OGV Energy - Issue 64 - January 2023 - Well Management

Welcome to the first edition of ‘OGV Energy Magazine’ for 2023 and we look forward to another exciting year in the energy sector with lots of decisions to be made about the nature of the global energy mix in years to come!

The January edition kicks off with our theme on ‘Well Management’ and we are delighted to welcome Exceed Energy as our front cover partner and you can read all about how Exceed Energy are fast becoming the global leader in integrated well and reservoir management for the energy transition inside, along with further evidence of their comprehensive services package to their clients, which saw them being named ‘Great Company of the year’ by the SPE Offshore achievement awards.

We also have contributions from Fraser Well Management, Three60 Energy, Well-Safe Solutions, Kaseum Technology and QHSE Aberdeen.

The rest of this month’s magazine as always provides you with a review of the Energy sector in the North Sea, Europe, the Middle East, the US and Australasia along with industry analysis and project updates from Westwood Global Energy Group, the EIC and Renewables UK

Daniel Hyland, Sales and Operations Director, OGV Energy Media Group

LEADING THE ENERGY TRANSFORMATION

2022 has literally been a transformative year for well management specialist, Exceed.

Growth and Recognition

The Aberdeen-headquartered company has reported a 40% growth in revenue during 2022, to £20millon. And as it continues to implement a long-term strategy to diversify and internationalise, Exceed is fast becoming the global leader in integrated well and reservoir management for the Energy Transition, attributing 60% of the year’s revenue to the work it undertakes in decarbonisation.

During 2022, the Exceed team has grown from 60 to 145, leading the company to purchase and redevelop additional premises in the heart of Aberdeen city. That growing team is at the heart of Exceed, which is committed to the development of internal capability and the support of personal and professional employee development. A six-figure investment in its Competency Management System (CMS) has ensured that all employees have appropriate knowledge, skills and behaviours to perform their roles effectively and develop competency skills, with six members of staff currently undertaking a Well Engineering Competence Programme.

2022 has also seen two members of

Exceed’s finance team achieve the ACCA accounting qualification, one of the wells team complete their MBA, another their BA in Business Management and earlier in the year, the company’s Legal Counsel completed the globally-recognised Advanced Diploma in International Taxation.

The emphasis Exceed places on its people and their continuous professional development was just one of the reasons it was named the SPE Offshore Achievement Awards “Great Company of the Year” in March 2022.

Operating at the Frontier of the North Sea’s Transition

Exceed’s commitment to the future of the energy industry is absolute. Having continuously expanded its service offering since it was established in 2005, Exceed has continued to evolve and reposition its capabilities to ensure its position as a leader within the Energy Transition. As a result, Exceed’s expertise has been applied to a number of major Energy Transition projects during 2022.

Hydrogen and Carbon Capture and Storage

Working within the Teeside Net Zero Cluster - the driving force behind the UK’s first decarbonised industrial cluster - Exceed has demonstrated its transition credentials within a truly innovative application to reuse and repurpose of the Rough field. Its team of Subsurface experts, headed up by Mark Cullen, has been instrumental in the repurpose of the Rough Bravo field to a hydrogen storage facility by providing critical conceptual work, and frontier leading geo-mechanic and reservoir modelling in conjunction with a number of universities, including the University of Edinburgh, Napier University, the University of Manchester and Heriot-Watt University.

Leading Decommissioning

Having abandoned 143 wells and 12 vesselbased wells to date, Exceed owns the most diverse decommissioning track record within the North Sea. Its well abandonment capability has been honed over the past eight years to create a market-leading decommissioning capability that is trusted by the industry’s biggest names to execute some of the North Sea’s most significant and challenging decommissioning campaigns. This was underlined in 2022 when Exceed’s inaugural appointment as Well Operator was made by Parkmead to steer its first UKCS well decommissioning operation.

During the past 18 months the volume of decommissioning work awarded to Exceed has necessitated the exponential growth of the decom team, which now comprises over 30 decom experts, led by Bart Van de Laar and located in new, dedicated premises within Aberdeen city centre.

A Shift in Status – Well Operatorship

Amongst so many significant announcements during 2022, the company’s official recognition by the UK Regulatory Competent Authority as Well Operator, builds upon its trusted reputation for outstanding results based on effective, pragmatic project management.

As outsourced Well Operator, Exceed’s capabilities include:

• Capability to be Well Operator throughout the well life cycle

• Cloud-based Well Integrity Management system: digital twin of the well

• Experience in Appendix C Well Operator submissions

• Corporate major accident prevention policy

• Safety, Environmental, Management System (SEMS) commensurate with a licence operator

• Competence Management System commensurate with a licence operator

• Emergency response provision commensurate with a licence operator

• Scheme of well examination

• Accountability and responsibility for all regulatory permitting

• Energy Transition ESG strategy

• Inspected by the relevant competent authorities

Disruptive, Collaborative – a Blueprint for Vessel-Based P&A

In 2022, Exceed’s depth of decommissioning best practice led it to create a disruptive, collaborative vessel-based decommissioning solution, leading to the award of its largest vessel-based well P&A campaign to date. With mobilisation/demobilisation accounting for a third of the total well P&A cost, the approach - which is focused upon the reduction of CO2 - has been lauded across the North Sea industry for minimising the environmental impact of multiple, separate campaigns. Initially based on a 10 well, four operator campaign, 2023’s campaign is currently set to comprise 20+ wells.

Well Managed: Leading the Energy Transformation

Maximising clients’ economic recovery factor plays a critical role in Exceed’s commitment to a sustainable energy transition, and 2022 has seen the company continue to undertake a range of UK and international projects for clients including Serica, RSUK, Serica Energy, Anasuria Hibiscus UK, Anasuria Operating Company and Ping Petroleum.

A World First – Carbon Offset Well Operations

Following a strategy to eliminate or reduce a drilling project’s direct emissions where possible, Exceed provides the option for remaining emissions to be appropriately offset. A key objective is to manage and deliver improvement in its clients’ and sub-contractors’ ESG credentials, whilst ensuring its own business operations work towards achieving net zero emissions. Leading by example, Exceed incentivises sub-contractors’ energy efficiency via the contracting strategy, the design, execution and logistics management.

As a result of this commitment, Exceed drilled the world’s first carbon offset well in late 2021, for which it was awarded the coveted Offshore Network OWI Award for “Environmental Sustainability Innovation”, in November 2022.

Growth of International Wells Market

Exceed’s global activity has continued to grow during 2022, with several international operations currently in the select planning phase for a multiwell campaign in West Africa (Namibia, Angola, Guinea Bissau), a return to the Black Sea, and operations in Kazakhstan and Mexico.

Managed Pressure Drilling

Acquired by Exceed in 2019, Exceed Managed Pressure Resources continues a trend of doubling its growth, year on year. Active across the UKCS and internationally, and having planned and executed a total of 55 wells, the team, which was awarded a global master call off contract by Repsol in 2022, has become renowned across the industry for its active development of clients’ internal competence in managed pressure drilling concepts, techniques and operational execution.

Performing at the Highest Level

With its roots in Performance Improvement, Exceed has continued to transform clients’ operations via its unique, continuous improvement process. Led by Tim Wigham, Exceed PI has maintained and built upon long-term client partnerships during 2022 with operators including RSUK, Neptune Energy UK, Serica Energy UK, TotalEnergies and Sasol Mozambique.

Not only has Exceed PI increased its international footprint during the year, adding Mexico and Kurdistan to the countries in which it is active, but has also diversified its client base, transferring operations excellence beyond energy into additional sectors, with clients including Airbus Helicopters.

Looking ahead

From continued well operations and innovative decommissioning commercial models, to the launch of a new overseas entity and supporting the UK’s hydrogen storage strategy, 2023 will see Exceed continue to lead the global wells energy transition from the front, with a 100% commitment to a sustainable lower carbon energy future.

EXCEED is the largest independent well management company and our mission is to maximise the recovery factor, managing the productive life of our clients’ wells whilst enabling the energy transition to Carbon Zero.

Craig International has reported a 17% increase in turnover and a welcome return to profit in its accounts for the year ending April 2022.

The global procurement specialists to the energy industry reached a turnover of £116m, compared to £99m in April 2021, a financial year severely impacted by the pandemic.

The accounts lodged by Craig Group Limited, the holding company for Craig International and its subsidiaries around the world, also reveal operating profits of £1.08m.

Seismic technology company STRYDE is expanding its presence in the Middle East with a million-dollar new multi-purpose warehouse in Dubai.

The new site, located in the Jebel Ali Free Zone, in Dubai, has the capacity to stock over 1 million land seismic nodes, available to purchase or lease, and hold the company’s containerised node management systems, designed specifically for large-scale seismic surveys across the Middle East, Africa, India, Australia, and the Far East.

We are very proud to announce that our Inspection Department achieved a significant milestone by being accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) against the requirements of ISO/IEC 17020, the international standard for bodies performing inspection.

The award by UKAS includes a world’s first accreditation of Remote Visual Inspection using point cloud data and photographic images. The method allows desktop visual inspection utilising our digital twin application, Vision.

The Vision application is used as a powerful and efficient tool which allows Inspectors to remotely undertake both routine and intrusive visual inspections. Through our own in-house procedures & processes, GDi were able to demonstrate to UKAS the effectiveness of our Remote Visual Inspection system.

We actively look forward to engaging with UKAS in the months and years to come as our integrated inspection delivery model develops further.

Prism Energy, an Aberdeen-based project & risk management consultancy to the energy sector, announces today (Friday 16th December) a one-year contract with Ithaca Energy for the use of its digital project management system.

Prism Energy will provide digital systems for risk management, action tracking, lessons learned, interface queries & management of change which will be adopted on the Marigold Cluster and Captain EOR in the UK North Sea, Ithaca’s decommissioning programmes, and the Cambo oil field, northwest of Shetland.

Emma Watt and Catherine Ramsay both join as Account Executives to support the delivery of strategic pr and marketing solutions for the agency’s expanding portfolio of clients.

Catherine Ramsay joins the team straight from Robert Gordon University where she studied Fashion Management for the last four years. She has a strong understanding of the digital side of marketing and has already proved to be a vital asset to the team by creating fresh and exciting TikTok content.

Just one year on from establishing a new entity in Australia, pipeline technology specialist STATS Group (STATS), is looking forward to a bright future after securing frame agreements with some of the region’s largest Tier 1 operators.

A wider market understanding of the company’s patented BISEP® double block and bleed isolation technology has laid the foundations for growth which is being realised with contract wins and formal longterm strategic relationships.

Global controls technology company Proserv has announced that it has signed an agreement with Aberdeen based sand and erosion monitoring, analytics and management experts SMS.

The deal sees SMS become the exclusive agent and representative for Proserv’s sampling activities across Malaysia. The arrangement brings Proserv’s sampling system know-how, equipment design and high-quality manufacturing, delivering safe, enclosed and portable solutions, together with SMS’s sand monitoring technologies.

Aberdeenshire PR and Marketing agency, Bold St Media makes two appointments amid business growth

GDi have achieved a world’s first accreditation for Remote Visual Inspection using point cloud data and photographic images

Disruptive Start-Up in Running for Company of the Year

Proserv secures SMS as sampling representative in Malaysia

STRYDE opens new operation support warehouse and training facility in Dubai

Prism Energy Announces One-Year Contract Award From North Sea Operator

Craig International Reports Increase in Turnover and Profit

QHSE ABERDEEN celebrates 7th anniversary with key promotions

A leading provider of professional advice and consultancy services, QHSE Aberdeen, has celebrated its 7th anniversary by announcing two key promotions to equip the business for future growth.

Established in December 2015, the company has gone from strength to strength with the size of its team more than doubling in the past 18 months and a move to larger office space in Westhill.

Increased demand has now led to two internal promotions to bolster its management team and help ease workload on the directors; allowing them to concentrate on further growing the business, develop new competencies, and strengthen relationships with existing clients.

Led by managing director, Dave Rusling, and business development director, Angela Scott, the company is committed to creating the conditions for employees to reach their full potential and offers a valuable career path to all staff. QHSE Aberdeen is also creating one new position with external recruitment expected to be completed in January.

Lee Forsyth started with the company in April 2019 as a QHSE Advisor then, after gaining suitable knowledge and experience, advanced to senior advisor which included responsibilities as a line manager.

When the opportunity of operations manager arose, Lee jumped at the chance to take on the role; putting into practice everything he has learned along his QHSE journey, shadowing Dave Rusling, and learning the ropes.

QHSE Aberdeen creates a multitude of documents for clients, as well as for internal use, and is always looking for ways to improve systems and processes. Senior QHSE adviser, Jane Pack, was the natural choice for the new position of technical manager given her meticulous approach to work and ability to complete tasks with thoroughness, accuracy and consistency.

She also possesses strong Microsoft 365 and SharePoint skills, where the company creates and stores its suite of documents, operates its bespoke client portal, and develops training materials.

Angela Scott said: “We’re extremely pleased to reward Lee and Jane for the valuable contribution they have both made to the business, particularly over the past year.

“Lee never shies away from any job and his work ethic is second-to-none. He has a

proactive attitude and is a very good team player with great patience for training. Although Jane has only been with us since February 2022, she has proved to be a strong team member with a can-do attitude, willing to take on a challenge, and was the perfect fit for the role of technical manager.

“It’s an exciting time for the whole team as we mark seven years in business, and we would like to pay tribute to our staff, clients and suppliers for all their support to date and look forward to seeing what opportunities 2023 brings.

“Thanks to these internal promotions, Dave and I are now able to focus more of our energy on growing the business and shaping the future strategy, spending time working on the business rather than in it.”

QHSE Aberdeen is a leading provider of professional consultancy and advisory services to organisations that require assistance with developing and implementing robust ISO management systems across a wide range of sectors, including oil and gas, renewables, nuclear, and construction.

The company’s focus on people – its own team as well as those working within clients’ organisations – has allowed it to stand out from the competition. This ethos was recognised by judges at the 2022 Northern Star Business Awards, where the business received the Customer First honour.

QHSE Aberdeen provide a Consultancy and Advisory service to organisations of all sizes and sectors that require assistance in the development & implementation of robust Management Systems.

Lee Forsyth

Jane Pack

energyresourcing.com +44 1224 291176

PEOPLE IN ENERGY

RUTH CAMERON

Director, Energy Resourcing

Recruitment experts, placing top technical talent around the globe, with workforce solutions tailored to you

Energy Resourcing is a global technical recruitment agency. We’re passionate about matching high-quality candidates to the clients that need them. With offices in Australia, Asia, Europe and North America, we provide personalised customer experience through our dedicated support teams, day or night!

Our team of proactive recruitment professionals are experts in what they do. We specialise in providing robust workforce solutions and placing talent in typically hard to fill roles. So, whether you’re looking for your next job opportunity or need to hire technical talent to drive your next project, Energy Resourcing is here to help.

The only ambition I really have is to continue to grow a successful business, I am lucky enough to be able to reflect on my career path over the last 16 years and think, maybe its time to slow the pace down! Maybe that’s wishful thinking.

our work, but also its important to step back and take a considered view before you make the leap.

What has been the highlight of your career so far?

How did you get into the Energy sector and how long have you been working in it?

I have been working in the energy sector since I started my career after completing university in 2006. I grew up in Aberdeenshire and I am very familiar with the sector, with family members having careers in Oil & Gas as it was when I started out. A lot of the employers at the time were energy companies and so I naturally fell into the industry that’s thrived in this area for many years.

What does your job involve on an average day?

Problem solving! It’s probably the largest aspect of my role, helping my team, clients and contractors with their resource challenges and trying to find solutions for them. Our business is growing and so another large part of what I do day to day is making sure the team have everything they need to be successful.

What are main barriers to international growth for ambitious companies and what advice do you have for them?

I think understanding the market you’re trying to get into, whether that’s a geography or a sector, is really important. Each come with nuances that can trip you up if you don’t dig into the details of how things currently work and in particular when you’re dealing with people, employment law and tax. I feel like we can always do more due diligence before we jump into things, sometimes that’s just the nature of

Being able to lead the teams I have over the years is always the highlight of my career – the most challenging also! People are so dynamic and individual, but watching individuals and teams grow, develop and succeed is immensely rewarding.

What ambitions have you still got to fulfil professionally in your career?

The only ambition I really have is to continue to grow a successful business, I am lucky enough to be able to reflect on my career path over the last 16 years and think, maybe its time to slow the pace down! Maybe that’s wishful thinking.

Who has been the most influential person in your life professionally?

