K Donald Resources

Prysmian Picked for Cable Works at RWE's Sofia Offshore Wind Farm

2020-11-17T22:22:00.000+00:00

Italian power cable company Prysmian has won a contract to provide export cables for RWE Renewable’s largest offshore wind project, 1.4 gigawatt (GW) Sofia offshore wind farm, in the UK North Sea.

Prysmian will provide a turn-key high voltage subsea and land export cable connection, using the installation vessel Leonardo da Vinci.

A preferred bidder agreement was signed Tuesday between RWE Renewables and Prysmian Group for the design, supply, offshore route preparation, installation, commissioning, and protection of the 320 kilovolt (kV) high voltage direct current (HVDC) cable system that will carry power from Sofia’s offshore converter station 227 kilometers to the project’s onshore converter station in Teesside.

The agreement includes symmetrical monopole HVDC submarine and land export cables, the latter using new eco-sustainable cable technology.

The contract involves more than 440 kilometers of ±320kV submarine export cables with XLPE insulation, and 15 kilometers of ±320kV land cables with P-Laser insulation, plus communications cables.

Sofia will be the first offshore wind project to use the 170-meter-long Leonardo da Vinci, which will one of the most advanced cable-laying vessel in the world when delivered in 2021.

Sofia wind farm is 100% owned by RWE, the second biggest player in offshore wind globally and the UK's second-largest generator of electricity. By 2022, RWE plans to invest €5 billion net in the continued expansion of renewable energy, and with the UK one of their core markets in Europe.

Sven Utermöhlen, Chief Operating Officer Wind Offshore Global of RWE Renewables said: "Today’s signing is another tangible step for RWE Renewables’ Sofia as the project progresses towards a final investment decision in early 2021 and is set to make a major contribution to the UK’s climate goals.”

Onshore construction will get underway at Sofia’s converter station site in Teesside early next year, with offshore construction anticipated to start in 2023. The installation and commissioning of the HVDC export cable are due to take place in 2024.

This HVDC export cable news follows the announcements that a consortium of GE’s Grid Solutions and Sembcorp Marine will supply Sofia’s HVDC transmission system and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy will supply the wind farm with its giant SG 14-222 DD offshore wind turbines.

Suriname Offers 8 Blocks in Shallow Waters

2020-11-17T22:15:00.000+00:00

Credit: Staatsolie

Suriname's Staatsolie has offered eight offshore exploration blocks in the shallow waters off the coast of South America's smaller country up for bidding.

Staatsolie, the national oil company of Suriname, said the blocks, covering around 13,524 km2, are located in the currently unlicensed and underexplored shallow offshore acreage of Suriname.

The blocks are located in the west of the Shallow Offshore area, south of the recent deepwater discoveries made in Block 58, and northwest of the onshore producing fields.

The data room opens on November 30, 2020, and bids are due by April 30, 2021, Staatsolie said. Staatsolia is being advised by Envoi Ltd throughout the process.

"Staatsolie is now inviting international and national oil companies to bid for one of more of the blocks on offer based on acquisition of new 3D seismic data in the 1st exploration phase with a drill-or-drop decision before drilling in subsequent phases," Staatsolie said Tuesday.

Credit: Staatsolie

U.S. BOEM to Hold First 2021 Offshore Oil and Gas Lease Sale in March

2020-11-17T22:01:00.000+00:00

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), a Department of Interior agency responsible for the management of offshore energy leases, has picked March 2021 for the first U.S. Gulf of Mexico lease sale next year.

BOEM will offer 78.2 million acres for a region-wide Gulf of Mexico lease sale, formally named Lease Sale 257.

The offshore lease sale, scheduled to be live-streamed from New Orleans, will be the eighth of ten planned offshore sales under the 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program.

The sale will include approximately 14,594 unleased blocks - all of the available unleased areas in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico, BOEM said Tuesday. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, bids are only being accepted by mail.

Worth noting, BOEM will on Wednesday, November 18, hold Lease Sale 256. This Lease Sale 256 was delayed from its planned August 2020 date to allow time for additional analysis of oil and gas markets in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Despite circumstances imposed by the coronavirus, we are confident that industry remains interested in acquiring new leases to support their portfolios,” said Mike Celata, Director of BOEM’s Gulf of Mexico Region. “The Gulf of Mexico is a world-class resource area that serves a key role in our nation’s energy security.”

Tomorrow's lease sale will include approximately 14,755 unleased blocks, located from three to 231 miles offshore, in the Gulf’s Western, Central and Eastern planning areas in water depths ranging from nine to more than 11,115 feet (three to 3,400 meters).

According to BOEM, the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), covering about 160 million acres, is estimated to contain about 48 billion barrels of undiscovered technically recoverable oil and 141 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered technically recoverable gas.

OPT PowerBuoy Tested at DeepStar's 'Zero Carbon Power for Electric Subsea Operations' Project

2020-11-17T21:54:00.000+00:00

Ocean energy technology developer Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) has received a DeepStar project award to study the use of its PB3 PowerBuoy to provide remotely controllable zero-carbon power for deepwater subsea oil production applications.

OPT's moored floating buoys - such as OPT PB3 PowerBuoy - harvests wave energy and converts it to electricity.

