthermore, we will be aiming to increase

BWSC

the value we deliver to our clients, partners, and wider society, and also continue to deliver on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) with focus on affordable and clean energy (SDG 7).

“We believe that this is one of the cornerstones to obtain other SDGs, too,” he goes on, before concluding: “There are still almost one billion people without access to electricity and many developing countries are lacking the required infrastructure that would enable economic and social development (SDG 8). With a long track record of bringing energy to remote places, we will continue to focus on developing environmentally-efficient technologies and delivering affordable energy with a reduced carbon footprint to those who need it most.”

BWSC

Lodge Cottrell For over 100 years, Lodge Cottrell has provided solutions to industrial facilities that must control their airborne emissions as part of their operating permits. We remain at the forefront of technology development to ensure that our customers continue to meet ever-changing environmental directives.

Wherever you are based, Lodge Cottrell is able to help your business meet your environmental obligations. Our expertise, gained over decades, combined with our ability to determine the most appropriate equipment for our customers enables us to deliver solutions that will have a positive effect on your profitability over the years to come.

https://www.bwsc.com ............................................

Services: Developer, contractor and operator of tailored enginebased and boiler-based power plants

...with exciting plans for new developments, upgrades and refinery expansions on the agenda, the business can be viewed as a leading light for not just Pakistan but for the wider energy industry

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Funding the future

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PROFILE

MPC Renewable Energies is making huge strides in the clean energy investment market. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of MPC Capital, a publicly listed German asset and investment manager with EUR 4.2 billion assets under management (AUM). MPC Capital, founded in 1994, had already been involved in several renewable infrastructure projects for more than a decade prior to launching the specialised business unit in 2014.

David Delaire, managing director at MPC

MPC Renewable Energies

Renewable Energies, gave an insight into MPC Renewable Energies’ portfolio, the company’s investment focus and upcoming projects: “Our portfolio of AUM includes biomass projects in Brazil, solar PV assets in Spain, the largest windfarm in Mongolia and a 50 per cent share of a 21 MW windfarm in Costa Rica. In addition to that, we have inaugurated Paradise Park, a 51.5 MWp solar PV park in Jamaica and the biggest solar PV farm in the English-speaking Caribbean,” Mr Delaire said.

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He explained that MPC Renewable Energies started to actively look into projects in Central America and the Caribbean after the acquisition of a 34 per cent share of Paradise Park in 2016 and following the exit from a 172 MW wind farm in Portugal in 2017 – the largest one in the country at that time.

“We realised that the region was heavily overlooked in terms of renewable energy assets – think of it as the hidden gem of clean energy investment opportunities. It’s true that you need economies of scale if you want to set up shop there and capitalise on the abundance of renewable energies resources.

Based on our research, however, we figured that we could be an aggregator that takes on smaller projects of five to 50 MW, combines them into one portfolio of several hundred MW and places them into a fund.”

Fund specifically tailored to clean energy investments After conducting in-depth research and analysis of the Caribbean market, MPC Renewable Energies created the MPC Caribbean Clean Energy Fund LLC (“the Fund”) and MPC Caribbean Clean Energy Ltd. to enable investments into the Caribbean renewable energy space.

“Both the Fund and MPC Caribbean Clean Energy Ltd. are mainly focused on the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) region.

It comprises 20 countries in the Caribbean Basin, among them Panama, Columbia and Costa Rica. Even though we exclude some countries that have a protectorate relationship with Europe or the US, such as the French Caribbean or Puerto Rico, we are looking into acquiring assets in the entire CARICOM region,” Mr Delaire said.

One of the Fund’s most significant investments so far has been Jamaica’s

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Paradise Park. The solar PV farm commenced operations in June and was inaugurated in October 2019 and is a prime example of MPC Renewable Energies’ holistic asset management strategy.

“We acquired our stake in 2016 and immediately got involved in all aspects of the project, including development, project financing and construction management.

For instance, I personally participated in the selection and negotiations of the EPC and O&M contracts as well as the asset management agreements,” Mr Delaire noted.

“Our operating principle makes this very clear: with our extensive renewable energies experience, we are confident that we can add more value to any project than just bringing the equity. We have expertise in project finance, development, construction, operations and asset management, and we want to bring all of that to the table, whenever we get involved.”

Paradise Park, which is now the cheapest energy provider in Jamaica, also proves that MPC Renewable Energies is on the right track. The success of the solar PV plant demonstrates that the region has an appetite for large investment projects. Mr Delaire is convinced that this will “boost our ability to gain and execute other projects in the area.”

Tilawind, a 21 MW wind farm in Costa Rica, represents another promising example in MPC Renewable Energies’ portfolio. Mr Delaire explained that “this asset came to us in the third quarter of 2017. We saw that the wind farm was underperforming and

PROFILE

knew that we could make improvements.

To maximise our investment, we decided to partner with a strong regional company: ANSA McAL Limited, Trinidad and Tobago’s largest conglomerate with well over $1 billion AUM. “Due to the optimisations we have already implemented, Tilawind, as of today, is performing approximately seven per cent above what has been forecasted (P50). What’s more, there is still room for improvement – and we are confident that the additional enhancements will increase the performance potential by another couple of percentage points.”

On the lookout for new projects Mr Delaire pointed out that MPC Renewable Energies is constantly looking for promising opportunities. In fact, the clean energy investment specialist has evaluated over 100 projects already.

“We are doing due diligence on about a third of those and have made binding or nonbinding offers on about 15 projects to date.

We have an active pipeline of about 14 to 17 projects that we are working on now, all at various stages. It’s also worth noting that we are looking at some storage and energy efficiency prospects. The focus of the Fund, however, lies on onshore wind and solar PV assets,” Mr Delaire explained.

One such project is due to commence before the end of 2019. According to Mr Delaire, it’s “a 6.5 MW project in El Salvador.

We expect it to start in the next month or two. We have already signed the EPC and the O&M agreements and are currently looking

MPC Renewable Energies

at finalising the financing,” he said.