I have had some quite influential leaders in my career, those I worked directly for, and those from other parts of the business. All have played an important part in my professional career and when you spend as much time as you do with your work colleagues those relationships become deep and long lasting. I have seen great resilience and strength in these people, but also a real element of caring. Caring about the people we work with and the teams we support.

Over the next 10 years, what changes would you like to see in the energy sector with respect to D&I?

Its key to understand the split of Diversity and Inclusion, being the what and the how. There

has been a lot of focus on creating workforces of a more diverse nature however, we don’t always give people the tools they need to thrive in that environment when they get there.

So, a focus on inclusivity, inviting them to the party yes, but making sure that their contributions and voices are really heard. This will enable a more diverse pipeline of talent to grow within our organisations.

Within the next 10 years, seeing greater representation of female CEOs in the FTSE 100 would be one great example of D&I succeeding and provide some great role models for our future female talent. Currently there are only 9.

Given the experience you have now, what advice would you give a graduate just starting his career in the Energy sector?

Try every opportunity offered to you and give it your all, but don’t work yourself into the ground. As much as I hugely value my career, my family, friends and my own health, come first.

If you were inviting guests to a dinner party, which 3 people would you invite and why?

Dalai Llama – I would love to hear his words of wisdom and learn more about his way of living, he has a very gentle nature and kind spirit.

Whitney Houston – I love Whitney Houston and whilst she had many tragic elements to her life she was a great entertainer with an amazing voice and I am sure she would have many stories to tell.

Billy Connolly – I find him hilarious and love to watch his early and later year programmes. He is a great advocate for Scotland and knows much about its history, I find him very insightful.

Ruth has led the Energy Resourcings UK operations for around two years, since the consolidation of Primat Recruitment and Energy Resourcing in 2021. Ruth’s career started over sixteen years ago in the people function within the Aberdeen business, supporting project teams across the business’s portfolio in O&M, Engineering, Construction, holding positions in Global Mobility, People Operations, Recruitment and Contract Management.

PEOPLE IN ENERGY SPONSORED BY

Plans by North Sea operators to review investments in the UK after the hike in the Energy Profits Levy, meetings of the industry and government on energy security and investment, strikes on offshore platforms, and several contracts for field upgrades featured in the UK North Sea oil and gas industry over the past month.

UK NORTH SEA Energy Review

By Tsvetana Paraskova

Oil and gas industry leaders and the UK government met at the end of November at the North Sea Transition Forum in London to discuss energy security, the UK’s net zero ambitions, and investment in the North Sea. Hosted and chaired by industry regulator the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), the forum sets the strategic direction for the UK oil and gas industry and oversees the work of seven task forces. Discussions centred on several priority areas for 2023, including regulatory, fiscal, and political areas. The industry is forecast to contribute £14.9 billion in tax receipts during the 2022-23 financial year, however industry members raised concerns around the case for continuing investment following recent changes to the Energy Profits Levy, the NSTA said.

The UK raised in November the windfall tax on the profits of oil and gas operators by 10 percentage points to 35 percent from January 1, 2023. The government also extended the so-called Energy Profits Levy to the end of March 2028, from December 31, 2025, as originally planned when the levy was 25 percent.

The offshore industry criticised the hike in the Energy Profits Levy, arguing that it drives investments away from the UK North Sea.

OEUK, the leading offshore energy body, and the UK’s leading offshore energy producers met senior Treasury ministers in early December with a stark warning that the windfall tax risks causing a rapid reduction in investment and jobs – and in the UK’s production of oil and gas.

The leading energy producers warn that the 75-percent tax rate now imposed on the industry is already deterring investment – as shown by TotalEnergies’ recent decision to cut UK investment by 25% – about £100 million, OEUK said.

“OEUK and oil and gas industry executives have repeatedly warned that imposing such a high rate on the industry could drive capital from the ageing basin at a time when the government is trying to increase the UK’s energy security,” the industry body said.

“This tax is a potential slow disaster for the UK. If investment falls now, then in a few years time our gas and oil production will plummet and we will become ever more reliant on imports. And if we produce less oil and gas then we will also be producing less jobs and, ironically, far less taxes,” OEUK’s Deirdre Michie said.

During a meeting with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, OEUK and industry leaders told the Chancellor “that the 75% tax rate will undermine the ability of energy producing companies to invest in the homegrown oil, gas and wind supplies we need. Without this, we will be less secure and will import more energy – while losing the benefits provided by the domestic industry in terms of taxes paid, jobs supported and investment in the wind and hydrogen projects.”

Not only TotalEnergies has reviewed investment plans for the UK North Sea following the hike in the windfall tax. Harbour Energy, the biggest oil and gas producer in the area, will not be filing applications in the ongoing licensing round in the North Sea, a spokesperson for the company told Reuters in the middle of December.

“As a result of the extension of the energy profits levy... we are reviewing investment levels and company-wide capital allocation,” Harbour Energy’s spokesperson said.

“This review is ongoing and, in the meantime, we have decided not to submit bids as part of this licensing process.”

Shell has already said it would be re-evaluating each project part of its £25-billion planned investment in the UK energy system after the hike in the Energy Profits Levy and the temporary tax on low-cost electricity generators also introduced with the Autumn Statement. Earlier this year Shell said it planned to invest £20-25 billion in the UK energy system over the next 10 years, with more than 75 percent of this intended for low and zero-carbon products and services, including offshore wind, hydrogen, carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS), and electric mobility.

The business of attracting, training, and retaining talent in the offshore industry is harder, Katy Heidenreich, Director Supply Chain & People Offshore Energies UK, said in the latest Workforce Insight 2022 report.

“Employment grew more than predicted last year, with 97% of companies who responded to our skills survey reporting shortages in appropriately skilled labour. These shortages will only worsen as project demand rises,” Heidenreich said.

OEUK estimates that the offshore oil and gas industry supported 200,800 UK jobs last year, which is 22,300 more than in 2020. The industry body expects to see further increases in total supported employment this year, driven by an anticipated rise in industry investment and more and more people working offshore.

Skills shortages are cited as a major challenge across industry – yet on average, companies expect the workforce to grow by 11 percent in the next two years, according to one of the key findings in the report.

In the middle of December, OEUK announced that industry veteran David Whitehouse was

appointed as its new Chief Executive, effective 1 January 2023. Whitehouse most recently led operator CNR International, where he spent two decades as managing director and vice president of development operations.

In early December, hundreds of offshore workers went on a strike to demand better terms in ongoing disputes over pay and conditions. Unite, the UK’s largest industrial union, confirmed that 146 members would begin strike action at the Petrofac Repsol installations on 8 and 9 December as a result of an ongoing, and increasingly bitter dispute over pay and working terms. “The dispute relates to the removal of a 10 percent Equal Time payment, years of below inflationary pay increases, as well as issues around payments for OEUK medicals, mileage and stand in duties,” the union said.

The Bacton Energy Hub (BEH), a Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) hydrogen project on the coast of Norfolk, could not only help to secure the UK’s energy supply but also play a major role in significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions, a new report by NSTA and industry players found in December. Low-carbon hydrogen could heat up to 20 million homes and businesses across London and the South East of England for decades to come, NSTA said. It is possible that by 2030 hydrogen produced at Bacton could be blended into the National Transmission System (NTS), helping the transition to net zero while ensuring energy security, according to the report.

“The reports produced by our partners clearly demonstrate that the Bacton Energy Hub is a viable, commercial project with significant expansion opportunities that can secure long-term gains in terms of energy security, the energy transition and employment,” said Alistair Macfarlane, NSTA Southern North Sea Area Manager.

NSTA said in a report on 15 December, its inaugural ESG Disclosure report, that ongoing access to finance depends on companies’ ability to demonstrate strong ESG credentials. It also reinforces the importance of robust and authoritative disclosure. The report, which looked at a sample of 31 UK licensees, found that the sector has improved its ESG reporting in recent years, with most companies now providing information on most aspects of the recommendations set out by the NSTA’s ESG Taskforce in March 2021.

“I’m encouraged by the good progress made by many businesses on ESG reporting. However, the sector must keep improving the quality of its reports to address external pressures, in particular its social licence to operate,” Joanne Edgeler, Head of Licensee Governance and ESG, said.

In company and field development news, bp, Equinor, and Ithaca Energy have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore electrification options for their West of Shetland oil and gas interests.

The agreement follows the formation of the West of Shetland Electrification (WoSE) group, acting on behalf of the joint venture partners of the Clair, Rosebank, and Cambo fields.

A spokesperson for the WoSE group said: “This initiative seeks to evaluate the technical, commercial, and regulatory challenges of various low-carbon power hub solutions to recommend a technically and commercially viable option that can meet the requirements of the three field owners within the respective project timeframes.”

According to Equinor, electrification solutions could include power from shore (potentially from onshore wind) or from offshore wind. Full electrification would require in the region of 200 megawatts (MW) of power.

Energy services provider Expro announced in early December a new $50 million contract with North Sea operator Apache Corporation on its Beryl and Forties assets. The fully integrated well intervention and integrity services contract, which has a primary term of three years and two one-year extension options, involves pumping and optimisation operations across all of Apache’s North Sea assets, including Beryl Alpha and Bravo, and Forties Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, and Echo, said Expro.

Hartshead Resources has awarded to Petrofac the Platforms FEED contract for the Anning and Somerville unmanned minimum facilities jackets and topsides and the Subsea FEED contract for the interconnecting subsea pipelines connecting to Shell’s Corvette export system with onward gas transport to the Leman-A complex, associated risers and tie-in to the Anning platform. The award of the FEED contracts signals a significant milestone as the Phase I development progresses from Concept Select into Concept Define prior to entering the execution phase at Final Investment Decision (FID) which is expected to occur later in 2023, Hartshead Resources said.

“Entering into FEED for our Phase I development is another important step toward first gas and a key milestone on the field development planning process,” Hartshead’s CEO Chris Lewis said.

Hartshead also intends to participate in the UK 33rd Offshore Licensing Round which has a closing date of 12 January 2023 for the submission of applications.

ChrisLewis

THE SOCIAL STRATEGIST

commercial

Eric Doyle

By Eric Doyle

At many points in my career, I’ve been involved in the management of risk.

From task-based to business risk. I’ve found the process of identifying, assessing, and mitigating risk, fascinating through the years.

The mere fact that good risk assessment and management saves lives, reduces waste, lowers cost and saves time is impressive enough but, the mindset and process also encourage us think about opportunity.

Opportunities for improvement, for progress and growth.

As time moved on my focus turned to business risk, often centred around cashflow, profit & clients.

I’ve seen some fantastic, active corporate risk registers in my time and some dreadful examples of stale, inactive box ticking exercises. I even remember a time with a board in the 2010s where the Chairman spent 30 minutes arguing that we should remove “Global Pandemic” from our risk register as it was “a ridiculous waste of time focussing any energy on this nonsense”…

Nowadays my focus is on managing modern commercial risk.

Every organisation we talk to is experiencing challenges . Many have problems recruiting good people and retaining the people that they have…but for most the challenge centres round three areas - pipeline - visibility - credibility

Pipeline = External sales Marketing = Credibility & visibility

Even those organisations that have been fortunate to have had a couple of good years of sales have invariably realised that those days are gone or drying up and, they not only have no pipeline today…but they have no reliable mechanism for regenerating it. For visibility and credibility, the stark truth is that old techniques don’t work anymore. That’s not a huge surprise as marketers only one tools, words. You can tell people that your product is amazing/class leading/world beating, and you can say you are ‘customer focused and market leading’…but so can all of your competitors.

The truth is that your prospects (the individuals within your target organisations) are going to make potentially a career-limiting mistake by choosing the wrong supplier and simply giving

them data/arguments/reviews “pricing” that you’re better than the competition doesn’t cut it because the competition are doing exactly the same.

Your commercial world has turned to Digital and knowing how to operate and be successful in your Digital sectors is now crucial.

“As leaders, we are at a crossroads – Analogue or Digital..?”

Do we hold fast and keep doing what we are doing or convert to Digital commercial practices and take what’s rightfully ours...?

The Digital Twin of your sector is already in build. Companies that have rewired their commercial processes to Digital are prospecting, networking, growing communities, building new relationships, and converting all of this to commercial interaction.

The access point to your commercial future is through Strategic Social Media.

We meet leaderships team from across sectors who tell us they have no pipeline. They tell us they have no leads and are existing on historic relationships with those 1 or 2 clients that “always come to us”.

We show them what modern Digital commerce looks like, how it works and what they should see in return….it answers their problems on revenue, ebitda, recruiting, ,market share….and more.

Then someone usually asks the question “How will we find the time to do this in our already busy days...?”

We hear this a lot.

The subtext in the introduction was “nothing we are doing is working and we are struggling to make ends meet”.

They now see a way ahead but are worried that it’s going to get in the way of all the things that they are doing that aren’t working.

This is why we talk about resetting the commercial brain of the company and the team to Digital.

Becoming the leading technical and commercial Digital influencers in your sector isn’t a ‘bolt on’, it’s the way we need to be working now.

Many of our clients realise this as we go through our programme and begin offloading things that don’t work and redefining their commercial processes for the modern age.

So, as we move into 2023., how does your Digital commercial strategy look?

Are you moving with the times or holding onto old ideas and method…more adverts, more emails, more phone calls?

Are you building Digital communities and ecosystems around your people or are you hoping everything goes back to the way it was…?

Eric is a Co-Founder of Crux Consultancy Limited who train and coach cross sector B2B teams in the art and science of Strategic Social Media through Social Selling & Influence. www.consultcrux.com

BRENT OIL PRICES OVER THE YEARS

BRENT OIL PRICE JAN 2023 - $78.14

YEAR AGO 1

- BRENT OIL PRICE 2022 - $87.82

Bumper shareholder pay-outs, soaring profits, booming asset valuations: the oil and gas industry bounced back from the downturn caused by the pandemic. Factors such as strong Chinese demand and low wind generation during summer impacted the industry. North Sea oil and gas companies expected near-record cashflows for the financial year, according to experts at Wood MacKenzie.

AGO 5

YEARS

- BRENT OIL PRICE 2018 - $69.40

BP announced two new oil and gas discoveries in the North Sea. Tests were taking place to discover just how much oil and gas was present in the Capercaillie and Achmelvich fields. With this discovery the oil giants said they hoped to double their North Sea production to 200,000 barrels by 2020.

YEARS AGO 10

- BRENT OIL PRICE 2013 - $111.32

A major pipeline system that provided up to 6% of the United Kingdom’s North Sea oil and gas was shut down due to a leak. The Brent pipeline system, which serviced up to 27 oil fields had to be shut after oil was detected in one of the legs of a platform off Shetland. It was suggested the move could result in an affect on the Brent price.

What does your 2023 Digital

strategy look like?

By Tsvetana Paraskova

Europe Energy Review

By Tsvetana Paraskova

of the daily oil demand in Europe. Recoverable volumes in the Johan Sverdrup field total 2.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

“Johan Sverdrup accounts for large and important energy deliveries, and in the current market situation, most of the volumes will go to Europe," says Geir Tungesvik, Equinor's executive vice president for Projects, Drilling & Procurement.

Equinor and Aker BP will also develop the Krafla gas discovery along with the Fulla and North of Alvheim discoveries in the same area, utilising extensive technological innovation and high levels of digitalisation, automation, and remote operation. Planned production start for Krafla, which has 325 million barrels of oil equivalent in place, mostly gas, is in 2027.

Equinor and partners have received the approval of Norway’s authorities to invest in upgrades to boost gas production from the Oseberg area with reduced CO2 emissions.

Aker BP said in mid-December it had submitted plans for a record number of field developments offshore Norway. Aker BP will invest in the development of Yggdrasil (formerly NOAKA), Valhall PWP-Fenris, three developments in the Skarv area – the gas and condensate discoveries in the northern part of the Norwegian Sea, Alve Nord, Idun Nord, and Ørn – and three satellite projects to utilise capacity on Edvard Grieg and Ivar Aasen on the Utsira High in the North Sea.

Wintershall Dea and partners Petoro and Sval Energi, submitted plans for the development of the Dvalin North field in the Norwegian Sea, which is expected to raise gas exports to Europe.

“Committing to a development only the year after discovery is very rare, but shows our determination to supply natural gas to Europe through a major investment in Norway,” said Wintershall Dea’s Chief Operating Officer Dawn Summers.

Neptune Energy confirmed in early December a new discovery at the Calypso exploration well (PL938) in the Norwegian Sea. Preliminary estimates point to 6-22 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in place.

