FEATURE ARTICLE
The Department for International Trade (DIT) is an international economic department, responsible for securing UK and global prosperity by promoting and financing international trade and investment, and championing free trade. DIT comprises of three pillars:
1
International Trade and Investment, responsible for finding and creating demand for UK goods and services, and supporting British businesses to export;
2
Trade Policy Group, tasked with delivering an independent UK trade policy as we leave the EU;
3
UK Export Finance, the UK’s export credit agency, which ensures that no viable UK export fails for lack of finance or insurance.
As part this offer, the Oil and Gas team (OGT) helps supply chain companies win business by prioritising high value campaigns (HVCs) where there appears to be scale, fit with UK capability and capacity, and where UK Government can do most to help companies. Current HVCs focus on subsea opportunities in: Azerbaijan, India, Senegal/Mauritania, Nigeria, Mozambique, Mexico and Brazil and non-subsea opportunities in Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iraq and East Africa. OGT, together with the wider DIT overseas and regional network, UKEF and trade associations (including Subsea UK) provide specific, bespoke programmes of activity including market awareness support, technology roadshows and partnership programmes which include market visits for targeted UK companies.
Azerbaijan
Nigeria
In Azerbaijan, OGT has prioritised the $45bn phase-2 expansion of Shah Deniz II gas field, future development of the ACG field (based on BP’s recent PSA extension) and investment opportunities in the Absheron gas field. In 2015, DIT, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic and BP established the UK/Azerbaijan Partnership Programme to increase UK/Azerbaijani supply chain partnerships and local capacity. As part of the programme, targeted UK companies are taken on market visits to Baku with outcomes including new partnerships and business (following a recent visit, companies reported business wins worth £600m over the next three years). The programme is anticipated to continue for the next four years with another visit planned for late June 2018.
Nigeria offers £34bn worth of contract opportunities in deep offshore, onshore, swamp and shallow water expansion projects. Contracts accessible to the UK supply chain are worth £4bn through to 2019. By building a partnership with Nigeria’s authority for local content development (NCDMB), DIT is targeting major investment projects and assisting UK companies to access these ahead of competitors. This is further achieved by facilitating partnerships with appropriate local companies to comply with local content laws. Existing opportunities include: exploration and appraisal of assets; revamp, upgrade and maintenance of producing assets; major deep-water development, subsea and FPSO related services and equipment; gas infrastructure, component supply and specialist services; and training and education. In total, 58 partnerships have been formed to date.
Senegal and Mauritania
Mozambique
The BP and Kosmos deep-water Tortue development straddles Senegal and Mauritania and is thought to contain 100 TCF of gas. With Subsea and FPSO development this also provides an excellent fit with UK capability. The SNE field development is the first phase of development in the Rufisque, Sangomar and Songomar deep offshore areas in Senegal. Woodside Energy will lead the development phase and the first phase is expected to include a world class subsea development of over 20 wells, associated infrastructure, installation and an FPSO (contracted separately)
In Mozambique, major deep-water gas discoveries by Anadarko (and onshore) could potentially make Mozambique one of the largest liquefied natural gas exporters in the world. £30bn will be spent with Shell already planning a gas-toliquids project. These opportunities offer an excellent fit for UK capability, with UK EPC’s and Tier 1 contractors already awarded contracts.
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