Page 20 - EurOil Week 41

EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil

France to phase out oil, gas

export guarantees

FRANCE THE French government is looking to rein in the end-date in the future.
state export guarantees for fossil fuel production The government has provided guarantees for
Guarantees for gas projects, its finance ministry said in a proposal to some €4.5bn ($5.3bn) of fossil fuel-related pro-
projects will continue Parliament on October 13. jects over the past 10 years, of which 60% is still
until 2035. Guarantees, which reduce risks for French outstanding.
companies and commercial banks in export trans- French oil giant Total is a major investor in
actions, will no longer be provided for the dirtiest global gas. In a strategy presented earlier this
forms of oil, including heavy oil, shale oil and bitu- month, the company said it would seek to double
men oil sands, starting next year, the ministry said. its LNG sales within a decade to 70mn tonnes per
France stopped issuing guarantees for projects that year (tpy) by 2030. It is involved in three sanc-
use hydraulic fracturing or flaring this year, and tioned liquefaction projects due online in 2023-
earlier called time on coal as well. 2024 – the Novatek-operated Arctic LNG-2 in
Gas projects will be safe for now, with guar- Russia, its own Mozambique LNG venture and
antees continuing to be offered until 2035. The a seventh train at Nigeria LNG.
ministry justified this delay by saying the fuel The company is looking to liquefy additional
would help coal-reliant economies scale down gas in Mozambique, in the US and Papua New
their emissions. But it said it might bring forward Guinea. ™

NEWS IN BRIEF

Shell to undertake Pernis early years of production and, with Wood’s another offshore incident and has warned that
the coronavirus pandemic may have lead to a
ambition to realise a digitally-enabled future,
oil refinery maintenance on we see excellent potential to explore new hike in the number of serious incidents, and a
record number of PSA investigations - eleven
opportunities that will promote a lifetime of
one unit sustainable and responsible operations at the so far this year.
field.”
“A disquieting rise in serious incidents
Royal Dutch Shell said on October 14 The Mariner field is Equinor’s first reported to the PSA has been registered in
it plans to carry out major maintenance operated development in the UK North Sea. 2020,” the PSA said.
work on a unit at its Pernis oil refinery in Production started in August 2019, and the Per the regulator, figures to September
the Netherlands from mid-October to end field is expected to produce more than 300 end show more than 50 of serious
November. million barrels of oil over the next 30 years. incidents – twice as many as in the same
The company did not specify the unit Wood has described Mariner as “one of period of last year and more than four
involved. the most innovative offshore developments,” times the 2018 total.
Pernis is Europe’s largest oil refinery with supported by new digital solutions and the Also, the PSA said Wednesday it would
a capacity to process 404,000 barrels per day. latest technologies, including automated investigate a well incident on Neptune
drilling and digital twin solutions. Energy’s Gjøa offshore field in the North
The contract follows Wood’s recent Sea, which happened on September 20,
Wood wins $75mn Mariner agreements with Equinor on the Kollsnes gas when the drill string became stuck fast and
processing facility and Breidablikk tie-back
blocked the blowout preventer (BOP).
field work development in Norway. of production well 35/9-G-4 H on the
The incident happened during drilling
The work under the Mariner contract
Engineering services giant Wood has secured will be delivered by Wood’s Aberdeen-based North Sea field by Odfjell Drilling-
a contract to support Equinor’s operations at onshore and offshore teams, with support operated Deepsea Yantai semi-submersible
the Mariner field in the UK Continental Shelf from its global engineering community. drilling rig.
(UKCS). “The well had already entered the
Under the three-year deal, Wood reservoir section when the string became
will deliver operations, maintenance, stuck in the formation while it was being
modifications, and offshore services on the Norwegian watchdog says pulled out. During efforts to free it, the
Mariner A platform and Mariner B floating string separated into two sections,” the
storage unit. The agreement, valued at pandemic causes uptick in PSA said.
around $75mn, will run from January 2021 “These parts of the string blocked the
through to Q4 2023, with options to extend. accidents BOP so that the latter was unable to close
Craig Shanaghey, president of Wood’s and prevent a potential wellstream leak,
operations services business in Europe and The Norwegian offshore oil and gas safety PSA said. No discharges resulting from the
Africa, comments: “Mariner is still in its body PSA Norway has launched a probe into incident have been reported,” the PSA said.

P20 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 41 15•October•2020