The conversion of wave energy into electric power is carried out through a direct drive generator that continuously charges an on-board battery pack (Energy Storage System). Power from the battery is delivered to meet application and end-user needs, such as powering equipment located on the seabed.

"Remote Zero Carbon Power for Electric Subsea Operations" is a techno-economic feasibility study funded by the DeepStar CORE program and supported by Total E&P Research and Technology USA.

The project will explore using OPT's PB3 PowerBuoy and a subsea battery to reduce the cost and carbon emissions associated with conventional means of powering and controlling subsea oil and gas production equipment. The study will consider water depths of 1000, 2000, and 3000 meters.

The wave-energy buoy, i.e. power source, can be placed closer to the production site reducing the cost of a subsea umbilical. Coupled with a modular subsea battery (energy storage in the 100-500 kWh range) it provides sufficient power to operate electric trees, SCMs, and HPUs. This enables decarbonization and autonomous, remotely controlled, all-electric subsea production.

Credit: Deepstar

"We are excited to work with Total and the DeepStar member companies to explore the practical cost-saving, low-risk, and zero-carbon benefits of our solutions for deepwater subsea oil production applications," said George H. Kirby, President and Chief Executive Officer of OPT.

"Total is interested in studying how locally generated electrical power can support its vision of all-electric, low-carbon developments in deep offshore," said Daniel Byrd, Subsea & Deepwater Manager at Total E&P Research and Technology USA. "This study is intended to identify which combinations of parameters (water depth, tieback distance) could bring cost savings for a simple subsea architecture using OPT's PB3 PowerBuoy."

According to available information, the budget under the project starting this month is $80,000. The project is expected to complete in March 2021.

DeepStar is a joint industry technology development program focused on advancing technologies to meet its members' needs. Along with Total, members of the Texas-based consortium include Chevron, CNOOC, Equinor, ExxonMobil, JX Nippon, Occidental, Petrobras, Shell, and Woodside.

Equinor: Oil Demand to Peak Earlier Than Previously Thought Due to Virus

2020-11-17T21:47:00.003+00:00

Oil firm Equinor expects global oil demand to peak by around 2027-2028, two-free years earlier than the company previously saw, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it said on Tuesday.

There is no agreement on when oil demand could peak, but expectations weigh on oil companies’ plans to explore for and develop new resources.

“Earlier assumptions for peak oil demand to happen around 2030 may be challenged,” Equinor said in its annual energy outlook.

Equinor sees oil demand returning to the pre-pandemic level of around 100 million bpd by around 2025, and falling to 88 million bpd in 2050, under its central scenario, dubbed Reform.

A year ago, it saw demand peaking just before 2030 at 105 million barrels per day (bpd), mainly due to electric cars denting demand for fossil fuels, and declining to 93 million bpd by 2050, under the same scenario.

Supply constrains due to underinvestment could also impact the demand growth in the future, after oil firms cut investments by about 30% this year, the company said.

“The consequence may be that billions of barrels of oil that were earlier assumed to be recoverable will not be developed,” Equinor added.

A decline in oil supply due to low investments could force the oil demand peak at around 2027-2028, the company said.

Equinor said COVID-19 imposed changes on how people work and travel could have a long-lasting impact and slow oil demand growth, while deployment of renewable energy and electric cars would accelerate.

“It is likely that demand for aviation fuels will suffer for many years to come, as the pandemic may have permanently altered the frequency with which we fly,” it said in the outlook.

“COVID-19 is likely to lead to slower demand growth for oil products, at least for a period.”

For the next few years, however, the oil market was expected to be well supplied, while the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other producers may still need to manage the output for some time, Equinor said.

World oil demand will plateau in the late 2030s and could by then have begun to decline, OPEC said in October, in a major shift for the producer group.

(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis; editing by David Evans)

CGG Wins Two Large-scale Seismic Reprocessing Contracts with PTTEP

2020-11-17T21:39:00.004+00:00

French seismic data company CGG has been awarded two large-scale complex seismic reprocessing contracts by the Thai national oil company PTTEP.

CGG said PTTEP was investing in the rejuvenation of pre-existing data sets from two regions offshore Malaysia. The contracts have been awarded to Subsurface Imaging, part of CGG’s Geoscience division.

"Over the course of the next year, CGG, through its offices in Kuala Lumpur, will conduct merged reprocessing of surveys from many vintages, including towed-streamer and OBC seismic data from offshore Sabah and Sarawak. The fast-track products are expected by mid-next year and final workstation products will be delivered by the end of 2021," CGG said.

According to CGG, PTTEP expects the resulting high-quality images will improve the definition of producing reservoirs, enable enhanced planning and drilling of future wells, and open up new plays for near-field exploration at deeper intervals.

"This region has a complex highly faulted subsurface where scattered gas bodies mask the target reservoir on existing data sets," CGG said.

"To unmask the gas wipeout, remove distortions at the reservoir level and image the bounding faults, CGG will apply its latest workflow including proprietary imaging technologies, such as high-frequency full-wavefield Time-Lag FWI (HF-FWI), Q-compensating least-squares (LS-Q) Kirchhoff PSDM and LS-Q RTM, which have been fine-tuned over many similar projects in the region," CGG said.

"These technologies will also be focused to improve imaging of the deeper exploration targets, where the objective is to improve amplitude, resolution, and continuity in the mini-basins and define the steeply dipping folds underneath the main unconformity," the company added.