Monthly Archives: August 2021

Cyprus-headquartered SeaBird Exploration, which recently won its first contract in offshore wind, will be looking to deploy its seismic research vessel Petrel Explorer on further projects within the sector after the vessels contract for an offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea was extended for another month.

SeaBirds parent company, Norwegian Green Energy Group, reported on 18 August that the four-month contract under which Petrel Explorer started wind farm support work at the beginning of May had been extended by one month and would be completed in early October.

The 80.35-meter long survey vessel has been providing accommodation during a maintenance campaign at an offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea. According to the latest AIS data, Petrel Explorer has been operating from the German port of Rostock.

Now, with four months of wind farm support work behind and a contract extension, Green Energy Group sees more opportunities for the vessel in the offshore wind sector.

Since starting the contract in May, the Petrel Explorer has proven itself as very suitable for windfarm support work and the company will pursue other opportunities for the vessel in this segment, the company stated in an update on the Oslo stock exchange.

Petrel Explorer, which joined SeaBird Explorations fleet in 2019, has 40 cabins, a conference room, two day rooms, and two client offices. The vessel is powered by four 1900 kW Caterpillar engines and two 2600kW Steerprop Azimuth Thrusters, and can reach a maximum speed of 15 knots.

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SeaBird Exploration Eyes More Offshore Wind Work for Its Seismic Research Vessel - Offshore WIND

Highlights

Tankers in path of Fred, Grace could see delays

Chevron moves some workers from platforms

Back-to-back storms passing through the Gulf of Mexico could delay LNG tankers reaching US terminals for loading, though there was no immediate major threat to offshore oil and gas production Aug. 16, according to operators and notices to shippers.

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As of early afternoon, Fred was a tropical storm preparing to make landfall in the Florida Panhandle and Grace was a tropical depression, with a forecast to strengthen into a tropical storm and a track that was expected to take it west to the Mexican coast. Texas' southernmost points were in Grace's projected cone of impact.

Meanwhile, there were seven LNG tankers in the Gulf near the projected path of at least one of the two storms; one tanker was departing Freeport LNG in Texas, while at Sempra's Cameron LNG in Louisiana and Cheniere Energy's Sabine Pass in Louisiana and Corpus Christi Liquefaction in Texas there were no tankers in port, according to cFlow, S&P Global Platts' vessel-tracking software tool.

US LNG feedgas demand was down about 100 MMcf/d at 10.9 Bcf/d on Aug. 16 compared with the day before, based on nominations for the morning cycle, Platts Analytics data showed. The storms were passing through at a time when strong LNG prices in Asia have been incentivizing near full utilization of US liquefaction terminals. Onshore operations at the four terminals along the Gulf did not appear to be impacted by either storm.

Offshore producers were monitoring the tracks of both storms, though none of the majors reported any shut-ins of output Aug. 16.

BP said Fred no longer posed a threat to its operations, while it was monitoring Grace. Shell said there were no changes to its operations as it continued to monitor both storms.

Chevron said that non-essential personnel were moved from its Petronius and Blind Faith facilities offshore Louisiana. Otherwise, "production from our Chevron-operated assets remains at normal levels," the major said in a statement, adding it would continue to "closely" monitor the dual storm systems.

Petronius, located in about 1,750 feet of water, is in the Viosca Knoll area of the Gulf, about 130 miles southeast of New Orleans. It was discovered in 1995. Blind Faith is located further south, in the Mississippi Canyon region of the Gulf, in about 7,000 feet of water.

Since the Atlantic hurricane season began in June, the impact on offshore US energy operations along the Gulf Coast has so far been relatively muted, versus last year when the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement listed six named storms that caused shut-ins of oil and gas production.

Chevron temporarily shut-in production June 18 from two offshore Gulf oil and gas platforms and evacuated some staff ahead of a weather system that eventually strengthened into Tropical Storm Claudette and made landfall in southeastern Louisiana.

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US offshore output, LNG terminal utilization steady as storms move through Gulf - S&P Global

By Jennifer A. Dlouhy (Bloomberg) The Biden administration is appealing a federal judges ruling against its oil leasing moratorium and deepening government scrutiny of the activity it blames for fanning climate change, even as it promises to resume auctions.

The moves, announced by the Interior Department in an emailed statement Monday, mark the beginning of an open-ended analysis of the federal oil, gas and coal leasing programs that could span years and lead tohigher feesas well as new limits on development in sensitive areas.

The agency said it would continue onshore and offshore oil and gas leasing as required by Louisiana-based U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty in June, while it challenges the decision before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Interior will continue to exercise the authority and discretion provided under the law to conduct leasing in a manner that takes into account the programs many deficiencies.

