Manup Industry Roundup - W1723: NEWSL -02
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Italian company Eni and the Republic of the Congo's government have inaugurated a $5bn natural gas liquefaction project to exploit the huge gas resources of the Marine XII concession, off the coast of Congo. This is the Republic of the Congo’s first natural gas liquefaction project.
Below are the oil and gas stories and news that made headlines this week carefully curated by Manup.
Summary of the news
Workforce Watch
Eni Inaugurates Congo's First LNG Project
The President of the Republic of the Congo, Denis Sassou Nguesso, and the Chief Executive Officer of Eni, Claudio Descalzi, on Tuesday 25th April, laid the foundation stone of Congo LNG, the country's first natural gas liquefaction project and one of Eni's core supply diversification initiatives.
The project is expected to reach an overall liquefied natural gas (LNG) production capacity of 3 million tons per year (approximately 4.5 billion cubic meters/year) from 2025.
Congo LNG will exploit the huge gas resources of Marine XII, fulfilling the country’s power generation needs while also fuelling LNG exports, supplying new volumes of gas to international markets focusing on Europe.
The project, made though an accelerated development schedule and a zero-flaring approach, will see the installation of two floating natural gas liquefaction plants (FLNG) at the Nenè and Litchendjili fields – already in production – and at the fields yet to be developed.
The first FLNG plant, currently under conversion and with a capacity of 0.6 million tonnes per year (MTPA), will begin production in 2023. The second FLNG plant – already under construction – will become operative in 2025 with a capacity of 2.4 MTPA.
Eni has been operating in Congo for over 50 years and – to date – is the only company active in the development of its gas resources, guaranteeing 70% of national electricity production through the Centrale Electrique du Congo (CEC).
Liberty Energy: 15 New Frac Fleets To Hit U.S. Market In 2023
A new report by the second-largest U.S. shale fracturing firm Liberty Energy has revealed that service firms have about 30 new frac fleets in development and about half of those will hit the market this year.
Liberty's estimate suggests an about 6% increase this year to the about 250 fleets now available in the U.S. to break trapped shale oil and gas for production.
Demand for oil well completions equipment surged in the past year, outstripping supply as Liberty and rivals prioritized cash flow over building new fleets. Capacity in North America remains tight according to the report
"North American frac activity predominately just supports the maintenance of today's oil and gas production levels. The days of breakneck oil and gas growth are over," said CEO Chris Wright on an earnings call.
Weak prices for U.S. natural gas is prompting many gas producers to shift drilling rigs to oilier basins.
Eni To Drill First Exploration Well in 8 Years Off Mozambique
Eni SpA, the Italian oil and gas major, is preparing to drill Mozambique’s first offshore exploration well in about eight years, according to the southeast African country’s regulator.
Aquadrill, West Capella drillship has already started initial drilling at the Raia-1 well that will explore what could be a new oil and gas basin off Mozambique’s coast. The target is near Angoche, about 375 miles (604 kilometers) south of the Rovuma basin, where the Rome-based company began producing liquefied natural gas (LNG) last year.
While it’s unknown whether Eni will find economic deposits of oil and gas off Angoche, the drilling could be the start of a new round of investments in Mozambique’s hydrocarbon industry.
The company in 2018 signed the exploration contract with the authorities for Area A5-A, which fell under Mozambique’s fifth round of hydrocarbon block auctions. Eni declined to comment.
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. completed Mozambique’s last offshore exploration well in mid-2015, Instituto Nacional de Petroleo, according to the country’s oil and gas regulator
TotalEnergies SE bought Anadarko’s stake in that development for $3.9 billion in 2019. The $20 billion LNG export project resulting from that exploration has been on hold for more than two years because of an Islamic State-linked insurgency in the region.
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Rystad Energy: Hydrogen Pipelines Start To Materialize In Europe
New hydrogen infrastructure is starting to materialize as the world seeks to accelerate its path to net zero.