In accordance with its plans to continue investing in the CARICOM region, MPC Caribbean Clean Energy Ltd. launched a $22.8 million rights issue to boost investment into new renewable energy projects. The rights issue runs from 13 November until December 2019 and is renounceable for current investors who do not wish to participate. Mr Delaire believes that, for the next three years, MPC Renewable Energies will be extremely busy realising assets and getting them into the Fund, to the point where they are generating revenues and returning dividends to investors.

“We have a lot of projects coming to us every day. Our aim consists of solidifying the Fund first though, before going further into the region with a second fund. That doesn’t mean, however, that we’ve excluded other opportunities. If we see something good in a different location, such as Europe or the US, then we are open to it – as long as it falls within our investment mandate and within our comfort zone as a company,” Mr Delaire concluded.

MPC Renewable Energies www.mpc-capital.com ............................................

Services: A business unit of MPC Capital, a leading investment platform

...with exciting plans for new developments, upgrades and refinery expansions on the agenda, the business can be viewed as a leading light for not just Pakistan but for the wider energy industry

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Sustainable drilling solutions

The signals Dolphin Drilling is receiving from the market have increased the Norwegian company’s confidence in the opportunities the drilling industry is to present in the coming years. Emboldened by the favourable business climate, the global contractor decided to establish an international headquarters in Aberdeen, thus also highlighting its commitment to the North Sea. Having recently been the recipient of significant investment from a US-based private equity firm, Dolphin Drilling anticipates a bright future for its endeavours.

“The North Sea has always played a significant role in our history, which can be traced back to 1965 when we were one of the first drilling companies to operate in the deep water and harsh environments. We now have a UK parent company with strong operational bases in both Aberdeen and Stavanger, and have positioned ourselves to provide the very best quality of service to our clients at the best possible price,” commented Bjørnar Iversen, Dolphin Drilling’s recently-appointed CEO.

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Specialised in harsh environment drilling, the business owns a fleet of assets, most of which have recently been refurbished to incorporate the latest technology. This includes the semi-submersible Borgland Dolphin – a fifth-generation drilling rig that was completely rebuilt in 1999 and which is believed to have set a new standard for the fastest rig turnaround when it was taken from standby to operational mode in just 70 days after a contract was signed with i3 Energy.

“We have pioneered rig design and operational excellence throughout our history,” Mr Iversen points out. “Our assets have one of the lowest carbon footprints, with our sustainable moored rig design providing bestin-class energy efficiency through significant savings on fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. The drilling efficiency of the rigs has really proven them to be top performers in the industry and getting the Borgland Dolphin ready for operation in just 70 days shows that Dolphin Drilling is ready, willing, and, most importantly, able to play an important role in

PROFILE

the next chapter of global offshore drilling.”

Initially, the contract with i3 Energy in question was signed for a 94-day period for drilling operations on the Liberator oilfield and the Serenity prospect in the UK’s Central North Sea. As it turned out, however, the contract had to be extended by another 55 days to enable i3 Energy to complete its planned drilling campaign. Following the successful relationship between the two entities, they agreed to enter into a four-year strategic alliance to enable i3 to meet its future rig demands.

One Team system After the completion of the latest work for i3, the Borgland Dolphin is going straight to the Knarr field on the Norwegian Continental Shelf to provide the drilling and completion of a gas production well for AS Norske Shell in Norway.

Mr Iversen added: “The demand for the rig reflects its excellent efficiency and performance records, and reaffirms the industry’s growing confidence in Dolphin Drilling’s determination to provide the very best quality of service in a green and sustainable way.”

Dolphin Drilling

Set to commence in February 2020, the work Dolphin Drilling will be doing for Shell, will be performed under the operator’s One Team system with integrated drilling and completions providers in a water depth of approximately 450 metres. “We appreciate the trust Shell has placed in us. They are a strategic client and we look forward to a longterm relationship with them. We believe that Borgland Dolphin’s layout is ideally suited for optimised drilling and completion work and we are hoping to secure more activity on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, the UK Continental Shelf, and further afield internationally,” Mr Iversen also remarked.

Providing services in the offshore oil and gas industry is often associated with certain risks. In order to offset these, Dolphin Drilling has developed an all-encompassing policy to ensure that its working environment is healthy and safe at all times. The company identifies and analyses all hazards to personnel, the environment, and its own assets, initiates corrective actions, and ensures that a process of continual improvement is achieved through

TECO Solutions TECO Solutions is working with Dolphin Drilling to keep its maintenance of surfaces at the highest level. TECO Solutions is a provider of surface treatment as well as general installation and turnkey projects for the maritime industry.

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EOS Europe are proud to have supported Dolphin Drilling for over 18 years by being their approved electrical, instrumentation and telecommunications engineering, installation, maintenance and inspection contractor.

Our partnership has grown and evolved during new build projects, upgrades and refurbishment of drilling rigs through to periodic surveys and reactivation scopes globally.

Our partnership with Dolphin Drilling has increased value in the supply chain through the use of hugely experienced and dedicated project teams, long-term and readily-available technical personnel and in-house equipment procurement leading to substantial reductions in operational down-time, personnel mobilisation time and third-party sub-contracts. ²ƵƵ ɈǘƵ ƦƵȁƵ˛ɈȺ Ɗ ȯƊȲɈȁƵȲȺǘǞȯ ɩǞɈǘ 0 ² 0ɐȲȌȯƵ ɩǞǶǶ ƊƧǘǞƵɨƵ ǏȌȲ ɯȌɐȲ ȌȯƵȲƊɈǞȌȁȺ ƊȁƮ ǯȌǞȁ ȌɐȲ ǐȲȌɩǞȁǐ ƧǶǞƵȁɈ ǶǞȺɈ ɈȌƮƊɯ‫خ‬

GET IN TOUCH: +44 1224 766 908

Focusing on safety, reliability and upholding our Core Values, EOS Europe are passionate about surpassing client expectations with an uncompromising emphasis on delivery and quality.

www.eoseurope.net

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Dolphin Drilling

period objective setting, auditing, and performance reviews.

