Monthly Archives: April 2021

Recycling the FPSO Berge Helene in compliance with Hong Kong Convention

BW Offshore has signed an agreement to dispose of the FPSO Berge Helene for environmentally safe demolition and recycling in compliance with the Hong Kong Convention at Priya Blue shipyard in India.

The FPSO Berge Helene (IMO 7360083) is a floating storage/production unit of 274,333 deadweight-ton capacity built in France in 1976 and converted to an FPSO in Singapore in 2005. The vessel is 372 meters long, 52 meters wide and has a depth of 27.4 meters. It is flagged and registered in Singapore, classed by DNV GL and has been in lay-up in Singapore since August 2018.

The vessel is sold for a cash consideration of approximately USD 16 million.

The recycling yard is certified to ISO standards and has been issued with a Statement of Compliance by Class NK in accordance with the IMO Resolution MEPC.210(63) and the Hong Kong International Convention for the safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships. The recycling yard will provide a Statement of Completion of the recycling in accordance with the Hong Kong Convention.

The company has nominated Grieg Green as representatives to be on site at the recycling yard to monitor progress, compliance with environmental and safety regulations and that the ship recycling plan is being applied. A recycling plan has been prepared and provided by the yard in corporation with Grieg Green to ensure strict compliance with the above regulations. To ensure and incentivise safe recycling in this respect, the company will pay a safe recycling bonus upon completion.

For further information, please contact:Stle Andreassen, CFO, +65 97 27 86 47Anders S. Platou, Head of Corporate Finance, +47 99 50 47 40

IR@bwoffshore.com or http://www.bwoffshore.com

About BW Offshore:BW Offshore engineers innovative floating production solutions. The Company has a fleet of 15 FPSOs with potential and ambition to grow. By leveraging four decades of offshore operations and project execution, the Company creates tailored offshore energy solutions for evolving markets world-wide. BW Offshore has around 2,000 employees and is publicly listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

Excerpt from:

BW Offshore: Recycling the FPSO Berge Helene in compliance with Hong Kong Convention - GlobeNewswire

Onboarding and supporting remote or contract positions comes with unique logistical challenges. Here's how to prepare.

In 2020, organizations around the globe transitioned to remote work. While some companies have started to bring employees back to the traditional office, others have made long-term commitments to telecommuting moving forward. At the same time, many companies routinely use offshore and contract talent to supplement their on-site teams and enable 24/7 operations. These four TechRepublic Premium resources are designed to empower organizations with the tools, tips, and policies in the age of remote, offshore and contract work en masse.

The remote work era is an ideal environment for bringing on abroad professionals. Many companies tap offshore talent to support on-site workforces and enable round-the-clock business operations. TechRepublic Premium's Offshore work policy is designed to help companies set guidelines for these new teams, deliver an optimal orientation experience,

outline vetting considerations for prospective vendors and more. Aside from minimum account access, this policy also illustrates other security details such as VPN access and operational environment standardizations.

Contractor workers are another popular supplement workforce option for companies and, similar to offshore workers, contract positions are also ripe for the WFH era. TechRepublic Premium's Contract work policy provides performance review recommendations, account access parameters as well as information to help companies train and onboard new contractors. Additionally, the resource details considerations to bear in mind when utilizing recruiting agencies to identify and hire contractor workers.

Onboarding remote employees comes with its own set of challenges compared to the traditional in-person process. This TechRepublic Premium resource is specifically curated to streamline the remote onboarding process with a series of helpful and succinct tips to boot. These include creating dedicated checklists to encourage uniformity in the process and ensure steps are followed accordingly.

Has a member of the team established the remote employee's email account and proactively checked these credentials? That said, these steps also focus on creating account access and testing equipment before start dates, assigning direct HR onboarding contacts and more.

In recent years, organizations have warmed to remote work for myriad reasons, and the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated adoption across industries; at least in the interim. This wide-ranging resource details recent surveys illustrating employee sentiments about remote work, when the in-person office could be "obsolete," and more.

