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Energy news The latest from the industry
NEWS
Shah Deniz agreements with European gas purchasers concluded
The Shah Deniz consortium, in which BP is the operator, has concluded 25-year sales agreements for just over 10 billion cubic metres a year (BCMA) of gas to be produced from the Shah Deniz field in Azerbaijan as a result of the development of Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz project. Nine companies will purchase this gas in Italy, Greece and Bulgaria.
The Shah Deniz Stage 2 project is set to bring gas directly from Azerbaijan to Europe for the first time, opening up the Southern Gas Corridor.
In total 16 BCMA of Shah Deniz Stage 2 gas will be delivered through more than 3500 kilometres of pipelines through Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Albania and under the Adriatic Sea to Italy. Visit: ww.bp.com
Peter Voser, CEO
Shell announces successful bid for giant field in deep water Brazil
Aconsortium of companies, including Royal Dutch Shell plc, Petrobras, Total, CNPC and CNOOC, have won a 35-year production sharing contract to develop the giant Libra pre-salt oil discovery located in the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil. The Brazilian regulator, Agência Nacional do Petróleo (ANP), estimates Libra’s recoverable resources of between 8 to 12 billion barrels of oil. Shell holds 20% in the consortium, with Petrobras 40% as operator, Total 20%, CNPC 10% and CNOOC 10%. The consortium will work together in an integrated fashion to support Petrobras, the most experienced operator in the Brazilian pre-salt, and will incorporate each company’s deep water skills, people and technology for the success of the venture. Visit: www.shell.com
GDF SUEZ invests in UK shale gas exploration
GDF SUEZ E&P UK has entered into an agreement with Dart Energy to acquire a 25% share in 13 UK onshore licences located in Cheshire and the East Midlands, overlying the Bowland Shale. Dart Energy will retain a 75% interest and operatorship of the licences.
This acquisition represents GDF SUEZ’s first entry into licences with shale gas potential and onshore exploration activities in the UK.
“We are very confident about the potential of shale gas in the UK, and its anticipated contributions to UK energy security. GDF SUEZ is pleased to enter its first investment in UK shale gas as it complements the large presence of the group in the UK. We look forward to working with our partner, Dart Energy, to unlock the potential of these licences,” says Jean-Marie Dauger, executive vice-president GDF SUEZ, in charge of the Global Gas & LNG business line. Visit: www.gdfsuez.com
Jean-Marie Dauger
E.ON opens Kårehamn offshore wind farm in Sweden
E.ON has officially opened the Kårehamn offshore wind farm near the Swedish island of Öland in the Baltic Sea. The wind farm had already been connected to the grid a few weeks earlier after only 19 months of construction. Kårehamn has a capacity of 48 megawatts and costs 120 million euros to build. 16 Vestas V112 turbines, each with a capacity of three megawatts, will produce enough electricity to power some 28,000 homes.
Kårehamn was built using the MPI Discovery, an ultra-modern installation vessel which E.ON had commissioned especially for its offshore wind farms and has exclusively chartered for the next six years. It has six jack-up legs which lift the whole 140 metre long and 40 metre wide vessel out of the water to provide a stable platform from which foundations and wind turbines can be efficiently and safely installed even in rough seas. Visit: www.eon.com
NEWS
New developments in the Energy industry
Kubanskaya CS brought onstream
The Ust-Labinsk District of the Krasnodar Territory has hosted festive events dedicated to the bringing onstream of the Kubanskaya compressor station (CS), an integral part of the Southern Corridor gas transmission system.
“The Kubanskaya CS has become a crucial part of Gazprom’s gas transmission system in southern Russia. It will enhance the security of gas supplies to the Black Sea coast of the Krasnodar Territory as well as the Olympic venues. Later on, the compressor station will supply gas via the Southern Corridor to the South Stream gas export pipeline. Therefore, the timely commissioning of the Kubanskaya CS is yet another proof of the fact that Gazprom keeps up with the Southern Corridor construction schedule,” said Vitaly Markelov, deputy chairman of the Gazprom management committee. Visit: www.gazprom.com
Rosneft and ExxonMobil have selected CB&I UK and Foster Wheeler Energy as contractors for initial phase front end engineering and design (FEED) for a proposed Russian Far East liquefied natural gas project. CB&I UK and Foster Wheeler Energy will be awarded separate contracts for the initial phase front end engineering and design. The scope of work covers a conceptual project including finalising details for an LNG plant site, gas liquefaction technology and construction method. Following submission by the companies of their respective concepts and design, the plant design capacity of the project is expected to be five million tons per year and may be expanded in the future. The liquefaction plant will receive natural gas feedstock from Rosneft’s reserves in the Far East and Sakhalin gas reserves. Visit: www.exxonmobil.com
Rosneft and ExxonMobil select engineering and design contractors for Russian Far East LNG Project
Eni launches the Green Data Centre
Alittle more than two years after laying the foundation stone, Eni has opened its new Green Data Centre in Ferrera Erbognone (Pavia). The building will host Eni’s central computer processing systems, both for information management and seismic simulation processing (High Performance Computing).
