Page 10 - NorthAmOil Week 06 2022

NorthAmOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES NorthAmOil

Cedar LNG awards FEED contract

BRITISH CANADA’S Cedar LNG announced this week interim president and CEO, Scott Burrows.
COLUMBIA that it had awarded a front-end engineering and Cedar LNG’s CEO, Doug Arnell, also talked
design (FEED) contract to Black & Veatch and up the project’s low carbon footprint in the
Samsung Heavy Industries for its proposed float- statement.
ing LNG (FLNG) project. The FEED contract Cedar LNG anticipates making a final invest-
covers the project’s floating liquefaction, storage ment decision (FID) on the project in 2023, after
and offloading unit. the environmental assessment process is due to
Pembina Pipeline and the Haisla Nation are be completed. It would then be expected to enter
partners in Cedar LNG. Pembina acquired a 50% service in 2027.
interest in the project last year. Progress on Cedar LNG comes amid
The proposed 3mn tonne per year (tpy) increased talk of a revival for stalled LNG pro-
facility would be the largest First Nations- posals across North America as prices for the
owned infrastructure project in Canada, super-chilled fuel remain high and demand
according to Haisla Nation Chief Councillor shows no sign of declining.
Crystal Smith. Most of the proposed North American devel-
Cedar LNG said in its February 8 statement opments are located on the US Gulf Coast, but
on the FEED contract that it had also recently current market conditions are also improving
applied for an environmental assessment cer- prospects for certain Canadian proposals. For
tificate (EAC) from the British Columbia Envi- example, Pieridae Energy said in late January
ronmental Assessment Office. This moves the that it was considering redesigning its stalled
project into the 180-day application review Goldboro LNG project in Nova Scotia to be a
phase. smaller, floating facility.
“The submission of our application for an “I think we’re moving into a different phase
EAC represents another significant step forward of energy worldwide pricing and that’s one of
in exporting Canadian LNG to overseas markets, the reasons why we continue to work on the pro-
while supporting long-term prosperity for the ject,” Pieridae’s CEO, Alfred Sorensen, told BNN
Haisla Nation and the region,” stated Pembina’s Bloomberg at the time.™

TotalEnergies exits North Platte project in Gulf

GULF OF MEXICO FRANCE’S TotalEnergies announced on Feb- Like other Paleogene discoveries, the field will
ruary 10 that it has decided not to sanction its require 20,000 psi technology – recently devel-
North Platte project in the US Gulf of Mexico. As oped for use on drillships targeting challeng-
a result, the company’s TotalEnergies E&P USA ing high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT)
subsidiary will immediately withdraw from the formations.
project. TotalEnergies remains a partner in Chev-
In a short statement, the company said the ron’s Anchor project – another Paleogene find
decision had been taken as it had better oppor- – which reached FID in 2019 and will be devel-
tunities for capital allocation elsewhere in its oped using Transocean’s newbuild 20,000 psi
portfolio. It did not elaborate on what these Deepwater Titan drillship. Separately, privately
opportunities may be. owned Beacon Offshore Energy reached an FID
Until February 10, TotalEnergies held a on the Paleogene Shenandoah project last year
60% operating interest in North Platte, while and has contracted another newbuild 20,000 psi
Norway’s Equinor owned the remaining 40%. Transocean drillship, the Deepwater Atlas, for
TotalEnergies said Equinor and the relevant that development.
authorities had been notified of its immediate Thus TotalEnergies’ withdrawal from North
withdrawal from the project. The transfer of Platte comes just as other Paleogene projects
operatorship will be effective “following a short are advancing and 20,000 psi technology is
transition period to ensure an orderly handover”, about to be used for the first time. It illustrates
the French company said. the fact that such projects remain challenging
The news represents a blow to the North to develop given the advanced technologies
Platte project, which was thought to be close to required and the fact that costs are still high
a final investment decision (FID) and was antic- despite offshore operators bringing them down
ipated to produce up to 75,000 barrels per day in recent years.
(bpd) of oil. North Platte is a discovery in the Whether Equinor decides to continue pursu-
Wilcox – or Paleogene – formation in the deep- ing the development of North Platte remains to
water Gulf, in roughly 1,300 metres of water. be seen.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 06 10•February•2022