“Initial analysis of Calypso indicates commercial potential. Together with our partners in the Calypso licence we will now study options to effectively develop the discovery using nearby infrastructure,” said Odin Estensen, Managing Director for Neptune Energy in Norway and the UK.

Oil & Gas

The EU embargo on Russian crude oil imports by sea and the price cap on Russian crude oil of $60 per barrel came into effect on December 5. Per the price cap mechanism, buyers paying $60 or less per barrel of Russia’s crude will continue to have full access to all EU and G7 insurance and financing services associated with transporting Russian crude to non-EU countries.

The markets were not immediately affected as many participants have focused on a potential slowdown in global oil demand amid slowing economies.

Equinor started oil production from the Johan Sverdrup Phase 2 field development on 15 December, which will raise the output of Western Europe’s largest oilfield to 720,000 barrels per day (bpd) at plateau, up by around 180,000 bpd. The Norwegian energy giant will look to increase production to 755,000 bpd, which would mean that Johan Sverdrup alone can meet 6-7 percent

Aker Solutions has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with OKEA for the Draugen Electrification project offshore Norway, which will include major modifications of the existing platform to enable it to receive power from shore via an electrical power cable. This will replace the current power generation from gas turbines at the platform and reduce CO2 emissions by about 200,000 tonnes per year.

Commodity trading giant Trafigura has signed a $3-billion four-year loan guaranteed by Germany to support a new commitment by Trafigura to deliver substantial volumes of gas into the European gas grid, and ultimately into Germany, over the next four years.

The EU embargo on seaborne imports of Russian crude oil and the G7-EU price cap, numerous oil and gas field developments offshore Norway, and many deals and policy decisions in the renewable energy sector in the UK featured in the European energy sector in the past month.

Low Carbon Energy

In the renewable energy sector, the UK Government said in early December it would launch a consultation on local support on onshore wind. The government will consult on proposed changes to national planning policy on onshore wind development to explore how local communities can show support.

“Decisions on onshore wind sites will continue to be made at a local level as these are best made by local representatives who know their areas best and are democratically accountable to the local community,” the government said.

Responding to the government announcement, RenewableUK’s CEO Dan McGrail said:

“Lifting the de facto ban will mean we can generate more cheap power to help hard-pressed billpayers and cut our dependence on gas. Creating a level playingfield for onshore wind will boost our energy security while ensuring there is local support for new projects, and we look forward to working with Government and communities on the detail of a new approach.”

“Backing onshore wind is one of the best solutions to the energy crisis, as projects can be up and running within a year of getting planning permission. Growing the UK’s onshore wind capacity could add £45bn to our economy, grow our domestic renewable supply chain and support the competitiveness of British business,” McGrail added.

Crown Estate Scotland confirmed on 13 December that a total of 19 applications have been made for its Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) offshore wind leasing process. INTOG is expected to help to decarbonise the North Sea oil and gas sector by supporting the building of wind farm projects connected to oil and gas infrastructure (TOG) providing electricity and will reduce the carbon emissions associated with oil and gas production. It will also allow for the development of small-scale (IN) innovative offshore wind projects of 100 MW or less, Crown Estate Scotland said.

Scotland also launched a Hydrogen Action Plan, outlining actions that will be taken over the next five years to support the development of a hydrogen economy to further Scotland’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the energy system while ensuring a just transition. The ambition is for Scotland to be a leading producer and exporter of hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives for use in the UK and in Europe, with the first hydrogen delivered from Scotland to mainland Europe in the mid-2020s.

On December 14, the Net Zero Technology Centre and ERM announced the launch of the Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier (LOHC) for Hydrogen Transport from Scotland (LHyTS) project, which will play a key role in the export of hydrogen from Scotland to Rotterdam.

The project, which will be delivered by a diverse international consortium, aligns with Scottish Government’s Hydrogen Policy Statement, which aims to deliver 5 GW of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen production by 2030 and 25 GW by 2045.

Hydropower can realistically provide an additional deployment of 1 GW in the UK, a 50 percent increase

from its existing installed base of 2 GW, the Energy Informatics Group at the University of Birmingham said in a report commissioned by the British Hydropower Association (BHA) to assess the future potential of hydropower in the UK.

“This report provides evidence and data that makes it clear hydropower has long-standing benefits to help decarbonise the UK's electrical system,” said Dr Grant Wilson, School of Chemical Engineering.

RWE has announced plans for a new UK project combining solar, batteries, onshore wind, and sustainable farming in south Yorkshire and north Lincolnshire. The project, named Tween Bridge Solar Farm, would mark a UK-first for RWE with development of solar and battery storage in combination with existing onshore wind farm whilst supporting one of the largest lowland sheep farms. Located on land to the east of Thorne, Tween Bridge Solar Farm has an agreement for a possible generation capacity of up to 600 MW which could be operational by 2029.

Octopus Energy has acquired UK solar developer and asset manager Zestec Renewable Energy to build cheap solar power on British businesses’ roofs, helping to drive down energy bills.

EDF Renewables UK has signed a contract with Wärtsilä for a new transmission-connected battery storage facility in Sundon, Bedfordshire, which will form part of a new Energy Superhub in the region, helping to support the transition to a decarbonised electricity system and accelerate the UK’s net zero future.

SSE Thermal and Equinor’s Keadby 3 Carbon Capture Power Station in the Humber has become the first power CCS project in the UK to receive planning permission. Keadby 3 would have a generating capacity of up to 910 MW and capture up to one and a half million tonnes of CO2 a year, which represents at least five per cent of the UK Government’s 2030 target, Equinor said. The lowcarbon flexible power station could be operational as early as 2027, assuming success in the UK Government’s Cluster Sequencing Process leading to a Final Investment Decision.

Marks & Spencer (M&S) and bp pulse have signed an exclusive agreement to bring high-speed electric vehicle (EV) charge points to the M&S store estate across the UK. M&S and bp pulse will work together to install an initial 900 EV charge points in around 70 of M&S’ national stores in the next two years.

Centrica and Ryze Hydrogen agreed to jointly develop, build, and operate hydrogen production projects on existing Centrica sites and work with third-parties to build production on their sites too, aiming to provide a reliable supply of hydrogen for industry and transportation.

RWE has acquired 100 percent of Irish company Western Power Offshore Developments Ltd, which is in the early stages of developing the East Celtic Wind Farm project off the coast of Ireland. The East Celtic project is in the very early stages of development, and important decisions have yet to be made, from the overall size of the wind farm to turbine locations, cable routes and land-based developments. Depending on the final agreed installed capacity, and once fully developed and constructed, it could have the potential to generate up to 900 MW of clean wind energy.

"Lifting the de facto ban will mean we can generate more cheap power to help hardpressed billpayers and cut our dependence on gas. Creating a level playing-field for onshore wind will boost our energy security while ensuring there is local support for new projects, and we look forward to working with Government and communities on the detail of a new approach."

RenewableUK's CEO Dan McGrail said

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ENERGY REVIEW US

By Tsvetana Paraskova

US petrol prices dropped in early December to below the levels seen a year ago with the slide in international crude oil prices to below $80 per barrel—the lowest level in a year. Higher refinery utilisation levels and slowing demand have also contributed to the lower prices at the pump for American consumers.

Next year US retail petrol prices would average about $3.50 per gallon, the US Energy Information Administration said in its ShortTerm Energy Outlook (STEO) for December.

US crude oil production is set to increase in 2023 compared to the average 2022 output, the EIA forecasts, although the growth will be lower than anticipated at the start of this year due to supply-chain constraints, capital discipline from E&P operators, labour shortages, and cost inflation for services. US natural gas exports are set for another rise in 2023 led by high LNG demand in Europe and Asia, according to the EIA.

Job growth in the US oilfield services sector hit the highest level since March 2020, when oil demand plunged at the start of the pandemic, while upstream job growth in the key oilproducing state, Texas, is also on the rise.

The clash between the Democrats and the oil and gas industry continued with a new report signed off by House Democrats which accused Big Oil of greenwashing and only accelerating the climate catastrophe.

bbn-international.com/energy

US Petrol Prices Drop Below Year-Ago Levels

Lower international crude oil prices, high refinery utilisation, and lower demand have led to declines in US retail petrol prices over the past weeks. As of the middle of December, the average price of retail petrol was lower than year-ago levels in more than 30 US states.

The national average pump price plunged by 14 cents in one week to $3.26 per gallon as of December 12, six cents less than a year ago and 52 cents less than a month ago. There were 34 states with averages lower than last year, AAA said in a weekly overview.

“The seasonal pattern of less driving due to shorter days and crummy weather, combined with a lower oil cost, is driving gas prices lower,” AAA spokesperson Andrew Gross said.

“If this trend continues, many states could see their average prices fall below $3 a gallon by early next year.”

Higher US Natural Gas Production in 2023

The EIA raised in its STEO for December the forecast for US natural gas production by almost 1% in 2023 compared with the November forecast. Although the EIA continues to expect natural gas production in the Permian Basin to be limited early in 2023 by the lack of pipeline capacity to bring associated natural gas production to market, the administration expects that these constraints will be resolved earlier than it had previously assumed.

In the December STEO, the EIA also includes a contraction in US economic activity in the fourth quarter of 2022 and in the first quarter of 2023, which represents a slightly shorter and milder period of economic contraction than in the previous month’s STEO.

“Uncertainty in macroeconomic conditions could significantly affect energy markets in the forecast period. Based on the S&P Global macroeconomic model, we assume U.S. GDP will remain flat in 2023,” the EIA said.

In a report from early December, Enverus Intelligence Research (EIR) expects near-term recession concerns and oil price weakness to not obscure a tight supply outlook for 2023, when the research firm expects Brent pinned above $100 per barrel on the back of OPEC supply management and EU sanctions on Russian exports.

“U.S. oil supply has disappointed this year, forcing us to downgrade our growth expectations significantly. We now forecast U.S. supply growth of 560 Mbbl/d E/E in 2023,” said Bill Farren-Price, report author and a director at EIR.

For US natural gas prices, EIR forecasts NYMEX gas prices of $5.10/MMBtu this winter, falling to $3.50/ MMBtu in the summer of 2023.

The Permian is accelerating gas production where takeaway constraints could slow the growth, but the Haynesville and the Marcellus shale gas plays are showing signs of slowing, EIR said in a separate report in December.

“Permitting activity across the Delaware has shifted from the liquids-rich regions of the basin to the gasweighted areas,” said Stephen Pratt, report author and senior associate at EIR.

“The relative well-level economics in the gas-weighted areas generate comparable returns and value when compared to the core of the basin and should compete for capital for operators with regional optionality.”

Jimmy McNamara, vice president at Enverus Intelligence Research and report author, noted, “Average well productivity has increased this year in the Haynesville, deteriorated in the northeast Marcellus and remained flat in the southwest Marcellus.”

Democrats Say Big Oil Greenwashing While Not Cutting Emissions

The Committee on Oversight and Reform at the US House of Representatives released in December a new memo and documents which, the Democrats on the committee say, shows “how the fossil fuel

industry engages in “greenwashing” to obscure its massive long-term investments in fossil fuels and failure to meaningfully reduce emissions.”

“Despite public promises that fossil fuels are merely a “bridge fuel” to cleaner sources of energy, Big Oil has doubled down on long-term reliance on fossil fuels with no intention of taking concrete actions to transition to clean energy,” according to the findings of the committee in the memo which was not signed off by any Republican Party representative.

“The industry’s inadequate climate pledges and commitment to emissions reductions are intended to provide cover for Big Oil to continue raking in billions of dollars by selling fossil fuels for decades to come,” the committee’s memo says.

Carolyn B. Maloney, Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, said, “Even though Big Oil CEOs admitted to my Committee that their products are causing a climate emergency, today’s documents reveal that the industry has no real plans to clean up its act and is barreling ahead with plans to pump more dirty fuels for decades to come.”

In an op-ed in World Oil, Frank Macchiarola, senior vice president of Policy, Economics and Regulatory Affairs at the American Petroleum Institute (API), wrote that the energy industry already leads on reducing methane emissions.

Over the past decade, average methane emissions intensity declined by nearly 60% across all major oil and natural gas-producing regions in the US and flare intensity declined nearly 50% in 2021. As one major participant in The Environmental Partnership (TEP) the API launched five years ago, has recently noted, “Addressing methane emissions is a key part of being a responsible producer of oil, products and natural gas… Our goal is simple – keep methane in the pipe,” Macchiarola wrote.

Employment in US Oil & Gas Sector On The Rise

Employment in the US oilfield services and equipment sector rose by an estimated 2,346 jobs to 645,486 in November, according to preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and analysis by the Energy Workforce & Technology Council.

The November increases make OFS employment the highest since numbers started to drop in March 2020, and roughly 60,000 off from the pre-pandemic mark in February 2020 of 706,528, the energy council said.

“The latest increase in our sector is very encouraging. We now have almost gained back all the jobs lost since March of 2020 when the pandemic began to significantly hit the labor market,” said Energy Workforce & Technology Council CEO Leslie Beyer.

Upstream oil and natural gas employment in Texas grew in October, the Texas Oil & Gas Association (TXOGA) said, quoting state data.

Per TXOGA estimates, months of increase in upstream oil and gas employment in Texas have outnumbered months of decrease by 22 to 3 since the low point in September 2020, when the pandemic decimated oil and gas employment nationwide. Since the COVID-low point, industry has added 50,000 Texas upstream jobs, averaging growth of 2,000 jobs a month.

“The latest increase in our sector is very encouraging. We now have almost gained back all the jobs lost since March of 2020 when the pandemic began to significantly hit the labor market,”

said Energy Workforce & Technology Council CEO Leslie Beyer

“The seasonal pattern of less driving due to shorter days and crummy weather, combined with a lower oil cost, is driving gas prices lower,”

AAA spokesperson Andrew Gross said

www.craig-international.com

MIDDLE EAST Energy Review

By Tsvetana Paraskova

The OPEC+ group left their target production level unchanged amid many uncertainties in the oil market, OPEC didn’t make material changes in its estimates of global oil demand growth, while the biggest oil and gas firms in the Middle East made major announcements and signed landmark deals in December.

OPEC+ Sticks To Cautious Production Policy

During the last meeting of the OPEC+ alliance for the year, the group decided to leave the production quotas unchanged from November, when the members of the pact had to cut 2 million barrels per day (bpd) from their collective production quota. In fact, the actual production cut is lower, estimated at around 1 million bpd, because many OPEC+ members outside the Middle East have had troubles producing to quotas even before the decision for the 2-millionbpd cut.

OPEC+ also decided to adjust the frequency of the monthly meetings to become every two months for the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) and the authority of the JMMC to hold additional

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meetings, or to request an OPEC and nonOPEC Ministerial Meeting at any time to address market developments if necessary. Currently, the next full OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting on is set to be held on 4 June 2023.

Analysts largely interpreted the OPEC+ decision not to change quotas as a ‘waitand-see’ approach from the group just ahead of the EU embargo on seaborne imports of Russian crude oil and the G7-EU price cap of $60 a barrel for Russian crude if EU/G7 maritime transportation services be used.

OPEC+ prepares for market uncertainty with the continued 2 million bpd production cut, Wood Mackenzie said in a commentary after the December 4 meeting of OPEC+.

“The decision by OPEC+ to continue with its recently agreed 2 million barrels per day (b/d) production cut through the end of 2023 is not a surprise, given the uncertainty in the market over the impact of the 5 December EU Russia crude oil import ban and the G7 price cap,” said Ann-Louise Hittle, vice president, Macro Oils, at Wood Mackenzie.

“EU nations that import Russian crude oil either by ship or from the Druzhba North pipeline will need to replace those volumes with waterborne imports, increasingly pulling

on crude oil exports from the Middle East, West Africa, and US,” Hittle added.

OPEC Leaves Oil Demand Growth Forecast Unchanged

In its Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) published in the middle of December, OPEC did not make any material revisions to its oil demand growth estimates, after cutting forecasts several times already since the spring of this year.

World oil demand is set to rise by 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2022 and 2.2 million bpd in 2023, OPEC said, keeping its forecasts from November essentially unchanged.

There is upside potential for demand growth next year in case of a resolution to the war in Ukraine and easing of the COVID curbs in China, OPEC said, but warned that uncertainty in the oil and energy markets remains high.

“As the year 2022 draws to a close, the recent global economic growth slowdown with all its far-reaching implications is becoming quite evident. The year 2023 is expected to remain surrounded by many uncertainties, mandating vigilance and caution,” the cartel warned.

Discoveries & Deals

Saudi Aramco announced at the end of November the discovery of two unconventional natural gas fields in the eastern part of the country.