This policy also outlines tips to help with the remote job search, boost interview performance, and empower telecommuters to "thrive" in their new remote roles. Which remote positions are paying telecommuters a premium salary? This resource includes answers that may surprise you and much more.

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Resources to empower organizations in the age of remote, offshore and contract work - TechRepublic

Fugro has been awarded contracts in the offshore wind sector in South Korea and the U.S., according to the companys results for the first quarter of 2021.

In South Korea, Fugro has won a contract for a site investigation programme for a floating offshore wind farm. The company did not disclose any further details about the project. The contract in the U.S. is for unexploded ordnance (UXO) investigation at rsteds South Fork Wind Farm project site offshore Rhode Island.

The Netherlands-headquartered company entered the South Korean offshore wind market in 2019 after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Underwater Survey Technology 21 (UST21). Under the agreement, Fugro has expanded UST21s local hydrography capacity to provide site characterisation services, including geotechnical, geophysical and offshore metocean solutions for the offshore wind market.

In the U.S., the company has already been working with rsted. Last year, Fugro begun a site characterisation programme at the Sunrise Wind offshore wind project off the coast of New York, one of three U.S. projects developed by rsted and Eversource Energy, the other two being South Fork Wind Farm and Revolution Wind.

For the Americas region, Fugro reported backlog increase due to increasing work in offshore wind on the East Coast of the U.S. and marine asset integrity activities in the country, as well as the ROV support vessel contract work in Brazil.

In the companys global Marine business segment, backlog declined slightly as an increase in site characterisation caused by growth in offshore wind was offset by a decline in asset integrity, which is more exposed to the oil and gas market, according to the company.

Fugro reported a revenue decline of 17.2 per cent in the first quarter of this year, fully driven by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and a strong related decline in oil and gas activities, partly offset by revenue growth in other market segments.

This quarter, our revenue was again strongly affected by the pandemic and the related decline in oil and gas activity levels. This is evident in comparison with the first quarter of 2020, when the initial Covid impact became visible only towards the end of the quarter, said Mark Heine, CEO at Fugro. At the same time, our results demonstrate once again our resilient operating model and increasingly diversified portfolio, with an increasing revenue share from renewables, infrastructure and nautical activities.

Looking ahead, the company stated that offshore wind was anticipated to show continued growth in 2021. In the oil and gas market, there are early signs of a recovery, Fugro said, adding that this was to a certain extent dependent on the further development and impact of the pandemic on the society and economy. The company expects a return to revenue growth, in particular in renewables, in the course of the second quarter.

We were able to slightly improve our margin in the seasonally weak first quarter. This was largely due to the comprehensive cost reduction programme which was initiated immediately after the outbreak of the pandemic and which is now fully effective, Mark Heine said. Based on the good order intake this quarter, we anticipate that revenue will start to grow again in the second quarter.

Excerpt from:

Fugro Bags Offshore Wind Contracts in South Korea and US - Offshore WIND

TOKYO -- General Electric, fresh off becoming the first company to win international certification for large offshore wind turbines capable of withstanding typhoons, intends to install the generators off the coasts of Japan and other countries, Nikkei has learned.

The stronger turbines are also expected to expedite the industry's push into Asia, which is more prone than Europe to violent storms.

Construction of three projects in the U.K. and the U.S. has already been planned, with expectations they can start operating between 2022 and 2024.

In Japan, GE seeks to install the turbines off the coasts of Akita Prefecture, in the northeast, and Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo. Bidding for these projects is set to close in May.

GE's intended rollout comes with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga setting a 2030 target for cutting Japan's emissions by 46% from 2013 levels. Suga announced the plan at the virtual climate summit hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday in an effort to accelerate a push into renewable energy.

The U.S. company's stormproof turbines could prompt power producers to consider installing them in areas prone to harsh weather, including typhoons, and help drive the use of offshore wind power.

