Monthly Archives: September 2021

That time America almost had a 30-hour work week – theday.com

Posted: September 16, 2021 at 6:08 am

The nature of work has undergone a lot of changes during the pandemic. Millions of office workers began working from home; the service industry has struggled to get workers to come back, and some businesses, like Kickstarter, are now experimenting with four-day workweeks -- without reducing salaries. In Congress, Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., has introduced legislation to make a 32-hour workweek standard.

This "Great Reassessment" of labor feels revolutionary. But we have been here before. In 1933, the Senate passed, and President Franklin Roosevelt supported, a bill to reduce the standard workweek to only 30 hours.

Americans have worked hard, perhaps too hard, since the Colonial era. English and other European colonists often had to work longer and harder on farms here than in the Old World, and a philosophy of working from sunrise to sunset prevailed, according to the Economic History Association. The Massachusetts colony even passed a law requiring a 10-hour minimum workday.

Enslaved people, whose labor profits were stolen, generally worked 10-16 hours a day, six days a week. Some studies estimate that when slavery ended, the hours African Americans spent working fell by 26-35 percent.

In the 1830s, workers in manufacturing were on the job roughly 70 hours a week, often in horrendous and even deadly conditions. By the 1890s that had dropped to about 60 hours. This period also saw the rise of labor unions, the creation of Labor Day as a national holiday, Grand Eight Hours Leagues and the motto "Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight hours for what you will." At that time, "what you will" did not include Saturday; workweeks were generally six days with only Sunday off.

The eight-hour day picked up in popularity in the decades preceding the Great Depression. Federal workers, railroad workers and Ford Motor Co. employees all moved to eight-hour shifts. CEO Henry Ford first instituted a six-day, 48-hour workweek for male factory workers in 1914, according to History.com. In 1926, a five-day, 40-hour workweek was extended to all employees, along with a pay raise. Ford argued that his employees were more productive in fewer hours; critics were skeptical they could be productive enough to make up the difference.

Then came the stock market crash, the Great Depression and record-high unemployment. After an underwhelming response from President Herbert Hoover, he faced New York Gov. Franklin Roosevelt in the 1932 election. Shorter work hours was a major issue among voters, and both candidates had ideas, according to historian Benjamin Hunnicutt in his book "Work Without End: Abandoning Shorter Hours for the 'Right to Work.'" Roosevelt, a Democrat, pushed federal legislation to establish shorter work hours -- something he had already done at the state level in New York -- while Hoover backed voluntary share-the-work drives. The idea was that if workers had shorter hours, no one would be unemployed, even if everyone ended up making less money, though unions were also pushing for a decent federal minimum wage.

After Roosevelt won the election but before he took office, Sen. Hugo Black, D-Ala., introduced a bill backed by the American Federation of Labor to temporarily shorten the workweek drastically, to only 30 hours -- six hours a day, five days a week. For a while, it had Roosevelt's support, and he began negotiating with business leaders behind closed doors; if they would shorten the workweek to 30 hours voluntarily, then he would go easy on antitrust reforms, he said, according to Hunnicutt.

As soon as Roosevelt took office on March 4, 1933, he called Congress into a special session -- what would become its most productive streak in history. Over the next 100 days, Roosevelt and his Cabinet guided more than a dozen major bills through the House and Senate, stabilizing the banking system, regulating Wall Street, subsidizing farmers and getting relief checks into the hands of the unemployed.

Amid this flurry, on April 6, the Senate passed Black's 30-hour week bill 53-30 in a bipartisan vote. Supporters claimed it would create 6 million jobs, The Washington Post reported. It was expected to pass the House, and Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins was publicly supportive.

Business leader were up in arms. "Instead of looking at the increase in leisure as inevitable or as potentially beneficial," Hunnicutt wrote, they feared that if workers got a taste of a 30-hour week, they would never want to go back, and the law would become permanent. Men of industry held emergency meetings in Chicago and Philadelphia, and Perkins, who also supported a federal minimum wage, was flooded with messages of opposition.

Meanwhile at the White House, as Roosevelt worked on a comprehensive recovery plan, he began to turn against the 30-hour week. What if, rather than sharing available work, there was just more work? As the plan for a massive public-works program took shape, support for the 30-hour week collapsed. Instead, Roosevelt used the threat of it as leverage to get industry leaders to agree to ban child labor, set a modest minimum wage and limit the standard workweek at 40 hours, Hunnicutt wrote.

The resulting National Industrial Recovery Act was a triumph, but one that didn't last. Two years later, in May 1935, the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in a decision that so angered Roosevelt he threatened to expand the court.

