First Modules Arrive For Scarborough Energy Project

The first three Pluto Train 2 modules for the Scarborough Energy Project have arrived in Karratha, Western Australia, marking a significant milestone for the project. The modules, fabricated by Bechtel in Indonesia, weigh a combined total of more than 4,000 metric tonnes. The modules are three of a total of 51 that will be shipped to site from the module yard to form Pluto Train 2. 

Pluto Train 2 will be the second Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) production train at the existing Pluto LNG onshore facility and will process gas from the offshore Scarborough development. The Scarborough Energy Project will contribute significantly to the Australian economy and create thousands of job opportunities during its construction phase. 

Bechtel was selected by Woodside Energy to execute the engineering, procurement and construction of Pluto Train 2, with construction activities beginning in November 2021. Pluto Train 2 will have an LNG processing capacity of approximately 5 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa). Additional domestic gas infrastructure will be installed at the Pluto LNG facility to increase domestic gas capacity to approximately 225 Terajoules per day. Up to 3 Mtpa of LNG will be processed at the existing Pluto Train 1 following modifications to accommodate Scarborough’s lean gas. 

Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill said the delivery of the first Pluto Train 2 module was a key milestone towards the delivery of the Scarborough Energy Project, which will help meet the growing demand for the low-cost, lower-carbon, reliable energy the world needs today and into the future. “The safe and timely arrival of the module is testament to the hard work and dedication of the Woodside team and our lead contractor Bechtel. “With the Scarborough Energy Project sitting at more than 55% complete, we are making significant progress across all scopes of work and look forward to receiving the remaining modules on site throughout 2024,” she said. 

"This achievement exemplifies our unwavering commitment to safety, quality and collaboration," said Paul Marsden, President of Bechtel Energy. "Fuelled by the passion to deliver excellence and foster sustainable practices, we are creating a lasting impact on the communities where we live and work. Our teams of extraordinary people, leveraging our global experience in delivering LNG projects, are instrumental in supporting the quality execution of the work on Pluto Train 2.” 

The Scarborough Energy Project is targeting first LNG cargo in 2026.

TechnipFMC Awarded Substantial iEPCI™ Contract for Sparta Project

TechnipFMC (NYSE: FTI) has been awarded a substantial(1) contract by Shell plc (FTSE: SHEL) (AMS: SHELL) (NYSE: SHEL) for the first integrated Engineering, Procurement, Construction, and Installation (iEPCI™) project to use high-pressure subsea production systems rated up to 20,000 psi (20K).

The Company will manufacture and install subsea production systems, umbilicals, risers, and flowlines for Shell’s Sparta development in the Gulf of Mexico. The tree systems will be Shell’s first to be qualified for 20K applications and are engineered to meet the high-pressure requirements of this greenfield development.

Jonathan Landes, President, Subsea at TechnipFMC, commented: “Sparta will combine our leading-edge subsea technology with our proven integrated execution model, iEPCI™, providing improved project economics. We are excited to be working with Shell on 20K technology.”

Nigeria: Production commences at the Akpo West field

TotalEnergies and its partners announce the start of production from the Akpo West field on the PML2 license in Nigeria.

Located 135 kilometers off the coast, Akpo West is tied back to the existing Akpo Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facility, which started-up in 2009 and produced 124,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2023. By mid-2024, Akpo West will add 14,000 barrels of condensate production per day, to be followed by up to 4 million cubic meters of gas per day by 2028.

The Akpo West development leverages the existing Akpo facilities to keep costs low and minimize greenhouse gas emissions. The project’s carbon intensity is expected to be below 5 kg CO2e/boe and will contribute to reduce the average carbon intensity of TotalEnergies’ portfolio.

“After Ikike in 2022, TotalEnergies is pleased to start production of another tie-back project in Nigeria, Akpo West, which will contribute to maintaining the production of the existing Akpo facilities by developing additional nearby resources. This project fits the Company’s strategy of developing low-cost and low-emission projects”, said Mike Sangster, Senior Vice President Africa, Exploration and Production at TotalEnergies. “This project leverages TotalEnergies’ solid footprint in Nigeria and will quickly bring value to the country, TotalEnergies and its partners.”