GE's turbines are 248 meters tall and put out 12,000 kilowatts. Under the International Electrotechnical Commission's classification, the turbines will be certified as T-Class, for products capable of handling elevated extreme wind speeds in hurricane conditions.

T-Class was established by the IEC in 2019. Previously, the highest level of certification was Class 1, which assumes an average wind speed of up to 50 meters per second for 10 minutes. T-Class requires a design that can withstand winds blowing up to 57 meters per second.

According to the IEC, 57 mps -- about 205 kph -- is the maximum wind speed that can occur within the next 50 years.

GE incorporated a structure that automatically adjusts the direction of the wind turbine in response to gusts of wind and reduces wind pressure.

The company applied technology that is used in onshore wind power generators while also strengthening the parts and components used to build the contraptions so they can withstand strong winds.

GE conducted a yearlong test run off the coast of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, finding that its new turbines operated without any issues even under strong winds.

Although manufacturing costs will be 15% to 20% higher than those for previous models, GE believes demand for the product will be robust since the windmills can be used in seas that are inhospitable to conventional mills.

Most offshore turbines are installed in the North Sea of Europe, where westerly winds tend to blow stably. However, there is little remaining room for additional installations, which has more companies looking to Asia, where typhoons and air turbulence are more likely to occur.

Japan intends to expand its installed offshore wind power capacity to 10 gigawatts by 2030. By that same year, the World Wind Energy Association estimates that 41% of all global wind power generation will be installed in Asia.

GE is a major player in the market for onshore wind turbines. Offshore, Spain's Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and Denmark's Vestas together account for 55% of the market. A GE subsidiary accounts for about 4% of the market, with China's Sewind Shanghai taking 10%.

GE hopes that receiving the T-Class certification will lead to an increase in orders, but competition remains fierce as rivals accelerate their own initiatives to improve their products. The time-honored U.S. company is currently negotiating a partnership with Japan's Toshiba to jointly produce core equipment used in offshore wind turbines. The partners also expect to drive down manufacturing costs.

Read this article:

GE pushes installation of typhoon-proof offshore turbines in Japan - Nikkei Asia

Ocergy Inc., a company developing a couple of new offshore wind energy solutions, announced last week that Chevron Technology Ventures and Moreld Ocean Wind (MOW) were investing in its Series A round of funding. The money is expected to help the company commercialize its OCG-Wind Floating Offshore Wind Turbine technology and OCG-Data environmental monitoring buoy.

Bloomberg reported that this is Chevrons first investment in offshore wind, and it is believed to be the first investment in offshore wind made by any U.S. oil and gas (O&G) major. However, several European O&G companies have been pouring money into the renewable energy sector including offshore wind. Among the big names adding renewables to their portfolios are Total, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Equinor, Eni, and Repsol.

This is a very Eurocentric story right now, David Linden, head of Energy Transition with Westwood Global Energy Group, told POWER during an interview in late February. Westwood Global Energy Group is a UK-based energy market research and intelligence firm that provides subscription-based data services, bespoke reporting, and commercial advice to clients around the world. Youve got clear themes that European-based businesses are thinking about decarbonization and diversification, while Asian and American oil and gas companies are less focused on that, Linden said.

The Bloomberg article says, Chevrons deal with Ocergy doesnt mark a strategic pivot to renewable energy, but part of a $300 million plan [Ed. update 4/22/21 at 5:15 p.m. EDT: The Bloomberg article incorrectly reported the investment was part of a $300 million-a-year plan, but a Chevron spokesperson informed POWER that the total is part of a pot of money rather than an annual allotment.] to invest in early-stage technologies that may play a future role in the energy transition. The company is unwilling to erode returns by investing aggressively in unfamiliar business where it doesnt have a competitive advantage and sees oil and gas as its core products for year to come.

Chevron Technology Ventures says it has a 22-year history of investing in startups across a wide cross section of energy innovation and a track record of collaboration to bring innovation to scale. The Ocergy investment is made from CTVs Future Energy Fund, which identifies technology solutions needed for the energy transition, including industrial decarbonization, emerging mobility, and energy decentralization.