In 1938, the minimum wage, 40-hour week and child labor ban returned in the form of the Fair Labor Standards Act. This time, Perkins asked Department of Labor lawyers to draft a law that had a better chance of passing judicial scrutiny. And they had another ace in their sleeve - a few months earlier, Roosevelt had nominated his first justice for the Supreme Court. He chose Hugo Black.

For decades, the 40-hour week has endured, but it didn't seem like it would in the beginning. As Joe Pinsker of the Atlantic pointed out in June, many economists once assumed we would be working fewer than 40 hours by now. In 1956, even then-Vice President Richard Nixon predicted a 32-hours, four-day workweek in the "not too distant future."

It hasn't happened yet. In fact, in a 2014 Gallup poll, half of full-time employed respondents reported working 41 hours or more per week; 18 percent said they worked more than 60. Only 8 percent said they worked 39 hours or less.

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How can offshore wind protect the oceans? – Energy Live News – Energy Made Easy

Posted: at 6:08 am

Where should offshore wind projects be developed to protect marine life?

A new 800,000 research project from the University of Aberdeen and University of Highlands and Islands has been set up to determine just that.

Funded by rsted, the project will dive into fish migration patterns and monitor these areas of oceans and seas to ensure wildlife is not being damaged in the quest to build more renewables.

The research will also look to see how climate change is impacting the habitats of fish, seabirds and marine mammals and make sure to avoid areas that could disrupt the local food chain.

Professor Beth Scott, who is co-leading the project, stated: This is a very exciting project that brings a proactive approach to determining the reasons why some locations in our seas may be safer to use for wind farm developments than others.

The project will divestraight into the ecological mechanisms that make fish available as prey to seabirds and mammals such that we can better predict where mobile animals will choose to forage now and into a future driven by climate change.

If you enjoyed this story you can sign up to our weekly email forEnergy Live News and if youre interested in hearing more about the journey to net zero by 2050, you can also sign up to thefuture Net Zeronewsletter.

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What Does It Take To Sail Aging Offshore Projects Through a Sea of Troubled Waters? – Journal of Petroleum Technology

Posted: at 6:08 am

Few things in the oil and gas industry grab quite as much attention as the discovery of a new, untapped offshore field with a few billion or so barrels in the ground. One that eventually sprawls into a complex of wells that take years to be drilled. All the while, driving a mass of workers and welders at some distant yard to build the towering facilities that will bring in first oil.

But once a greenfield turns a darker shade, the margin for error narrows. Things dont quite work the way they were supposed to. Thats when engineers need to step back in and work the problem.

BP has faced this reality recently at its heavy-oil field offshore the Shetland Islands where waterflooding problems are clogging up injection wells in a big way. Across the ocean, Talos Energy suffered from a different unexpected issue when a reliable but depleting asset suddenly lost most of its pressure support in the Gulf of Mexico. Sometimes the big problem is smaller in scale but still calls for critical action to be taken, such as a leaking subsea wellbore.

Each of these scenarios represent the backdrop of technical papers presented by a disparate cast of engineers at SPEs Offshore Europe which was held virtually last week. Their work and presentations reveal how continuous improvements and innovative thinking are key ingredients to properly caring for aging assets. Highlights and links to the full papers for download are below.BP Pumps Up The Volume To Keep Shetland Wells Kicking

Source: BP/ SPE 205426.

BP operates the Schiehallion heavy-oil field located 175 km off the west coast of the Shetland Islands where production began in 1998. In SPE 205426, the London-based operator along with Schlumberger and an equipment supplier, explain what it has recently taken to sustain the field which is one of the largest still producing in UK waters.

The Schiehallion field has had documented production issues and, along with two satellite fields, may have peaked in 2018 at 106,000 B/D before seeing a decline of at least 25%. This is according to S&P Global which pointed out that in 2020, Chrysaor, a 10% stakeholder, pegged output from Schiehallion at 60,000 BOE/D.

The production shortfalls started soon after a new floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel was brought to the field in 2017. By then, the development strategy had become almost entirely reliant on being able to pump around 320,000 B/D of water into 36 injector wells. In each, a mix of seawater and all of the fields produced water is reinjected.

BP favors produced water reinjection (PWRI) in this project and elsewhere around the world to mitigate environmental impactsbut theres a big catch for the business case.

If you are going to do PWRI, you do have to think long term, said Alistair Roy at the conference. You always start off and see waterits all very nice. Your long horizontals work great, and then you start pushing this stuff down towards [the wells] that doesnt really help the equation.

Roy is a principal petroleum engineer with BP and one of the coauthors of the paper thats titled Pump Up the VolumeMassive Water Injection Increase Through Open Water Stimulations. It lays out the dilemma facing BP at Schiehallion and why it is now likely to depend on regular subsea interventions in order to perform.