The Awtad unconventional gas field has been discovered southwest of the giant Ghawar field, and the AlDahna unconventional gas field has been discovered 230 kilometers (143 miles) southwest of Dhahran, the Saudi Press Agency reported, quoting Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman as saying.

“Prince Abdulaziz said that the importance of these discoveries lies in increasing the Kingdom’s natural gas reserves, which would, in turn, support the Kingdom’s strategies and help realize the objectives of the Liquid Fuel Displacement Program,” the press agency reported.

Saudi Aramco and TotalEnergies announced in mid-December the final investment decision for the construction of a large petrochemical facility in Saudi Arabia with an investment of $11 billion. The “Amiral” complex will be owned, operated, and integrated with the existing SATORP refinery in Jubail on Saudi Arabia’s eastern coast. The petrochemical facility will enable SATORP to convert internally produced refinery off-gases and naphtha, as well as ethane and natural gasoline supplied by Aramco, into higher value chemicals, helping to advance Aramco’s liquids to chemicals strategy.

In the United Arab Emirates, the board of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) endorsed plans at the end of November to bring forward ADNOC’s 5 million barrels per day (bpd) oil production capacity expansion to 2027, from the previous target of 2030, as part of the accelerated growth strategy.

“The accelerated production capacity target is underpinned by the UAE’s robust hydrocarbon reserves, which have increased by 2 billion stock tank barrels (STB) of oil and 1 trillion standard cubic feet (TSCF) of natural gas this year. These additional reserves increase the UAE’s reserves base to 113 billion STB of oil and 290 TSCF of natural gas, reinforcing the country’s position in global rankings as the custodian of the sixth-largest oil reserves and the seventh-largest gas reserves,” ADNOC said.

ADNOC and Malaysia’s PETRONAS signed a concession agreement for Abu Dhabi’s Unconventional Onshore Block 1, which is the Middle East’s first unconventional oil concession. Under

Aramco and TotalEnergies announced the final investment decision for the construction of a large petrochemical facility in Saudi Arabia with an investment of $11 billion

the six-year concession agreement, PETRONAS will hold a 100% stake and operatorship to explore for and appraise unconventional oil in Unconventional Onshore Block 1. The block covers an area of more than 2,000 square kilometres in Al Dhafra region in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

ADNOC set up in early December its new Low Carbon Solutions and International Growth vertical that will focus on renewable energy, clean hydrogen and carbon capture and storage, as well as international expansion in gas, LNG, and chemicals.

QatarEnergy and ConocoPhillips affiliates for the delivery of up to two million tons per annum (MTPA) of LNG from Qatar to Germany

QatarEnergy announced at the end of November the signing of two long-term LNG sale and purchase agreements between QatarEnergy and ConocoPhillips affiliates for the delivery of up to two million tons per annum (MTPA) of LNG from Qatar to Germany. Pursuant to the agreements, a wholly owned subsidiary of ConocoPhillips will purchase the agreed quantities to be delivered ex-ship to the “German LNG” receiving terminal, which is currently under development in Brunsbüttel in northern Germany, with deliveries expected to start in 2026. The LNG volumes will be sourced from the two joint ventures between QatarEnergy and ConocoPhillips that hold interests in Qatar’s North Field East (NFE) and North Field South (NFS) projects.

Energy services provider Petrofac said it had been selected by Shell to undertake three new Engineering and Procurement Services (EPS) contracts in three separate block developments in Oman.

Petrofac has also secured a lumpsum engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with ADNOC in the UAE. Under the agreement, Petrofac’s Asset Solutions business will design and install facilities to optimise operations and reduce methane and greenhouse gas emissions at the Habshan Complex, located 150 kilometres southwest of Abu Dhabi.

ADNOC and Malaysia’s PETRONAS signed a concession agreement for Abu Dhabi’s Unconventional Onshore Block 1

French supermajor TotalEnergies has mobilised the teams in charge of drilling operations on Block 9 offshore Lebanon. TotalEnergies plans to start drilling on the block in 2023, CEO Patrick Pouyanné told Lebanon’s Minister of Energy and Water, Walid Fayad, at a meeting in December after Israel and Lebanon reached an agreement to settle their maritime border dispute in the eastern Mediterranean.

The call for tenders to secure the drilling rig has been launched and should lead to a selection of the rig in the first quarter of 2023. Pre-orders have also been placed with suppliers for equipment required for the well, TotalEnergies said.

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ENERGY PROJECTS MAP

DENMARK

Project Greensand Ineos

$400 million

Kent has been contracted to conduct screening studies covering the CCS value chain from the onshore capture sites, liquefaction, onshore storage, transportation, and offshore sequestration for Project Greensand. The scope includes studies to investigate the transportation of CO2 and its storage potential in the depleted Nini Field in the Danish North Sea. The project will look at further expansion and use of other depleted fields and adjacent aquifers in the Siri Area (e.g. Cecilie, Nini East, Stine, and Siri).

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NORWAY

Dvalin Nord Gas, Condensate & Oil Discovery Wintershall Dea $823 million

Wintershall Dea and its partners have submitted the PDO for the field. The discovery will be developed as a tie-back to the Heidrun platform. The plan calls for three production wells to be drilled from a single subsea template located 10 kilometres north of the Dvalin field. The partners intend to invest more than US$822.6 million (NOK 8 billion) in the project. Startup is planned for 2026.

NORWAY

Irpa Gas Field – Subsea Tie-back Equinor $1.4 billion

Joint venture partners BP, Kosmos, Petrosen, SMH and the governments of Senegal and Mauritania are in advanced discussions on the development concept for Phase 2 development of the field. The partnership will select a solution which leverages the infrastructure from Phase 1 and allows the partnership to access attractive gas marketing opportunities.

NETHERLANDS

N05-A (Ruby) Platform Development One-Dyas $482 million

HSM Offshore has been awarded a contract to construct the electrified ONE-Dyas N05-A gas production platform that will be powered exclusively by offshore wind energy. The NO5-A platform's energy supply will come from the nearby Riffgat offshore wind farm. Construction of the platform has commenced at HSM’s Schiedam facility.

Energy projects and business intelligence in the energy sector

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It is renowned for excellence in the provision of services that unlock opportunities for its members, helping the supply chain to win business across the globe.

The EIC provides one of the most comprehensive sources of energy projects and business intelligence in the energy sector today. www.eicdatastream.the-eic.com

The EIC delivers high-value market intelligence through its online energy project database, and via a global network of staff to provide qualified regional insight. Along with practical assistance and facilitation services, the EIC’s access to information keeps members one step ahead of the competition in a demanding global marketplace.

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO

Cypre Gas Discovery

BP

$500 million

Subsea 7 S.A. has announced a contract with BP to supply and install dual flexible flowlines, a manifold gathering system and topside upgrades. The workscope will include project's concept and design, engineering, procurement, construction and installation of a two-phase LNG tieback. Project management, design and engineering will start immediately at Subsea 7’s offices in the USA, to be followed by offshore installation scheduled in 2024. Subsea 7 will perform the work under its Subsea Integration Alliance with OneSubsea that will deliver the subsea production system for the project.

BRAZIL

Bijupirá-Salema Field Decommissioning Shell

$100 million

Shell has launched a tender for the decommissioning of anchoring equipment, flowlines, umbilicals and production lines. Bids will be submitted in December and the contract will be executed over 180 days. Helix was Helix recently awarded a contract for the well plugging and abandonment campaign at the oil fields. Helix will employ the Q7000 DP3 well intervention vessel for the work. The contract will start in 2024 and take 12 months.

OMAN

Block 61 - Khazzan Gas Field BP

$100 million

A consortium made up of Worley and Special Technical Services (STS), has been awarded a contract extension by BP Oman to provide engineering, procurement and construction services for the Khazzan facility. This 5-year [20222027] agreement for services will be led by Worley's Oman office.

OMAN

Block 10 and 11 - Greater Barik Intergated Gas Development Shell

$4 billion

Shell has chosen Petrofac to perform new Engineering and Procurement Services (EPS) scopes. The first is a five-year EPS contract for Shell's Block-10 Mabrouk Phase-2 Project. The contract was awarded following a competitive tender, and the scope includes well-pads for multiple wells, remote manifold stations, and connecting pipeline, as well as water infrastructure for well development and a Field Operations Base. Two additional contracts were awarded to provide residual engineering and procurement services in order to complete Phase-1B of the Block-10 development.

NIGERIA

Preowei Field

TotalEnergies

$1.4 billion

Partners in OML 127 and 130 are continuing to work on conversion to the new Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) terms, with a successful conversion possibly triggering FID for the Preowei Field.

According to Africa Oil, OML 130 could be renewed and converted by the end of 2022. The field will be developed as a tie-back to the Egina FPSO (approx. 28 km away) via a 12" pipe-in-pipe line. An initial 12 wells will be drilled to produce up to 65,000 b/d of oil via an SPS.

AUSTRALIA

MEG HP1 Green Hydrogen Project

Infinite Green Energy $50 million

Technip Energies has been contracted to perform front-end engineering design work on the project, which will produce up to 1,569 tonnes of gas annually. The hydrogen project focuses on the heavy transport industry, targeting back-to-base logistics companies and local governments with in-depot refuelling.

MEXICO

Quesqui Field

Redevelopment PEMEX

$3.14 billion

Mexico's National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) has approved a plan by PEMEX to further develop the Quesqui field on the coast of Tabasco. The Mexican NOC plans to increase gas production from 400MMcf/d to 1Bcf/d as well as condensate production from 136,000boe/d to 250,000boe/d. This will be done by drilling an additional 18 production wells.

MALAYSIA Gansar Field Development Petronas

$100 million

Muhibbah Engineering has been awarded an EPCIC contract worth around US$68mn for the project. The Gansar field development is to be developed as a tie-back to host facilities on the producing Duyong field. The EPCIC scope will cover a new lightweight structure (platform) that will be installed at Gansar and brownfield modifications at the Duyong central processing platform to enable the host tie-in.

WELL MANAGEMENT AND WELL SERVICES

The industry is set for a rise in well drilling, servicing, and decommissioning globally and the UK, as governments have shifted their focus to ensuring enough energy supply from reliable sources in the face of surging and volatile oil and gas prices while ditching unreliable energy providers such as Russia.

The world’s largest oilfield services firms expect a supply-led upcycle in oil and gas, high impact exploration has rebounded globally, while the UK offshore industry says that access to domestic oil and gas resources needs to continue to increase energy security and strengthen the domestic supply chain.

Supply-led Upcycle

In its third-quarter results release in October, the world’s largest oilfield services provider, SLB, formerly Schlumberger, said it expects “a multiyear upcycle as we are on the cusp of yet another year of growth.”

By Tsvetana Paraskova

“Despite concerns over the slowdown of global growth rates and the potential for recession, the fundamentals for energy as a critical resource remain very constructive,” chief executive Olivier Le Peuch said on the earnings call.

“While concerns remain over the broader economic climate, the energy industry fundamentals continue to be very constructive. Against the backdrop of the energy crisis and limited spare global capacity, the world faces an urgent need for increased investment to rebalance markets, create supply redundancies, and rebuild spare capacity. All of these are exacerbated by geopolitics and increasing instances of supply disruptions,” Le Peuch noted.

Another major oilfield services provider Baker Hughes, said in its Q3 earnings overview in October that “the fundamentals remain supportive of a multi-year upturn in global upstream spending, and that elevated natural gas and LNG pricing remains constructive for future FIDs.”

The reshuffled global energy order and the energy crisis of the past year have made clear that oil and gas well management and well services and the supply chain providing those to producers are set to play an increasingly important role in global energy supply.

In an investor presentation in November, Baker Hughes reiterated its view that the oil markets are set for a “sustained cyclical upturn,” amid continued capital discipline, ESG pressures, falling inventories, OPEC+ discipline in supply, and rising demand beyond 2030. Long-term structural growth in emerging economies is expected to help sustain demand, according to Baker Hughes.

Halliburton, for its part, also expects an upturn in well services business, with chairman and CEO Jeff Miller saying at the end of October, “I believe structural demand for more oil and gas supply will provide strong tailwinds for our business.”

“Looking forward, we see activity increasing around the world -- from the smallest to the largest countries and producers,” Miller noted.

High Impact Exploration Is Back

High impact drilling activity will pick up in the second half of the year, with between 80 and 90 high impact wells expected to have been drilled by the end of 2022, the highest number since 2019 when 98 high impact wells completed, Westwood Global Energy Group said in August this year.

In the first half of the year, 38 high-impact exploration wells were drilled, similar to the same period in 2021 when 39 wells were completed. Eight of the wells tested frontier plays in H1 2022, with significant basinopening discoveries at Venus and Graff in the Orange Basin offshore Namibia.

“South America will continue to be an exploration hot spot with more wells planned for the Suriname-Guyana basin and offshore

Brazil,” said Jamie Collard, Senior Analyst – Global Exploration and Appraisal, at Westwood Energy.

Following the successes offshore Namibia earlier this year, Africa was expected to see a return to high impact exploration in 2022, with key wells planned in South Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. Activity levels in Asia-Pacific and northwest Europe are relatively stable, but this year also sees a return to high impact exploration in the deepwater of the Eastern Mediterranean after no wells drilled in 2021, according to Westwood.

UK Exploration Insight

A joint study of Westwood and OEUK was included in the Exploration Insight Report 2022 of the leading offshore industry body in the UK.

The study showed that despite the North Sea basin’s maturity, the UK Continental Shelf still contains significant prospective resources, of which a large proportion is within tie-back range of existing infrastructure.

Westwood estimates there are over 6.1 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) remaining to be discovered within 30 km of existing infrastructure, of which around 60% is currently licensed, and a further 7.5 billion boe at distances greater than 30 km.

Yet the report indicated that without additional reserves being discovered and developed, a number of production hubs

are forecast to cease production between 2025 and 2030, some 1,600 wells are due to be decommissioned in the next 10 years, and UKCS production could drop by 75%.

“With the right support, exploration activity in the UK can play a critical role, ensuring the UK can meet domestic demand, deliver energy security and become an enabler for the energy transition,” said Mark Wilson, HSE & Operations Director, Offshore Energies UK.

“Continued investment into domestic exploration is essential to secure our oil and gas supply and provide the nation with a reliable source of energy throughout the transition. Industry must continue to ensure and demonstrate these energy requirements are produced and used in an increasingly low carbon way,” Wilson noted.

UK Well Decommissioning Opportunities

Well decommissioning could also be an opportunity for specialist supply chain companies to boost activity in the North Sea in the coming years.

According to OEUK’s Decommissioning Insight 2022 report, well decommissioning activity is expected to ramp up over the next six years, and is forecast to account for 48% of the total decommissioning cost in 2022. The average spend per year on well decommissioning is set to rise by £325 million between 2022 and 2025 compared with the previous three years. This rise will be dominated by the increased spend on platform and subsea wells, echoed in the number forecast to be decommissioned during this period, the report found.

There are plans for decommissioning of 2,102 wells on the UKCS over the next decade. This is up from the 1,782 wells forecast in the Decommissioning Insight Report 2021. Well decommissioning activity is set to peak in 2028 with 313 wells forecast, close to the 2019 total of 288.

“Multi-operator well decommissioning campaigns are a proven method of reducing costs and emissions and are becoming mainstream across the UKCS and in the wider North Sea,” OEUK said in the report.

Collaboration in the North Sea offshore industry could unlock new opportunities, the industry body said in its Economic Report 2022 in September.

“To unlock new opportunities and ensure a strong and competitive UK supply chain, it is important the industry retains its focus on efficiency by continuing to look for collaboration opportunities to optimise value,” the OEUK said.

“Continued investment into domestic exploration is essential to secure our oil and gas supply and provide the nation with a reliable source of energy throughout the transition. ”

said Mark Wilson

WELL-MANAGED DECOMMISSIONING

Did you know that well decommissioning accounts for 48% of the £1.97bn earmarked for total decommissioning spend in the North Sea in the last year?

While the decommissioning industry builds significant scale here in the North Sea, the eyes of the world are now upon the UKCS as one of the world’s most mature offshore basins. This gives the UK a market-leading opportunity to export its knowledge and skills beyond its shores.

A specialism in well decommissioning is now an essential requirement in responsibly liquidating these liabilities. Well-Safe fully believe that to deliver the regulator’s strategy, a combination of specialist decommissioning focussed people, processes and experience is required, rather than using the same delivery models as exploration and development.

People

Decommissioning is not simply the reverse of the exploration and production process – and operators and regulators are looking to organisations with the right blend of personnel to define and sustain best practice.