Offshore wind power is undergoing a period of rapid innovation in an effort to provide lower carbon energy at a substantial scale, Barbara Burger, vice president of Innovation and president of Technology Ventures at Chevron, said in a statement. Ocergy has developed technology that could be part of the solution to enable more affordable, reliable, and ever-cleaner energy in a marine environment.

We are excited to have gained Chevrons investment and look forward to potential opportunities for their guidance and expertise executing some of the most complex offshore projects in the world, said Ocergy CEO Dominique Roddier.

Ocergys OCG-Wind solutions is said to be a low-cost foundation supporting the new generation of very large offshore wind turbines. The hull allows the platform to have a very light weight (Figure 1), according to the company, and its supposedly tailored for ease of industrialization.

The companys OCG-Data product is a multi-disciplinary ocean observer for complete offshore site assessment. It has enough footprint to host and power multiple instrumentation packages for resource and environmental characterization. Underwater biodiversity monitoring relies on the combination of restoration technologies and passive acoustic monitoring arrays. The buoy also hosts a bird and bat detection and identification system. OCG-Data provides high-quality data including ecological information for stakeholders engagement, Ocergy said.

Morelds investment in Ocergy was accompanied by an announcement that it had formed the new company called MOW, which will focus on delivery of engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) contracts in the floating offshore wind industry. Moreld said it is already a well-established player in the Offshore Floating Wind space, with leading competencies within FEED, marine services and product solutions. Ocergy suggested the collaboration with MOW positions the company to compete aggressively for gigawatt-scale commercial floating offshore wind projects.

Aaron Larson is POWERs executive editor (@AaronL_Power, @POWERmagazine).

Read the original post:

Chevron Joins Growing List of Oil and Gas Companies Investing in Offshore Wind - POWER magazine

The rise of offshore wind

Offshore wind technology is becoming increasingly mainstream. In 2009, offshore wind represented only 1% of global wind generation capacity, a figure which had grown to 10% by 2019.1In recent times, the rise of the ESG movement and the ever increasing regional and global pressure to transition to a sustainable future, as reflected in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the United Nations Paris Agreement on Climate Change, has increased the heat on the oil majors to join the energy transition. A number of the oil majors have seized on offshore wind as an opportunity to invest in ready-to-build assets at significant scale, allowing the oil majors to demonstrate high levels of capital expenditure on climate-friendly projects. Despite being slightly late to the game, a number of the oil majors now view offshore wind as an element of their own transition from international oil companies to international energy companies.

The move into offshore wind by certain oil majors has given rise to concerns that a potential bubble is developing. Further, some of the more traditional players in the offshore space may be out-priced and/or crowded out as a result, with rsted, for example, unable to acquire any development interests in the UKs Fourth Licensing Round despite being a long-standing participant in the sector. The ripples created by the new entrants may also drive out the more financially conservative investors such as pension or infrastructure funds.

The subsidy regimes for offshore wind have generally been successful in developing the commercial viability of the sector. For instance, in the UK, the allocation of Renewable Obligation Certificates and more recently the Contracts for Difference through the Low Carbon Contracts Company, has contributed to increasing the proportion of the UKs generating capacity coming from offshore wind, as well as demonstrably lowering the cost of power. The UKs most recent Contract for Difference (CfD) auction resulted in record low prices 39.65/MWh and 41.61MWh for the two first phases of the Dogger Bank project, for example. Given that the market price reference price in the auction was 52/MWh, these projects may be considered to be delivered on a subsidy free basis.2Long-term offtake arrangements have also resulted in a business that is attractive for its stable, long-term contracted returns.

The level of returns associated with offshore wind projects has therefore reached a relatively mature and steady state in the UK. Participants in the sector could theoretically bid higher prices in the CfD auctions in order to safeguard higher returns but such a move is likely to impact on the competitiveness of their bid. Accordingly, this prompts questions regarding to what extent is the premium that oil majors are paying or prepared to pay to invest in these projects sustainable? One way may be for the oil majors to draw on their engineering, technical and operational experience to achieve certain development, construction and operational efficiencies in and around an offshore wind project to improve the return margins associated with an offshore wind investment.

