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Oilfield Technology
September
2016
September 2016
World news
Wood Group wins frame
agreement with Wintershall
Wood Group has been awarded a new
frame agreement by Wintershall Norge AS
to tender for provision of modification
and maintenance services to assets in the
Norwegian continental shelf (NCS).
The four year frame agreement, which
has two three-year extension options and
is effective immediately, will be delivered
from Wood Group’s offices in Sandefjord,
Stavanger, Bergen, Oslo and Moss.
Robin Watson, Wood Group
Chief Executive, said: “Wood Group has been
active on the NCS for more than 20 years
and Norway remains a key market for us
where we continue to see opportunities to
strengthen our presence and leverage our
technical expertise across our broad portfolio
of capabilities.
“We will bring our depth of knowledge
of the Norwegian sector to this new contract
with Wintershall Norge where our focus will
be on working collaboratively with our client
to deliver maintenance and modification
services.”
BP and CNPC sign Chinese
shale gas contract
BP has announced that it has signed a
second production sharing contract (PSC)
for shale gas exploration, development
and production with China National
Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). The
PSC, signed on 27 July, covers an area of
approximately 1000 km
2
at Rong Chang Bei
in the Sichuan Basin. In March 2016, BP
and CNPC signed their first shale gas PSC
on the adjoining Neijiang-Dazu block. As
with the earlier contract, CNPC will operate
the Rong Chang Bei PSC.
“We are pleased to be making further
progress in our strategic partnership with
CNPC and deepening our business in
China. This second shale gas PSC in China
builds on the successful cooperation we
are already seeing with the Neijiang-Dazu
PSC signed in March,” said Bob Dudley,
BP Group Chief Executive.
“Combining CNPC’s operational
expertise with BP’s technology and
experience, we now expect to leverage the
synergies between these blocks.”
Shell tests first subsea gas
compression system
Following an extensive, multi-year test
programme of Shell’s Ormen Lange
Pilot, GE Oil & Gas has announced
that A/S Norske Shell has successfully
completed system testing of the world’s
first subsea gas compression system with
a full subsea power supply, transmission
and distribution system that further
advances the development of hydrocarbon
processing on the seabed.
The Ormen Lange Pilot was the first
of its kind and was designed to test a
full-scale integrated subsea compression
system in submerged conditions with
real hydrocarbons. It has been run by
A/S Norske Shell and its license partners
Petoro, Statoil, Dong and ExxonMobil since
2011 at Shell’s test facility at Nyhamna
in Norway where the gas from the
Ormen Lange field reaches shore.
GE has been a key collaboration
partner with Shell in the development of
the compression system and supplied a
number of the technologies involved.
Petronas awards FTG
contract
Bell Geospace, the world leader in
Gravity Gradiometry, together with Onyx
Engineering, has been awarded a contract
by multinational exploration business,
Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS).
The contract, for 3D multi-client Full
Tensor Gradiometry (FTG) data acquisition,
processing and interpretative services,
will cover approximately 198 900 km
2
. The
provision of airborne FTG and magnetic
surveys will be undertaken over offshore
Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah
and will commence subject to pre-funding
requirements and approval by Petronas.
Bell Geospace will provide a variety
of expert services for the project. This will
allow current petroleum arrangement
contractors and potential bidders seeking
new exploration blocks, to quickly identify
prospective areas for quick and efficient
understanding of complex sub-surface
geology.
DNV GL specification to enable low cost in-service verification
One year on since the EU Directive on Safety of Offshore Oil and Gas Operations (2013/30/EU)
came into force, DNV GL is launching a service specification document designed to help
operators identify the key aspects, which benefit from third party verification during operations.
The specification for in-service verification supports the global oil and gas industry to cut costs
while maintaining safety and environmental performance levels.
DNV GL has produced this document to provide a framework for carrying out in-service
verification, which details a consistent and structured approach for assessing the condition of
critical barriers for offshore and onshore facilities in-service. Naturally, this is aimed at operators
within EU countries that need support on how to apply the new directive, but equally it can be
applied in countries with limited regulatory requirements where operators can take advantage
of a consistency in approach to safety barrier management.
In the EU, the directive is a major step forward for the industry to reduce the risk of
major accidents associated with offshore oil and gas operation. Implementation of in-service
verification activities will increase knowledge of the condition of critical plant. This will reduce
cost and bring time savings through avoiding undue attention to area that are low contributors
to risk.
“Our in-service verification services can be adopted for any oil and gas producing country,
regardless of the current extent of local legislative requirements. We have the competence and
experience in delivery of in-service verification services to support a risk-based approach to
safety,” said Astri Haukerud.
DNV GL was recently awarded a five-year contract to provide in-service verification
work for Wintershall Noordzee B.V.’s RAVN and A6-A platforms, in Denmark and Germany
respectively.