Less than a year after commissioning the new FPSO, some of the injector wells started seeing up to 75% losses in their injectivity capacity. Subsequently, all 36 have suffered to varying degrees.

BP realizes that there are likely a few damage mechanisms at play, including residual oil droplets, sand grains, and calcite particles that have all been found in the fields produced water.

This meant that part of the solution would require BP to get moving on improving the injection water quality to at least slow down the worsening conditions. Meanwhile, the first order problem remained how to remediate the plugging that had already strangled injectivity across the development.

For that, BP designed a subsea intervention operation that would have to escalate in scope and sophistication in order to deliver economies of scale.

On the first three wells, BP contracted a single construction vessel to deliver individual subsea well treatments. The first stimulation was performed on a producing well in 2018 and then the focus was squarely on injectors.

A pair of injector wells stimulated in 2019 saw their combined injectivity capacity jump by around 20,000 B/D of water. Sustained improvements were enjoyed for more than a year, spurring BP to continue with an 8-well campaign in 2020.

However, the vessel of opportunity hired for those first jobs only had basic pumping capability and storage available, BP said in the paper. In lacking all the specs BP ultimately decided it needed for its acid and chemical treatments, the single-vessel approach drove up project costs by spending significant periods on loading, tank cleaning, port calls, and connected time.

BP also suffered high last-mile costs because it relied on tanker trucks to deliver the remediation chemicals to a remote island port without experience in handling the potentially hazardous materials.

This is why for the 2020 campaign BP planners decided to pump up the volume by adding a purpose-built stimulation vessel to the mix. By switching to a two-vessel strategy, BP gained efficiencies and more pumping muscle that enabled rates as high as 8 bpm vs. less than 5 bpm. Some of the high-level results:

Source: BP/ SPE 205426.

In terms of accomplishing its ultimate objective, BP reports that only 4 of the 10 injector wells sustained improved injectivity rates for longer than a few months post-stimulation.

Each of the successful cases involve wells that operate at close to or above the formation's fracture gradient. This point is something the paper's authors said might need to be replicated in other wells to achieve better results, yet its not as straightforward as that.

Operating at the fracture gradient, however, can be incompatible with delivering conformance in long horizontal multizone wells. For PWRI systems, choices may have to be made to focus on maintaining water volumes at the expense of conformance, the paper reads.

Aside from this, the short-lived improvements seen in most of the injectors has only increased the priority to solve for the root causethe poor quality of the injection water. At the top of its longer-term to-do list is upgrading the PWRI system with filters and solids-removal capabilities.

In its shorter-term stimulation plans for the other injectors, BP is considering making improvements that may include using a different acid, adding chelating agents, scale treatments, and the use of a single vessel with greater capabilities.

BP lists several more of its most important lessons learned from this project in its paper and notes that there are more than 100 subsea wells off the Shetland coast that may be candidates for similarly aggressive chemical treatments.Why Talos Had to Do US Deepwaters First Dumpflood

Source: Talos Energy/SPE 205449.

In presenting one of the non-European papers, SPE 205449, Houston-based Talos offers a detailed account of how and why it completed the first dumpflood operation in the deepwater US Gulf.

Faced with a small footprint to solve the problem, the largest pure-play independent in the Gulf was ultimately able to prop up production from the field. Time will tell if the positive outcome has offered a template for other deepwater assets in urgent need of a boost.

The dumpflood operation involved drilling a well in 2020 to tap into a saline aquifer that is above the Tornado reservoir. By the time the paper was submitted for the conference, Talos was using that single wellbore to inject around 20,000 B/D of aquifer water into the lower formation and seeing 4,000 B/D improvement above pre-injection levels from the reservoir's first two producers.

Discovered in 2016, the Tornado field is far from qualifying as one of the most mature projects in the region but it has certainly seen some growing pains.

Bilal Hakim, a coauthor and senior reservoir engineer at Talos, noted during his paper presentation that the first two wells came on strong and held steady at a combined output of about 50,000 B/D. Then, after about 3 years of bountiful production, "severe pressure and rate declines started to affect the performance of the reservoir," Hakim related, adding that this meant there was "an imminent need for pressure support."

Whereas initial pressures were above 14,000 psi, now the bottomhole was measuring at just 6,000 psi. Instead of being a aquifer-driven reservoir, as was first believed, Talos was seeing the signs of what is described in the paper as a "predominate depletion drive or very weak waterdrive system."

Despite the situation, with excellent oil mobility and reservoir connectivity, Hakim said the modeling suggested a waterflood would be ideal. If Talos could figure out a way to do it, recovery rates might reach as high as 4555% which Hakim noted would effectively be double primary recovery from the field. In June, Talos reported that 34 million BOE had already been produced.