For example, oil majors are adept engineering and operational businesses and, as such, are used to being able to apply their technological capability to significantly improve efficiencies and productivity. Although the nature of the technology in offshore wind provides less scope for the operational performance improvements that oil majors customarily generate, there still remains some scope for improvements which the oil majors are well placed to capitalise on. For example, oil majors have historically invested in technology to improve their drilling prowess that has enabled them to extract significant amounts of additional barrels of oil. However, equivalent investments in offshore wind turbines is not likely, at this stage, to generate similarly significant additional wind power. That said, oil majors may draw on their technological capability to improve the quality and performance of the supply chain and project management processes, including multi-contracting interface matters.

Another area where oil majors could improve the return margins associated with an offshore wind investment is to contribute to improvements in grid technology and infrastructure. For example, it has long been recognised that a north sea grid (first proposed in November 2008) would bring about significant economic benefits including the ability to integrate a larger amount of renewable energy into the grid (thereby enabling participants to contribute to meeting climate/carbon reduction targets), ensure security of supply and create an internal energy market. It is also key to developing integrated, hybrid offshore projects. However, there are significant challenges associated with this limited experience on the technical side, regulators and other stakeholders need to work out support structures for offshore generation to transmission connection regimes - which makes the challenge multifaceted and progress slow. This may be seen with the Kriegers Flak (Denmark and Germany) and Cobracable (Netherlands and Denmark) projects. Oil majors with their strong balance sheets, technological clout and influential policy and industry voice are well-placed to propose solutions to these challenges and accelerate multi-stakeholder efforts in this space.

Oil majors could also look to offshore hydrolysis to produce green hydrogen. Offshore wind generates electricity that can be converted to hydrogen via the electrolysis of seawater and transported via existing gas pipelines. Transporting these hydrogen gas molecules is much cheaper than transporting electrons via heavy electricity cables from wind farms on the North Sea to land. For instance, the Neptune Energy Q13a oil and gas platform is anticipated to produce green hydrogen from sustainable electricity that is generated by the sun and wind. If this platform is successful, it would demonstrate how the majors could capitalise on their oil and gas experience in the North Sea to contribute to achieving efficiencies in the transportation of energy as well as the broader energy transition.

Proprietary data management and trading expertise have long provided oil majors and their shareholders with great returns. In sophisticated power markets such as the UK, the access to large amounts of electrons gives the trading arms of oil majors the ability to generate significant revenue. As offtake arrangements for offshore wind projects increasingly contain a merchant element, trading in the power generated by offshore wind projects will also become increasingly viable. Battery storage will facilitate this by enabling power to be stored and traded at the desired time. The business case for this would be strengthened by green hydrogen as it lends itself more easily to being stored.

The oil majors may be able to move up the learning curve more quickly than other new entrants in the offshore wind space, and there is real potential for efficiencies to be made during the construction and operation in and around an offshore wind project as a result of the engineering, technical and operational experience of oil majors. However, it is too early to say today to what extent such meaningful efficiencies will be achieved and to quantify the impact it will have on return margins.

In the end, success for the oil majors in the low carbon space will likely come from a diversification of clean technologies, particularly those which can be bolted onto and enhance their existing strengths (e.g. hydrogen), and a diversification of geographies, notably those outside the UK and Europe.

Frontier risk management is another area of capability that the oil majors may bring to bear in the global offshore wind sector. There are (and certainly will be) an ever increasing number of less developed markets which are keen to leap frog their electricity generation capacity straight into utility scale renewables such as offshore wind. This again potentially plays well to the development skill set of the oil majors, as they are likely to already be well versed in navigating the local governance and regulatory framework and, as such, providing them with first mover advantage.

