Page 13 - Euroil Week 16 2020

EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil
NAM prepares to shut down Groningen wells
NETHERLANDS
THE operator of the Netherlands’ giant Gronin- gen gas field has begun preparations for closing down its remaining wells, ahead of production halting in a few years.
The termination of the ten wells at the field’s Uiterburen area marks the start of the decom- missioning process, NAM, a consortium involv- ing Royal Dutch Shell and ExxonMobil, said in a statement on April 21. It will be the first field site to see its wells plugged permanently.
The Uiterburen area has been out of service since 2008, and its entire above-ground instal- lation has already been removed. The process of decommissioning its wells will run until August.
Groningen has been a cornerstone of Europe’s gas industry for decades, but it is due to be closed early in 2022 because of quakes caused by its production activities. The field once met gas demand in the Netherlands and neighbour- ing states. But its staged closure means the Neth- erlands is now a net importer of gas, reliant on supplies from Norway and Russia.
Groningen’s output has been capped at 12bn cubic metres in the year ending September 30, 2020, down from 19.4 bcm in the previous 12 months.
As part of efforts to prepare the domestic market for Groningen’s shutdown, the Dutch government recently approved the construction of three plants that will extract nitrogen from the air and mix it with high-calorific imported gas. This process will create low-calorific gas suitable for domestic consumption.
The plants are scheduled for completion by mid-2022. They will be built by US contractor Air Products and operated by Dutch gas grid operator Gasunie. Construction began in late March.
“We are fully committed to helping accelerate the end of gas extraction in Groningen,” Gasu- nie CEO Han Fennema said in a statement at the time. “This installation is thereby a necessary measure to ensure that, from 2022, gas from the Groningen field is no longer needed for security of supply.”™
Repsol Sinopec expands
Petrofac’s scope of support
on UK assets
Oilfield services provider Petrofac is preparing to extend its provision of operations and maintenance services to Repsol Sinopec Resources UK following enhancement to its existing contract.
Petrofac said on April 23 that it would provide operations and maintenance support across six additional Repsol Sinopec assets.
According to the company, around 200 individuals supporting the Claymore, Tartan, Clyde, Montrose, Arbroath, and Bleo Holm assets will transfer to Petrofac, following a period of transition.
Petrofac already supports six of Repsol Sinopec’s UK assets under this contract, which was most recently extended in September 2019.
Offshore personnel will be supported and deployed via Petrofac’s dedicated operations hub, through which all of its operations and maintenance contracts are managed.
TechnipFMC suffers $3.25bn loss in Q1
TechnipFMC has reported first-quarter 2020 loss of $3.25bn or $7.28 per diluted share against a $21mn profit same time last
NEWS IN BRIEF
Nick Shorten, managing director for
Petrofac engineering and production
services, said: “Since our initial appointment
in 2016, our scope of support for Repsol
Sinopec has grown steadily and the inclusion
of this additional asset group demonstrates
our client’s continued confidence in our
delivery. year.
“We are delighted and very much look forward to continuing our support of Repsol Sinopec’s late-life strategy, through safe and effective operations”.
To remind, Petrofac recently decided
to reduce its capex by 40%, reduce salaries across the company, and reduce its personnel by about 20% in response to unprecedented market conditions.
Petrofac’s actions include reducing overhead and project support costs by at least $100mn in 2020 and by up to $200mn in 2021.
The company’s actions also include conserving cash and liquidity by reducing capex by 40% and suspending the 2019 final dividend.
The services major has seen the results affected by after-tax charges and credits totalling $7.17 per share, primarily driven by non-cash impairment charges.
TechnipFMC warned the market on impairment impact prior to releasing its earnings results.
Impairment and other charges were approximately $3.16bn for goodwill and assets in the subsea and surface technologies units.
In the quarter, subsea recorded non- cash impairment and other charges totaling $2.8bn.
Adjusted EPS for the quarter was -$0.11, versus 6 cents profit in Q1 2019. Analysts projected adjusted earnings at 22 cents per share.
Revenues for the quarter were up 7.5 per cent at $3.13bn, form $2.91bn in the prior-
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