Several options to achieve a new lease the life of field were considered but were for one reason or another ruled out.

The constraints led technical staff at Talos to go with a dumpflood using a natural source of water at about 19,000 ft total depth to drive up pressures in the oil producing reservoir that is about 1,000 ft deeper. A final decision came after a study concluded that the aquifer water posed a low-risk for reservoir combability.

The company emphasizes that deepwater dumpfloods are rarely performed, and Hakim said the reservoir team could find no evidence that one had ever been done before in the deepwater of the US Gulf. He added that where dumpfloods are more commonly applied includes shallower US Gulf shelf locations that rely on dry tree platforms and in onshore fields.

It is also often the case that the dumpfloods are conducted without flow control or surveillance systems, which of course keeps costs down. However, this blind setup is far from desirable when the fate of offshore wells that each cost tens of millions of dollars is in question. So, Talos added those elements, e.g., inflow control valves, a downhole flowmeter, and permanent downhole pressure gauges.

Outside of the scope of the paper, but noteworthy, Talos executives said in an August earnings call that a third Tornado well drilled this year outperformed the 8,000 to 10,000 BOE/D initial production rate it had expected. The company also reported that its dumpflood injection rate has been bumped up to 30,000 B/D of water. Disposable Fiber Hunts Down Wellbore Leaks in Minutes

Source: Well-Sense.

In SPE 205425, Well-Sense Technology presented details on the successful deployment of a disposable fiber-optic probe in a North Sea well. The technology represents a new and rapid way to detect leaks in aging wellbores and was recently licensed by one of the oilfield service giants which has onshore ambitions.

Launched down a shut-in well (of an unnamed offshore operator), a probe weighing almost 16 lbs and full of coiled-up fiber line, fell to a depth of 8,850 ft in just 16 minutes.

Less than a half hour later, the wellbore leak was found.

These case study stats are possible thanks to the fibers visualized temperature and acoustic data that left no question as to the source of the problem. The data also showed how fluids were moving through the leak, traveling up and down the lower section of the annulus.

Founded in 2015, Well-Sense calls the approach fiberline intervention (FLI) and has so far used it in about 120 wells around the world.

The UK-based technology developer notes in its paper that around 30% of the industry's subsea wells are believed to suffer from sustained casing/annulus pressure which poses risks for both late-stage production and decommissioning.

Source: Well-Sense/SPE 205425.

Once an FLI survey is done, the surface launcher is removed, and the fiber system is simply left inside the wellbore. At less than a quarter of a millimeter in diameter, the bare glass fiber will eventually soften and break apart once the well is flowing again.

This is according to Kevin Rose, an applications engineer at Well-Sense, who spoke at the industry conference about the technology. He described leak detection as the spotlight application while addressing the capabilities and limitations of the emerging technology.

It doesnt always workit depends on the well, said Rose, adding that Well-Sense has sharpened its definition of an ideal FLI candidate since its earliest days. That has pushed the firms success rate of reaching a desired depth to around 80%.

Well operators have traditionally relied on acoustic devices installed on bottomhole assemblies that must move down the well and stop once in a while to listen for the signs of a leak. Rose said a fiberline probe not only moves down the well much faster but that you also get a richer picture than you would have if you were manipulating a work string up and down in a wellbore.

In July, Halliburton announced it was licensing the FLI technology with the hopes of expanding its application to crosswell communication monitoring, an increasingly popular diagnostic used in US shale developments.

SPE 205425 Disposable Fibre Optic Intervention System: Case Study of Successful Leak Detection Offshore North Sea by Craig Feherty, Andrew Garioch, and Annabel Green, Well-Sense

SPE 205449 First Successful Controlled Dumpflood in Deepwater Gulf of Mexico Results in Promising Incremental Rate and Recovery, by Bilal A. Hakim, Brandon Thibodeaux, Chris Brinkman, Joe Gomes, Kevin Smith, Ryan Cone, and Tom Messonnier, Talos Energy

SPE 205426 Pump Up the VolumeMassive Water Injection Increase through Open Water Stimulations by Alistair Roy and Anastasia Bird, BP; Samuel Bremner, Schlumberger; Lara Winstone, BP; Rustam Hashimov,OneSubsea; Doug Weir, BP; Judith Espinoza Perez, Maxtube Limited

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Global Offshore Oil & Gas Decommissioning Market is Projected to Reach a Market value of US$17,099 Million by 2031: Visiongain Research Inc -…