Well-Safe Solutions, which marked its fifth anniversary in 2022, has curated a market-leading team of multi-discipline well decommissioning specialists - equipped to meet the challenges of decommissioning while nurturing new talent for the next generation of well plug and abandonment specialists.

Specifically, the latest release of the OEUK Well Decommissioning Guidelines were released in November 2022, with Well-Safe Solutions expanding its subsurface capability by appointing of Ruth Thomas as Subsurface Team Lead at this time. Ruth is supported by specialists with backgrounds from across the well decommissioning ecosystem, including fishing (Senior Well Abandonment Engineer Jamie Stewart) and complex/aged wellhead and tree interfaces (Project Manager David Roberts).

We also offer Foundation, Modern and Graduate Apprenticeships, in cooperation with Developing the Young Workforce. These positions – in both on and offshore roles – bridge the gap between industry and education to prepare young people for the world of work.

Well-Safe Solutions is the only well decommissioning company offering cross-discipline experience in both well abandonment and rig ownership, with several of our graduate well engineers enjoying rotations as an operations engineer working for our rig managers. The company covers all aspects of barrier philosophy, well design, project planning and execution, as well as project delivery – all under one roof.

Processes

A skilled and motivated team needs a robust framework to enable peak performance. WellSafe Solutions’ Well Decommissioning Delivery Process (WDDP) takes clients through the plug and abandonment process efficiently and effectively, with gated stages from handover, front end engineering and design (FEED) to select, define, execute and close out. This process is unique to Well-Safe Solutions and scalable to each client’s requirements.

The WDDP has provided FEED engineering studies right though to fully-integrated projects utilising Well-Safe Solutions-owned assets or third-party rigs. As part of our commitment to improving the capture, retention and sharing of knowledge, lessons learned are continually reintroduced, ensuring incremental learnings and savings are applied to subsequent scopes.

Competence is the combination of skills, knowledge and experience in an organisation – and having a robust system to measure this is key to effective project delivery. We’re the world’s first well decommissioning company to achieve OPITO Competence Management System (CMS) approval. Recognised as the industry’s gold standard, the CMS approval process rigorously evaluates the methods by which competence is implemented and managed at Well-Safe Solutions.

Our focus on operational efficiency also extends to our software. Using Apriside’s Oilfield OS Operations Management System, this cloud-based platform enables our multifunctional teams to collaborate to streamline the planning, execution and analysis of well decommissioning projects.

Such has been the reception to our WDDP and OilfieldOS in our five years of business that we are now in the process of transferring a clients’ wells into Well-Safe Solutions operatorship.

Experience

Collectively, over 400 wells have progressed through at least one stage of the WDDP to date, while Well-Safe Solutions has achieved over two million working hours without a recordable incident to date.

Well-Safe Solutions has plugged and abandoned 23 wells in the last year alone – a special year bookended by the mobilisation of the Well-Safe Guardian in January 2022 and the Well-Safe Protector in December 2022.

For example, the Well-Safe Guardian semisubmersible rig mobilised to decommission North Sea wells for Repsol Sinopec Resources UK (RSRUK) and CNR International UK (CNR). According to the North Sea Transition Authority, it takes 31 days on average to decommission a subsea well from a North Sea rig .

Well-Safe Solutions’ practical experience on four field wells is comfortably within the top P25 performance quartile of this average, with the shortest well decommissioning window 7.9 days and the longest just 15.5 days.

The Well-Safe Protector mobilised to its first projects for Ithaca Energy and Neptune Energy in December 2022, while the WellSafe Defender undergoes upgrades ahead of mobilisation later in 2023.

Effective well decommissioning is of crucial importance to effective well management and, far from being the end of the road in the energy sector, is part of a new dawn in effective well management in the UKCS and beyond.

Effective

writes Well-Safe Solutions’ Chief Operating Officer, Matt Jenkins.

Matt Jenkins

THREE60 Energy is beginning 2023 with strong growth following its acquisition of Fraser Well Management, a well and pipeline operator and well management specialist.

The acquisition broadened the company’s well credentials and led to THREE60 Energy becoming one of only two companies that can undertake the role of outsourced duty holder (installation operator), pipeline operator and well operator across the asset life cycle, further positioning the company as a strategic services partner.

All of Fraser Well Management’s personnel transferred to the THREE60 Energy team in July, and the company’s three offices, located in Aberdeen, Great Yarmouth and Rotterdam, remain in operation under THREE60 Energy.

Six months on, THREE60 Energy has enjoyed steady and deliberate growth, reaping the benefits of investing in the future of the business. Its well service line spans the complete well lifecycle, both onshore and offshore, with comprehensive end-toend well and pipeline operator solutions provided to customers across the world. The company also provides well management, decommissioning, specialist engineering, and commercial services, with sustainability as a key operational consideration.

Having all disciplines in-house, including subsurface, wells, engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning (EPCC), and operations, means THREE60 Energy is uniquely positioned to provide bespoke solutions and services that are based on a deep understanding of a customer’s issue.

Bringing together experts from different disciplines in a coordinated way to provide comprehensive solutions allows THREE60 Energy to create real customer value through spending time getting to know its customer, evolving, and refining its portfolio to align with the industry’s changing needs, while investing in the right people and planning for the future.

Walter Thain, Group CEO at THREE60 Energy, said: “Together we have created a stronger organisation, fully capable of delivering integrated solutions to our customers throughout the asset life cycle.

“As we continue to transition into sustainable and renewable energies alongside traditional means of energy production and storage, it was vital that we invested in the future of our business and our place in the energy supply chain.

“If the first six months are anything to go by, 2023 is looking bright with a variety of projects in the pipeline. We are immensely proud to have our new team members on this growth journey with us - the integration has been seamless - and we will continue our mutual goal of growing and delivering better energy together.”

Looking ahead into 2023, THREE60 Energy will continue to diversify into new markets and combine service lines, resulting in another year of growth and development of the company’s knowledge of the entire asset life cycle, from exploration to decommissioning, ensuring the delivery of a fully cohesive offering.

Walter continued: “With integrated capabilities and bases across the world, we are ideally placed to support customers, identifying, and progressing optimal solutions, and we are looking at further areas where we can combine our service lines.

“This makes THREE60 Energy a truly independent partner. As many companies are increasingly looking to outsource

activities for various reasons, we are here to support them and provide flexible, efficient, safe, and innovative services.”

An example of this includes the integrated management services THREE60 Energy is providing to a customer, who is embracing the outsourcing concept for the first time. Working as a stand-alone team, THREE60 Energy provide comprehensive plug and abandonment engineering scopes, in accordance with the customer’s management system, local regulatory regime and delivering on established templates -, to the customer it looks and feels like the work has been performed in-house, ready for execution. This system has proven to be more cost-efficient for the customer than building a new in-house team, addressing the growing skills shortage and increasing workload of the customer.

As THREE60 Energy’s portfolio has expanded, so too has its footprint as it moved premises to new 16,000sq ft offices in Aberdeen at Annan House.

Walter Thain, Group CEO, THREE60 Energy

THREE60 Energy has enjoyed steady and deliberate growth, reaping the benefits of investing in the future of the business

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The UK’s largest innovation funding consultancy

Leyton is an international consulting firm that helps businesses leverage financial non-dilutive incentives to accelerate their growth and achieve long lasting performance.

We simplify your access to these complex incentives. Our combined teams of highly skilled Tax and Technical specialists,

enhanced with cutting-edge digital tools developed internally, maximise the financial benefits for any type of businesses.

With compliance always front of mind, we have been delivering optimal services for our clients for over 24 years. This provides peace of mind that you will always receive the maximum benefit, without taking risks.

"DIGITISING THE WELLBORE”

Reshaping The Oil Industry

Chemical Tracer Systems in conjunction with trend profiling represent a technology to digitise the wellbore to enable zonespecific well event processing, exception-based well surveillance and continuous monitoring for optimised oil production.

Reshaping the oil industry –Digitalisation

Digitalisation is gaining increasing attention and focus among oil industry companies where the aim is to digitise all elements of the full oil production and export value chain. Elements of the well, facilities, compressors, pipelines, terminals etc. should ideally become digitised and relevant data values will be fed into an integrated asset model in real-time to enable exception-based asset surveillance and to support critical operational decisions.

Digitising the Wellbore

REMAN Proprietary Inflow tracers allow digitisation of the wellbore as an element in the Digital Oilfield.

Permanently installed chemical tracer systems represent a non-invasive and non-electric technology to provide zonal resolution and hence digitising of the full wellbore. The technology enables trend analysis to identify changes in oil/ water/gas inflow and skin in each zone of the well to support operational decision-making to optimise production at different time scales.

The foundation of the technology is that unique chemical tracers are embedded in a polymetric matrix in the form of plastic rods and installed

in appropriate completion components such as a sand screen, ICD screen, tacer carrier pup joint etc. in specific zones of the well. There are three types of tracers being water, oil and gas tracers, these are released from the polymeric matrix when in contact with water, oil and gas respectively. The tracers remain dormant until the polymeric rods are wetted by the target substance. The tracers are transformed from the specific zone in the well-stream to topside in ultralow concentrations.

Plotting data and correlating data is a very powerful analytic and visual technique where human (and potentially artificial) cognition and algorithms can be used and potentially trained to recognise patterns and relates these to changes in zone-specific reservoir l behavior. Often this involves changes in slopes and data anomalies. And so, by correlating changes in production data with changes in tracer concentrations (ng/ml) and tracer fluxes (mg/day) changes in zonespecific behaviors can be interpreted and identified. Such co-trend analysis, diagnostic plotting and pattern recognition represent the foundation of continuous monitoring of the well at zonal resolution.

By providing zonal resolution permanently installed chemical tracers digitise very important elements of the oil field asset – the productive and unproductive zones of the wellbore. This element is important to digitise in a digital oilfield model as the zones are typically around the perforations that represent the fundamental physical connection between the hydrocarbonbearing reservoir and the pathway by which the oil flow to surface.

Following the acquisition of Restrack, RESMAN has expanded its portfolio and harvested synergies from:

• A large number of unique tracers for inflow, interwell and single well tracers

• Chemistry and analytical excellence

• Interpretation excellence

• Global footprint and field experience

RESMAN offers O&G companies well and reservoir surveillance services to optimise production and increase the net present value of the asset by identifying productivity, well events and reduce subsurface uncertainty. This enables operational decision support on well and reservoir management and targeted well operations at zonal resolution.

Wireless Reservoir Surveillance.

Innovative data acquisition technology to provide LONG TERM, RELIABLE, RISK FREE reservoir monitoring. RESMAN has delivered wireless inflow monitoring to the petroleum industry for over a decade and has invested heavily in research since 2005 to develop the inflow tracer technology to meet the market needs demands. With the acquisition of the pumpable tracer service provider Restrack in 2018, RESMAN has enhanced its portfolio to provide continuous monitoring and digitalisation of the wellbore. Now with a combined product and service offering , RESMAN is committed to support oil companies gain insights about their reservoirs, ultimately improving the effectiveness of their reservoir management decisions. We are is committed to the protection of the environment with low carbon footprint and “Enhanced Oil Recovery” technology, which assist the operators improve global environmental sustainability.

WATCH VIDEO

V-LIFE technology supporting operators for over a decade

Some call

it extending

field

life We

it HEATING HOMES THIS WINTER

call

V-LIFE is the only preventative and active ‘healing’ solution for low insulation resistance caused by water ingress.

Our patented technology has been designed to recover the electrical integrity of failing subsea circuits in the oil and gas sector. The only solution other than costly subsea repair or total umbilical replacement.

Helping secure the critical supply of gas from subsea fields.

www.sword-group.com

Phil Brading, Sword UK CIO has worked with energy industry data for almost 25 years. He is helping to shape the data services and solutions that Sword offers from its offices in the UK, Netherlands, and US.

Jared Owen, Sword UK CDO has worked in the technology and energy industries for over 20 years. He is responsible for industry engagement and aligning the strategy and direction of Sword’s digital services and solutions with energy sector customers.

Faster Trust: the key to finding the balance in managing your energy business

Finding the Balance

Across our industry, organisations are having to find a balance in their response to both the energy transition and energy security needs. The pressure of taxes, regulation and public opinion are making it harder for operators and energy generators to sustain a position that satisfies all their stakeholders. To support business planning and operational success in the next 5 years, we know that faster and more agile critical decision making will be a priority.

As a result, energy industry leadership will be driven to revaluate their investment position between renewable energy sources, and to maximise economic recovery through production in mature oil and gas assets. This may feel like burning the candle at both ends as the industry must instil a sustainable balance to maintain progress of the energy transition whilst continuing its focus on regulation and safety.

Sword works with the energy industry to deliver services that enable customers to respond easily to such business needs. Our expertise in running critical infrastructure, deploying automated workflows, and managing information assets comes together to put the right data, in the right hands, at the right time. We can only do this successfully if we have a deep appreciation of the pressures our customers are under. Finding the balance requires the right talent and technology mix to deliver trusted data and analytics in an effective, insightful way.

Skills: Do more with less

Experience is leaving our industry due to the turbulence of recent years, and it is getting ever harder to attract new talent as there is a perceived lack of long-term opportunities in the UKCS. As an industry, we need to learn from other sectors and engage with graduates to broaden the conversation. We should aim to attract new ways of thinking to encourage collaboration and tackle our sustainable energy needs now and in the future.

We must also get comfortable with working smarter, doing more with less resources, as well as offering more rewarding careers. By explicitly linking an individual’s role to business outcomes, we can create more purpose in our work and challenge our teams to work creatively to solve the most important industry problems.

Aligning domain and technical understanding to create multi-disciplinary working groups means no one needs to feel stuck in their role and effort can be targeted where it is needed. These teams or squads are great platforms to introduce the new talent who want to make a positive contribution and quickly gain new experiences with the latest technology.

Technology is opening new possibilities for us to work smarter, particularly in terms of mobility, real-time and predictive analytics. Automation and cloud make this possible, and we all want to increase the size and speed of returns on the technology spend already made, as well as future investment. These can all be applied within the industry’s existing infrastructure.

Data is the common thread that drives value from technology. It’s the ability to store data, enable data, and use the data for insights and analysis that generates the actionable outcome. Therefore, as an industry our focus should be on the quality and accessibility of that data to ensure we can trust it at pace.

Technology: Applying it in the right way

Our industry needs to maintain and increase the productivity of its current assets. We don’t have the luxury of breaking these down and building them back up with technology embedded. Rather than over-engineering a solution, let’s look at what we already have available and integrate critical workflows across the business.

Getting to Trust, Faster

Sword’s role is pivotal in working with customers to provide the skills and technology required to enable access and trust to data. We deliver domain understanding for our customers to increase their agility.

When data is the common denominator and can be trusted, we can make smart decisions. If we can do that at pace, we can find our balance in a fast-paced environment where investments need to work harder and smarter.

For more information, visit www.sword-group.com

About Sword

SPONSORED BY

Aboout Sword As the North Sea’s largest provider of data and digital services, Sword focuses on solving the industry’s most critical business technology challenges by enabling our clients to capture, manage and utilise data to make informed decisions. This is supported by people engagement and technology adoption, together with modern ways of working to give confidence that the right decision is made every time.

Jared Owen, CDO

Phil Brading, CIO

Our expertise puts the right data, in the right hands at the right time.

www.renewableuk.com

SIEMENS GAMESA TO CONTINUE SERVICE AT CLYDE EXTENSION WIND FARM FOR 15 YEARS

Siemens Gamesa has been selected by Clyde Wind Farm (Scotland) Ltd to service the Clyde Extension wind farm for an additional 15 years.

Located in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, Siemens Gamesa’s team has been chosen to oversee the full service and maintenance for the 172.8 MW onshore wind farm until 2037.

Made up of 54 of Siemens Gamesa’s 3.2 MW wind turbines, Clyde Extension has been operational since 2017, and brings both Clyde and Clyde Extension wind farms, a total of 206 turbines, under the expert stewardship of Siemens Gamesa.

Clyde Wind Farm is a partnership between SSE Renewables (50.1%), Greencoat UK Wind Holdco Limited (28.2%), and GLIL Corporate Holdings Ltd (21.7%).

The new contract secures the jobs of the existing servicing team and will provide

BUILDING SCOTLAND’S

LARGEST OFFSHORE WIND FARM

Global Port Services has secured multiple contracts to support their client Seagreen Wind Energy Limited (SWEL), with site enabling works for the Pre-Assembly Construction of wind turbine components (WTGs) at their Port of Nigg facility. The news comes as the final turbine foundations for Seagreen arrive at Nigg to be prepared for installation at the project’s wind farm site, 27km off the coast of Angus.

