Feature Articles

Wood and NEL Hydrogen enter into global framework agreement

13/04/2021 Posted by Dale

Wood, the global consulting and engineering company, has entered into a new, three-year engineering framework agreement with Norway-based NEL Hydrogen, aligning with the company’s ambition to unlock sustainable solutions to global energy challenges.

Through the provision of its project execution expertise, Wood said it will work with NEL Hydrogen to support the delivery of large-scale green hydrogen production plants and play a leading role in the transition towards an integrated, lower carbon future.

Craig Shanaghey, President of Wood’s Operations across Europe, Middle East, and Africa, said: “If the world is going to realise the potential of hydrogen as a sustainable, clean, and plentiful energy vector, a vast increase in production is necessary.

APPEA: Let’s get decommissioning right

13/04/2021 Posted by Dale

The nation’s peak oil and gas industry body has said the release by the Australian government of a suite of measures aimed at enhancing and strengthening Australia’s offshore oil and gas decommissioning framework is a step in the right direction.

APPEA Chief Executive Andrew McConville said industry has worked constructively with the Government to develop an appropriate, forward-looking decommissioning framework and will look at what is proposed closely.

“The offshore oil and gas industry has been a key driver of Australia’s economy and energy security for decades and has plenty of life left in it,” Mr McConville said.

PGS awarded extended Long Offset Contract

06/04/2021 Posted by Dale

PGS has been awarded a high-fidelity 3D exploration program by a supermajor offshore Egypt.

The survey will be acquired using an Extended Long Offset (ELO) configuration with Ramform Tethys towing a wide multi-sensor GeoStreamer spread with an additional source vessel located several kilometers ahead.

CGG said that this would enable efficient recording of offsets up to 16km, which is critical for imaging deeper complex exploration targets. The source vessel will be towing a specially designed low frequency source.

CGG said “the innovative ELO survey design combines optimal spatial sampling for better subsurface imaging together with long offset acquisition for accurate velocity model building.

India poised for one third of all oil and gas project starts in APAC

06/04/2021 Posted by Dale

India is set to commence 647 oil and gas projects from 2021 to 2025, accounting for 33% of the total upcoming project starts in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, according to GlobalData.

The data and analytics company’s report, ‘Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Projects Outlook to 2025 - Development Stage, Capacity, Capex and Contractor Details of All New Build and Expansion Projects’, reveals that out of 647 projects to commence operations by 2025, upstream projects would be 80, midstream would be 123, refinery at 85, and petrochemicals would be the highest with 359 projects.

Soorya Tejomoortula, Oil & Gas Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “India is one of the largest consumers and importers of oil and gas in the world due to its economic growth. T

CGG awarded three Imaging Projects by BP

06/04/2021 Posted by Dale

CGG has been awarded three major seismic imaging projects by BP, two in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico and one offshore Trinidad & Tobago.

These projects will start in Q1/Q2 this year and complete with cloud delivery of the data no later than Q4 of 2021.

CGG said that, “utilizing CGG Cloud supercomputing, imaging specialists at CGG’s Houston subsurface imaging center will employ compute-intensive data-driven proprietary algorithms, such as time-lag full-waveform inversion and least-squares migration, to ensure timely delivery of the highest-quality images to better support renewal and development decisions.”

Colin Murdoch, EVP, Geoscience, CGG, added: “This high-profile set of awards demonstrates client demand for our best-in-class technology and service.

Lukoil says “nyet” to FAR takeover

06/04/2021 Posted by Dale

Lukoil has abandoned takeover plans for Australia’s FAR Limited and thus exited its ambitions to participate in the Woodside-operated Sangomar project offshore Senegal.

The Russian company had offered FAR 2.2c per share in February after it had failed to become a participant in the RSSD project via the acquisition of Cairn Energy’s stake in the discovery -- which was scuppered by Woodside’s entry into the development.

FAR had sounded a note of caution over Lukoil’s proposal, which was not a legally binding offer and still subject to targeted and timely corporate due diligence by the Melbourne-based company.

The offer was also contingent on final Lukoil board approval, with no guaranteed that the proposal would have played out.

Colossal Canning Basin exploration program set for June

30/03/2021 Posted by Dale

Buru Energy is all set for a significant exploration program in the Canning Basin targeting 97 million barrels of oil which will entail exploration wells at Kurrajong and Rafael and ongoing development of the Ungani Oilfield.

The company announced that the contract for seismic as well as a three well drilling program is expected to be awarded within weeks.

Oil and gas industry a “key plank” to COVID-19 economic recovery and emission reductions

30/03/2021 Posted by Dale

Natural gas and the jobs it can create has the potential to be an economic and environmental strength for Australia but only with the right regulatory environment and if the misinformation stops, APPEA Chief Executive Andrew McConville has warned.

Using his keynote address at the Australian Domestic Gas Outlook conference, Mr McConville said there was an enormous opportunity to create thousands of jobs and help Australia reach zero net emissions by 2050.

“Sadly, vested interests have spread misinformation on gas and it is time to set the record straight because the fact is demand in South East Asia for gas is forecast to double by 2040 and we need to able to capitalise on that,” Mr McConville said.

Mineral Resources expands gas exploration footprint

30/03/2021 Posted by Dale

Mineral Resources has been awarded two highly prospective gas exploration permits in the Perth and Northern Carnarvon Basins.

The award is a boost to MRL’s strategy to secure its own natural gas supply to provide energy security for current and future MRL mining operations at lower-cost and with lower emissions to replace diesel use across the business.

MRL said it has committed to achieve Net Zero Emissions by 2050 and is presently developing the roadmap to achieve this target to be achieved.

The first Permit L20-4 is located in the highly prospective Perth Basin, host to several significant recent conventional gas discoveries.

Qatar looks beyond World Cup 2022 to gas investment boom

30/03/2021 Posted by Dale

The recent LNG supply agreement signed between Qatar Petroleum, Singapore-based LNT Marine, the American Bureau of Shipping and Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding is “the latest sign of a new surge in gas investment that is set to shape the small Gulf state beyond the football World Cup in 202.

That’s according to GlobalData, who said over the past 10 years Qatar’s investment focus had been on the development of infrastructure for the FIFA football World Cup in 2022 to deliver stadiums and develop airports, rail and metro lines and leisure and hospitality facilities.

“The World Cup has underpinned around $13.