As such the future news story will likely not all be about wind, however nor will this merely be a puff of air for what has been seen in the offshore wind sector is really an early blast of the trumpet. With the improving oil price, deep pockets and a greater alignment with their investor base, the oil majors will likely become a significant player in the energy transition - they are very much on the march.

__________________________________________________________________

1.Global Offshore Wind Report 2020,Global Wind Energy Council, accessed here <https://gwec.net/global-offshore-wind-report-2020/>

2. J Guillet, The lazy and incorrect use of the word subsidy,Green Giraffe, 4 December 2020, accessed here <https://green-giraffe.eu/blog/lazy-and-incorrect-use-word-subsidy>

The rest is here:

Winds of Change: Big Oil's Move into UK Offshore Wind - The National Law Review

Offshore staff

WOODBRIDGE, UK Amarinth has supplied four pumps for ADNOCs Bu Haseer full field development offshore Abu Dhabi.

The location is between Das and Zirku Islands. Bu Haseer is the first of five new offshore fields under development that will collectively produce around 1.5 Bbbl.

Initially Bu Haseer is being developed via an early production system, which commenced operations in 2018, and the second phase covers the full field development.

The two vertical API 610 VS4 vertical pumps needed to operate in hazardous open drains in a space-restricted area. Amarinth adapted the design so that the super duplex vertical pumps could be split into sections for shipping and then assembled within the available space on site.

An API 610 VS4 pump.(Courtesy Amarinth)

Both pumps were manufactured in super duplex stainless steel to accommodate the sour and toxic fluid, which includes high levels of mono ethylene glycol, hydrogen sulphide (H2S), and a high chloride concentration.

The two API 610 OH2 horizontal pumps comprised a scrubber condensate and a production separator pump. Both were specified with a 600-lb flange rating, said to be double the norm for this type of pump.

Amarinth manufactured both in S6 austenitic stainless steel with chrome impellers to handle the hydrocarbons, H2S and high chloride concentration in the water, and supported technicians at Bu Haseer with the commissioning.

04/23/2021

View post:

Amarinth adapts pumps to Bu Haseer restrictions - Offshore Oil and Gas Magazine

Old wind turbine blades could be recycled and reused under plans being developed by Aker Offshore Wind, Aker Horizons and the University of Strathclyde.

The three organisations have signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at driving forward the development of recovery processes for used glass fibre products, including a novel process developed at Strathclyde.

Glass-reinforced polymer composites (GRP), used in wind turbine blades around the world, is recognized as a hard-to-break-down source of pollution. Today nearly all thermoset GRP scrap generated in the UK and Europe goes to landfill or energy from waste.

The volume of GRP scrap is set to increase substantially, with end-of-life wind turbine blades likely to be a major source of GRP scrap in the UK by mid-2030s.

Findings from the University of Strathclyde indicate a global increase of wind turbine blade waste from around 400,000 tons per annum in 2030 to around two million tons by 2050.

Therefore, recyclability and recycled content are increasingly important in construction processes. In many cases increased durability and lower weight would also make GRP a more sustainable solution in the long term.

At Aker Offshore Wind, sustainability is about making business decisions that add value to our company, our stakeholders and society," said Astrid Skarheim Onsum, Chief Executive Officer of Aker Offshore Wind.

Industrial waste is a challenge in most industries, and by teaming up with the University of Strathclyde we have an opportunity to further develop a novel solution to a growing issue and apply it at scale across our segment and beyond.

Dr Liu Yang, Head of Advanced Composites Group at the University of Strathclyde, said: This is a challenge not only for the wind power industry, but for all industries reliant on GRP materials in their production and manufacturing.

Retaining and redeploying the embodied energy in the fibres is essential as we move to a more circular economy.

Under the terms of the MoU, the parties will scale up and commercialise a unique process developed at lab scale by Strathclyde for thermal recovery and post-treatment of glass fibres from GRP scrap to achieve near-virgin quality glass fibres.