‘Let’s give energy a new energy’ is the philosophy which underlies Eni’s decision to make the project available to universities and research centres.
The new centre (Italian in design and construction) will be among the most important in Europe in terms of its purpose and size (5200 useful m2 , up to 30MW of IT power and up to 50kW/m2 of energy density) and the best in the world for energy efficiency. Thanks to its innovative infrastructure it will cut CO2 emissions by 335,000 tons per year (about 1 per cent of the Italian Kyoto energy target), and significantly reduce operating costs. Visit: www.eni.com
Ekofisk South brought on stream in the North Sea
Total has announced the start-up of oil production from the Ekofisk South project in the Norwegian part of the North Sea, approximately two months ahead of schedule. The project will increase oil recovery in the Ekofisk field, located in the PL 018 license where Total holds a 39.9% interest. The production capacity at the Ekofisk South platform is 70,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day. The project includes the drilling of 35 new production wells and eight injection wells.
“Ekofisk came on stream in 1971 and is still one of the largest oil fields in Norway. The Ekofisk South project is an important building block to extend the lifespan of Ekofisk for some 40 further years. This start-up, together with those of Eldfisk II in 2015 and Martin Linge in late 2016, will significantly increase Total’s production in Norway by 2017,” said Patrice de Viviès, Total’s senior vice-president Exploration & Production, Northern Europe. Visit: www.total.com
INDUSTRYNEWS
RWE Dea UK has started gas production from the Breagh gas field located in the UK Southern North Sea. The first three wells brought into production had an initial total flow rate of 2.75 million cubic metres of gas per day. Total reserves of the Breagh field are estimated at approximately 19.8 billion cubic metres.
Breagh is one of the largest natural gas discoveries under development in the UK sector of the Southern North Sea and the largest RWE Dea operated field development project in the United Kingdom. The company has a 70% stake in the licence (Sterling Resources UK the remaining 30%).
“Breagh is very important in the context of achieving our company’s growth targets as this field will make a major contribution towards boosting RWE Dea’s gas production,” explains Thomas Rappuhn, chief executive officer of RWE Dea AG. Visit: www.rwe.com
IBERDROLA INGENIERÍA has completed the commissioning of the Koudiet combined cycle plant in Algeria, after switching on the third unit of this large generation facility, which totals a capacity of 1200 megawatts (MW).
The company has carried out this project in partnership with General Electric, under a €1470 million contract awarded by SKD, a corporation set up by Sonelgaz and Sonatrach, the Algerian gas and electricity and hydrocarbon companies. The agreement included the design, equipment procurement, construction and assembly of the plant.
Koudiet is a gas-steam combined cycle plant consisting of three units, each with a capacity of 400 MW. The facility will supply energy to nearly four million people in Algeria, representing 18% of the country’s total electricity consumption. Visit: www.iberdrolaingenieria.com
Growing support for gas exploration in UK
New research from BritainThinks shows that a majority of the public within Cuadrilla’s Bowland Basin licence area in Lancashire support shale gas exploration and the numbers in favour are continuing to rise.
The main findings were that 57% of respondents ‘strongly support’ or ‘support’ shale gas exploration (compared to 44% in October 2012 and 50% in December 2012) and that the numbers of people who ‘oppose’ or ‘strongly oppose’ exploration has fallen from 25% in December 2012 to 20% in this latest survey.
Francis Egan, Cuadrilla’s chief executive, said, “This research shows that for many people in Lancashire the potential benefits of shale gas exploration become crystal clear when they consider the facts and the related job creation and economic opportunities.” Visit: www.cuadrillaresources.com
Irish Sea wind farm installs first turbine
The first of 108 Siemens 3.6MW turbines has been successfully installed at the West of Duddon Sands offshore wind farm, a 50/50 joint venture between Denmark’s DONG Energy and ScottishPower Renewables. The wind farm is expected to be fully completed in 2014.
The components for the wind farm are stored at the bespoke offshore wind installation and pre-assembly facility at Belfast Harbour ready for sailing out to the construction site in the East Irish Sea.
Offshore work is being carried out by two of the world’s most advanced installation vessels: Swire Blue Ocean’s Pacific Orca and the Sea Installer – owned by A2SEA. Working in tandem, Sea Installer is currently installing the wind turbines with Pacific Orca scheduled to finish foundation installation around the end of October 2013. Visit: www.scottishpower.com or www.dongenergy.com