TotalEnergies is the operator of PML2 with a 24% interest, in partnership with CNOOC (45%), Sapetro (15%), Prime 130 (16%) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd as the concessionaire of the PSC.

Qatarenergy Announces The Award Of $6 Billion EPC Contracts To Increase Oil Production By About 100,000 Bpd From Al-Shaheen Oil Field

QatarEnergy has announced the award of the four main Engineering, Procurement, Construction, and Installation (EPCI) contract packages related to the next development phase of the offshore Al-Shaheen field (Qatar’s largest oil field) to increase production by about 100,000 barrels of oil per day (BPD).
The award is part of Project Ru’ya (vision in Arabic), which is the third phase of Al-Shaheen’s development since North Oil Company, a joint venture between QatarEnergy (70%) and TotalEnergies (30%), took over the field’s operation in July 2017.
Project Ru’ya, which will develop more than 550 million barrels of oil, will be executed over a period of 5 years with first oil expected in 2027. The project includes the drilling of more than 200 wells and the installation of a new centralized process complex, nine remote wellhead platforms, and associated pipelines.
The four EPC packages, with varying scopes of work, valued in total at more than six billion dollars, comprise of:

•  the EPC package for 9 wellhead platforms valued at about $2.1 billion and awarded to a consortium of McDermott Middle East Inc. and Qingdao McDermott Wuchuan Offshore Engineering Co.;
• the EPC package for a Central Processing Platform valued at about $1.9 billion and awarded to a consortium of McDermott Middle East Inc. and Hyundai Heavy Industries;
• the EPC package for a riser platform valued at about $1.3 billion and awarded to Larsen & Toubro Limited; and
• the EPC package for subsea pipelines and cables valued at about $900 million and awarded to China Offshore Oil Engineering Co (COOEC).

His Excellency Mr. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy, welcomed the award of the contract packages as an important milestone in the development of the State of Qatar’s largest oil field. His Excellency said: “By awarding these contracts, we are taking an important step towards realizing the full potential of Al-Shaheen filed, which produces around half of Qatar’s crude oil today.”

His Excellency Minister Al-Kaabi added: “I would like to thank North Oil Company and our longtime strategic partner TotalEnergies for their great efforts towards unlocking the true potential of Qatar’s hydrocarbon resources and maximizing value from Al-Shaheen field through the implementation of world-class development and operational excellence programs.”

Al-Shaheen field is located 80 kilometres offshore Qatar and is among the world’s largest in terms of “oil in place”. The field commenced commercial production in 1994 and underwent significant development to reach an oil production rate of 300,000 bpd in 2007.

McDermott and Baker Hughes Safely Complete Subsea Infrastructure in Northern Australia

McDermott, a premier engineering and construction company, and Baker Hughes, an energy technology company, today announced the safe completion of the installation of subsea infrastructure at the Ichthys field in northern Australia.

Awarded to the McDermott and Baker Hughes consortium in 2019 by INPEX Operations Australia P/L (INPEX), the subsea infrastructure development project included engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) of umbilicals, risers and flowlines (URF), a subsea production system comprised of a new 7-inch (approximately 18 centimeters) vertical Christmas tree (VXT) system, all forming a subsea well gathering system (GS4) tied back to the existing Ichthys Explorer central processing facility. The consortium’s scope of work also included an in-fill URF EPCI involving the development of new subsea wells tied in to the existing gathering systems.

“The McDermott and Baker Hughes partnership has been marked by resilience and adaptability, guided by our firm commitment to deliver for the INPEX-operated Ichthys LNG and Australia,” said Mahesh Swaminathan, McDermott’s Senior Vice President, Subsea and Floating Facilities. “Together, leveraging McDermott’s unique end-to-end EPCI capabilities and Baker Hughes’ subsea development solutions, we navigated project complexities and overcame the unique challenges posed by the pandemic. Our hard work paid off, and I would like to thank our teams in Perth, Batam, and beyond, whose collective efforts enabled the safe completion of this important work scope.”