According to a new report by Rystad Energy, Europe is taking the lead globally with pipelines planned on and offshore.
Globally, Europe is at the forefront of efforts to produce and import green hydrogen and its attention is now turning to building the necessary infrastructure to get it to demand centers.
According to Rystad Energy research, Spain, France, and Germany are among the countries committed or considering cross border pipelines to facilitate energy flows, while the UK with its extensive gas grid finds itself in a fantastic position to switch from natural gas to hydrogen.
Today, over 4,300 kilometers already exists for hydrogen transportation with over 90% located in Europe and North America. Rystad Energy estimates that there are about 91 planned pipeline projects in the world, totaling 30,300 kilometers and due to come online by around 2035.
According to the EHB’s 2030 hydrogen infrastructure map, a total length of ~28,000 km in 2030 and 53,000 km by 2040 is envisioned in the 28 European countries involved.
Currently, dedicated hydrogen pipelines that will be available by 2030 amount to 23,365 km, which is 83% of 2030 target. Rollout of hydrogen pipelines in Europe would be gradual and the project start of transmission or distribution pipelines will depend on the demand.
Projects
The recently announced H2Med Barcelona-Marseille subsea hydrogen pipeline is budgeted to cost about $2.1 billion for a stretch of 450 km, and it was recently announced that it will be extended to Germany too
Four grid operators—Spain’s Enagas, Portugal’s REN and French pair GRT and Terega—are conducting technical studies, potential pipeline layouts and cost assessments.
Germany’s first offshore hydrogen pipeline project, AquaDuctus, will transport green hydrogen from offshore wind installations in the North Sea to Germany.
The pipeline stretches over 400 km and, according to one of its project partners, RWE, it is said to be the most cost-effective option for transporting large volumes of energy over distances of more than 400 km, compared to transporting power from a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system.
For this reason, Rystad stated, the option to transport power onshore using power cables is excluded.
Workforce Watch
Texas Oil and Gas Industry Adds 1,500 Jobs in March
Data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Texas Workforce Commission indicated that upstream oil and natural gas employment in Texas saw growth in March, “with the sector adding 1,500 jobs”, the Texas Oil & Gas Association (TXOGA) noted in an organization statement.
At 198,700 upstream jobs, compared to the same month in the prior year, January 2023 jobs were up by 20,000–or 11.2 percent–over March 2022, TXOGA noted.
According to the organization, since the Covid-low point in September of 2020, months of increase in upstream oil and natural gas employment in Texas have outnumbered months of decrease by 26 to four.
The industry has added 41,700 Texas upstream jobs, averaging growth of 1,390 jobs a month, TXOGA said, adding that these jobs pay among the highest wages in Texas, “with employers in oil and natural gas paying an average salary of approximately $115,000 in 2022”.
Also, the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) stated that there were 14,491 active unique jobs postings for the Texas oil and natural gas industry in March, including 6,193 new job postings added in the month by companies.
March active unique job postings reflect a 21% increase compared to February, and a 35% increase in new job postings for the month, according to TIPRO .
Support Activities for Oil and Gas Operations led in the rankings for unique job listings in March with 4,027 postings, followed by Gasoline Stations with Convenience Stores (2,002) and Crude Petroleum Extraction (1,548), TIPRO highlighted. The leading three cities by total unique oil and natural gas job postings were Houston (4,949), Midland (1,284), and Odessa (659)
The leading three companies ranked by unique job postings in March were Love’s (833), John Wood Group (822), and Halliburton (589) while top posted industry occupations for March included maintenance and repair workers (469), heavy tractor-trailer truck drivers (428) and managers (402), TIPRO outlined. The top posted job titles for March included lease operators (96), field service technicians (96), and maintenance technicians (86), TIPRO highlighted.
TIPRO report added that the Texas comptroller’s office showed strong levels of tax contributions paid by the Texas oil and natural gas industry. In March, Texas energy producers paid $427 million in oil production taxes and $267 million in natural gas production taxes.
Other stories we are following…
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