The announcement comes ahead of a court deadline for the administration to explain how it was complying with the judgesJune 15 orderthat leasing should resume. The Interior Department has not yet issued public plans for new or rescheduled lease sales, amid mounting pressurefrom Congressand the oil industry.

Administration officials were concerned that without taking action, top Interior officials could be held in contempt over the prolonged leasing pause, according to two people familiar with the plans who asked for anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

The move is a blow to environmental activists who had pressed Biden to permanently block oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters, arguing that a warming world cant afford to burn the fossil fuels they contain.

This is a setback in our work to #ActOnClimate, the Sierra Club said on Twitter. Fossil fuel extraction on public lands and waters make up a quarter of our domestic greenhouse gas emissions at a time we must urgently move to cut emissions by at least half.

Still, Interiors announcement did little to assuage oil and gas industry leaders who have accused the administration of dragging its feet in rescheduling a series of auctions postponed earlier this year. Advocates of offshore oil development have lobbied the administration to reschedule a planned March sale of drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico, arguing that fewer greenhouse gases are emitted in the extraction of crude from U.S. waters.

It is past time for U.S. offshore leasing to resume, said Erik Milito, head of the National Ocean Industries Association. The administration should follow the plain letter of the law, and support high-paying jobs and climate and emissions progress.

Federal lands and waters provide about a quarter of the nations crude production. But the oil, gas, and coal extracted from that terrain is also responsible for about 24% of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, according to a U.S. Geological Survey report.

Even as the Interior Department said it was resuming leasing, the agency made clear it will pursue deep changes.

Federal onshore and offshore oil and gas leasing programs are responsible for significant greenhouse gas emissions and growing climate and community impacts, the agency said. Yet the current programs fail to adequately incorporate consideration of climate impacts into leasing decisions or reflect the social costs of greenhouse gas emissions, including, for example, in royalty rates.

And Representative Raul Grijalva, a Democrat from Arizona who heads the House Natural Resources Committee, said he would push leasing reforms as part of the Democrats $3.5 trillion tax-and-spending plan. Holding more lease sales under todays outdated standards is economically wasteful and environmentally destructive, and everyone not sitting in a fossil fuel boardroom knows it.

President Joe Biden ordered the leasing pause on Jan. 27, so Interior could conduct a comprehensive review. Now, the agency is embarking on a broader programmatic analysis of oil, gas and coal leasing it says is critical to address what changes may be necessary to meet the presidents targets of cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The move takes a cue from the Obama administration, which in 2016 initiated a broad environmental analysis of federal coal leasing, and halted the sale of new mining rights in the meantime.

But the Biden administration has been under withering pressure to restart sales after the June 15 court order. A coalition of Louisiana and a dozen other states last week asked Doughty to compel the Biden administration to explain why it shouldnt be held in contempt for violating his preliminary injunction against the moratorium since no new sales had been scheduled, and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland told Congress last month the pause was technically still in place.

A dozen oil industry trade groups, led by the American Petroleum Institute, on Monday filed a new lawsuit challenging the leasing pause, joining at least three other related cases proceeding in federal courts.

By Jennifer A. Dlouhy 2021Bloomberg L.P.

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Biden To Resume Selling Offshore Drilling Rights as Appeal Unfolds - gcaptain.com

Completed substations were loaded onto a heavy lift vessel (Sembcorp Marine)

PublishedAug 16, 2021 4:21 PM by The Maritime Executive

Construction is proceeding with additional components completed for what is projected to become the worlds largest offshore wind farm. Located approximately 50 miles off Englands Yorkshire Coast in the North Sea, Orsteds Hornsea Two Offshore Wind Farm will have a capacity of 1.4 GW when it goes into service in 2022.

Recently, Semborp Marine in Singapore completed the assembly of the topside units for the wind field consisting of the offshore substation and reactive compensation station. The construction is the largest AC offshore substation and combined with the other unit they together weigh over 10,200 tons. The two units were recently placed aboard a heavy lift vessel and departed Singapore on August 15. The substations are expected to reach the UK by late September. Once there they will be integrated with their jackets, which were installed in October 2020.

With plans to have the wind farm operational in 2022, this is a very exciting milestone for Hornsea Two, said Patrick Harnett, Senior Programme Director for Orsted. Hornsea Two will be the worlds largest offshore wind farm and is already paving the way for future renewable energy projects which will have a significant impact on our mission to reach net-zero.

The construction work at the installation site began in summer 2019 and continues to make strong progress. Recently, Rostock-based EEW Special Pipe Constructions announced that it had completed the last of the monopiles for the site. They were shipped to Eemshaven and from there are then being transported to the installation. A total of 165 monopiles were built in Rostock for the wind farm.