Posted: at 6:08 am

Visiongain has published a new report on Global Offshore Oil & Gas Decommissioning Market Forecast 2021-2031: - Market Segment by Technology (Jackside & Topside Removal, Well Intervention Vessels and Systems, Cutting and Severing, Heavy Lift Technologies) Market Segment byStructure (Fixed Platforms, Compliant Towers (CT), Caissons, Mobile Offshore Production Units (MOPU), Well Protectors (WP), Subsea Templates (SSTMP)) Market Segment by Technique (Well Plugging and Abandonment, Pipeline Decommissioning, Platform Decommissioning, Umbilical Decommissioning, Subsea Structure Decommissioning) Market Segment by Removal (Leave in Place, Partial Removal, Toppled in Place, Complete Removal) Market Segment by Services (Project management & Compliance, Mobilization & Demobilization of Derrick Barges, Materials Disposal, Site Clearance, Conductor & Power Cable Removal, Other Decommissioning Services) Market Segment by Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle East & Africa) PLUS COVID-19 Impact Analysis and Recovery Pattern Analysis (V-shaped, W-shaped, U-shaped, L-shaped) Profiles of Leading Companies, Region and Country.

Global Offshore Oil & Gas Decommissioning Market Outlook

According to Visiongain analysis, global offshore oil & gas decommissioning market was valued at US$9,235 million in 2020 and is projected to reach at a market value of US$17,099 million by 2031. The global market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.8% during the forecast period 2021-2031.

Download Exclusive Sample of Report @ https://www.visiongain.com/report/offshore-oil-gas-decommissioning-market-2021/#download_sampe_div

Key Questions Answered by this Report:

What is the current size of the overall global offshore oil & gas decommissioning market? How much will this market be worth from 2021 to 2031?

What are the main drivers and restraints that will shape the overall offshore oil & gas decommissioning market over the next ten years?

What are the main segments within the overall offshore oil & gas decommissioning market?

How much will each of these segments be worth for the period 2021 to 2031?

How will the composition of the market change during that time, and why?

What factors will affect that industry and market over the next ten years?

What are the largest national markets for the world offshore oil & gas decommissioning?

What is their current status and how will they develop over the next ten years?

What are their revenue potentials to 2031?

How will political and regulatory forces influence regional markets?

How will market shares of the leading national markets change by 2031, and which geographical region will lead the market in 2031?

Who are the leading companies and what are their activities, results, developments and prospects?

What are the leading offshore oil & gas decommissioning? What are their revenues and latest developments?

What are some of the most prominent offshore oil & gas decommissioning currently in development?

What are the main trends that will affect the world offshore oil & gas decommissioning market between 2021 and 2031?

What are the main strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the market?

What are the social, technological, economic and political influences that will shape that industry over the next ten years?

How will the global offshore oil & gas decommissioning market evolve over the forecasted period, 2021 to 2031?

What will be the main commercial drivers for the market from 2021 to 2031?

How will market shares of prominent national markets change from 2021, and which countries will lead the market in 2031, achieving highest revenues and fastest growth?

How will that industry evolve between 2021 and 2031, especially in R&D?

Who are the leading players analysed in this market study?

Story continues

Halliburton Company NYSE: HAL

Petrofac Limited LON: PFC

Baker Hughes Co NYSE: BKR

Weatherford International Plc. WFRD (NASDAQ)

Schlumberger N.V. SLB (NYSE)

Subsea 7 S.A. SOCA (FRA)

TechnipFMC Plc FTI (NYSE)

John Wood Group PLC WG (LON)

Ramboll

Oceaneering International, Inc. OII (NYSE)

Royal Dutch Shell RDSA (LON)

Aker Solutions ASA AKRTF (OTCMKTS)

DNV

Occidental Petroleum Corporation OXY (NYSE)

Saipem SpA SPM (BIT)

Heerema Marine Contractors

Claxton Engineering

DeepOcean Group

AF Gruppen ASA AF8 (FRA)

Bureau Veritas SA BVI (EPA)

Get Detailed TOC @ https://www.visiongain.com/report/offshore-oil-gas-decommissioning-market-2021/#download_sampe_div

Adoption of Modern Technologies in Offshore Oil & Gas Decommissioning is gaining traction in the global market. Find out why.

Advancements in drilling technology, dynamic positioning equipment and floating production and drilling units have made prospects that were previously thought unreachable, viable. Increased exploration activities in offshore locations will increase the demand for drilling equipment that mitigates well damage and enhances production.

Discover sales predictions for the global offshore oil & gas decommissioning market and submarkets.

The growing number of ageing offshore oil and gas platforms and declining crude oil prices have not been significant factors in the forecast time frame for the market's high growth rate. Along with revenue prediction for the overall world market, there are 5 segmentation's of the offshore oil & gas decommissioning market, with forecasts for 4 Technology, 6 Structure, 5 Techniques, 4 Removal, 6 Services each forecasted at a global and regional level, along with COVID-19 impact recovery pattern analysis for all segments.