It also encourages open communication and employee participation in all activities related to improvement and fulfilment of HSE issues, aiming to maintain a culture where human error is reduced and the focus is on individual commitment, responsibility, and accountabilities.

Narrowly related to Dolphin Drilling’s H&S work, is the company’s desire to be at the beginning of this article promises to the employer of choice within its industry. contribute further to the financial stability Alongside making sure that its people have of the company. Dolphin Drilling is one of proper safety training, the business also invests the few businesses in the field to be net-debt in their professional development. It uses its free, which enables a comfortable degree of common culture and robust management flexibility in its operations and the freedom practices as a base to build its operations to offer service of the highest quality at a upon and integrate its employees in a work reasonable price. environment where operational excellence Last but not least, the company recently and customer satisfaction are constantly being appointed a new world-class management pursued. team that boasts a combined experience of If we were to judge by the type of highmore than 100 years. The changes at board profile contracts Dolphin Drilling is tied into, level were part of a major restructuring process we could rightly conclude that the next few for Dolphin Drilling, designed to ensure that years will be a period of continued success the organisation has the most able senior for the drilling specialist. The investment figures that will take it to new heights in the from the US private equity firm mentioned years to come.

Dolphin Drilling https://dolphindrilling.no ............................................

Services: Harsh environment offshore drilling

EOS Europe EOS Europe congratulate Dolphin Drilling on its 55th anniversary milestone and the opening of the new international headquarters in Aberdeen, and we wish them every continued success in the future.

EOS Europe is a world-leading offshore oil and gas electrical and instrumentation company with expertise in the North Sea, Brazilian, GOM, Asian, African and Caspian markets.

The emphasis on core-values of safety, reliability, quality and delivery is achieved through the use of unique and leading-edge technologies, coupled with unparalleled expertise in the offshore markets in which we operate.

EOS Europe has forged successful partnership agreements with many of the world’s leading offshore oil and gas drilling contractors, and support industries and continue to support each client in their many projects, ranging from new-builds, upgrades and reactivations, periodical surveys and continuous planned maintenance.

EOS Europe looks forward to providing continued high levels of professional technical services to Dolphin Drilling in the future.

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Growing all over Europe You may not think that a period of two years is too long for a great number of significant developments to take place in a company’s activities, but looking at the major projects Fluxys has been involved with in the last 24 months may well change your mind. Without a doubt,

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the independent gas infrastructure group headquartered in Belgium, whose subsidiary Fluxys Belgium is the independent operator of both the natural gas transmission and the storage infrastructure in Belgium as well as the Zeebrugge liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, has got its fingers in many pies,

PROFILE

as it strives to strengthen its position across the entire European continent, with regards particularly to the use of LNG. Nowadays, this type of fuel is considered to be an ideal alternative fuel for ships, long-haul trucks, and industrial companies located in areas where there are no nearby

Fluxys

gas lines. With energy transition in place, the demand for LNG is growing; LNG is an environmentally-friendly fuel compared to traditional fuels, as a shift away from those fuels (ie: diesel for trucks and HFO for ships) has an immediate positive impact on both climate (less GHG emitted) and health (much ENERGY,oil&gas

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Fluxys

© Fluxys Belgium - P.Henderyckx

less pollutants like NOx, SOx & PM emitted).

This propelled the commissioning of a second LNG truck loading station at the Fluxysoperated Zeebrugge terminal in early 2019. As a result, a 67 per cent increase of trucks being loaded so far this year was registered at the end of September, compared to the figures at the same time in 2018.

“May, July, and September were alltime record months, with no fewer than, respectively, 194, 233, and 238 trucks loading LNG at the facility,” notes Laurent Remy, Fluxys’ spokesperson. “2019 is also proving to be the most successful in Zeebrugge’s history, in terms of ships docking at the terminal.

By September, a total of 85 LNG ships had docked, breaking the previous annual record of 82 vessels dating from a decade earlier.”

Gateway to Europe In a major contract win in the same month, the facility had all of its unloading slots booked

by Qatar Terminal Limited until 2039 (with the possibility of extension until 2044). Pascal De Buck, CEO of Fluxys, comments: “The agreement contributes massively to securing the long-term future of the terminal and further strengthens its position as a versatile LNG gateway into Europe. Not only does it provide ample pipeline takeaway capacity for delivery throughout north-western Europe, but also a wide range of options for downstream smallscale LNG distribution.”

It was shortly after we last caught up with Fluxys (in February 2018) that the operator took over the concession in the port of Antwerp at quay 526-528 to make

LNG available as an alternative fuel for ships and barges. “We have already enabled barges and smaller seagoing ships to bunker LNG smoothly and flexibly 24/7, using LNG tanker trucks in a procedure known as truck-toship bunkering,” Laurent points out. “We are also currently constructing the infrastructure needed for these vessels to fill up with LNG at a permanent facility with LNG storage.

“In February this year, Fluxys and Titan LNG joined forces to build the FlexFueler 002 – a bunkering pontoon with a maximum capacity of 1480 m³, to make LNG more widely available as shipping fuel in the Antwerp region and port. The pontoon will provide bunkering services to inland waterway vessels and small coasters, in addition to the current truck-to-ship bunkering option, and will be commissioned by Q4 2020. As regulations for sulphur content in shipping fuel have become stricter and will tighten even more in 2020, switching to LNG is an excellent alternative, because it cuts down sulphur emissions and particulates to negligible levels,” he explains.

Greek potential Moving away from its domestic market, Fluxys has also pursued business interests in France, Germany, and Greece in the last few months.

Starting chronologically, the summer of 2018 saw Senfluga – a consortium consisting of Snam, Enagás, and Fluxys – acquire a 66 per cent stake in DEFSA (prior to reselling ten per cent to a Greek investor in Aug 2019) – Greece’s natural gas transmission system operator, together with an LNG regasification terminal at Revithoussa.