RenewableUK members are enabling a just transtion to a net zero future. Focusing on continuous improvement around the three pillars of our Just Transition Tracker - People, Place and Planet These inspiring companies are a true showcase of the best that our industry has to offer.

opportunities for increased apprenticeship and training placements for the next 15 years.

Paulina Hobbs, Service CEO of the Northern Europe and Middle East region at Siemens Gamesa, said: “We are delighted that SSE Renewables has selected our team to continue at Clyde Extension and to allow us to build upon our already great work. Being involved in the wind farm enables us to work closely with Clyde Wind Farm (Scotland) Ltd to ensure that Clyde Extension meets its full potential, while enabling us to create more training and career opportunities for people looking to join this great industry.”

Stuart Hood, Director of Clyde Wind Farm (Scotland) Ltd, stated: “It is fantastic that we are able to continue this partnership with

Siemens Gamesa at Clyde Extension wind farm for an additional 15 years. Since the wind farm came into operation in 2017, Siemens Gamesa has provided excellent service when carrying out maintenance of the 3.2 MW turbines.

“At Clyde Wind Farm, we are always eager to support those wishing to kickstart their career in the renewable sector, so we are pleased to hear about the opportunities the new contract will create for apprenticeships and training placements in the coming years,” he added.

Across the Northern Europe and the Middle East region, Siemens Gamesa now services wind turbines that have the capacity to generate more than 28 GW of clean energy, enough to meet the annual energy needs of more than 24 million homes.

A joint venture between TotalEnergies (51%) and SSE Renewables (49%), Seagreen will be Scotland’s largest and the world’s deepest fixed foundation offshore wind farm once complete and will power more than 1.6m homes. With a total installed generating capacity of 1,075MW, the project is due to be fully operational in summer 2023.

The contracts, which are expected to run through to Summer 2023, will see Global Port Services provide proven project management and technical support for site enabling works, pre-assembly set up, as well as ongoing services to include crane support, SPMT’s and associated labour, plant, equipment, and quayside services – supporting Danish firms Vestas Offshore and BMS Heavy Lift, who will carry out the onshore assembly and offshore installation for Seagreen. The overall

pre-assembly construction project is supporting more than 100 skilled jobs at the Port of Nigg, delivering a green jobs boost and significant economic benefit to the Highlands and Scotland.

The WTGs are to be installed on top of offshore turbine foundations. Global Port Services are simultaneously fulfilling the storage, marshalling and logistics contracts for the 114, 95m-tall ‘yellow jacket’ foundation towers for Seagreen on the South Quay at the Port of Nigg, under a separate contract with Seaway 7.

It will be the first major infrastructure and preassembly contract of its type to be brought to the Port since the unveiling of the new purposebuilt East Quay in July, and offers 160,000m2 of adjacent project areas comprising laydown, storage and assembly yards with dedicated warehousing and client project offices.

SAFETY BY DESIGN

GAME-CHANGING APPROACH RECOGNISED

BY INDUSTRY EXPERTS

RenewableUK speaks to Andrew Saunders of Equinor about their ‘safety by design’ concept for the world’s largest offshore wind farm.

Dogger Bank Offshore Wind Farm has already accomplished several milestones. It is the largest offshore wind farm in the world. It is the first wind farm in the UK to utilise HVDC technology. The project is also the first around the globe to install the 13MW and 14MW variants of GE’s Haliade-X turbine – which can power a UK household for two days with a single rotation. In addition, Dogger Bank has pioneered a new approach to health and safety. This is not only a priority for the consortium of organisations behind the project, but has also been recognised and praised by industry experts during the Global Offshore Wind Awards 2022.

Andrew Saunders, Dogger Bank Prepare for Operations Manager at Equinor, considers some of the unique health and safety challenges faced for this project and what was needed to overcome them:

“The sheer scale of this development was a massive challenge for many different reasons. The three development areas of the wind farm together fill a larger area than Greater London at 1675km2 and are more than 130km from the coast. This is a huge jump from the majority of wind farms built to date, which are closer to an average of 50km2 in size and around 20km from the shore.

“Transporting personnel is just one of the difficulties these distances presented. It takes almost 15 hours to get people to and from the furthest location, and the conditions of travel can be particularly challenging so far from the coast. The middle of the North Sea gets some extreme weather, with average significant wave heights increasing from around 1m closer to land, to 2m in height.

“How we overcame this – like many of the challenges faced – was to utilise experience transfer and learning opportunities. We introduced people and technology from the oil & gas sector, as well as harnessing the power of collective knowledge from the offshore wind industry. We collaborate as part of the G+ Global Offshore Wind Health and Safety Organisation, which provides access to industry-wide statistics, ideas and outcomes. Our use of and involvement with this initiative

was a key pillar in our nomination for the Global Offshore Wind Awards as it demonstrates a total commitment to developing, following and sharing best practice health and safety protocols.

“We looked at the most common incidents across the sector and incorporated preventive measures into our project design from the very beginning. This is how we implement our ‘safety by design’ ethos. The forum also gives us a platform to share our own learning and accomplishments from Dogger Bank with the wider industry and we hope that what we feedback will help the sector as it matures. Success in health and safety isn’t something anyone should keep a secret. It should be shared so that the safety and wellbeing of everyone working in renewable energy – or any other related industry – can be protected in the best possible way. We’re looking to make a game-changing impact for everyone involved in offshore industries and want to drive and inspire others to look at similar initiatives and/or designs to improve safety elsewhere in the sector.”

Engagement with the wider offshore wind and green energy market, as well as collaboration between project partners, are the foundations on which Dogger Bank has been built. Andrew comments:

“Good collaboration with everyone involved at Dogger Bank is essential. We’re striving for a solution-oriented approach for this project and are keen not to solve one problem and create another. We work with a diverse range of people from designers to users, risk assessment specialists and more – it’s important that everyone has a voice. Our culture at Dogger Bank and Equinor is one of openness and collaboration. We’re not afraid of trying something new but we do everything we can to first mitigate any potential risks.

“In addition, we want to anticipate and eliminate potential health and safety issues at every single stage. While the operations and maintenance team will be the longest users, we strive to ensure the wellbeing of people involved in everything from fabrication of equipment and components, to their installation. One injury in any phase of development is too many.”

These were just some of aspects that were identified and praised as part of the Global Offshore Wind Awards, during which Dogger Bank was applauded for its unparalleled commitment to the health, safety and wellbeing of its teams. Reflecting on what this win means for the company and what is coming next, Andrew adds:

“We truly believe that we’ve done something different at Dogger Bank and it’s an honour to be recognised for this by industry experts. Applying what we’ve done at the scale we have had to do it has been an incredible challenge. For instance, we’ve removed a million lifting activities, replaced manual handling for thousands of tonnes of material and minimised exposure to large falls, all preventing future incidents. The award is a testament to the hard work that has gone into considering and improving health and safety standards.

“Safety never stops, so we won’t be resting on our laurels. We have done great things but the job is not finished. The next phase of the project will be ramping up construction and moving towards operation. We want our teams to really understand the risks and how to mitigate or eliminate them in the design stages. For example, we provided excavator training on our onshore cable route. There is a red zone where drivers have poor visibility, so we gave all our workers the opportunity to experience this first-hand in order to better appreciate the physical difficulties of the job and better mitigate potential issues down the line.

“The culture of the project remains key. If we continue to foster a positive approach to safety and wellbeing, empowering every individual to assess situations and speak out wherever something could be done better, we will succeed. People are excited to start working with the innovative new technology and safety protocols we have implemented and we can’t wait to see what the future holds!”

For more information, please visit www.renewableuk.com

For details of the 2023 events, access the full calendar on the website

"Good collaboration with everyone involved at Dogger Bank is essential. We’re striving for a solution-oriented approach for this project and are keen not to solve one problem and create another."

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operations and delivery of other projects in the wind sector for clients including a previous campaign for SSE Renewables through Montrose Port Authority.

Aberdeen-headquartered PD&MS Group has secured a three-year framework agreement to support SSE Renewables on the 1,075MW Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm located off the coast of Angus in the North Sea firth. Once completed, it will become Scotland’s largest - and the world’s deepest - fixed bottom development.

The balance of plant (BoP) statutory inspection framework agreement also has options to be extended for a further two-years. The Seagreen win follows on from PD&MS recently securing a three-year operations and maintenance (O&M) contract with Vattenfall to support its European

Seagreen is a joint venture, between TotalEnergies and SSE Renewables, which is leading the construction and operational phases. Once operational, it will deliver enough green energy to power to more than 1.6million homes, which is equivalent to twothirds of all Scottish homes.

The PD&MS workscope will involve carrying out best-in-class topside statutory inspections on Seagreen’s power generating equipment which connects to the grid to ensure it remains safe, compliant, and operational. The contract also includes embedding PD&MS’ inspection technicians into Seagreen’s team to work across all wind turbine generators and the offshore substation primarily focused on jacket foundations and transition pieces. The firm will also support inspections at onshore

locations such as Tealing Power Station and Montrose O&M Base.

Thomas Barter, head of renewables business development at PD&MS, said: “As a vastly experienced market-leading energy services organisation but a relatively new entrant into the O&M wind market, winning this three-year SSE Renewables framework agreement on what will be Scotland’s largest offshore wind farm, confirms our highly transferable skills and flexible delivery model is being recognised and is successfully disrupting the marketplace."

Offshore drilling contractor Shelf Drilling has been awarded a long-term contract for one of its jack-up rigs, which will carry out operations in the Arabian Gulf.

While announcing this five-year contract for the Harvey H. Ward jack-up rig, Shelf Drilling explained that the contract value for the firm period, including mobilisation revenue, is approximately $192 million.

In addition, this deal includes a two-year option. The start-up of operations is planned for late March 2023. Prior to starting this contract, the Harvey H. Ward jack-up rig is scheduled to

complete an upgrade and contract preparation project in the United Arab Emirates.

David Mullen, Chief Executive Officer of Shelf Drilling, remarked: “This award in the Middle East further demonstrates our customers’ confidence in Shelf Drilling to deliver safe and efficient operations and also represents an attractive opportunity for us to expand our footprint in this growing region, which will benefit the company and all stakeholders.”

The 1981-built Harvey H. Ward jack-up rig had its previous upgrade in 2011. This rig is of a Friede & Goldman L-780 Model II design. It is capable of operating in water depths of up to 300 ft and can accommodate 108 people.

This deal comes a little over a month after Shelf Drilling secured another five-year contract for operations in the Arabian Gulf, which will be undertaken by the company’s premium jack-up rig, which was acquired from India’s Aban Offshore earlier this year.

The offshore drilling contractor also recently bought five jack-up rigs from Noble and has already secured an extension for one of these rigs. The rigs included in the agreement were Noble Hans Deul, Noble Sam Hartley, Noble Sam Turner, Noble Houston Colbert, and Noble Lloyd Noble.

Petrofac, a leading provider of services to the global energy industry, has been awarded a lumpsum engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with ADNOC in the United Arab Emirates. Under the agreement, Petrofac’s Asset Solutions business will design and install facilities to optimise operations and reduce methane and greenhouse gas emissions at the Habshan Complex, located 150 kilometres South West of Abu Dhabi.

This award follows the September 2022 announcement that Petrofac will continue to support ADNOC’s operations at the Haliba oil field, with a two-year Field Maintenance Services contract extension.

Present in the UAE since in 1991, with operational centres in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, Petrofac has developed a large workforce to deliver both regional and international projects, while supporting In-Country Value and Emiratisation.

Valaris Announces Contract Award for Drillship VALARIS DS-12

PD&MS awarded three-year BoP framework agreement to support SSE Renewables at the Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm

Petrofac secures brownfield EPC contract with ADNOC

Reflective of the recent upturn in international drilling activity, ADC Energy has secured a new contract in West Africa providing operational assurance and rig acceptance.

The contract, which is worth $250,000, is scheduled for the first quarter of 2023 and expected to take around a month to complete.

ADC Energy will provide a focused approach to operational assurance, and acceptance services for rig equipment, dynamic positioning, marine and well control, and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) activity.

The project benefits from ADC’s continuity with both the operator’s rig intake process and the drillship itself, allowing for previously

identified observations to be revisited to ensure appropriate action has been taken to prevent reoccurrence. ADC has also developed a work scope in collaboration with the operator and drilling contractor that applies any lessons learned from recent operations, incorporating data analysis from onboard condition-based monitoring systems.

ADC Energy will manage the project from its HQ in Aberdeen and assign a dedicated senior project engineer to act as the technical focal point for the duration of the contract.

Jason McGill, business development manager at ADC Energy said: “Having worked with the client and its global operations for a number of years, we were pleased to be invited to tender for rig inspection services for the company’s operations in West Africa.

“We understand their processes and how they want to do things. On top of that, they understand us and what we deliver, and trust our ability to meet their expectations.

Last month, the company reported a 6 per cent increase in third-quarter profit on the back of higher revenue from its onshore and oilfield services segments.

“Our competitive advantage was our firm understanding of the rig and its equipment. This meant that we could identify risk areas from previous rig visits, and help the client deliver safer, cleaner, and more efficient operations.”

This is the latest contract ADC Energy has been awarded in West Africa, alongside a long-term contract with another major operator in Ghana. Headquartered in Aberdeen, ADC Energy has offices in Houston, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore.

Tullow Oil Pens Ivory Coast Offshore Block Deal

Adnoc Drilling, the largest national drilling company in the Middle East by rig fleet size, has signed an agreement to acquire two offshore jack-up rigs for $200 million as it expands and helps parent company Adnoc to increase its crude oil production capacity.

This latest purchase adds to previous agreements for a total of nine rigs signed in 2022 and four rigs acquired in 2021, the company said in a filing on Wednesday to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, where its shares trade.

“Our objective is to be operating a total fleet of at least 122 owned rigs by 2024 and at our fleet’s current, accelerated rate of growth, we will easily surpass that milestone,” Adnoc Drilling chief executive Abdulrahman Al Seiari said.

“Our rig acquisitions will deliver exceptional revenue growth with strong profitability margins.”

Adnoc Drilling, which is majority owned by Adnoc, owned 108 rigs at the end of September. The company was listed on the ADX in October last year and has rapidly expanded operations in recent months.

It has won contracts worth $8.85 billion this year and plans to acquire dozens of rigs by 2025 to support Adnoc's oil-production capacity target of 5 million barrels per day by 2027.

Adnoc Drilling has provided integrated drilling services to Adnoc Onshore and Offshore since 2019.

The company’s highly competitive position, integrated capabilities and technical expertise have helped to increase the efficiency of Adnoc’s drilling operations.

Net profit for the three-month period to the end of September climbed to $189 million from the same period a year earlier, while revenue during the period rose 17% annually to $671 million.

“The latest acquisition … is yet another important step in the execution of our strategy to rapidly grow our business, significantly boost revenues and increase shareholder returns,” said Mr Al Seiari.

In November, Adnoc awarded three framework agreements valued at $4 billion to support its goal of increasing crude oil production amid growing global demand for oil and gas with a lower carbon intensity.

The contracts were awarded to Adnoc Drilling and US-based oilfield services providers Schlumberger NV and Halliburton Company.

The agreements, which cover Adnoc’s onshore and offshore operations, will run for five years, with an option for a further two years.

Adnoc owns an 84 per cent stake in Adnoc Drilling while Baker Hughes holds 5% and US contract oil and gas driller Helmerich & Payne holds a 1% stake.

The Abu Dhabi oil company has approved a Dh550 billion ($150 billion) budget for the next five years as it prepares to set up its gas subsidiary and list its shares on the ADX next year.

Adnoc’s board also endorsed plans to bring forward its 5 million bpd oil-production capacity expansion to 2027, from the previous target of 2030, as part of an accelerated growth strategy.

The company will also set up a low carbon solutions and international growth business line focused on new energy sources, gas, liquefied natural gas and chemicals.

Tullow Oil has signed a production sharing contract (PSC) for Ivory Coast's offshore exploration license CI-803.

Tullow will operate the license with 90% equity, with the remaining 10% held by PetroCi.

The CI-803 offshore block covers an area of 1,345 square kilometers and is adjacent to license CI-524, also held by Tullow (90%, operator) and PetroCi (10%).

"With this new exploration license, Tullow strengthens its position in the Tano Basin where significant prospectivity has been identified within the proven Cretaceous turbidite plays, similar to the plays which are producing in the adjacent TEN and Jubilee fields," Tullow Oul said .