Find quantitative and qualitative analyses with independent predictions. Receive information that only our report contains, staying informed with this invaluable business intelligence.

To access the data contained in this document please email contactus@visiongain.com

Information found nowhere elseWith our newly report title, you are less likely to fall behind in knowledge or miss out on opportunities. See how our work could benefit your research, analyses, and decisions. Visiongain's study is for everybody needing commercial analyses for the Offshore Oil & Gas Decommissioning Market, and leading companies. You will find data, trends and predictions.

Find more research reports on the Oil & Gas Industry, please click on the following links:

Do you have any custom requirements we can help you with? Any need for a specific country, geo region, market segment or specific company information? Contact us today, we can discuss your needs and see how we can help: catherine.walker@visiongain.com

About Visiongain

Visiongain is one of the fastest growing and most innovative, independent, market intelligence around, the company publishes hundreds of market research reports which it adds to its extensive portfolio each year. These reports offer in-depth analysis across 18 industries worldwide. The reports cover a 10-year forecast, are hundreds of pages long, with in depth market analysis and valuable competitive intelligence data. Visiongain works across a range of vertical markets, which currently can influence one another, these markets include automotive, aviation, chemicals, cyber, defense, energy, food & drink, materials, packaging, pharmaceutical and utilities sectors. Our customized and syndicated market research reports means that you can have a bespoke piece of market intelligence customized to your very own business needs.

Contact:

Catherine WalkerPR at Visiongain Inc.Tel: + 44 0207 336 6100USA Tel: + 1 718 682 4567EU Tel: + 353 1 695 0006Toll Free: 00-1-646-396-5129Email: catherine.walker@visiongain.comWeb: https://www.visiongain.comFollow Us: LinkedIn | Twitter

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Global Offshore Oil & Gas Decommissioning Market is Projected to Reach a Market value of US$17,099 Million by 2031: Visiongain Research Inc -...

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Companies in bid to raise record sums from offshore bonds – Mint

Posted: at 6:08 am

MUMBAI :India companies are set to raise a record amount of capital in the offshore debt market, beating their pre-pandemic high, as foreign investors, looking to rebalance their portfolios, chase their bonds.

With bond yields at a historical low, fundraising activity in the offshore bond market is on its way to surpassing the $21 billion record set in 2019. This year, Indian companies have raised as much as $19 billion, according to data from Dealogic.

Companies such as Tata Motors Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd, and Axis Bank Ltd have raised global bonds this year at the cheapest rates for their respective credit ratings, compared with similar-rated companies in the Asia Pacific region or even globally.

Right now, its a sweet spot in the global debt capital markets (DCM). The kind of reception investors are giving to Indian issuances is why a few of the recent transactions achieved record-breaking competitive pricing. TML Holdings Pte Ltd (a wholly owned unit of Tata Motors) did a $450 million Reg S only bond in June 2021, and the pricing for it was the tightest ever yield that any issuer in that rating category had achieved in the entire Asia-Pacific history of bond markets," said Bhavik Pandya, head, South and South-East Asia DCM, Bank of America.

A similar theme played out in the case of HDFC Bank on their $1 billion AT1 bond issuance, where they attracted a 3.7% coupon, which was the tightest ever pricing for a bank AT1 instrument in that rating category globally. Similarly, for the Axis Bank AT1 bond issuance, they got the tightest yield globally for their rating category," Pandya added.

These transactions demonstrate that investors are willing to buy India exposure at prices they will not offer to any other market. There is a big positive shift in investor appetite towards India underpinned by investors looking at alternatives as they realign portfolios. They are finding a safe haven in quality credits from India," he said.

Investor appetite for Indian companies bonds has also attracted many first-time issuers to the market, including cash-rich technology companies.

Weve seen a boom of debut/inaugural offshore bond issuances from India. Wipro Ltd and HCL Technologies Ltd were debut bonds done in 2021, which got exceptional pricing. That is again a testament to the fact that global investors are very comfortable buying quality issuances from India," said Pandya.

The strong demand is also allowing Indian companies to raise longer tenure debt with maturity of as much as 10 to 20 years in some cases.

In current interest rate environment, investors are willing to extend the duration of portfolio while wanting to retain exposure to top quality credits. This theme is visible with a number of longer dated instruments that have been priced including inaugural 20-year tranche from Adani Ports and SEZ which was highly oversubscribed. Investors are comfortable with the credit quality of Indian issuers and in search for higher yields, are willing to invest in longer dated fixed rate instruments, offering issuers an exceptional opportunity to lock-in long term rates," said Pandya.