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Laurent details: “From the very beginning, we were eager to gain a foothold in southeastern Europe, with a view of being part of the new supply corridors into the continent.

Together with our partners, we are willing to boost the development of the Greek gas infrastructure system in the coming years, fully realising the potential of Greece as a gas hub. This will not only foster the development of the domestic market, making energy affordable, reliable, and sustainable for local end users, but will also facilitate other transit initiatives that will unlock new sources of gas for Europe.” © Fluxys Belgium - P.Henderyckx

Sound prospects

© Fluxys Belgium - P.Henderyckx

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With an annual regasification capacity of 13 billion m³ of natural gas and a storage capacity of 600,000 m³ LNG, the Dunkirk LNG terminal is one of Europe’s largest and can meet 20 per cent of France and Belgium’s gas demand. As such, and due to its direct connection with the Belgian network, it has understandably been on Fluxys’ radar for a long time (Fluxys held from the onset a 25 per cent stake). In October 2018, the Belgian operator and its consortium partners – AXA IM and Crédit Agricole Assurances – completed the acquisition of a 35.76 per cent stake in Dunkerque LNG from EDF and Total.

“We are now the reference shareholder

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and hold a 30.39 per cent stake in the capital of the terminal and we believe that it holds sound prospects for future growth, as we aspire to develop inter alia its small-scale LNG potential,” Laurent reveals. “Under the new framework, a fast reloading service for LNG carriers is already provided to Dunkerque LNG customers, which significantly reduces the time of a call during a reloading operation. Additionally, a truck loading bay with a capacity of 3000 operations will shortly be commissioned, while the existing jetty is currently being adapted, in order for the terminal to accommodate smaller vessels, such as LNG bunkering vessels. Once the adaptation work is completed, the applicable minimum vessel size will be lowered to 5000 m³, instead of the current 65,000 m³,” he elaborates.

A cleaner future What Laurent sees as a significant milestone for Fluxys, is the company’s involvement in the construction of a mid-scale LNG storage terminal in the Port of Rostock, as this is the first time the company is building an infrastructure outside Belgium, partnering with a major LNG producer.

“We set up the joint venture Rostock LNG GmbH with Novatek with the idea to build and operate a terminal for receiving and unloading mid-scale LNG carriers from Novatek’s liquefaction facility in the port of Vysotsk, near Saint Petersburg, keeping LNG in storage, and providing services to enable downstream distribution of LNG. The facility is envisaged to unlock LNG as a lowemission alternative for heavy fuel oil and marine diesel oil in the western Baltic Sea, which is characterised by a very busy ship traffic, and to offer some additional supply to Central and Eastern Europe for extra mobility,” he discusses.

With the Land Lease agreement signed in mid-October 2018, Rostock KNG GmbH is currently proceeding with the engineering and permitting processes. As Laurent clarifies: “Front End Engineering Design (FEED) has been completed, an Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) tendering has been launched, and a Final Investment Decision (FID) is expected by mid-2020.”

The projects Fluxys is working on, unequivocally demonstrate the operator’s determination to ensure a cleaner future for Europe, as the continent embraces LNG as

Fluxys

© Fluxys Belgium - P.Henderyckx

a viable alternative fuel. Given the growing role of this type of gas and the infrastructure developments of which the company is part, there is every reason to believe that there will be plenty of other opportunities in the future to report on Fluxys’ growth as one of the leading European ambassadors of the use of LNG.

Fluxys www.fluxys.com .........................................

Services: LNG terminalling, gas transmission, gas storage

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PROFILE

W&T Offshore

Tracy W. Krohn CEO - W&T Offshore

Our challenge on a daily basis is to find ways of increasing production, increasing reserves, cutting costs and increasing cash flow. That is what the market demands and that is what we strive to deliver

With working interests in no fewer than 53 producing fields in federal and state waters, and approximately 826,000 gross acres under lease in the Gulf of Mexico – including 605,000 gross acres on the conventional shelf and 221,000 gross acres in the deepwater – W&T Offshore (W&T) is one of the leading independent oil and natural gas producers in said region, and with good reason. “One of the true

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hallmarks of this company is the fact that we have been successfully acquiring and developing properties and assets for over 35 years in the Gulf of Mexico, much of the time from larger operators,” states Tracy W. Krohn, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of W&T. The history and activities of the business were first covered by Energy, Oil & Gas in 2018, and when we caught up with Tracy in November 2019, he was able to reflect upon a very positive year-to-date. “Overall, I would say that the last 12-to-18 months have been pretty good,” he says. “In spite of – or perhaps because of, depending how

you look at it – the price of oil being lower than in years past, we continue to deliver strong cash flows and have increased our production significantly. This comes on the back of our ongoing success rate with the drill bit – we have yet to drill a single dry well in 2019 – and our acquisition of producing properties.”

Recent acquisition The latter point leads us nicely to the announcement made by W&T in early September 2019, that it has closed the purchase of ExxonMobil’s interests in and operatorship of free cash flow positive oil

G&J Land & Marine Food Distributors, Inc. G&J Land & Marine Food Distributors, Inc. congratulates W&T Offshore on its growth and success over the last three decades. G&J is a wholesale food distributor with over 50 years of experience that focuses on a high level of service and the distribution of quality products to the marine industries in the Gulf of Mexico.

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W&T Offshore

and gas producing properties in the eastern region of the Gulf of Mexico, offshore Alabama, and related onshore and offshore facilities and pipelines. The transaction includes working interests in nine offshore producing fields and an onshore treatment facility that are all adjacent to existing properties owned and operated by W&T. Together, the fields add proven reserves of approximately 74 million barrels of oil equivalent (Boe), of which 99 per cent are proved developed producing and 22 per cent are liquids.

