Page 11 - AsianOil Week 10 2022

AsianOil EAST ASIA AsianOil

South Korea’s SK Group joints 8 Rivers

for Asian zero-emissions projects

ENERGY SK Materials, a member of South Korea’s SK while SK will leverage the partnership to deploy
TRANSITION Group, has invested $100mn in the US clean clean projects for its domestic and foreign oper-
technology firm 8 Rivers. The investment ations,” 8 Rivers said in a statement announcing
is being made for the purpose of installing the partnership.
zero-emissions technology at existing SK power SK Group is the third-largest conglomerate
projects throughout the Asia-Pacific region. in South Korea. In late 2020 the company said it
The agreement involves the formation of would end all investment in new fossil fuel pro-
a joint venture company that will research, jects. However, it came under criticism when it
develop and deploy the US company’s technol- announced a year ago that it would invest $1.4bn
ogies throughout SK’s operations. Carbon cap- into the Barossa-Caldita project being developed
ture, biomass carbon removal, direct carbon by Australia’s Santos in the Timor Sea. SK came
capture from the air and hydrogen production under considerable criticism from environmen-
are among the technologies being developed by talist groups for allegedly breaking its pledge, but
8 Rivers. SK expects such technologies to help it the company argued that this did not represent
meet its target of reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) a new investment, since it has been investing in
emissions by 200mn tonnes by 2030. the project since 2012.
While carbon capture and storage (CCS) has Barossa-Caldita is expected to come into
yet to be proved as an effective way to remove operation in 2025, with gas from the field
CO2 from the power generation process, many being used as feedstock for the Darwin LNG
energy firms have announced plans to use it in an facility. The project will supply South Korea
effort to cut carbon emissions. with LNG.
“SK’s technological and engineering capabil- SK has said it would be using CCS to reduce
ities will serve as a force-multiplier for 8 Rivers, CO2 emissions at the project.™

NEWS IN BRIEF

EAST ASIA these thick seams at suitable depths for gas period was completed on March 7 and the
development. well has now been shut in for an extended
TMK to kick off drilling at kilometres. It is situated in proximity to pressure build-up. The pressure data will be
The project covers an area of 8,400 square
downloaded from the down-hole gauges after
Mongolian CBM project the northern China gas transmission and the current shut-in is completed and will be
analysed for additional reservoir information.
distribution network.
Sydney-listed TMK Energy, formerly Tamaska TMK last month completed the acquisition The initial shut-in well head pressure prior
Oil and Gas, plans to begin drilling at the of Telmen Energy, which held 100% of the to the flow commencing was some 4,500 psi.
Gurvantes XXXV coalbed methane (CBM) project. The well was then flowed on various choke
project in Mongolia’s South Gobi basin within settings to obtain flow and pressure data.
a week, Natural Gas World reported on March Flow rates increased as projected to some
9. 6.52 mmcf per day on a 128/64 inch choke
“The initial drilling programme is OCEANIA with a stable flowing tubing head pressure of
scheduled to commence within the next week 164 psi. The well was then turned to flare to
and will comprise of at least four full tested Rafael test completion and obtain rates that were not impeded by the test
cored holes within the western portion of the equipment. This produced estimated rates of
Gurvantes XXXV license in an area known as corporate update 7.6 mmcf per day at a tubing head pressure
Nariin Sukhait,” TMK was cited as saying. of 165-170 psi. Together with the condensate
The Nariin Sukhait area is reportedly The Rafael flow test was recommenced on production as set out below, this equates to
known to contain two thick, high-quality, Friday, March 4 after the suspension for some 1,570 barrels of oil equivalent using
coal seam groups, with historical CBM data Cyclone Anika. The object of the continuation a general energy conversion factor of 6,000
acquired from five wells indicating high of the test was to obtain additional flow cubic feet of gas equivalent to one barrel of oil.
gas contents. The drilling programme was and pressure data and stable flowstream Measurements of condensate production
reported to have been designed to intersect samples for gas and liquids analysis. The flow during these stabilised flow periods were

Week 10 11•March•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P11