Monthly Archives: April 2021

Ocean Wind and EEW have broken ground for the EEW monopile manufacturing facility at the Port of Paulsboro Marine Terminal in Gloucester County, New Jersey, U.S.

The start of construction marks a significant milestone in delivering the largest industrial offshore wind manufacturing facility in the U.S. to date, Ocean Wind said.

Construction of the facility will be completed under a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) with the South Jersey Building Trades Council.

In December 2020, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced a USD 250 million investment into a new monopile manufacturing facility located at the Paulsboro Marine Terminal.

Positioning New Jersey as a national leader in the offshore wind industry and developing our offshore wind capabilities have been key priorities of my Administration since day one, said Governor Phil Murphy.

As the largest industrial offshore wind investment in the United States to date, the Paulsboro Marine Terminal will be a significant driving force for the states economy and create hundreds of good-paying, union jobs to South Jersey. Offshore wind is a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and todays groundbreaking signals a monumental step forward in propelling New Jerseys clean energy economy for generations to come.

Construction activities include clearing and grading of the 70-acre site, reinforcement to increase quayside bearing capacity to accommodate the 2,500-ton monopiles, and the construction of two large buildings that will support circumferential welding, sandblasting, and painting. EEW has contracted with more than 30 New Jersey companies in support of design, permitting, site work, and concrete.

Once complete, the facility will manufacture monopiles to supply the 1,100 MW Ocean Wind farm off the coast of southern New Jersey. EEWs facility will create as many as 260 jobs during the first phase of construction and manufacturing.

With the cooperation and support from rsted and the State of New Jersey, EEW is proud to be the first major offshore wind manufacturing company to break ground in the United States, said Lee Laurendeau, CEO of EEW-American Offshore Structures.

This state-of-the-art factory will exemplify how offshore wind will create long-term manufacturing jobs while supporting clean energy goals. EEW has full confidence in the New Jersey Trade Council that this first phase of the factory will be constructed safely, on-time and on-budget with local union labor.

Ocean Wind is an 1,110 MW offshore wind project by rsted and PSEG that will provide enough clean energy to power 500,000 New Jersey homes.

This is an important step for our Ocean Wind project and the State of New Jersey, said David Hardy, CEO of rsted Offshore North America.

Weve been able to adhere to our commitment to the state of New Jersey, and in the process are helping to make the State the quintessential supply chain hub of the American offshore wind industry.

rsted operates the Block Island Wind Farm, Americas first offshore wind farm, and constructed the two-turbine Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind pilot project the first turbines to be installed in federal waters. rsted has secured over 2,900 megawatts of additional capacity through five projects in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.

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Construction Starts on America's Largest Offshore Wind Manufacturing Hub - Offshore WIND

Eneti, formerly known as Scorpio Bulkers, has signed a contract with Shoreline to use its digital platform for the companys wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) business.

In August 2020, and as Scorpio Bulkers, the company signed a Letter of Intent to construct wind turbine installation vessels, with the first one to be built by South Koreas Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Inc. and scheduled for delivery in 2023.

A few months later, the dry bulk shipping specialist announced it would sell its remaining dry bulk vessels and exit the sector during 2021 as it shifts its focus to owning and operating offshore wind installation vessels. To reflect its transition, Scorpio Bulkers Board of Directors decided to change the name of the company. The new name, Eneti, has been in effect from this February.

With Shoreline, the company entered an agreement on utilising its Shorline Wind digital platform.

ShorelineWindprovidescloud-basedintegrated simulation and data analytics solutions fortheDesignas well asExecutionof offshore wind farmscoveringconstructionandO&Mresource management,scheduling optimization, planning,dispatching,and reporting.

Information is integrated from multiple sources as windfarm, vessels, and weather data are easily accessible from the same system. With many of our customers also using Shoreline Wind, it enables our collaboration with them, which is key for our growth, said EnetisManaging Director, Tim Sanger.

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Eneti Strengthens Its New WTIV Business with Digital Solutions - Offshore WIND

Norsepower has completed five installations of its tilting rotor sails so far. Image Credit: Norsepower

Wind propulsion system provider Norsepower is set to work with a unit of Keppel Offshore & Marine on the installation of its rotor sails on ships.

Under an agreement with Keppel's technology arm, Offshore Technology Development (OTD), OTD will assist in initial surveys as well as the design, engineering works and installation of rotor sails, Norsepower said in a statement on its website released as part of Singapore Maritime Week.