“Our presence in the area surrounded by these newly acquired properties was well established prior to our decision to purchase the assets from ExxonMobil,” Tracy continues. “The acquisition itself came after a period of consideration of how Supreme Services Supreme Services is a provider of specialty rental equipment and services to the oil and gas industry. We ensure our equipment is rebuilt to the highest industry standards and that our Service Technicians are trained and competent in their job duties. With a large and diverse inventory of oil and gas service equipment, Supreme Services strives to be the customer’s first choice partner, by understanding customers’ needs and requirements, while providing the highest level of quality equipment and service. Our continuous goal is to assist customers in eliminating wasted cost and increasing productivity, in conjunction with meeting and exceeding customer requirements.

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they offer excellent low risk potential to add value to the business. Combining our operations within the region also provides us with the chance to adjust things like our transportation requirements, allowing us to operate fewer boats, which is also a positive.”

New opportunities

best to create opportunities for synergies, consolidations and cost savings. With these properties, we identified a series of benefits, including the fact that they are long-life plays with some 15-to-20 years of current production ahead of them, and that

The completion of the agreement not only confirms W&T’s position as the largest operator in the area, but also provides additional upside opportunities for potential future drilling locations and facility modifications as it seeks to further grow cash flow. That is not to say that operating within the Gulf of Mexico is any more of a simpler task, indeed it remains as challenging as ever, as Tracy goes on to exclaim. “This is by no means an easy place to operate in, and to do so successfully you absolutely need to know what you are doing! You can buy access to cash flow, but if you don’t know how to evaluate properly or have the drilling success rate that we have then you can American Eagle Logistics We have serviced the land based transportation needs of W&T Offshore for the last 18 years as their primary carrier. Our value to them has been to deliver superior service as well as maximising their cost savings through truck utilisation. They have been an active partner here along the Gulf of Mexico region and we really appreciate their loyalty over the years.

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PROFILE

W&T Offshore

easily fall into difficulties. Ultimately, when it comes to success in the Gulf of Mexico, I think our track record speaks for itself.”

As the Chairman and CEO of a company specialising in exploration and production, Tracy confesses that he and the rest of the W&T team wake up each day with the same problem awaiting them. “Our challenge on a daily basis is to find ways of increasing production, increasing reserves, cutting costs and increasing cash flow. That is what the market demands and that is what we strive to deliver,” he says.

Further developments One of the tools that W&T can deploy to achieve the aforementioned goals is to continue to make strategic acquisitions, something that Tracy confirms is in the cards. “There are certainly additional purchases that we can make in the region, and we are working towards some of those as we speak,” he explains. “Criteria wise, when we look to identify properties for acquisition, they have to boast strong cash flow and have an established proven reserve base, there must be the opportunity present for W&T to increase the value of the asset, and any necessary workovers, recompletions or facility upgrades need to be able to be carried out near-time so as to increase revenue.”

“If the asset or property in question meets all of these criteria, then it is one that we would want to try and acquire. With that in mind, I definitely believe that you will see more acquisitions, the likes of which we have completed this year with ExxonMobil, being completed in 2020.”

W&T Offshore www.wtoffshore.com .........................................

Services: Independent oil and gas producers

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A new plastics recycling paradigm Founded in San Francisco in August 2016, Brightmark Energy (BME) has a very clear mission statement, and that is to change the way the world views waste.

Led by an executive team made up of highly experienced renewable energy industry veterans, the company is driven by its desire to create significant long-term value – and have a positive global impact – by delivering waste and energy solutions.

It is perhaps fair to say that the emergence of a company like BME could not come at a more critical time, with the vast majority of people throughout the world agreeing that we presently find ourselves in the midst of global

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waste epidemic. “One of the big motivations behind the formation of the company was our collective will to create an entity that could take a fresh, independent look at some of the profound waste issues that we face as a planet and identify ways to tackle them,” begins BME’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Bob Powell.

With an executive team that averages over 20 years of experience within the energy and waste space, in which time each member has overseen repeated successes, BME possesses a virtually unrivalled degree of knowledge, expertise and insight. “This collective strength has provided BME with the ability to

PROFILE

access and identify the optimum technologies to deal with the various issues posed by inorganic and organic waste: technologies that are not only viable, but also able to be commercialised and scaled for applications in the United States, and on a global level,” Bob continues. “Our team also has a proven track record when it comes to engaging with prospective project partners and customers, as well as an incredible success rate in attracting capital and investors.”

BME’s maiden project was its first biogas project – the 1.546 megawatt Sumter project in South Carolina. Using an on-site anaerobic digester to recover methane gas generated by its customer Pilgrim Pride’s poultry processing facility, BME is able to produce electricity and hot water. The success of this undertaking really helped to put the company on the map, and within a matter of months it had successfully secured investment to the tune of $250 million from Jackson Investment Group to support the development of new projects.

Just short of two years on, in November 2018, the next key phase in BME’s development began to take shape when it acquired its plastics renewal technology from the energy technology business RES Polyflow.

“What we are able to do is take post-use plastic – which includes all forms of plastic including the most difficult-to-recycle types – and through the use of our plastics renewal technology, transform it into fuels and other products,” Bob explains. “Once we receive

Brightmark Energy

the plastic waste, it is prepped for conversion by shredding, removing metals, drying and pelletising. That pelletised material is then heated and vapourised in an oxygen-starved environment. Finally, the vapour is captured, cooled into a hydrocarbon liquid, and processed – depending on the temperature – into commercial grade ultra-low sulphur diesel, naphtha or paraffin wax. So, it is a very robust process, and one that gives us the ability to adjust our product output based on market demand.”

Positive changes Buoyed by the confidence in the technology, in April 2019 BME secured $260 million in financing, comprised both of its equity funding in the project and proceeds of green bonds underwritten by Goldman Sachs, for the construction of the United States’ first commercial-scale plastics renewal facility in Ashley, Indiana - a project that continues at pace. “Once the first phase of construction of this advanced recycling facility is complete and comes online in late 2020, it will divert 100,000 tonnes of mixed plastic waste each year from landfills and incinerators, and convert it into 18 million gallons of ultra-low sulphur diesel fuel and naphtha blend stock, and six million gallons of wax,” Bob says.

