Manup Industry Roundup - W2023: NEWSL -01
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Major North Sea energy operators have met to discuss future opportunities and get clear messages on energy security, driving down emissions, and the importance of accelerating the transition at an annual meeting organized by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA).
Seven projects capable of producing almost 100 MMbbl and requiring about ￡1.1 billion ($1.2 billion) of expenditure have been approved by the NSTA since the start of 2022. They can significantly boost the UK’s security of supply during the transition once production starts up. In addition, operators plan to progress 22 projects in the coming years which, subject to robust emissions checks, would target 1.5 Bbbl.
Below are the oil and gas stories and news that made headlines this week carefully curated by Manup.
Oil & Gas Updates
Renewable Energy Watch
NSTA: 22 Major Energy Security Projects Targeting 1.5 Bbbl In Progress
Britain’s North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) has approved seven oil and gas projects since early 2022 with combined investments of about ￡1.1 billion ($1.37 billion) and capable of producing almost 100 MMbbl.
Operators have plans for a further 22 projects in the coming years, targeting 1.5 Bbbl in total.
The NSTA presented these and other statistics to managing directors of the UK’s 22 largest North Sea operators at its annual Tier Zero performance review meeting.
During last year’s presentations, the NSTA asked operators to improve their production efficiency following a drop of seven percentage points to 73% in 2021, a year of widespread offshore maintenance shutdowns (programs had been delayed in 2020 because of COVID).
The message may have helped, as production efficiency rose to 78% last year. The NSTA’s longer-term target is 80%.
Flaring on the UK Continental Shelf has halved since 2018, and the NSTA sees this trend continuing, with companies highlighting plans to improve energy efficiency and reduce flaring further.
UK operators also have obligations to invest in powering their platforms with “clean” electricity to meet the UK’s North Sea Transition Deal target of lowering production emissions by 50% by 2030.
The NSTA expects decisions to be taken later this year on preferred concepts for at least two electrification projects.
In addition, companies are examining options to repurpose and reuse offshore oil and gas infrastructure for low-carbon projects including hydrogen and carbon storage.
The NSTA will shortly announce its awards for the UK’s first carbon storage licensing round, which drew 26 bids from 19 companies.
U.S. Oil & Gas Drilling Activity Sees Largest Single-Week Drop Since Mid-2020
According to new data from Baker Hughes published last Friday, the total number of total active drilling rigs in the United States fell by 17 for week ended May 12 after falling by 7 the prevous week
This is the largest single-week drop in the number of oil and gas rigs in the United States since June 2020.
The overall US drilling rig count declined was led by a loss in gas-directed rigs.
The total rig count fell to 731 this week—just 17 rigs higher than the rig count this time in 2022—and 344 rigs lower than the rig count at the beginning of 2019, prior to the pandemic.
Gas-directed rigs fell by 16 units to 141. There are 8 fewer active gas-directed rigs than this time last year.
Oil-directed rigs declined by 2 this week to 586, up 23 from the year-ago level of 563.
Eighteen fewer rigs were working onshore, with rigs drilling horizontally down 16 to 660, but up 9 from this period in 2022. There were 2 fewer rigs drilling vertically, leaving 19 working this week.
The US offshore count was up a single unit this week to 22. Two rigs were added in the Gulf of Mexico to reach 22 rigs working.
Louisiana and Wyoming each dropped 4 rigs this week, leaving respective counts of 57 and 14 rigs working.
Oklahoma dropped 3 rigs to reach 51 for the week, while Texas and Pennsylvania each dropped 2 units to end the week with 366 and 24 rigs running.
Four states saw single rig drops this week, namely North Dakota, 37; West Virginia, 15; Ohio, 10; and Alaska, 8.
The rig count in the Permian Basin fell by 3, while the rig count in the Haynesville fell by 5.
Canada’s rig count increased by 1 this week to 94. Three oil-directed rigs were added, bringing the count to 37 for the week. The gain was offset by a 2-rig drop in gas-directed rigs to 57.
Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing unfinished wells—a more frugal use of finances than drilling new wells, fell by 12 for the week ending May 5, to 282. This is 5 fewer finishing crews than a month ago, and 4 more than a year ago. It is the largest single-week drop since December 2021.
Crude oil production levels in the United States saw no changes in the week ending May 5, staying at 12.3 million bpd, according to the latest weekly EIA estimates. U.S. production levels are up 500,000 bpd versus a year ago.
领英推荐
Sinopec Commences Drilling Asia's Deepest Oil Well
Chinese energy giant Sinopec has reportedly commenced drilling Asia’s deepest oil well in the Tarim Basin, which is located northwest of Xinjiang.
The drilling of the Yuejin 3-3 well, intended to reach a depth of 9,472m, is considered a significant advancement in the exploration of oil and gas in ultra-deep areas.
Well Project Deep Earth 1-Yuejin 3-3XC is located in Shaya County, Aksu Prefecture, by the edge of the Taklamakan Desert. It has a designed depth of 9,472 m and a horizontal distance of 3,400 m.
Sinopec completed stratigraphic sealing of the upper 1,500 m within 5 days. Drilling is estimated to reach the carboniferous strata in 21 days.
The project, which is part of China’s Deep Earth drilling initiative, launched by Sinopec, is also expected to aid the country in increasing its crude oil production
With more than 60% of the nation’s onshore ultra-deep oil and gas deposits, the Tarim Basin is the most petroliferous basin in the country.
Partly because the basin’s oil and gas reserves are between 6,000 and 10,000m below the surface, it is also one of the most challenging regions to explore in China.
Russia’s Z-44, one of the deepest oil wells in the world, is almost 12,000m below the surface.
According to the government-run television network CGTN, Sinopec is using enhanced technologies for drilling to deal with extreme heat and pressure at a depth of more than 9km.
Renewable Energy Watch
Recent News a ‘Mixed Bag’ for U Offshore Wind
The month of May brings a mixed bag of news for offshore wind in the United States, as outlined in the latest U.S. Offshore Wind Report from business intelligence firm Intelatus Global Partners.
In the "positive" category, Intelatus said federal permitting of projects continues on schedule, and states continue to plan to procure and accommodate ever larger amounts of wind produced offshore into their onshore grids.
The firm also noted that the Internal Revenue Service has clarified certain Inflation Reduction Act incentives. The Maritime Administration is progressing around $1.5 billion of offshore wind vessel loan guarantees.
On the "negative" side, Intelatus noted opposition to offshore wind off North Carolina continues to rumble, and the introduction of a State Senate Bill that could impact federal projects is to be monitored.
The Department of Defense has raised objections to four of the six proposed Central Atlantic Wind Energy Areas, slowing down the leasing timetable.
Intelatus also noted the reintroduction of provisions in a Senate Bill that may restrict foreign mariners from working on U.S. wind projects and new provisions restricting anchor handling operations to Jones Act vessels.
Intelatus' forecast accounts for more than 70 projects that will install over 77 gigawatts (GW) of capacity in this and the next decade, and a total 110 GW by 2050.
The 77 GW forecast capacity will require capital expenditure amounting to over $240 billion to bring onstream, a recurring annual operations and maintenance spend of around $11 billion once delivered, and close to $35 billion of decommissioning expenditure at the end of commercial operations:
?Two major OCS projects with around 940 megawatts (MW) of capacity have been permitted, taken a final investment decision (FID) and moving forward with offshore construction.
?The number of projects that are expected to make a final investment decision within the next 18 months is 14 amounting to around 14 GW of capacity.
?A further six projects with a capacity of close to 3 GW are expected to make a FID within 18-36 months as well as an additional 14 projects for over 15 GW in 36-60 months.
?Longer term, Intelatus has identified 35 projects with a total capacity of close to 45 GW, which support the installation of a cumulative 75 GW by 2035 and over 80 GW by 2040.
Other stories we are following…
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