Drawing on decades of industrial innovation and operationalising novel technologies, Aker Horizons and Aker Offshore Wind will contribute with funding and relevant competencies to bring the solution into an industrial setting. Furthermore, broad expertise in chemical processing and carbon capture within the wider Aker group, will ensure the industrialisation to be safe and sustainable.

Developed by the Strathclydes Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, the GRP Recycling can turn composite waste into re-usable fibre reinforcement and could serve 50% of global glass fibre demand if implemented worldwide. As the process produces both mid- to high-value fibres, a broad spectrum of the market can be covered, ranging from less demanding to high performance products.

Recycled GRP will also be attractive to industries outside the wind power space and can be tailored for a range of different composite applications. Today, GRP (or glass fibre) is used in sectors like car manufacturing, maritime vessels, oil and gas production, construction and sporting goods.

Read more here:

Aker Offshore Wind, Aker Horizons and Strathclyde to collaborate on recycling glass fibre products - University of Strathclyde

Lobstermen who were forced to move traps along a 23-mile long route off the coast of Monhegan can resume fishing activity in the area. Last week, vessels conducting a survey for an offshore wind project completed their work along the route.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources sent a notice to fishermen on Friday stating that gear, like lobster traps, that were relocated to accommodate the New England Aqua Ventus survey can be moved back to their original locations.

Fishermen were asked to voluntarily move their traps so a survey of the seabed floor along the wind projects proposed cable route could be conducted. But given the contentious issue of wind development of the Gulf of Maine, some fishermen felt they shouldnt have to move their traps for a project that they feel threatens their livelihood.

Ultimately, though, most complied.

One of the survey vessels, the Go Liberty, drags sonar equipment, so if it comes in contact with fishing gear like lobster traps damage can be caused to both the equipment and the gear.

The survey, which began in early March, was only supposed to last four weeks. However due to inclement weather and the prevalence of fishing gear in the survey route, the timeline was delayed.

In late March, the Maine Department of Marine Resources sent a notice to fishermen with gear still in the survey route asking that they voluntarily move their traps or else Marine Patrol officers would move the gear for them. The notice was sent after Marine Patrol identified about 240 lobster traps still within the survey route.

In the following weeks, Maine Marine Patrol officers and fishermen worked to clear most of the gear out of the pathway so the survey vessels could do their work.

The data gathered during the seabed floor survey has allowed New England Aqua Ventus to identify a cable route that will allow for more of the cable to be buried than would have been possible with previously existing information, Dave Wilby, a spokesperson for the New England Aqua Ventus project, said.

All three survey vessels have left Maine waters.

More:

Midcoast fishermen can resume activity in offshore wind project's proposed cable route - Bangor Daily News

During a difficult 2020, Brazils hydrocarbon sector demonstrated its resilience in the face of a price crash and the COVID-19 pandemic. Even those events along with heightened geopolitical risks and domestic instability did little to curb Brazils oil boom. For 2020, Brazils overall hydrocarbon output (Portuguese) rose 5.5% year over year to a record 3.7 million barrels of oil equivalent daily. This, according to Brazils hydrocarbon regulator, the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANH Portuguese initials) was almost 53% higher than in 2010. Crude oil production for 2020 averaged 2.9 million barrels per day or 43% higher than the 2 million barrels per day pumped on average during 2010. That notable increase was driven by the ongoing expansion of Brazils prolific offshore pre-salt crude oil production, which for 2020 grew by an impressive 18% year over year to just under 2.6 million barrels daily.

The scale of Brazils massive offshore oil boom is underscored by how rapidly petroleum production has grown in roughly a decade. National oil company Petrobras renewed focus on expanding its pre-salt oilfields was responsible for this spectacular growth. This occurred at a time when weaker oil prices and the pandemic were causing crude oil production in most Latin American countries to decline sharply. It was Chinas insatiable demand for crude oil coupled with the introduction of IMO2020 in January 2021, significantly reducing the sulfur content of maritime fuel, that caused demand for Brazils sweet medium crude oil grades to soar. In a challenging year where many oil companies saw earnings plunge, Petrobras delivered a $1.1 billion net profit.