Away from Indiana, 2019 has also seen BME set about launching further initiatives.

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With this facility being brought to life, we will have firmly planted a flag in the ground that declares that we refuse to let the plastic waste crisis we face get away from us.

From there, we will then become much more visible in promoting the next set of plastic renewal projects that we want to start advancing, which I believe will provide a very clear indication that we intend to take this technology well beyond the state of Indiana

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renewable natural gas and other products, in Yakima County, Washington, and the Demeter project located near Madison, Wisconsin. The latter was acquired from Clean Fuel Partners in July 2019 and will ultimately convert 90,000 gallons per day of dairy waste from three local farms into biogas and bio fertiliser. Furthermore, the company has also announced the greenlighting of the Yellowjacket project, which will be made up of four anaerobic digesters at dairy farms in upstate New York. These will ultimately convert a total of 225,000 gallons of dairy waste per day from 11,000 cows into biogas and other useful products.

Being a relatively young company utilising cutting edge technology, for BME educating the public of the benefits of its operations is another vitally important aspect of its day-today life. “Convincing the hearts and minds of people or businesses that may not be aware of what our technology is able to do, or indeed of the great environmental challenges we face

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as a species, is hugely important to us,” Bob states. “First and foremost, a company such as ours needs to show itself to be a sustainable one, providing sustainable solutions that are executed perfectly. This is the foundation upon which credibility is earned from those external of the BME team.

“From there, we can focus on our engagement with people, businesses and communities, and this occurs on both a local level, where we look to educate individuals and groups of the environmental and economic benefits of our solutions, and from a wider angle, where we attend various conferences and events, or engage with the media. Going forward, we will also look to establish a form of education centre at one or more of our locations, providing visitors with a first-hand experience of the work that we are doing.”

By the end of 2020, BME expects that its plastics renewal facility in Ashley, Indiana will be completed and operational. “With this facility being brought to life, we will have firmly planted a flag in the ground that declares that we refuse to let the plastic waste crisis we face get away from us,” Bob proclaims. “From there, we will then become much more visible in promoting the next set of plastic renewal projects that we want to start advancing, which I believe will provide a very clear indication that we intend to take this technology well beyond the state of Indiana.”

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Brightmark Energy

So, where would Bob and the rest of the BME team like to see the company in five years’ time? “By the end of 2024,” he says, “we intend to have diverted up to 8.4 million tonnes of plastic out of the environment, and over 22 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent from our RNG activities, which is the equivalent of planting over 26 million acres of forest in one year. These are massive figures, and to make them come to fruition you will see BME aggressively expand in the coming years, both nationally and internationally.

“At the end of the day, the driving force behind all that we do is our desire to be a positive global participant in making change happen, and we whole-heartedly believe that BME will make a significant impact in the years ahead.”

JICI Construction As an experienced Design-Build Contractor, JICI Construction understands that we are only as strong, or successful, as our last project.

This belief helps drive home our Built on Solid Principles philosophy, which places the utmost importance on every detail of every project. At JICI Construction, we provide General Contracting and Design-Build Services to go along with our quality craftsmanship and personal service that has been on display since 1977. With our united team of JICI professionals, our difference is noticed at every step of the construction process - from the time the first spade of dirt is turned, to when the ribbon is cut and beyond. It’s our ability to work seamlessly with owners, sub-contractors and vendors that pays dividends for our industrial clients. Our clients benefit from our ability to Work as One.

Brightmark Energy www.brightmarkenergy.com ............................................

Products: Plastics renewal and renewable natural gas technologies

...with exciting plans for new developments, upgrades and refinery expansions on the agenda, the business can be viewed as a leading light for not just Pakistan but for the wider energy industry

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Best-in-class 62

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Pentagon Freight Services

Pentagon has been building a reputation as the reference company for oil and gas freight forwarding for over four decades, and throughout this time we have avoided the temptation to diversify into other sectors, staying true to our core business

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First established in Rotherhithe, London, in 1974 by its founder Geoff Smith, Pentagon Freight Services (Pentagon) was created to serve the logistics requirements of the oil and gas industry.

Immediately gaining a foothold within the sector, the company rapidly added additional branches in key locations including Aberdeen and Great Yarmouth, before international growth in subsequent years saw it set up a presence in global oil and gas hubs, including Houston in 1979, Singapore in 1981, Perth in 1983, and Dubai in 1995.

“Today, we are in all the major oil and gas markets, employing more than 1100 people across our operations in 68 locations, in 33 countries, globally,” explains Managing Director, Michael Stal. “Our service ethos remains unchanged, and that is to be a truly flexible local agent/service provider, whilst simultaneously being a global player. This unique combination allows us to offer the oilfield, energy and marine sectors freight forwarding services that are second to none!”

Over the years, Pentagon has built up an impressive resume of international clients, comprising of a veritable who’s who of the oilfield arena. “Pentagon has been building a reputation as the reference company for oil and gas freight forwarding for over four decades, and throughout this time we have avoided the temptation to diversify into other sectors, staying true to our core business,” Michael states. “We

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really understand the industry, so things like the costs involved in rig shutdowns, the sense of urgency in everything we do, the OIM’s demands versus the paperwork requirements, or the complexities of specific destinations are normal daily encounters for us. Meanwhile, many of our employees have been with the company for more than 20 years, meaning that we not only retain our knowledge and experience, but can pass this down the line to the next generation of staff.”

Consultative approach Another facet of the business that Michael is keen to highlight is that fact that it considers itself not to be a general freight forwarder, but rather a specialist in the oil and energy industries, thus allowing it to provide exceptional service and additional value that it believes sets Pentagon apart from its competitors. “We pride ourselves on taking a consultative approach when it comes to our customers,” he continues. “We also understand that a focus on one industry sector may limit opportunities for expansion unless we can provide more than just the moving of freight. With ongoing legislative changes such as HMRC Special Procedures, UKCS processes and the implication of Brexit – it is important that we provide guidance to our clients to allow them to remain compliant in everything they do.