The site marked a key milestone at the end of May 2021, when the first turbine was raised into position. The first load out of turbines left the port of Hull in May on the installation vessel Sea Challenger, owned by DEME Offshore. The turbines include the new 265-foot-long blades which have been manufactured at Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energys blade factory in Hull.

In a recent update, they reported that as of mid-August 50 of the turbines were now in position. The completed array will have 165 8MW Siemens turbines installed, each standing 656 feet above sea level, with a rotor diameter of 578 feet.

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Construction Proceeding on World's Largest Offshore Wind Farm - The Maritime Executive

The Fugro Searcher quayside in Bremerhaven for a crew change during the 2021 seismic campaign.

Bremen, Germany, 18 August 2021 Fugro has been awarded a geophysical investigation contract by Germanys Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (Bundesamt fr Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie (BSH)). The award is in line with the seismic survey work completed in 2020 and 2021 in cooperation with Fraunhofer IWES to build a basis for geological models of the offshore wind farm sites. The sites are due to be auctioned in the coming years and will play a significant role in Germanys energy transition plan.

Work on the contract is scheduled to start in April 2022: Fugro will perform the positioning and sub-bottom profiling recording and interpretation, and Fraunhofer IWES will focus on the seismic survey and interpretation. The teams combined expertise, resources and dedicated survey vessels will ensure a safe and efficient survey and the timely delivery of Geo-data results to support BSHs tight planning schedule. Fugro will also provide geotechnical data to the German government under a separate contract that will be integrated with the geophysical data, contributing reliable input for the future development of the renewable offshore sector in the German Bight.

Connor Schulze, Fugro Germany Marine GmbH Proposal Manager, said: We are proud to have been selected by BSH for this exciting and complex project. Recent projects have shown that with our combined expertise we can provide reliable Geo-data, effectively and to the highest standards, fitting perfectly into BSHs workflow and contributing to the development of German offshore wind farms.

About FugroFugro is the worlds leading Geo-data specialist, collecting and analysing comprehensive information about the Earth and the structures built upon it. Adopting an integrated approach that incorporates acquisition and analysis of Geo-data and related advice, Fugro provides solutions. With expertise in site characterisation and asset integrity, clients are supported in the safe, sustainable and efficient design, construction and operation of their assets throughout the full life cycle. Employing approximately 9000 talented people in 61 countries, Fugro serves clients around the globe, predominantly in the energy and infrastructure industries, both offshore and onshore. In 2020, revenue amounted to EUR 1.4 billion. Fugro is listed on Euronext Amsterdam.

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Fugro Secures Another BSH Site Characterization Contract Supporting German Offshore Wind Development - Amerisurv

BHP's Shenzi platform in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico (BHP)

PublishedAug 17, 2021 10:54 PM by The Maritime Executive

Australian oil and gas company Woodside Energy is planning to buy mining giant BHP's petroleum business in an all-stock deal, creating a new top-10 independent energy firm. BHP will effectively exit oil and gas, but its shareholders will receive a 48 percent stake in the combined firm, which will continue as Woodside.

BHP is divesting a portfolio of extensive offshore oil and gas assets, including the Shenzi, Atlantis and Mad Dog fields in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Off Australia, its interests include the North West Shelf gas project, the Pyrenees development area, the Macedon gas field and a number of legacy developments in the Bass Strait area. According to the Wall Street Journal, the business unit was valued at about $15 billion - just under Woodside's market value.

Woodside currently operates the Ngujima-Yin FPSO and the Okha FPSO off Western Australia, and it is a partner the North West Shelf project, which delivers a third of Australia's oil and gas production. It has several new developments in the pipeline, including the Scarborough gas prospect off Western Australia and the Sangomar field off Senegal.

In a statement, BHP said that it was divesting its oil and gas production assets in order to increase its exposure to "future facing commodities" like copper and nickel, which are needed to make electronics, electric motors and batteries. At the same time as the news of the oil unit sale, BHP showed its new priorities by announcing a $5.7 billion investment in a new potash fertilizer mine in Canada.

"[The merger] frees up more capital within the remaining BHP to deploy into those commodities that are most positively leveraged to the future and the big megatrends that are under way around us, including decarbonization, electrification, population growth and rising living standards," said BHP CEO Mike Henry, speaking on CNBC. "All of those things are going to drive demand for copper, nickel and potash . . . and even steel, which [means] demand for iron ore and higher-quality coking coal."

The news of BHP's exit from oil comes as the firm posts its most profitable fiscal year ever, with EBITDA totaling $37 billion. The company has also released plans to fold the company's UK-incorporated arm into its Australian parent company, exiting the London FTSE 100 stock index and consolidating its corporate structure.