Related: The World Still Needs Hundreds Of Billions Of Barrels Of Oil

Production is poised to continue growing, although there are genuine fears that heightened political turmoil and an ever-escalating pandemic could derail Brazils oil boom. The latest numbers concerning the COVID-19 pandemic do not look good for Brazil. Latin Americas largest economy is now one of the worlds worst-affected countries, ranked third for its number of cases and second for its number of deaths. The rising intensity of the pandemic in Brazil is threatening oil industry operations. According to Reuters, there has been a spike in cases among offshore oil workers. Petrobras, late last month, limited operations at its Marlim Sul oilfield in the Campos Basin after a COVID outbreak on one of its floating storage and offloading vessels. That will temporarily reduce production from the field. A surge of COVID cases among oil industry workers has triggered a round of work stoppages and strikes impacting refineries and other operations. There are valid concerns that Brazils petroleum production could decline because of a sharp uptick in the volume of COVID cases among the petroleum industry workforce.

Story continues

President Bolsonaros spat with Petrobras CEO Roberto Castello Branco over fuel prices, which saw him replaced by former army general Joaquim Silva e Luna, unnerved markets causing the national oil companys stock to plummet. This event sparked fears of heavy-handed government meddling in Petrobras operations and that Lunas lack of industry experience will weigh on the national oil companys performance. That development, along with the worsening pandemic in Brazil, will certainly be accounted for by foreign energy companies considering whether to invest in the Latin American countrys vast offshore oil industry. The fallout from that event, the resultant political turmoil, and a worsening pandemic is causing investors to balk at a range of business deals across Brazil. A recent Reuters article indicates that this is weighing heavily on initial public offerings of Brazilian companies with some bankers indicating that up to half of the IPOs scheduled for 2021 will not go ahead.

Related: Why Irans Return To Oil Markets Isnt A Major Threat

The economic fallout will not stop there. Prior to Bolsonaros dismissal of Branco, Brazils petroleum industry was, according to the ANH, expected to attract considerable investment of around $13 billion for exploration and production activity during 2021. It was estimated that $1.2 billion alone, which represents an impressive 20% increase year over year, would be spent on oil well services, with $1 billion of that amount being spent on offshore drilling and development activities for an estimated 70 wells. Such significant investment will drive higher hydrocarbon production, with it estimated that Brazils 2021 hydrocarbon output will exceed an average of 3.9 million barrels per day. Annual crude oil production is expected to be just shy of 3.2 million barrels per day, with just over three million being produced offshore.

There are mounting major headwinds threatening Brazils oil boom. These include a combination of ongoing political turmoil, triggered by Bolsonaros intervention in the operations of Petrobras, a rapidly riding COVID-19 case count, and volatile oil prices which all could cause investment in the energy sector to fall. If that occurs, it will impact Brazils economically important crude oil production, exploration, and oilfield development activities. This is all occurring after it had already been identified that further petroleum industry reforms were required in Brazil if it is to remain one of the worlds top destinations for offshore energy investment. There is also the threat posed by Irans potential return to global energy markets. China, which last year was a top buyer of Brazilian crude oil seeing the Latin American country become its fourth-largest supplier, is importing large quantities of Iranian crude oil, despite strict U.S. sanctions. Reuters recently demonstrated that this led to a sharp decline in demand for Brazilian crude oil cargoes because Irans were selling for a $6 to $7 per barrel discount to oil source from Brazil. If the Biden White House chooses to lift or ease sanctions against Iran, China will continue its buying spree leading to a sharp decline in Asian demand for Brazilian crude oil. At one point Brazil was poised to pressure OPECs attempts to control global energy markets. While oil production in Latin Americas largest economy will grow during 2021, there is the potential for the pandemic and considerable political turmoil in the country to slow its massive oil boom, which as late as December last year appeared unstoppable.

By Matthew Smith for Oilprice.com

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