This is the primary focus of our Customs Consultancy within the UK.”

PROFILE

Additional value-added services that Pentagon offers include, Dangerous Goods services such as DG packing and accredited

Pentagon Freight Services

training courses, project management, including handling OOG cargoes and charters through a dedicated project team,

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and a full range of end-to-end OCTG solutions including pipe inspection and certification through its own subsidiary,

Pentagon Oilfield Services. Further to this, it is also able to provide ships spare logistics and shore base services in various locations.

Pentagon also has its own trailer product between the UK and various European destinations, operating 65 modern trailers, including stepframe and low-loader special equipment.

Staff development As the markets have continued to improve in recent years, Pentagon has made a number of improvements and investments to best capitalise on these conditions, such as expanding and restructuring its sales teams globally to exploit new opportunities and implementing a global CRM feature within the ERP system.

“Pentagon offers its 3PL customers a specialist IT system called INSIGHT, which enables a transparent flow of information from purchase order through to shipment,” Michael says.

“Through INSIGHT, Pentagon and the customer electronically manage and view all aspects of the freight movement,

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using various modules included within the system.

“In addition to the above, we are rolling out CargoWise One as our global ERP solution. CargoWise One is a single-platform software solution, designed to increase productivity and improve integration, automation and communication within our supply chain. One of the great aspects of it is that it streamlines processes and increases the efficiency and visibility of our operations. Both systems, individually and in combination, generate a huge amount of data and we see the provision of analytics and bespoke reporting to customers as a key area for further development.”

As we approach 2020, and the energy markets continue to steadily recover, Pentagon expects to leverage its strengths in compliance, QHSE and information management, alongside its specialist expertise in energy logistics, to build its market share. At the same time, the company anticipates that select investments in new geographical markets will create capacity for further growth.

“Pentagon has

Pentagon Freight Services

been established for more than 45 years, and in all that time one thing has been consistent, and that is the fact that our people are our most important asset,” Michael declares. “For this reason, it is important that we continue to attract and retain the best talent, which we do in part through our apprenticeship scheme – which encourages the development of a future workforce of multi-functional personnel – and also through ongoing investment in staff development.

“Taking such an approach means that we are best prepared to navigate the everaccelerating changes in the energy logistics market. These include the evolution of the compliance landscape, the increased use of new technologies such as Blockchain, demand for data analytics, and an ongoing drive to generate efficiencies to remain competitive. Standardisation of our processes globally, as part of our ‘One Pentagon’ strategy, will also help ensure that we continue to be recognised as the best-in-class logistics service provider to the energy and resource industries.”

Pentagon Freight Services www.pentagonfreight.com .........................................

Services: Freight forwarding and logistics service provider to the energy and resource industries

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A new chapter begins

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PROFILE

Incorporated in 2003, initially as a provider of spare parts for Rolls Royce Avon and Olympus gas turbines, Aberdeenshire-based aero-derivative gas turbine service provider Alba Power has undergone substantial change in its 16-year lifespan. The most recent chapter in its story commenced in early July 2019, when the company proudly announced that it had successfully been acquired by Swiss

Alba Power

engineering giant Sulzer, which specialises in pumping solutions and services for rotating equipment, as well as separation, mixing and application technology. The purchase allows Alba Power to remain an independent service provider while at the same time giving it access to significant financial backing - a situation that benefits both businesses.

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wide range of services to its clients including field service, inspection, repair and overhaul for Rolls Royce (Avon, Olympus and RB211), Pratt & Whitney and other aero-derivative gas turbines, as well as power turbines and controls. As such, the company strongly complements Sulzer’s existing service offering in gas turbines globally, with the acquisition allowing Sulzer to diversify its service portfolio, both into smaller gas turbines and distributed power. At the same time, Alba Power will benefit from its parent company’s global network of more than 180 production and service centres, and gain access to the technical expertise required for servicing heavy industrial gas turbines.

“The company’s acquisition by Sulzer is by far one of the biggest developments to occur in our recent history, and comes off of the back of a very successful 18-month period,” explains Alba Power’s Managing Director, Neil McKenzie. “Our own relationship with Sulzer pre-dates the acquisition, having utilised their knowledge and skills previously when completing ‘whole package’ contracts.

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This meant that we understood that there would be a great many synergies between the two parties, that there would be extensive opportunities for cross over work, and that the coming together of Sulzer and Alba Power would make for a great engineering fit.”

The successful period that Neil speaks of can be evidenced in the fact that in its full year accounts for 2018, the company reported a turnover of £34 million and pre-tax profits of £7.5 million, which represents a profit margin above 20 per cent. Around a quarter of the company’s business comes from the oil and gas industry, which Neil describes as “gradually picking up”, with the energy sector being a particularly strong source of growth, especially in Europe.

Examples of some of the important contract wins that have helped spearhead a pattern of growth for the company which has encompassed both 2018 and 2019 include its securing of a contract worth more than £2.5 million with Canada-based nuclear energy supplier, Bruce Power, and its announcement in March 2019 that it had signed a new fiveyear agreement with Marathon Oil UK, which has itself since been acquired by RockRose Energy. The former contract involves the overhaul of power turbines for Bruce Power, while the latter covers maintenance, repair and overhaul of Marathon’s Olympus SK30 gas turbine packages. In the case of this more recent contract, Alba Power’s

PROFILE

engineering and services capabilities will also provide modifications and improvements to increase reliability and extend the life of the aforementioned packages.

Alba Power’s efforts continue to be recognised not just by its customers, but also its industry peers and external bodies.

In the last year alone, it has not only been named the ‘Best Gas Turbine Sales & Repair Company 2018’ at the Scottish Enterprise Awards, but more recently – in September 2019 to be precise – it was proud to have an article published within the Parliamentary Review journal. “The continued recognition we receive is a wonderful testament to the talent of our people,” Neil enthuses.