"Today's announcement represents a significant step in fully commercialising the Rotor Sail which is capable of achieving, on average, between 5 and 20% reductions in carbon and other emissions, as well as fuel and fuel costs in suitable conditions," Norsepower said in the statement.

"Now that fuel efficiency and environmental performance are becoming critical to shipowners' survival, it is clear that wind propulsion can provide significant emissions reductions and fuel savings while making vessels more attractive to charterers."

Norsepower has so far completed five tilting rotor sail installations, and is due to complete a sixth during the first half of this year.

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SMW 2021: Norsepower to Work With Keppel Offshore Unit on Rotor Sail Retrofits - Ship & Bunker

3D at Depth's Subsea LiDAR (SL) SL3 laser system.

Courtesy 3D at Depth, Inc.

Offshore staff

LONGMONT, Colo. 3D at Depth, Inc., says that it recently completed a series of 31 metrologies at eight locations on the Equinor Snorre Expansion Project, for Subsea 7.

The Snorre Expansion Project is the largest project for improved recovery on the Norwegian continental shelf and will increase production from the Snorre field by almost 200 million barrels, extending the field life beyond 2040.

Subsea 7 contracted 3D at Depths UK office to conduct metrologies as part of the companys installation campaigns for pipeline bundle systems. Each location required metrology measurements for multiple parallel spools which would be installed as single cassettes between the pipeline bundles to wellheads and manifolds.

3D at Depth says that the flexibility of Subsea LiDAR (SL) technology and its workflow allowed for a smooth integration into the project, and every SL 3D data set was easily exported into standard formats for measurement, quality control, visualization, and analysis.

The combination of terrestrial and subsea point cloud data allowed the team to derive inferred metrology results for the production manifold hubs which would be installed subsea during later campaigns. 3D at Depths SL point clouds were then subsequently used during the spool design process and for cassette spool clash assessments, providing confidence the installations would be successful.

04/22/2021

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Subsea LiDAR metrology system deployed on Equinor project - Offshore Oil and Gas Magazine

Janet McConnaughey| Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS The federal agency in charge of offshore oil and gas environmental enforcement lacksa strong inspection program for working pipelines and fails toadequately make sure companies clean and bury those no longer in use, a federal watchdog office says.

Though cleaning and pulling up unused pipelines is supposed to be the rule, federal regulators have allowed 97% of such pipelines to stay in place since the 1960s, resulting in 18,000 miles of abandoned pipelines on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico, according to a report released Monday by the Government Accountability Office.

"Such a high rate of approval indicates that this is not an exception, however, but rather that decommissioning-in-place has been the norm for decades," according to the report about the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

More: Should Louisiana be a 'sanctuary state' for oil and gas? This bill would make it so

The bureau, created after the catastrophic BP oil spill in 2010, also has no clear source of money to remove abandoned pipelines that pose safety or environmental risks, according to the report.

In a brief emailed statement, the bureau said it is reviewing the report and recommendations, and expects to have new pipeline regulations open for public comments this year.

"BSEE recognizes the importance of active pipeline integrity and is continually seeking to address the safety and environmental risks associated with decommissioning," it says.

The report saysthe Interior Department agreed with GAO recommendations to update regulations to ensure that active pipelines remain intact and to address safety and environmental risks of decommissioning pipelines.

"The oil industry needs to clean up its messes in the Gulf of Mexico and stop making new ones," Miyoko Sakashita, oceans program director with the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a news release. "This report shows how corporations profit from polluting our water and air, leaving the rest of us to pay the price."

More: Louisiana to get $110 million in oil revenue this year to help restore coast

The report saysolder pipelines are "more susceptible to damage from corrosion; mudslides; seafloor erosion; and snagging from fishing trawlers, which can result in leakage of oil and gas into the ocean. Additionally, heavy currents during hurricanes can move pipelines extensive distances, which may damage subsea habitats, impede access to sediment resources, and create navigational and trawling hazards."

The high rate of approval for leaving abandoned pipelines in place is partly because the bureau doesn't thoroughly account for the environmental and safety risks of doing so, the report says.

BSEE doesn't observe as pipelines are prepared for abandonment, inspect those pipelines afterward, verify most of the evidence submitted or monitor the condition and location of abandoned pipelines, the GAO report says.

"BSEE has made limited progress in updating what it acknowledges are outdated pipeline regulations," it says. "Without taking actions to develop, finalize, and implement updated pipeline regulations, BSEE will continue to be limited in its ability to ensure that its pipeline decommissioning process addresses environmental and safety risks."

The report says the agency also lacks "a robust oversight process" for making sure that about 8,600 miles of pipelines in use in the Gulf of Mexico remain intact.

