Manup Industry Roundup - W1923: NEWSL -01
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The US offshore wind industry’s rapidly growing pipeline is made up of 51,377 megawatts (MW) of expected capacity, according to a new report from the American Clean Power Association.
The projects’ expected capacity, across 32 leases, is enough electricity to power the equivalent of more than 20 million homes.
Below are the oil and gas stories and news that made headlines this week carefully curated by Manup.
Oil & Gas Updates
Renewable Energy Watch
Oil & Gas Contract Awards Dip During First Quarter
Contract values disclosed by the oil and gas industry fell 48% in first-quarter 2023 compared with the previous quarter, according to GlobalData.
The consultant’s report, “Oil and Gas Industry Contracts Analytics by Sector (Upstream, Midstream and Downstream), Region, Planned and Awarded Contracts and Top Contractors, Q1 2023,” showed an overall contract value of $34.01 billion against $64.9 billion in fourth-quarter 2022.
Oil and gas analyst Pritam Katad said, “It appears the contract value momentum has slowed down due to high interest rates and a rising inflationary environment in the major economies. This could have potentially resulted in fewer high-value contracts during the quarter in the oil and gas space.”
Operation and maintenance (O&M) accounted for 57% of the contracts awarded in the first quarter, followed by a procurement scope with 17%, and contracts with multiple scopes, such as construction, design and engineering, installation, O&M, and procurement (14%).
Notable awards included Yinson’s 15-year contract extension (worth $5.3 billion) for charter and O&M services for Azule Energy’s Agogo FPSO offshore Angola; and a five-year, $2.6-billion contract for ADNOC Logistics & Services from ADNOC Offshore in the UAE.
Unveiling Of The World’s First Future-Ready Newbuild FPSO With Mega-Module Topsides
MISC, a Malaysian provider of offshore energy solutions and facilities, last Tuesday unveiled what it called a "future-ready Newbuild Floating Production Storage & Offloading (NBFPSO) Unit" at OTC Houston 2023.
It is the world’s first NBFPSO, which uses the Mega-Module topsides and incorporates sustainable technologies into the design, which makes it one of the largest and greenest NBFPSOs in the market.
The NBFPSO, known as Mega-Module Engineering & Green Architecture (MMEGA), capitalizes on its innovative mega-module topsides that minimize interfaces and improves system integration.
It reduces the overall engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning (EPCIC) schedule and optimizes the capital expenditure. With Combined Cycle Power Generation and an allelectric drive, MMEGA has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by nearly 40%, making it one of the greenest NBFPSOs. MMEGA is based on modern fifth-generation FPSOs for deepwater and ultra-deepwater fields, with high production capacity and longer field life.
MMEGA is poised to be one of the world’s largest and greenest FPSOs that incorporates proven sustainable solutions including all-electric drive for compression system, gas for reinjection and closed flare with combined cycle power generation system.
In recognition of its innovative and sustainable features, the MMEGA has been granted with Approval-in-Principle (AiP) and the SUSTAIN -1 notation by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS).
MMEGA comprises of a double-sided single-bottom hull and has been engineered to accommodate 8 topsides mega-modules, with a riser balcony at the port side that can hold up to 51 riser slots.
It is designed as a spread moored FPSO with a design life of 35 years. The topsides process and utility systems can process 225,000 bopd, 424 MMScfd of gas with 250,000 bpd of Water Injection and treat up to 60 mol% CO2 in the well stream. MMEGA is capable of storing 2 million bbls of oil and offloading 1 million bbls of oil in 24 hours.
Energy Workforce: U.S. Oilfield Employment Increased To Highest Levels Since March 2020
Employment in the U.S. oilfield services and equipment sector increased by 5,143 jobs to its highest level since March of 2020 to reach 662,454 in April, according to preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) after adjustments to March numbers and analysis by the Energy Workforce & Technology Council.
March adjusted number of 657,311 is up slightly from the preliminary number of 656,368. Gains in April were made in six of the seven categories tracked by Energy Workforce.
The April increase continues to bring the sector closer to pre-pandemic numbers of 706,528 in February 2020. Overall, U.S. employers added 253,000 jobs, the best gain since January and much higher than the 165,000 jobs added in March.
The participation rate remained at 62.6% in April, and the overall unemployment rate ticked down slightly to 3.4%, matching the lowest level since 1969.
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April state-by-state breakdown
Renewable Energy Watch
US Offshore Wind Pipeline Blows Past 51 GW
The American Clean Power Association (ACP) has released a report on the US offshore wind market, outlining a rapidly growing pipeline of projects across 32 leases totaling 51,377 MW of expected capacity which is enough to power the equivalent of more than 20 million homes.
Altough the US currently lags behind China and the UK in terms of installed offshore wind capacity, the increasing number of projects in development signals significant progress in a sector poised to play a critical role in creating an energy system powered by clean energy, ACP said.
Additionally, offshore wind project development, construction, and operations are expected to support up to 83,000 American jobs by 2030, with industry investment set to deliver up to USD 25 billion per year in economic output, according to an ACP report from 2020.
The Offshore Wind Market report outlines the crucial role that states are playing in driving US offshore wind procurement.
East Coast dominates with 84% of the development pipeline across 32 leases, accounting for 43.1 GW.
States like New York and New Jersey have set procurement targets totalling over 51 GW. In total, ten states have combined offshore wind targets of over 81 GW.
The new report emphasizes the economic impact of offshore wind on domestic shipbuilding, with more than 30 new vessels currently on order or under construction to support the industry.
The majority of them are crew transfer vessels (CTVs) like the one St. Johns Ship Building is manufacturing for Atlantic Wind Transfers, but there are also Jones Act-compliant service operation vessels (SOVs) ordered or under construction.
Seatrium To Build Offshore Platforms For BP & Equinor’s Empire Wind Projects
Seatrium Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sembcorp Marine Offshore Platforms (SMOP), has secured a contract from Empire Offshore Wind, a joint venture between Equinor and BP, to supply two offshore substations for the Empire Wind 1 and Empire Wind 2 offshore wind farms in the US.
The scope of the project involves the engineering, procurement, construction, offshore hook-up, and commissioning of two OSS platforms for the offshore wind farms located about 20 miles south of Long Island, east of the Rockaways.
Construction works on the 810 MW Empire Wind 1 platform and the 1,260 MW Empire Wind 2 platform are expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2023 and the second half of 2024, respectively, at Seatrium’s Singapore and Indonesia yards.
This contract, worth S USD 500 million (about USD 375 million), follows the completion of the Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) contract which was secured by SMOP in 2022.
The company is also constructing a wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) for deployment at the wind farms based on a design jointly developed with the customer Maersk Supply Service.
Maersk’s newbuild, which will feature Steerprop’s propulsion package, is scheduled to be completed in 2025.
The Empire Wind Phase 1 wind farm was selected in New York’s first-ever offshore wind solicitation in 2019 alongside Ørsted and Eversource Energy’s Sunrise Wind project.
The Empire Wind 2 was selected in the state’s offshore wind power solicitation in January 2021 together with their Beacon Wind 1 project south of Nantucket.
Equinor will be the operator through the development, construction, and operations phases of the projects.
The offshore wind farms will utilise Vestas V236-15.0 MW wind turbines and are expected to play a major role in meeting New York State’s goal of reaching 70% renewable energy by 2030, according to the developers.
Other stories we are following…
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