“Meanwhile, the exposure we have received since the release of our article, which has shone a spotlight upon the numerous tasks that we excel at, has been of great benefit to the business.”

As Neil goes on to detail, the nature of the gas turbine world tends to lead to the end of the year being back end loaded, and as such the final two months of 2019 – and into early 2020 – will be an extremely busy time for Alba Power, with a full order book in front of it. Looking ahead into 2020, optimism and expectations are high within the company.

“The next year is looking very strong for Alba Power,” he declares. “We are very much looking forward to working closely with our colleagues within Sulzer in order to further

develop our respective capabilities and the many synergies that exist between our businesses. At the same time, we will work hard to ensure that we continue to grow, to expand our product range, and capitalise on the many new and exciting opportunities that we expect to come our way.”

Alba Power

Alba Power www.albapower.com ............................................

Services: Repairing and overhauling gas turbines, marine turbines, and power turbines

...with exciting plans for new developments, upgrades and refinery expansions on the agenda, the business can be viewed as a leading light for not just Pakistan but for the wider energy industry

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United for growth

For 12 years now, Atlantica Tender Drilling has been offering unique and cost-effective solutions in the offshore development drilling market. Having designed and now operating two semitender rigs, the Houston-based company has successfully sidestepped the slowdown of the industry, thanks to the long-term contracts the units are tied into. Named Beta and Delta, they are currently working on projects in South America and Africa, continuing to

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deliver exceptional results to the business’ respectable clientele.

“The Beta is working on the Papa Terra field for Petrobras in Brazil and, following a pause in drilling activity to review the field’s economics, there now appears to be a renewed interest in the project in the wake of the recent success of the last well,” explains President and CEO, Kerry Kunz.

“Given the year-long inactivity in drilling back in 2016-17, Petrobras are still in the

PROFILE

Atlantica Tender Drilling

We will be scouring the market in the months ahead and our present focus is the jack-up and tender market, which seems to be the most burgeoning at the moment. In five years’ time, I would like to see us with a fleet of eight-toten rigs comprised of both jack-up and tenders, operating in all major oil and gas theatres

early stages of realising the field’s potential.

Over this time, we have worked with them to forge a tighter relationship and we are eager to deepen our collaboration as their drilling plans mature.”

Moving on to Atlantica’s second rig, Kerry praises the big success the Delta has been: “It is presently performing the development drilling programme on the Moho Nord field in The Congo for Total. Similarly to the scheme in South America, our team has

done very well and has established a close relationship with the client.”

For projects like the ones just discussed, safety inevitably comes first. Acknowledging that, Atlantica has invested heavily over the past two years in its people, making sure that they operate safely as a team. “We have introduced competency-based training and we believe that this investment has paid off in a solid safety record and strong uptime. Where other companies have had ENERGY,oil&gas

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to reorganise their balance sheets through bankruptcy, we have been able to pay down debt and improve our balance sheet,” Kerry points out.

“In my opinion, a strong safety record in contract drilling resides with your ability to consistently apply the basics day in and

day out,” he continues. “Take care of your people, invest in their education, and treat them with respect – these are the postulates that we are following. It is that culture of respect that will enable the team to flourish.

We are constantly seeking feedback on our performance and we team up with the National Safety Council on an annual basis to implement employee perception surveys.

All personnel on both rigs take part in this feedback exercise, with the National Safety Council benchmarking various facets of our safety culture against their massive database of all industries across the globe. We find it an incredibly helpful collaboration that always provides us with valuable insight where we can build on our strengths and involve the field in addressing any weaknesses identified.”

Acquistion plans While the drilling industry is gradually recovering, the process is taking time, which propels companies to proactively look for solutions that will keep them stable in the market. In Atlantica’s case, the organisation is on its way to finalising its merger with Energy Drilling Pte, which will provide it with a stronger financial footing to expand further. “The rationale behind the merger is to participate in industry consolidation as a larger company,” Kerry claims. “To date, both companies are illiquid investments and the downturn has not given our owners the opportunity to monetise their investment. By growing in size, we can float the company on an exchange and provide a liquid trading platform for existing shareholders to exit their investment on their own individual timelines.

“As we currently operate in different theatres for different customers, the combined company will also give us a larger geographic exposure and a broader customer base,” he adds. “The merger is slated for the beginning of the new year and one of our major tasks for the near future will be to synchronise the two entities.”

The coming together of Atlantica and Energy Drilling will provide the joint organisation with some extra peace of mind in the face of a growing trend across the industry that is seeing the rise of investment in green technologies at the expense of hydrocarbons. Kerry comments: “Today, the upstream oil and gas business is struggling to attract capital. Many large funds and institutional investors are favouring

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Atlantica Tender Drilling

renewables, which is hampering our ability to finance the capital-intensive nature of our business. It will be incumbent upon us as an industry to make ourselves more energy efficient and lessen our environmental footprint, demonstrating a commitment to Environment, Sustainability, and Governance (ESG) principles. Nevertheless, I feel that, even with renewables certainly being welcome and embraced, the everincreasing demand for energy worldwide, will necessitate drilling for the next several decades, given oil’s broad use as a fuel and a bi-product.”

Fleet expansion Alongside the impending merger with Energy Drilling, another move that is on the cards for Atlantica in the years to come, is the acquisition of more assets that will provide a platform for growth for the company. “We will be scouring the market in the months ahead and our present focus is the jack-up and tender market, which seems to be the most burgeoning at the moment. In five

years’ time, I would like to see us with a fleet of eight-to-ten rigs comprised of both jack-up and tenders, operating in all major oil and gas theatres. Ultimately, our objective in this timeframe is to be listed publicly with a liquid stock on a strong exchange,” Kerry concludes by laying out Atlantica’s aspirations.

Atlantica Tender Drilling www.atlanticatd.com ............................................

Services: Offshore oil drilling

...with exciting plans for new developments, upgrades and refinery expansions on the agenda, the business can be viewed as a leading light for not just Pakistan but for the wider energy industry

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