"Specifically, BSEE does not generally conduct or require any subsea inspections of active pipelines. Instead, the bureau relies on monthly surface observations and pressure sensors to detect leaks. However, officials told us that these methods and technologies are not always reliable for detecting ruptures," the report says.

It saysthe agency and the offshore industry worked together to improve subsea leak detection after two leaks one that spilled about 84,000 gallons of oil in May 2016 and one that spilled about 672,000 gallons in October 2017.

However, those improvements can't be added to most existing pipelines, according to the GAO.

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Report criticizes offshore oil and gas environmental agency for weak pipeline inspection program - Houma Courier

The tiny South American nation of Guyana is poised to become one of the leading offshore drilling jurisdictions in South America. Global energy supermajor Exxon, has established a dominant foothold in offshore Guyana, acquiring a 45% interest in the 6.6-million-acre Stabroek Block, with partner Hess holding 30% and Chinese national oil company CNOOC controlling the remaining 25%. Exxon has made a series of large high quality oil discoveries in the block.

The latest was the September 2020 Redtail discovery which saw Exxon revise upwards its oil resources in offshore Guyana, stating that it had more than eight billion barrels of recoverable oil resources in the Stabroek Block. Since then, Exxons Liza Phase 1 project, which commenced production in December 2019, reached full capacity pumping 130,000 barrels per day. Exxon is currently developing the Liza Phase 2 and Payara projects. It is anticipated that Liza Phase 2 will come online during mid-2022 and produce 220,000 barrels of crude oil per say. The Payara project will commence operations in 2024 and is projected to pump 220,000 barrels daily. By 2025 Exxon estimates it will be producing over 750,000 barrels per day in offshore Guyana from the Stabroek Block. Related: The World Still Needs Hundreds Of Billions Of Barrels Of Oil

Offshore Guyana is fast becoming an especially attractive destination for foreign oil companies. The crude oil being pumped from the Liza oilfield is characterized as a light grade with an API gravity of 32 degrees and relatively sweet possessing a sulfur content of 0.58%. Those attributes make it cheaper and easier to refine into high quality fuels than the heavy sour crude oil grades which are typically found in onshore South America. According to Hess oil produced at Liza Phase 1 has a low breakeven price of $35 per barrel, which is significantly lower than petroleum operations in many other Latin American countries. It is anticipated that the breakeven price for oil produced in the Stabroek Block will keep falling as additional infrastructure is installed and new assets are brought online. The breakeven price for the second FPSO at the Liza oilfield is expected to be an incredibly low $25 per barrel per barrel of crude oil extracted, placing it among some of the lowest cost for offshore operations in South America. Analysts believe that crude oil projects in offshore Guyana will on average possess a breakeven price of $35 per barrel making it one of the lowest cost and hence most profitable jurisdictions on the continent. That is a particularly important attribute in an operating environment weighed down by volatile sharply weaker oil prices and the impending arrival of peak oil demand, which could occur as early as 2026.

Despite a recent slew of poor drilling results the Guyana-Suriname Basin is attracting considerable interest making it one of the hottest offshore drilling prospects globally. This will see Guyana emerge as a major South American oil producing nation with the petroleum-rich countrys natural resources minister Vickram Bharrat recently stating it will be pumping one million barrels per day by 2027. That will catapult a deeply impoverished Guyana into the upper echelons of crude oil producing countries globally and see the former British colony become Latin Americas third largest oil producer. For that to occur Guyana must attract considerable additional investment to fund offshore exploration and development activities. This will require the national government in Georgetown to establish a stable, sustainable and attractive regulatory environment for foreign oil companies while maximizing Guyanas benefits from the vast offshore crude oil resources. The wealth available is highlighted by the IMF estimating Guyanas economy will experiencing strong growth, with gross domestic product forecast to expand by 16% this year and then by a whopping 46.5% for 2022 when the Liza 2 FPSO commences operations, more than doubling oil production. By 2024 it is believed that Guyanas GDP will have slowed to its long-term growth trajectory of around 3% annually.

