Page 17 - EurOil Week 29 2021

EurOil NEWS IN BRIEF EurOil

NPD said . Elgood well flows better including France’s TotalEnergies, Macquarie
“The well encountered traces of gas in Group’s Green Investment Group, and Orsted.
several thin sandstone layers of variable than anticipated The results of the ScotWind leasing round
reservoir quality in the Snadd, Kobbe and are expected to be announced early next year.
Havert Formation from the Triassic. The UK North Sea-focused oil and gas company “If our bid is successful, Shell and Scottish
well also encountered a 36-metre thick IOG, working to develop gas fields in the Power are fully committed to working with
Realgrunnen Subgroup from the Jurassic Southern North Sea, has shared the results of Scottish communities and businesses to help
with a sandstone reservoir with no traces its first development well being drilled as part develop supply chains and expertise which
of petroleum. Preliminary estimates place of Phase 1 of its Core project. could make Scotland a world leader in floating
the size of the discovery between 1.6 and The company said the output rates were wind,” said Shell UK country chair David
2.1 million standard cubic metres (Sm3) of above expectations, but that there had been Bunch.
recoverable oil equivalent,” the NPD said. several mechanical issues during the drilling, Floating wind technology is suitable for use
The discovery is not considered to which would eventually lead to a delay with in deepwater areas where fixed foundations
be financially profitable at present, but first gas production from the project. are not feasible. However, the nascent industry
the licensees will assess the discovery The Core Project comprises gas resources is still investigating different technology
alongside remaining prospects in the across six discovered UK Southern North Sea designs and is not yet at widespread
production licence, the oil regulator gas fields. Phase one, approved by the OGA in commercial scale.
said. This is the first exploration well in May 2020, will focus on the development of
production licence 858. This licence was Blythe, Elgood, and Southwark fields.
awarded in the 23rd licensing round in The company started drilling at the Elgood UK takes aim at shipping
2016. development well, 48/22c-H1 using the Noble
The well 7234/6-1 was drilled to a Hans Deul jack-up rig in April. emissions
vertical depth of 4003 metres below sea In an update on June 19, IOG said the well
level, and was terminated in the Ørn test rates were ahead of expectations, with a The Environmental Audit Committee
Formation. Water depth at the site is 247 maximum rate of 57.8 mmscf/d of gas and 959 (EAC) in the UK Parliament has launched a
metres. The well has been permanently bbl/d condensate through a 80/64[th] inch new inquiry in an effort to look at how the
plugged and abandoned. choke, constrained by surface facilities on the shipping and aviation sectors can best achieve
The Deepsea Nordkapp semi- Noble Hans Deul jack-up rig. net-zero emissions. As explained, shipping
submersible drilling rig will now move to The Elgood field is planned to be produced and aviation together make up 10% of UK
drill pilot holes in production licence 146 as a subsea tie-back, via the 6” pipeline laid greenhouse gas emissions, and decarbonising
in the North Sea, where Aker BP ASA is in Q4 2020, to the platform at the Blythe field these sectors will play a key role in achieving
the operator. once the single development well at the latter net-zero emissions by 2050.
has also been drilled. The International Maritime Organization
“The subsea tree will be controlled via the (IMO) warns that carbon emissions from
Norwegian oil output below umbilical being installed over the coming shipping are projected to increase by up to
weeks as part of the summer 2021 subsea
50% above 2018 levels by 2050 if no action is
forecast in June installation campaign. taken. What is more, aviation is set to be the
largest emitting sector by 2050 on current

Norway’s oil production lagged official trends.
expectations in June, preliminary data from Shell, Iberdola plan big During the inquiry, the EAC will be
the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) considering a number of areas which could
showed on June 20. Scottish wind farm play a significant role in reducing emissions
NPD cited technical problems and for the two sectors.
maintenance outages as reasons for the lower- Oil and gas major Shell and Iberdrola-owned These include the commercialisation of
than-expected production. Scottish Power said on Friday they had joined new technologies and low, transitioning to
Natural gas production also forces to bid to develop large-scale floating zero, carbon fuels; reductions in demand; and
underperformed predictions last month. wind farms off the coast of Scotland. options to drive international action to lower
Crude oil output rose to 1.674mn barrels The companies said they had submitted global emissions from these sectors.
per day (bpd) in June from 1.654mn bpd in proposals for the potential projects as part of The European Commission recently
May, was fell short of the 1.736mn bpd which Scotland’s offshore wind leasing round, called unveiled its ‘Fit for 55’ plan which will tax
the NPD had forecast. ScotWind, which closed for submissions on aviation and maritime fuels for the first time
Norway’s output of natural gas in June Friday. while setting targets on shipping emissions and
totaled 7.9bn cubic metres, below the NPD’s Further details about the projects were not sustainable aviation fuels. This is in addition
forecast of 8.55 bcm. disclosed. to the expanded Emissions Trading Scheme
Other energy companies and investors covering shipping within the EU from 2023.
have signaled interest in the leasing round,

Week 29 22•July•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P17