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BHP Exits Offshore Oil and Gas to Focus on "Future Facing Commodities" - The Maritime Executive

New York, Aug. 18, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Offshore Wind Market by Component, Location and Region - Global forecast to 2026" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p04919718/?utm_source=GNW With the globally increasing consumption of electricity, new technologies are expected to influence the production, transmission, distribution, and use of electricity. Conventional sources of electricity lead to climatic changes, environmental pollution, and other issues. Thus, the offshore wind market is gaining momentum, and there exists a lot of untapped potential in this market.

The turbines segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR from 2021 to 2026.Based on the components of offshore wind systems, the turbine is estimated to be the fastest-growing market from 2019 to 2026.The segment includes nacelle, rotors and blades, and tower.

Growth of the renewable market Asia Pacific and North America is expected to drive the offshore wind market.

Deep water is expected to emerging market by locationThe improving turbine technology and larger turbines are being used to harness the constant strong wind available in deep sea which in turn is attracting more offshore wind farm development in this location. Many large players such as Orested, Vestas are already developing the wind farms in deep sea and also developing technologies to sustain the climatic challenges present in deep sea.

Europe: The largest offshore wind marketEurope accounted for the largest share of 57% of the offshore wind market amongst all regions in 2020.The European market is further segmented into UK, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Ireland, and Rest of Europe.

The European region is home to several major offshore wind companies such as Siemens (Germany), Nordex SE(Germany), Vestas (Denmark), ABB (Switzerland) and many more.European region has been a pioneer in offshore wind technology and offshore wind farm development.

The countries in the EU are primarily focusing on upgrading their aging electrical infrastructure, and governments of these countries are promoting power generation through renewable energy sources and are building networks, from generation to end-users, to allow for efficient power and energy trading.

Breakdown of Primaries:In-depth interviews have been conducted with various key industry participants, subject-matter experts, C-level executives of key market players, and industry consultants, among other experts, to obtain and verify critical qualitative and quantitative information, as well as to assess future market prospects. The distribution of primary interviews is as follows: By Company Type: Tier 1- 65%, Tier 2- 24%, and Tier 3- 11% By Designation: C-Level- 30%, Director Level- 25%, and Others- 45% By Region: North America- 20%, Asia Pacific- 30%, Europe- 50%

Note: Others includes product engineers, product specialists, and engineering leads.Note: The tiers of the companies are defined on the basis of their total revenues as of 2017. Tier 1: > USD 1 billion, Tier 2: From USD 500 million to USD 1 billion, and Tier 3: < USD 500 millionThe leading players in the offshore wind market include Siemens Gamesa (Spain), Vestas (Denmark), General Electric (US), Shanghai Electric Wind Power (China).

Research Coverage:The report defines, describes, and forecasts the global offshore wind market, by component, by location, and region.It also offers a detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis of the market.

The report provides a comprehensive review of the major market drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges.It also covers various important aspects of the market.

These include an analysis of the competitive landscape, market dynamics, market estimates, in terms of value, and future trends in the offshore wind market.

Key Benefits of Buying the Report1. The report identifies and addresses the key markets for offshore wind, which would help offshore wind manufacturers review the growth in demand.2. The report helps system providers understand the pulse of the market and provides insights into drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges.3. The report will help key players understand the strategies of their competitors better and help them in making better strategic decisions.Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p04919718/?utm_source=GNW

About ReportlinkerReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.

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The offshore wind market is projected to reach USD 56.8 billion by 2026 from an estimated USD 31.8 billion in 2021, at a CAGR of 12.3% - GlobeNewswire

Floating wind specialist BW Ideol has joined two commercial-scale floating wind projects in Taiwan and in Italy.

In July, BW Ideol signed a design and engineering services contract with an undisclosed leading party for a commercial-scale floating wind farm in Taiwan.

And in August, the company signed Heads of Terms with an undisclosed party for a commercial-scale floating offshore wind farm in Italy.

OffshoreWIND contacted BW Ideol for more information but the company said it was keeping any further details on the two projects confidential for the time being.

BW Ideol operates under a dual-track strategy as a co-developer of offshore floating wind projects and as an engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) contractor of floating offshore wind technology.

The company is the only floating technology provider with two full-scale assets in operation in two markets for floating wind FranceandJapan. Both of the projects feature BW Ideols patented Damping Pool technology a ring-shaped floating foundation.

BW Ideol was established this March after the Norwegian oil & gas services provider BW Offshoresbought intothe floating wind technology developer Ideol. The company started trading on Euronext Growth Oslo stock exchange on 18 March.

BW Ideol aims to have a floating wind project portfolio of 10 GW by 2030, 1.5 GW of which are to be operational by that time.

The company is active in all of the emerging floating wind markets including France, Scotland, and Japan.

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BW Ideol Joins Floating Wind Projects in Italy and Taiwan - Offshore WIND