The work program for the initial two and a half years includes reprocessing of existing 3D seismic data, along with prospect evaluation. In CI-524, a number of drill candidates are being matured while preparations continue for an exploration well to be drilled during 2024, Tullow Oil said.

Rahul Dhir, Chief Executive Officer, Tullow Oil plc, said: "This new license underscores our strong commitment to investing in and unlocking the resource potential in Côte d'Ivoire. Our exploration strategy is focused around existing producing fields in basins where we have a differentiated understanding, in this case, through our deep understanding of the Tano Basin."

ADC Energy awarded six figure contract with major operator in West Africa

Adnoc Drilling to buy two offshore jack-up rigs for $200m to expand drilling fleet

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2ADNOC appoints Executive Director of New Low Carbon Solutions & International Growth Unit

Musabbeh Al Kaabi, CEO of Mubadala Investment Co‘s UAE Investments platform has been appointed as Executive Director of a new Low Carbon Solutions & International Growth unit at ADNOC effective January 2023.

4ScottishPower Renewables appoints first-ever Head of Offshore Development

ScottishPower Renewables has appointed its first-ever Head of Offshore Development for Scotland following its unrivalled success in Crown Estate Scotland’s ScotWind Leasing earlier this year.

Mandy Gloyer, New UK Sites Manager – who was instrumental in leading ScottishPower’s ScotWind achievements – will take up the post in January, with responsibility for overseeing all of the company’s renewables development activities in Scottish waters.

the appointment of Gareth Penny as Non-Executive Chairman of the Group with effect from 6 December 2022, replacing Martin Houston who will step down from the Board on the same day.

EnQuest PLC

On joining the Board, Gareth will also become Chair of the Governance and Nomination Committee.

Gareth brings a wealth of board level experience to EnQuest, having chaired both public and private boards. He is currently chairman of Ninety One Plc and Ltd, having previously been chairman of Norilsk Nickel, Russia’s largest diversified mining and metals company. Gareth also served on the Board of Julius Baer Group for 12 years. He has extensive experience in extractive industries, having spent 22 years with De Beers and Anglo American, the last five of which he was Group Chief Executive Officer of De Beers.

ADNOC’s new unit will focus on new energies and low carbon solutions, including the company’s renewable energy and hydrogen portfolios and its position as a leader in carbon capture and storage, as well as international growth in gas, LNG, and chemicals.

3SDX Energy appoints Interim Executive Chairman

SDX Energy has appointed Jay Bhattacherjee as Interim Executive Chairman, while CEO Mark Reid is leaving immediately. Furthermore, Daan Hanssen, currently Group Financial Controller becomes Interim Chief Financial Officer.

SDX has undergone a period of dramatic personnel change, following a failed merger and the arrival of a major new shareholder, Aleph Commodities.

Bhattacherjee joined SDX at the end of October as Non-Executive Chairman.

This includes the MarramWind (3GW) and CampionWind (2GW) floating windfarm sites being developed off the north and north-east coasts of Scotland in partnership with Shell, as well as the MachairWind (2GW) fixed site off the coast of Argyll – a solo development for ScottishPower.

Collectively, the projects have the potential to create enough clean energy to power more than 8 million homes, while delivering billions of pounds of investment and supporting thousands of jobs – both directly and indirectly across the supply chain.

Michael Doyle stepped down as Chairman in September. Non-Executive Director Catherine Stalker left the Board in October.

Tim Linacre first joined as Interim Chairman before becoming Senior Independent Director. Krzysztof Zielicki also joined in September and is now a Non-Executive and the Chairman of the Remuneration Committee.

Bhattacherjee had previously run Aminex, from 2013 to 2019. He was also Chairman of Nu-Oil and -Gas.

announces

EnQuest PLC announces the appointment of Non-Executive Chairman

Jan Kjaervik currently sits on the Board of Directors for Høegh Autoliners

Equinor has announced Philippe Francois Mathieu will take on the role of Executive Vice President for international exploration and production, succeeding outgoing Executive, Al Cook.

Mr Mathieu steps up from the role of Senior Vice President of corporate strategy at the Norwegian energy giant, and will assume his new title as of 1 January 2023. In addition to his present position, he has held several senior leadership roles across various business units and locations within Equinor (OSLO:EQNR) since he joined the company in 1995. He holds a Civil Engineer Degree from Ecole Nationale des Travaux Publics de l’Etat, as well as master’s in economics from Université Lumière Lyon and from University of California, Berkeley. Prior to his role as SVP for corporate strategy, he was SVP joint operations support in the group’s Norwegian E&P function from 2016-19, as well as roles as SVP corporate finance from 2014 and SVP business development midstream infrastructure from 2011. Previous positions also include roles within marketing and supply for gas contracts in both North Africa and Europe, and a posting in Algeria.

5 6 7 8

Petrofac announce the appointment of McDermott’s Tareq Kawash as CEO

Petrofac announce the appointment of McDermott’s Tareq Kawash as CEO as Sami Iskander steps down at the end of March 2023.

Tareq Kawash, who currently serves as SVP of McDermott, will succeed Iskander effective 1 April 2023, following an orderly handover. He will also be appointed as an executive director to Petrofac’s Board of Directors.

Iskander took charge as Petrofac’s CEO in 2020 and steered the company through an investigation by Britain’s Fraud Office into the company’s dealings in the Middle

The CEO of A. P. Møller –Mærsk A/S is retiring

The CEO of A. P. Møller – Mærsk A/S (Maersk) Soren Skou, who has led the transformation of the company from a diversified conglomerate to an integrated logistics company, is retiring.

Vincent Clerc, currently CEO of the company’s Ocean & Logistic business, will succeed as CEO of Maersk effective 1 January 2023. Clerc has been in this position since 2019.

Skou took over the reins of Maersk back in 2016 to lead its massive transformation

The Offshore Wind Growth Partnership is delighted to announce the appointment of Anil Sayhan as its new Programme Director

Anil joins from Shell where he held frontline and corporate roles in products marketing, exploration and production and renewables and energy solutions in the Netherlands, Kazakhstan, and the UK. He will take on the role from Andrew Macdonald, Director of Offshore Wind Development and Operations at the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE)

“I joined Petrofac with the task of setting the business on the right course for sustainable growth, resolving historic issues and positioning the group for the future. After an intense period, Petrofac is today in a stronger position,” Iskander said in a statement.

With 30 years of international EPC leadership experience, Kawash is “exceptionally well placed to build on the foundations laid by Sami. We look forward to welcoming him to Petrofac,” Petrofac’s Chairman René Médori said.

journey, which has proven to be a very successful endeavor in hedging the company’s performance from the volatility of the container carrier sector. He has worked at A.P. Møller – Mærsk since 1983, holding various leading positions in Maersk Line, with roles in Copenhagen, New York and Beijing.

The company’s transformation momentum remains strong and in the last quarter revenue in logistics exceeded $4bn for the first time ever. Commenting on the results, Skou said recently that the company expects to continue to outgrow the market and that its logistics business would have a higher profit than ocean by the middle of the decade.

Catapult, but Andrew will continue his involvement in the OWGP board.

In his career spanning two decades, Anil has developed expertise in production planning, business development, and procurement and supply chain management. He is particularly recognised for achieving strong business results through multi-disciplinary teams, stakeholder management, new capability building, and leading change management initiatives.

Anil graduated from METU in Turkey with a BSc in Industrial Engineering and received his MSc degree in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from Warwick University. He is a Chartered Member of CIPS.

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East, as well as the market volatility of the COVID pandemic and more recently the Russia-Ukraine war.

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“Climate of Change” Decom Week Calls for Abstracts

DNS Chief Executive, Sam Long, says the agenda has been created to provide a balanced view of future opportunities in decommissioning, reflecting feedback from its member companies and broader trends in the energy sector.

“As a membership organisation, with a duty to develop and sustain the decommissioning supply chain, Decom Week’s agenda will address the balance between demand and supply. Whilst the recent OEUK Insight Report predicts increased activity in offshore oil and gas decommissioning, this is one of many expectations, challenges and opportunities that are available to the supply chain in the current market.

Decom North Sea, the membership organisation focused on the global late life and decommissioning sector, has launched Decom Week 2023 with a call for abstracts.

A fixture in the industry calendar for over ten years, 2023’s event, entitled “Climate of Change: Opportunities in Decommissioning” will take place in Aberdeen 15 – 19 May.

“We are looking for abstracts and case studies which clearly illustrate work already undertaken and provide realistic vision into the future of a cross-sector decommissioning supply chain working in competing technical, commercial and risk environments.

“Late life and decommissioning provide a critical pathway to the energy transition and following on from that will continue to feature across the whole energy sector. There is significant longevity here, but there are questions to answer

to ensure our supply chain remains sustainable and truly exportable; these are the topics that must be raised during Decom Week 2023.”

The organisation is looking for the submission of abstracts across a number of themes, including, but not limited to:

• Joining the dots in decom through industrial diversification

• Supply chain opportunities in decarbonisation of decommissioning services

• Squaring the circular economy

• Improving outcomes through technology, research and development, innovation and collaboration

• Models for delivery: contracting and best practice in existing and new markets

• People and skills: recruitment and retention, development, training and workforce of the future

• Continuing challenges in oil and gas, nuclear and renewable decommissioning

• The emerging “decade of wells”: a focus on well abandonment

Submissions should be made no later than 30th January 2023. Visit Decom Week 2023 | Decom (decomnorthsea.com) for further details.

Four leading operators collaborate to accelerate well decommissioning technologies

• Harbour Energy, ConocoPhillips, Spirit Energy and Repsol Sinopec Resources UK Limited confirmed members of the well decommissioning collaboration initiative.

• Collaborative initiative will have a total of up to £1.5 million annual funding available to support field trials and test innovative well decommissioning technology ideas.

• Initiative will accelerate the pace at which technology is qualified and commercialised.

• Industry investment and collaboration will enable more field trials to validate new technologies faster and at lower cost.

The Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC) has announced Harbour Energy, ConocoPhillips, Spirit Energy and Repsol Sinopec as members of its well decommissioning collaboration initiative.

Actively supported by the Technology Leadership Board (TLB), North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) and Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), the well decommissioning initiative will enable new technologies to be trialled and tested in multi-operator collaboration field trials – both offshore in the UK and onshore in some international locations – enabling faster, lower-cost trials and wider industry adoption in the UK and beyond.

The NSTA has identified that well decommissioning represents circa 46% of UKCS decommissioning costs, or an estimated £20bn spend over the life of the basin. Technology best practice and innovation has a key role

in helping operators reduce the cost of well decommissioning and deliver carbon emission reducing well decommissioning techniques.

The multi-operator led initiative will aim to fund up to five technologies per year and support a minimum of three field trials for each technology. The goal is to have a minimum of six technologies successfully qualified and adopted by year four of the collaboration.

Technology ideas to support the validation and qualification of alternative well decommissioning materials, inspection and verification technologies, and other well decommissioning enabling technology streams will be considered. All with the aim to remove as much rig-based scope from well decommissioning as possible, so that well decommissioning becomes an intervention scope for the majority of wells.

The complete package for well decommissioning

Brazil’s E&P decommissioning to demand US$1.9bn North Sea Transition Authority Looking for Head of Decom

Telmo Ghiorzi, executive secretary of Brazil's oil and gas supplier association (Abespetro), highlighted the fact that some of the past decommissioning plans were not implemented.

"Production from mature fields or their decommissioning are both favorable options for suppliers of goods and services. The expectations are therefore positive whatever the decisions of the oil companies, to produce more or decommission," he told BNamericas.

Decom North Sea, the membership organisation focused on the global late life and decommissioning sector, has launched Decom Week 2023 with a call for abstracts.

Brazil’s exploration and production decommissioning process is expected to demand 9.8bn reais (US$1.87bn) in 2023, according to projections by oil and gas regulator ANP.

The process involves 307 wells, of which 89 located offshore.

Trade group and company representatives told BNamericas that local suppliers see the upcoming process as an attractive business opportunity.

Approximately 5bn reais of the total capex will be required for the permanent abandonment of installations.

Pipes removal (3bn reais), demobilisation of production units (1.2bn), environmental recovery (248mn), subsea equipment removal (174mn reais) and well abandonment (74mn) will make up the remainder.

The Campos basin accounts for 76% of next year’s capex. It is responsible for the development of Brazil’s offshore production, starting in the 1980s, more than two decades before the major Santos basin pre-salt discoveries.

975mn reais will go to the Sergipe basin, followed by the Santos (885mn), Espírito Santo (146mn), Ceará (102mn), Potiguar (88mn) and Recôncavo (62mn) basins.

National oil company Petrobras, which accounts for 65% of the country’s hydrocarbons output, is the operator of most of the projects that are in the decommissioning stage.

The company’s 2023-27 business plan includes the decommissioning of 26 platforms (12 fixed, six semisubmersible and eight FPSOs) and 2,500km of risers and flowlines, with a total investment of 9.8bn reais.

Another 27 Petrobras platforms are slated to be decommissioned between 2028 and 2030.

Seacrest purchased the Cricaré onshore hub, in the Espírito Santo basin, from Petrobras in 2020, and investments have seen production rise from 600b/d to 2,000b/d.

It plans to take over the Norte Capixaba hub, also in Espírito Santo, at the end of this year.

"With the addition of this asset to Seacrest’s portfolio, our major decommissioning projects will be implemented as of 2030," a spokesperson for the company told BNamericas.

Regarding potential suppliers, the plan is to prioritise local firms who have the know-how and “have worked with us in the production campaign,” the spokesperson said.

Ghiorzi said there are no major technological bottlenecks to be concerned about.

"The typical bottlenecks in decommissioning are the same as in other countries: availability windows of the big lifting machines, the so-called heavy-lift machines."

Brazilian shipyards are also eyeing the decommissioning process as offshore construction demand has been weak in recent years due to a reduction of local content requirements.

“There’s great expectation that there will be decommissioning and dismantling of rigs, platforms, and ships in Brazil. There’s nothing concrete yet, but we expect this to happen next year,” Sérgio Bacci, executive VP at the country’s shipbuilding industry group (Sinaval), told BNamericas.

According to Bacci, the local shipyards, especially the large ones, are technologically prepared to meet this demand.

“The Estaleiro Atlântico Sul (EAS) shipyard, for example, has been talking with companies to obtain the necessary certifications to enter this dismantling market,” he said.

There is new legislation being debated in congress that would set rules for this kind of work, said Bacci.

The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) is currently hiring for a head of decommissioning, based in Aberdeen.

The full time, permanent role comes with a salary of GBP 118,830 ($144,779) and requires a “basic” level of security clearance, according to a job advertisement posted on the organisation’s website. The closing date for applications is December 18, with interviews anticipated in January next year, the advertisement revealed.

“We’re looking for a strategic thinker with sound judgement to head up our decommissioning team and lead a team of talented specialists,” the NSTA said in a statement posted on its Twitter page.

“This challenging role plays a critical role leading and influencing industry,” the NSTA added in the statement.

The head of decommissioning leads the decommissioning team and reports to the director of supply chain and decommissioning, the NSTA outlined in its advertisement. The postholder is responsible for delivering the NSTA Decommissioning Strategy, working with industry to repurpose infrastructure where appropriate and enable cost efficient decommissioning to meet the target to reduce decommissioning costs by 10 percent by the end of 2028, the ad noted.

The NSTA’s current head of decommissioning is Pauline Innes, who was appointed in December 2019. In an organisation statement at the time, the NSTA, then named the OGA, highlighted that Innes worked for the Scottish Government in social and economic policy before joining the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in 2015 to work in offshore oil and gas decommissioning.

The NSTA regulates and influences the oil, gas and carbon storage industries and helps drive the North Sea energy transition, the organisation’s website outlines. Decommissioning and repurposing are key enablers of the energy transition, according to the NSTA’s site, which notes that the decommissioning of the UK’s offshore oil and gas production facilities is a major industrial challenge.