Another major theme thats driving the Indian bond offerings is the focus on ESG (environment, social and governance).

We expect to see more activity in the offshore bonds market as Indian companies continue to take advantage of favorable market conditions. Beyond diversification from Indias domestic bond markets, sustainability-themed targets emerged as a significant key driver that could potentially continue to push forth activity. ESG-related bond issuance in the offshore dollar debt markets by Indian companies raised US$6.6 billion, almost 40% of the Indian US-dollar denominated bond proceeds so far this year. Indian companies are anticipated to tap into the growing pool of capital from investors tracking environmental, social and governance factors," said Elaine Tan, Senior Analyst, Deals Intelligence at Refinitiv, a financial markets tracker.

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China: Typhoon Chanthu stalls offshore and begins to weaken – Frontline

Posted: at 6:08 am

In China,Typhoon Chanthu,whichhad been churning towards the city of Shanghai, appeared to have stopped short of making landfall on September 13. While there hasstill been strong wind and heavy rain, its believed it would have been far worse had it made landfall.

The AP news agencyreported that transport links have been largely restored in the populous city,after flights at bothPudong and Hongqiao airports were suspended. State-affiliated media reported that both airports are operational.

As Chanthu made its approach, authoritiesordered the evacuation of around 100,000 people, state media reported. Trains and subway stations were also shut, along with schools and offices. The China Meteorological association said the typhoon was lingering 225 kilometers (140 miles) east of Shanghai.

The system wasexpected to move in a northeasterly direction towards South Korea and Japan in the coming days.

Taiwan was soaked as the eye of the storm passed nearby, dropping 13 centimeters (5 inches) of rainfall. In JulyTyphoon In-fa also disrupted flightsand prompted evacuations in the southern part of the city. Severe flooding caused by record rainfall in July also led to the deaths of at least 292 people inthe city of Zhengzhou, in central China.

kb/rc (AP, AFP)

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Scientists Reveal Plan to Cool the World Through Geoengineering – Futurism

Posted: at 6:07 am

It involves creating whiter, more reflective clouds. Marine Cloud Brightening

From carbon capture machinesto covering glaciers with giant blankets, theres no shortage of ideas on how to combat the effects of anthropogenic climate change. Now, a team of atmospheric scientists want to create whiter clouds that reflect more sunlight to cool down the Earth.

The project, first spotted byInteresting Engineering, focuses on a theoretical method of geoengineering known as marine cloud brightening. The way it works is fairly straightforward: brighter, white clouds reflect more sunlight away from the planet and back into space so if we can make more, in theory, we can cool down Earth.

With that goal in mind, researchers at the University of Washington, the Palo Alto Research Center, and the Pacific Northwest National Library have teamed up to create an initiative theyre calling the Marine Cloud Brightening (MCB) Project. Its an open, international collaboration of atmospheric scientists researching the potential of using marine cloud brightening to help cool down the Earth, according toa University of Washington blog post about the project.

The MCB Project has a three-phase research process focused on developing spray technology to send microscopic particles of seawater into the skies to help brighten low-lying clouds. Each phase will undergo review by independent authorities, according to a fact sheet about the project, to ensure that the tech doesnt inadvertently harm the atmosphere.

If it works, the team believes that cloud brightening could cool the atmosphere enough a substantial increase in atmospheric carbon, potentially buying time to save the planet from climate change.

In all, its an ambitious plan. However, its important to keep in mind that this is a Band-Aid solution at best, and that geoengineering of any type faces a serious uphill battle in the public and scientific communities.

The real solution is probably more along the line of drastically reducing carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels and dont hold your breath.

READ MORE: Ship Tracks Over the Ocean Inspire Researchers For a Way to Cool the Earth [Interesting Engineering]

More on geoengineering: UAE Says Rainstorms Were Caused by Its Cloud Seeding Drones

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Elon Musk: Tesla Self-Driving Will Be Able to Dodge UFOs That Crash Into Roadway – Futurism

Posted: at 6:07 am

"Im not saying there are UFOs but there are UFOs."Swerve!

Tesla recently released the 10th version of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software feature, an optional $10,000 add-on that allows its vehicles to take care of a good deal of driving but not all of it, as the name deceptively suggests.

And the feature may have yet another quirky ability hidden up its sleeve, as Tesla CEO Elon Musk suggested on Twitter this week.

FSD 10 predicts height from video pixels directly, without needing to classify groups of pixels into objects, Musk explained in the tweet. In principle, even if a UFO crashed on the road right in front of you, it would still avoid the debris.

Musk also couldnt help himself, donning a tinfoil hat for some tongue-in-cheek humor.