“This milestone has been achieved through the successful partnership between Baker Hughes and McDermott to execute for INPEX,” said Romain Chambault, Baker Hughes Senior Vice President, Subsea Projects and Services. “The amount of collaboration shown between the consortium has been truly unique and serves as an industry benchmark for the successful execution of large, complex EPCI subsea projects. Manufacturing the highly complex 7-inch VXT from our dedicated SP&S facility in Batam has expanded the global capability for Baker Hughes in the Asia Pacific region where we are well-positioned to support customers with a strong regional capability, complemented by a strong McDermott presence in Batam and the region as a whole.”

Técnicas Reunidas and Sinopec awarded two contracts by Saudi Aramco for more than 3,3 billion USD

Saudi Aramco, one of the world’s largest energy companies, has awarded a joint venture formed by the Spanish company Técnicas Reunidas and the Chinese Sinopec Engineering Group the development of new Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) fractionation facilities in Saudi Arabia. The works will be developed on the basis of two EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contracts for the execution of Riyas NGL Fractionation Trains (Package 1) and Riyas NGL Common Facilities (Package 2), which includes utilities, storage and export facilities. Total investment arising from these two contracts amounts to more than 3.3 billion USD. Since the joint venture is 65% owned by Técnicas Reunidas and 35% by Sinopec Engineering Group, the Spanish company is entitled to more than 2.15 billion USD of this total amount.


Function of the new facilities

The primary objective of the project is to enable the fractionation of NGLs, thus producing ethane, propane, butane and pentane.

Scope of the contracts

The new facilities to be developed by Técnicas Reunidas and Sinopec Engineering Group will fractionate 510 thousand barrels per day (MBD) of NGLs. The two trains of the Package 1 will process 255 MBD each, and will include fractionation, treatment, dehydration and refrigeration units. The common facilities of Package 2 will provide feed and product surge storage, chemicals storage and utilities including, although not limited to, steam and condensate recovery systems, utility water, plant, instrument air and nitrogen systems, machinery cooling water, drainage and flare systems. The expected duration of the project is about 46 months for Package 1 and about 41 months for Package 2, with a total maximum level of 575 engineers, of which more than 70% will be from Técnicas Reunidas.

Discovery near the Munin field in the North Sea

Equinor Energy AS has discovered oil in exploration well 30/12-3 S in the North Sea. The well also included a sidetrack, 30/12-3 A, which was dry.

The wells were drilled about 40 kilometres south of Oseberg and 150 kilometres west of Bergen. The drilling was conducted by the Deepsea Stavanger drilling rig.

Equinor drilled the well on behalf of Aker BP, which is the operator of production licence 272 B. This is the first well in the production licence.

Aker BP and Equinor each have ownership interests of 50 per cent in the production licence, which was awarded in APA 2018. The production licence is part of the Munin field, which was discovered in 2011. The authorities approved the plan for development and operation (PDO) for Munin in June 2023.

Between 0.15 and 0.55 million standard cubic metres (Sm3) of recoverable oil equivalent (o.e.) was proven in well 30/12-3 S.

Preliminary calculations show that the discovery is not profitable with current price assumptions.
Geological information

The objective of wildcat wells 30/12-3 S and 30/12-3 A was to prove petroleum in Middle Jurassic reservoir rocks in the Tarbert Formation.

Well 30/12-3 S encountered a 3.5-metre oil column in the Tarbert Formation, in a sandstone reservoir with moderate reservoir quality. The Tarbert Formation was about 195 metres thick, 97 metres of which was sandstone rocks with moderate-good reservoir quality. The oil/water contact was encountered 3110 meters below sea level.

The Ness Formation was about 163 metres thick in total, 19 metres of which was a sandstone reservoir with moderate reservoir quality.

Well 30/12-3 A encountered the Tarbert Formation with a thickness of about 216 meters, 19 meters of which was sandstone rocks with poor reservoir quality. The Ness Formation was about 50 metres thick in total, 11 metres of which was a sandstone reservoir with moderate reservoir quality. The well was dry.

The wells were not formation-tested, but data acquisition was undertaken.

Well 30/12-3 S was drilled to measured and vertical depths of 3663 metres and 3465 metres below sea level, respectively, and was terminated in the Drake Formation. Well 30/12-3 A was drilled to measured and vertical depths of 4520 and 3718 metres below sea level, respectively, and was terminated in the Ness Formation. Water depth in the area is 106 metres. The well has now been permanently plugged and abandoned.