Offshore O&G-related engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract award value in the last 30 days was estimated at approximately US$10 billion, bringing the year-to-date total to US$50.9 billion (excluding letters of intent). EPC award value in December has been predominantly driven by a wave of plans for development and operations (PDOs) submitted by Aker BP to the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy for a total of 11 fields grouped into four main areas, namely Yggdrasil (formerly NOAKA), Valhall PWP – Fenris (formerly King Lear), Skarv satellite, and the Utsira High project. The PDO submissions also coincide with formal contract awards to Aibel, Aker Solutions, NZT, Siemens Energy and Subsea7 for the execution of various work scopes, including the engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) of fixed platforms, subsea production systems, line pipes and subsea umbilicals. Other key contract awards announced during the period under review include the transportation, installation and pre-commissioning of 170km of umbilicals awarded to Saipem for Eni’s Zohr gas field offshore Egypt, as well as the contract confirmation by the Subsea Integration Alliance for the development of BP’s Cypre gas project offshore Trinidad and Tobago. Overall, Westwood anticipates 2022 offshore O&G-related EPC contract value to close at approximately US$53 billion, a 29% downward revision compared to our January 2022 outlook, as the year has been beset with major project delays and cancellations. Subsea tree order intake is set to close at over 280 units, whilst EPC-related activities fixed platforms and floating production systems sanctioned in 2022 are expected to close at approximately 100 units and 15 units respectively.

Looking forward, Westwood forecasts US$75 billion in offshore EPC contract award value for 2022, with Latin America, the Middle East and West Africa expected to drive contracting activities. Key projects to watch include ExxonMobil’s Uaru development (Guyana), ENI’s Baleine project (Ivory Coast), Woodside’s Trion (Mexico) and QatarEnergy’s North Field Sustainability expansion project.

Offshore Rig Update

The global committed jackup count totalled 395 units in November, one rig higher than the previous month. The marketed available and cold stacked jackup counts now stand at 42 and 54, respectively. Marketed, committed utilisation and total fleet utilisation stayed at 91% and 81% for the month. There were 10 new fixtures and two options exercised during the month with a total of 12,580 drilling days. Saudi Aramco awarded 78% of the total drilling days with six five-year contracts, commencing in 2023. The global committed semisubmersible (semi) count grew by one to 65 this month. There are 16 available rigs and 14 cold stacked units in the fleet. Marketed, committed utilisation rose to 80%, whilst total fleet utilisation maintained at 68%. There were six new fixtures and one option exercised with a total of 2,420 drilling days during the month. Most notably, Petrobras awarded a $429 million multi-year contract with Diamond Offshore for Ocean Courage to work off Brazil commencing in 4Q 2023. Finally, drillship demand grew by one unit to 77 rigs after staying constant from September, leaving only four units available in the market, while another 15 rigs are cold stacked. Marketed, committed utilisation and total fleet utilisation raised to 95% and 80%, respectively. There were five new contracts and three options signed in November, totalling 2,175 drilling days. BP awarded Valaris DS-12 with a contract value of $136 million for Valaris DS-12 to work off Egypt in 2H 2023.

Offshore Wind Update

Since the last update, Vestas has been selected as the preferred turbine supplier for the MunmuBaram floating wind project, located offshore South Korea. The turbine OEM will supply and install 84 units of the V236-15.0 MW turbine and it will also deliver 20-year service and maintenance for the wind farm. The MunmuBaram project is being by developed Shell and Hexicon AB and will be constructed in three phases. Dominating headlines was news that the provisional winners of California's first offshore wind leasing round were selected via a competitive auction round. A total of five lease areas, which will host at least 4.6GW of floating offshore wind projects were awarded. The winning bidders were RWE Renewables, California North Floating, LLC (SPV of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners), Equinor, Central California Offshore Wind LLC (50:50 JV of Ocean Winds and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board) and Invenergy. Finally in the UK, Crown Estate Scotland announced that a total of 19 applications have been submitted for the Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) offshore wind leasing round. A total of 10 applications have been submitted for the Innovation component and nine applications have been submitted for the Targeted Oil and Gas portion. Crown Estate Scotland is aiming to offer Exclusivity Agreements to the successful applicates by the end of April 2023.

REMOTE VISUAL INSPECTION

Our world’s first

GDi’s Inspection Department achieved a significant milestone in December 2022 when we were accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) against the requirements of ISO/IEC 17020, the international standard for bodies performing inspection.

GDi Inspection’s ISO/IEC 17020 accreditation includes a world’s first; the accreditation of Remote Visual Inspection using point cloud data and photographic images captured by GDi’s Survey team.

GDi’s Remote Visual Inspection method allows desktop visual inspection utilising our digital twin application GDi Vision. Data is captured using laser scanning and is used as a powerful and efficient visual inspection tool, allowing Inspectors to remotely undertake routine visual inspection and intrusive inspections. Through our own in-house validation procedures, GDi Inspection were able to demonstrate to UKAS the effectiveness of our Remote Visual Inspection method in identifying defects.

Gareth McIntyre, GDi’s Director of R&D, QHSE and Integrity said:

“GDi’s journey to accreditation started in August 2021, and following a thorough assessment process by UKAS, we are delighted to achieve this accreditation. GDi are committed to delivering technology driven inspection to our clients, and we are extremely proud that UKAS have granted accreditation for our wide range of inspection activities including, for the first time, remote visual inspection using our unique inspection delivery model”

ISO/IEC 17020 is an International Standard which has been drawn up with the objective of promoting confidence in bodies performing inspection. It covers the application of quality management principles for inspection bodies performing inspection in a wide variety of industries and is used as the basis for accreditation.

Accreditation is highly regarded both nationally and internationally as a reliable indicator of technical competence, and as an accredited body, GDi’s clients can be confident in the quality of inspection services they will receive.

In order to achieve accreditation, GDi were required to successfully demonstrate to UKAS, compliance with a number of specific requirements laid out in the standard. These include:

• Conducting inspection in an impartial manner, prohibiting or resolving conflicts of interest, and ensuring the independence of GDi’s Inspection department from other activities.

• Ensuring the confidentiality of information and data obtained during inspection activities.

• Organising and managing the Inspection department and resources including personnel, facilities and equipment to ensure we can effectively perform inspection activities

• Ensuring the competence of our people, including requirements for education, training, technical knowledge, skills and experience.

• Effective management of equipment including arrangements for purchase, storage and identification, inspection and maintenance, calibration and quarantine.

• The adequacy of inspection methods and procedures, and inspection reports.

• Robust processes for recording, evaluating and making decisions on complaints and appeals related to inspection activities; and

• The maintenance of a Management System capable of consistently fulfilling the requirements of ISO/IEC 17020.

GDi Inspection are a Type C accredited Inspection Body, which means that we have the ability to provide impartial inspection services both internally to GDi and to our clients and other third parties.

Accreditation allows GDi to demonstrate our technical competence and ensure that we continue to deliver inspection services which play an important role in providing assurance of the operational safety of our clients’ assets.

ISO/IEC 17020 and the Accreditation Process

Corrosion mark-up in Vision

The collection of data used in our Remote Visual Inspections starts with GDi’s Survey Team who capture the point cloud data and photography using laser scan technology to either blanket scan a whole asset or target specific areas for intrusive inspections. The scan data is then subject to post capture processing, allowing 3D modelling of the asset or equipment by GDi’s Design Team. GDi Inspection can then conduct desktop inspection using GDi Vision, eliminating the need for traditional photography and descriptive text reporting. The outputs of inspections are fully auditable, not subjective, and can be overlaid over any number of previous inspections to view in detail where changes or degradation is taking place. Within GDi Vision, clients can view the outputs of the inspection in our web-based visual platform allowing a digital walkthrough of the asset, including annotations, and equipment and defect tags.

The collection of data used in our Remote Visual Inspections starts with GDi’s Survey Team who capture the point cloud data and photography using laser scan technology to either blanket scan a whole asset or target specific areas for intrusive inspections. The scan data is then subject to post capture processing, allowing 3D modelling of the asset or equipment by GDi’s Design Team. GDi Inspection can then conduct desktop inspection using GDi Vision, eliminating the need for traditional photography and descriptive text reporting. The outputs of inspections are fully auditable, not subjective, and can be overlaid over any number of previous inspections to view in detail where changes or degradation is taking place. Within GDi Vision, clients can view the outputs of the inspection in our web-based visual platform allowing a digital walkthrough of the asset, including annotations, and equipment and defect tags.

The benefits of our Remote Visual Inspection method are wide ranging and include the reduction of on-site resource requirements and logistical costs, and increased assurance on inspection deliverables.

The benefits of our Remote Visual Inspection method are wide ranging and include the reduction of on-site resource requirements and logistical costs, and increased assurance on inspection deliverables.

Next Steps

Next Steps

By achieving accreditation, GDi Inspection have demonstrated that we perform our work in accordance with appropriate standards and we now have a benchmark for maintaining that competence.

By achieving accreditation, GDi Inspection have demonstrated that we perform our work in accordance with appropriate standards and we now have a benchmark for maintaining that competence.

As per the requirements of accreditation, GDi Inspection shall be regularly re-assessed by UKAS to ensure continued compliance with requirements and to check that the standard of our delivery to our clients is being maintained. We actively look forward to engaging with UKAS in the months and years to come as our integrated inspection delivery model develops further.

As per the requirements of accreditation, GDi Inspection shall be regularly re-assessed by UKAS to ensure continued compliance with requirements and to check that the standard of our delivery to our clients is being maintained. We actively look forward to engaging with UKAS in the months and years to come as our integrated inspection delivery model develops further.

GDi have seen reductions of up to 40% of overall inspection delivery costs for our clients, and the model is a true enabler for down manning installations and campaign-based inspection delivery.

Remote Visual Inspection – Our Process

Damage Assessment - Vessel Deformation

Damage Assessment of Atmospheric Vent Pipework

GDi have seen reductions of up to 40% of overall inspection delivery costs for our clients, and the model is a true enabler for down manning installations and campaign-based inspection delivery.

Remote Visual Inspection – Our Process

Damage Assessment - Vessel Deformation

Damage Assessment of Atmospheric Vent Pipework

SUBSEA EXPO 2023 INTO THE BLUE

Organised by industry body Global Underwater Hub, the three-day event is a showcase of the capability, innovation, technologies and skills that exists across the underwater industry.

Taking place at P&J Live in Aberdeen, Scotland, from Tuesday, 21 until Thursday, 23 February, the free-to-attend event will welcome up to 6,500 industry professionals. Taking the theme of ‘Into the Blue’, the event will provide a platform for cross-sectoral collaboration and discussion in the underwater industry, estimated to be worth around £8billion to the UK economy.

Subsea Expo will feature around 150 exhibiting companies and organisations working in the oil and gas, decommissioning, renewable energy, defence, cabling and aquaculture sectors. The well-established exhibition and conference is widely regarded as an event where business deals are done.

Among the companies featured in the exhibition hall will be Boskalis, Bureau Veritas, Concept Cables, EODEX, JDR

Cable Systems and The National Decommissioning Centre. Subsea Expo is also being supported by Wood, TechnipFMC, Argentex, C-Kore Systems, Havfram, Knight Optical, Scottish Renewables and Viper Innovations.

Running alongside the exhibition will be a busy conference programme. Multiple parallel sessions will take place over the three days, featuring debate on current industry topics.

One area where significant discussion is expected is around energy security and the protection of critical national underwater infrastructure, such as pipelines and data cables. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has heightened concerns over global energy supply, while attacks on the Nord Stream pipeline and fears over strikes to similar undersea structures around the world have brought protection of these unseen assets into sharp focus.

Allied to this theme will be a focus on pipelines, and robotics and autonomous operations. Alongside highlighting the latest developments in remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) technology, discussion will likely cover how their surveillance capabilities could be used to help protect key subsea infrastructure.

Other conference sessions will examine the supply chain, vessels and equipment, offshore renewables, doing business underwater, subsea production systems, integrity and inspection, and data and digital.

Neil Gordon, Chief Executive of Global Underwater Hub, which organises the event, said: “Subsea Expo will be back in its stride in 2023 and visitors can expect to see an excellent array of exhibitors showcasing their capabilities and latest technologies. While the conference programme will offer attendees a broad range of discussion on current industry challenges and future innovations.”

Entrance to the exhibition and conference is free of charge. Advance registration is recommended via the event website, www.subseaexpo.com

February will see the return of Subsea Expo, the world’s largest subsea exhibition and conference

Neil Gordon

By

NORTH SEA OIL & GAS SERVICES

AN E-MERGING PATTERN OF HEIGHTENED REGULATORY SCRUTINY?

Introduction

Mergers involving UK oil and gas supply chain services may face heightened regulatory scrutiny as a result of the CMA's particular interest in highly concentrated markets. Markets within the sector often comprise only a few key competitors, meaning that deals are more likely to fall under the CMA's radar. Companies should be aware that the CMA has considerable powers to investigate deals, including completed deals, and is able to block or reverse them or insist upon significant divestment packages. Service sector businesses considering a merger must be aware of the perils of completing a deal without securing clearance and the importance of considering potential divestment strategies at an early stage, as well as the prospects of the CMA intervening in the deal.

Unwinding of Completed Acquisition

The CMA's ability to unwind completed acquisitions illustrates the perils of completing a deal without seeking prior clearance. Where the CMA is concerned that an acquisition may lead to a substantial lessening of competition then it has the power to refer the deal to a detailed Phase 2 investigation. If the investigation reveals that market is already highly concentrated, then the CMA will take particular care to ensure that the merger does not further reduce the number of competitors in the market.

The CMA may reach the conclusion that the parties to the merger exerted a crucial competitive constraint on each other (the absence of which could result in customers facing higher prices and/or a deterioration in service). To tackle this risk and to restore competition to pre-merger levels, the CMA may order that the merger be reversed by requiring the acquired company to be sold to another buyer (or, indeed, by requiring parts of the buyer's original business to be sold to competitors).

To avoid the burden of dis-entangling an already consummated merger, firms should anticipate the need to secure merger clearance before completing. Accordingly, they should consider voluntarily notifying the CMA of the proposed merger prior to completion (or at least providing a briefing to the CMA's Mergers Intelligence Committee, which can provide comfort that the CMA will not call in a deal after the fact). Whilst there is no mandatory notification requirement

under UK merger control rules, completing without prior notification means that a deal may still be "called in" by the CMA. By seeking clearance pre-completion, firms will be better placed to proactively address any concerns raised by the CMA. In particular, they may be able to offer undertakings without facing the untidy prospect of unravelling themselves from a completed deal.

Cancellation of Proposed Acquisition

Where a merger is notified in advance, the CMA may block it where it expects that the acquisition would result in a substantial lessening of competition and firms should not presume that their proposed deal (however small) will fall out with the CMA's scrutiny. The CMA has discretion to view markets as broadly or narrowly as it needs to, and so mergers in very small specialist markets can often cause the most concern.

The CMA is often concerned that a merger between key competitors (particularly when these competitors offer identical goods or very similar service propositions) will result in the loss of the competitive constraint that these parties exercise on each other. Where there are limited alternative service providers, the CMA will seek to avoid a position where the merged entity is able to increase prices or reduce the quality of its output without competitive challenge. Accordingly, it may order the merger to be blocked so as to ensure that effective competition between the parties is retained. It is not uncommon for acquisitions that are notified to the CMA to be abandoned when it becomes clear that the CMA will block them anyway.

Undertakings

A referral to a detailed Phase 2 Inquiry may be avoided if the parties can offer undertakings that are sufficient to satisfy the CMA's concerns that the merger would lessen competition. Alternatively, the CMA may decide at the end of the Phase 2 Inquiry to

allow the merger to go ahead provided that the parties make acceptable undertakings which address its competition law concerns.

Undertakings can be structural (so where the market in question is highly concentrated, then these may involve offering a divestment package that would see a substantial part of the acquired or existing business sold) or behavioural (such as binding commitments with regard to services or products that will continue to be provided, or the terms or prices on which they will continue to be provided).

The CMA has a stated preference for structural undertakings which are significantly easier to enforce.

The CMA will only accept undertakings where it considers that these will address its concerns by restoring or maintaining pre-merger levels of competition.

Crucially, firms must be alert to the fact that these undertakings must be made within a five-day period illustrating the importance of having considered potential divestments at an early stage.

Firms should consider offering alternative packages of undertakings (including alternative divestment packages) to mitigate against the risk that their preferred package is rejected.

Conclusion

The CMA's recent activity with regard to mergers and acquisitions, particularly in concentrated sectors, shows that it takes very seriously its role in ensuring these do not result in a substantial lessening of competition, and it has substantial powers to reverse, block or intervene in deals. Companies should be alert to the fact that proposed mergers in concentrated markets – even very small, specialised markets – will likely fall within the CMA's gaze, so consider planning for this from the start: think about the risk of a call-in, consider submitting a briefing paper (to identify CMA interest as early as possible, and take the initiative in explaining the market before any incorrect impressions can be formed), and what undertakings might be offered to mitigate the CMA's concerns and allow the deal to proceed.

Charles Livingstone, partner, and Olivia Coyle, solicitor, Brodies LLP

Charles Livingstone