Im not saying there are UFOs but there are UFOs, he wrote in a followup tweet, drawing a hailstorm of sarcastic comments, and theories from the Twittersphere.

Tesla may have made some big advances in its self-driving tech, but the software hasnt always been able to spot the occasional and obvious roadway obstruction. Last month, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a formal investigation into the carmaker over its self-driving feature causing collisions with with emergency response vehicles.

Whether the new FSD beta will solve those issues remains to be seen. The beta is still limited to a restricted number of early testers.

In a tweet last month, Musk claimed that Tesla is aiming for 1000percent safer than the average human driver. But the proof is in the pudding the same goes for the existence of alien UFOs.

More on Musk: Elon Musk Furious at Law That Would Reward Unionized EV Companies

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Startup Says Anyone New Jetpack Is So Simple That Anyone Can Fly It – Futurism

Posted: at 6:07 am

Its designed for workers to fly around construction sites.Just Add Jets

Engineers in England say theyve developed a jetpack so simplethat anyone can safely fly it with minimal training.

Maverick Aviation says the jetpack can travel up to 30mph, according to a statement obtained by Construction Global. Its designed come with an easy learning curve, and even has an auto-pilot system installed.

What is unique about what were doing is the computer-controlled autopilot system that makes flying effortless and easy to control with precision, co-founder Antony Quinnsaid in the statement. Thats how we have changed jetpacks from exciting to useful.

Whether any of thatll hold up in the real world is far from clear. The company said that it doesnt plan to test fly its jetpack with a human next summer.

Quinn says the jetpack was designed specifically with construction and engineering workers in mind. Its ease-of-use will mean a lower cost of training,he said, so youre going to have all sorts of professionals suddenly able to work in the most inaccessible environments quickly and safely.

I realized that the growing onshore and offshore wind industry really needed a solution like this, he said. Their engineers climb up ladders inside these structures for hours each day and, in an emergency situation, its almost impossible to get down quickly. Drones can be useful for inspections, but in many circumstances, you need to get an engineer up there.

Of course, jetpacks in construction and engineering sites raise a whole host of questions about safety and liability. Jetpacks are notoriously unsafe, which has sandbagged any shot at mainstream adoption for decades.

For one, just because its easy-to-use doesnt necessarily mean its safe. You would also hope that workers undergo rigorous training in order to use them. Thats also especially important when you consider the fact that people have died flying jet packs before (granted, those jet packs were designed for stunt flying).

And, again, the company may be circulating a pompous press release, but the fact is that it hasnt even tested this thing in the real world yet.

READ MORE: Maverick Aviation unveils jetpack for use in construction [Construction Global]

More on jetpacks: A Startup Is Selling Jetpacks to an Undisclosed Military Customer

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Scientists Create 3,000 TB Simulation of the Universe You Can Download – Futurism

Posted: at 6:07 am

Here's how you can download it and start exploring the universe at home.No Mans Sky

Researchers have created what they say is the largest computer simulation of the universe, and have made the data available for anyone to download for free.

An international team associated with the Center for Computational Astrophysics created the virtual universe using ATERUI II, the worlds most powerful astronomical supercomputer, according to a press release by the organization. Dubbed Uchuu (the Japanese word for outer space), the simulation contains a staggering 2.1 trillion particles spanning 9.6 billion virtual light-years. Thats big. Real big.

Scientists believe that Uchuu is the most realistic simulation of the universe yet, modeling its evolution across more than 13 billion years. Specifically, according to Universe Today astrophysicist Brian Koberleins analysis, the model is specifically tuned to examine how dark matter behaves as the universe expands.

Uchuu is like a time machine: we can go forward, backward and stop in time, we can zoom in on a single galaxy or zoom out to visualize a whole cluster, we can see what is really happening at every instant and in every place of the universe from its earliest days to the present, being an essential tool to study the cosmos, said Julia F. Ereza, a PhD student at the Instituto de Astrofsica de Andaluca in Spain who worked on the research, in the press release.

To create Uchuu, the team used 40,200 computer cores. It took more 20 million computer hours to create the simulation, resulting in a boggling 3,000 terabytes of data. However, they were able to compress it all into a measly 100 TB.

For reference, the largest consumer hard drive you can currently buy is currently hovering around 20 terabytes. If you have the storage space, though, you can access and download the raw data from Uchuu on skiesanduniverses.org and its GitHub page. And if you want to dive even deeper, the team published a paper of their findings the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

READ MORE: Researchers Generated an Entire Virtual Universe, And You Can Even Download It [ScienceAlert]

More on simulations:SpaceX Tourists Mission Simulation Included Life-Threatening Situation

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