Page 14 - AsianOil Week 12 2023

AsianOil NEWS IN BRIEF AsianOil

Camera completes modification restarting production. Rosatom.
The Benchamas oil field, according to
As covered in detail by bne IntelliNews,
for Wassana oilfield vessel Thai government data, produces around the unsanctioned Russian nuclear energy
agency Rosatom is building nuclear power
13,000 barrels per day and roughly 45
Valeura Energy, an oil and gas company, million cubic feet of natural gas. plants (NPPs) on time and under budget
announced on Monday that it has finished around the world, while selling uranium to
making modifications to the MT Jaka the US.
Tarub crude oil storage vessel, making it MHI, PLN to study cleaner fuel Rosatom also dodged the sanctions
compatible with the infrastructure at its in the latest 10th EU's sanction package
Wassana oil field located offshore Thailand. co-firing in Indonesia for Russia's full-scale military invasion of
The vessel is now capable of tandem Ukraine.
crude oil loading/offloading. Valeura On March 23, Japanese engineering Reportedly, the latest Chinese co-
Energy stated that, "Subject to favorable company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries operation roadmap is planned to be
metocean conditions, the vessel will arrive (MHI) announced a joint agreement with outlined by the end of 2024, and will cover
at the Wassana field in the coming days, Indonesia's PLN Nusantara Power to such key areas as expanding interaction in
after which Valeura intends to resume oil conduct a feasibility study on the co-firing current projects, implementing new projects
production operations, targeting initial of cleaner fuels in Nusantara's power plants. related to fast neutron reactors, production
rates of up to 3,000 bbls/d, net to the 89% PLN Nusantara Power is a subsidiary of uranium-plutonium fuel, spent nuclear
working interest share held by its subsidiary of the Indonesian state-owned power fuel handling and other areas.
company Valeura Energy Asia Pte. Ltd." company PLN. MHI and PLN Nusantara "Essentially this refers to co-operation in
This follows Valeura Energy's agreement Power will explore the potential of co- the coming decades and to the formation of
with PT Samudra Alam Transport in firing hydrogen, ammonia, and biomass, nuclear energy sector development factors
December 2022 to charter the MT Vula which are less carbon-intensive fuels. The at the global level," the press service added.
crude oil tanker to store oil produced from agreement was signed at the Asia Zero
the Wassana oil field. Emission Community (AZEC) Public-
In the second quarter of 2022, Valeura Private Investment Forum held on March 3 Malaysia powered by 25%
Energy acquired KrisEnergy International in Tokyo.
(Thailand) Holdings Ltd., which operates The technical feasibility study will focus renewable energy
two licences in the offshore Gulf of on co-firing hydrogen and ammonia in a
Thailand, including the suspended Wassana gas turbine and a gas-fired boiler at the Malaysia’s Natural Resources, Environment
oil field and the fully appraised Rossukon Muara Karang power plant in northern and Climate Change Minister has declared
oil field. Additionally, the company agreed Jakarta, which is currently powered by oil his nation is on track to meet its 2025
to acquire the Mobile Production Unit and gas. Furthermore, the firms will study renewables targets, with the national grid
Ingenium (“MOPU”) which is on location the possibility of co-firing biomass at the already sourcing 25% of all electricity
at the Wassana oil field through a separate Paiton power plant in the eastern Java supplies from green energy.
agreement. In December, Valeura Energy province, which is currently powered by If projections carry through until 2025,
announced that the MT Vula would be coal. According to a report by Nusantara it is believed that Malaysia will be sourcing
renamed MT Jaka Tarub. in 2020, the installed capacity of Muara almost a third of its energy from renewables
The MT Jaka Tarub is a Panamax-sized Karang and Paiton generation units was by the middle of the decade.
oil tanker that can store up to 460,000 bbls 909MW and 800MW, respectively. However, Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said:
of oil. The company has completed the the amount of hydrogen, ammonia, and “we will step up efforts to encourage solar
necessary cleaning and modification work biomass targeted for co-firing was not power usage. All this while, we're mostly
on the vessel to make it compatible with disclosed. looking at large-scale solar”, adding:
the Wassana field’s mooring and crude oil MHI stated that the project aims to speed “however, some countries including
offloading systems. up Indonesia's decarbonisation efforts. The Australia now see rooftop solar as
Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) is superseding large-scale solar. This is one
a decarbonisation initiative proposed by the the initiatives that we're looking at in our
Chevron halts output at Thai Japanese government to accelerate energy own efforts to expedite the country's energy
transition in Asia-Pacific countries and
transition.”
oilfield after fatal accident achieve the UN's Paris climate agreement to bring forward the current goal of 40%
If this initiative is adopted, it is likely
goals. MHI signed a similar agreement with
Chevron Corp, the U.S. oil giant, Indonesia Power, another PLN subsidiary renewables by the mid-2030s, given Kuala
announced on Monday that production firm, in November 2022 to conduct a co- Lumpur’s current rate of installation.
at the Benchamas oil field in the Gulf of firing study. At present, though, Malaysia does not
Thailand had been suspended immediately permit power generated from renewables to
following an accident that occurred last be exported. With power-hungry Thailand
week, and it remains offline. This came Russian and China start working to the north, however, and one of the
after seawater leaked into the hull of an oil world’s most important ports in Singapore
storage vessel, killing one crew member. on nuclear reactor roadmap on its southern border, and Indonesia as the
Chevron has confirmed that there has been most populous nation in Southeast Asia to
no environmental impact from the incident. The Russo-Sino co-operation agreement the south-east, this may be a point being
The company's spokesperson said in a signed during the visit of the President of considered for change.
separate statement that the body of the crew China Xi Jinping to Moscow includes a “The ban is still in force,” Nazmi said,
member who was fatally injured on March roadmap for developing a joint programme continuing: “there were requests to review
13th had been recovered, and preparations between Russia and China in the sphere of this, including from Sarawak (on Borneo,
were being made to return the body to the fast neutron reactors and nuclear fuel cycle, bordering Indonesia) to export renewable
victim's family. Chevron's current focus is Tass reported citing the press service of energy..™
on responding to the incident rather than the Russian nuclear agency and contractor

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