Related Video: Guess What? Offshore Oil Is Cleanest Producer

Georgetown is already receiving a substantial financial windfall from Exxons Stabroek Block operations. It received the fifth oil lift payment, totaling $61 million, during February 2021, giving Guyanas government total oil income of $246 million since Liza 1 commenced production in December 2019. Industry consultancy Rystad Energy estimates Guyanas oil revenue will near $30 billion once crude oil production exceeds the one million barrel per day production milestone. Those numbers indicate that Guyana has the potential to become one of the wealthier nations in South America if it can avoid the oil curse and related pitfalls that have afflicted oil rich countries in the region such as Venezuela. To minimize the risk of Guyana squandering its oil wealth, the Inter-American Development Bank has proposed that the impoverished South American country adopt an expenditure rule to prevent excessive spending and mismanagement of the vast anticipated oil revenue. There are also pressures on the administration of President Irfaan Ali to renegotiate the contract with Exxon on the basis that it is unjust and deprives Guyana of its rightful share of its vast offshore oil wealth. While Alis government has pledged to review how Guyanas petroleum industry operates, the President has indicated the contract with Exxon will remain intact. The 2016 contract established a 50% profit sharing agreement between the partners in the Stabroek Block (Exxon 45%, Hess 35% and CNOOC 25%) and Guyanas government as well as a 2% royalty payable to Georgetown. The consortium can recover 100% of development and operating expenses as well as decommissioning costs from Guyanas government. Those conditions diminish the impoverished South American countrys cash inflows and delays Guyanas ability to fully benefit from the asset until 2028.

There has been considerable speculation that Guyanas regulatory framework is not robust enough to deliver the desired outcomes and that Exxon received an overly favorable deal when it began operations in the Stabroek Block. In March 2021, Guyanas Ministry of Natural Resources announced a 24-month project to review the oil-rich countrys regulatory and legal framework. The focus of that work is to develop and establish a structure to manage the former British colonys petroleum industry that is attractive for foreign energy companies and maximizes the benefits for Guyana as well as its people. The plan is for the project to lay the groundwork to establish a hydrocarbon regulator the Petroleum Commission which while responsible for regulating Guyanas oil industry, will not collect oil revenue. That task will fall into the responsibilities of the Guyana Revenue Authority.

By Matthew Smith for Oilprice.com

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Guyana Poised To Become A Leading Offshore Producer Within Years - OilPrice.com

Well over a third out of the 165 monopile foundations have been installed at the 1,386 MW Hornsea Two offshore wind farm located some 89 kilometres north-east of Grimsby, the U.K.

The monopile foundations are being loaded at and transported from the Buss Terminal Eemshaven in the Netherlands and installed at the site by DEME Offshores Innovation and Cadelers Wind Orca.

Innovation installed the first foundation at the wind farm back in October 2020 and has so far installed 51 units.

Wind Orca joined the project in late February and has so far installed over 15 foundations at the site, Cadeler said.

Being developed by rsted, Hornsea Two will comprise 165 Siemens Gamesa 8.4 MW wind turbines, an offshore substation, and a reactive compensation station (RCS).

The wind farm is scheduled to be commissioned in 2022 when it will become the largest operating wind farm in the world, taking the mantle from the 1.2 GW Hornsea One.

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Offshore Construction Progresses at 1.4 GW Hornsea Two Offshore Wind Farm - Offshore WIND

Save to read list Published by Aimee Knight, Editorial Assistant World Pipelines, Wednesday, 21 Apr 21

Cenergy Holdings SA has announced that Corinth Pipeworks S.A., its steel pipe segment, signed an agreement to manufacture and supply steel pipes to Israel Natural Gas Lines (INGL), leader in natural gas distribution in Israel, for the offshore section of a new high-pressure gas pipeline between the cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon.

Chevron, having recently completed its acquisition of Noble Energy, as the operator of Leviathan and Tamar offshore gas fields, has entered into an agreement with INGL for the provision of transmission services of natural gas.

The new pipeline system, in addition to the expansion of other lines, will enable Chevron and its partners to send as much as 7 billion m3 of gas annually to Egypt.

Corinth Pipeworks contract for approximately 50 km of 36 in. LSAW linepipe also includes anticorrosion coating and concrete weight coating, all of which will be manufactured at Thisvi facility in Greece within 2021. The installation of the pipeline is scheduled to start in 2022. This award is another significant milestone in Corinth Pipeworks offshore presence in the South East Mediterranean region, after the successful completion of Leviathan gas and Karish deep-water pipelines.

World Pipelines April 2021 issue

The April issue of World Pipelines includes a regional report on oil and gas pipeline activity in the Gulf of Mexico, along with technical articles on corrosion prevention, unpiggable pipelines and repair and rehabilitation. Dont miss the article on hydrogen pipelines!

Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/contracts-and-tenders/21042021/new-major-offshore-project-in-east-mediterranean-awarded-to-corinth-pipeworks/

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New major offshore project in East Mediterranean awarded to Corinth Pipeworks - World Pipelines