Page 12 - NorthAmOil Week 19

NorthAmOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT NorthAmOil
Williams to provide Anchor gas transport
GULF OF MEXICO
PIPELINE operator Williams announced last week that it had agreed to provide offshore nat- ural gas transportation services to the Anchor project in the US Gulf of Mexico.
Anchor, which is located in the Green Can- yon area around 140 miles (225 km) off the coast of Louisiana, was sanctioned by Chevron in December 2019, and is anticipated to enter ser- vice in 2024. The planned facility, in water depths of roughly 5,000 feet (1,524 metres), has a design capacity of 75,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil and 28mn cubic feet (792,960 cubic metres) per day of gas.
Chevron operates Anchor with a 62.86% working interest, while France’s Total owns the remaining 37.14% stake.
Under the first stage of the project, the part- ners are planning to drill seven wells and build a semi-submersible floating production plat- form capable of handling oil and gas output from the Anchor field. Williams said in a May 7 statement that it would leverage its existing foot- print and capabilities in the Gulf region to trans- port Anchor’s gas production to the Discovery
system, which it operates with a 60% stake.
The rich gas will be transported to Discovery’s processing plant in Larose, Louisiana, and the natural gas liquids (NGLs) will be fractionated and marketed at Discovery’s Paradis plant, also
in Louisiana, Williams said.
“We are extremely well-positioned in the Gulf
of Mexico, with asset synergies that are second to none in this active region, and we’re pleased to leverage and expand our existing infrastructure to serve the growing needs of deepwater pro- ducers,” said Williams’ chief operating officer, Micheal Dunn.
The financial details of Williams’ participa- tion have not been disclosed, but the company will need to develop an underwater pipeline to connect Anchor to the 477-mile (768-km) Dis- covery system.
Chevron and Total are expected to invest roughly $5.7bn in the first stage of the Anchor project. The final investment decision (FID) on Anchor may be one of the last major ones in the Gulf for some time if oil prices remain low for longer than previously expected.™
INVESTMENT
Norwegian wealth fund blacklists four Canadian producers
CANADA-NORWAY
Cenovus says it is aiming to reduce its emissions intensity by 30% by 2030.
NORWAY’S $1 trillion sovereign fund said on May 13 that it had excluded four Canadian oil and gas companies from its investment portfo- lio for producing “unacceptable” levels of green- house gas (GHG) emissions. The decision marks the fund’s first use of emissions as a reason to blacklist firms, though they became a criterion for exclusion four years ago.
The companies excluded from Norges Bank Investment Management’s (NBIM) portfolio as a result of the decision are the four leading oil sands producers – Imperial Oil, Canadian Natu- ralResourcesLtd(CNRL),CenovusEnergyand Suncor Energy.
NBIM makes decisions on which companies to exclude from its portfolio based on advice from its Council on Ethics. According to the fund, the council had examined companies in the oil, cement and steel industries before rec- ommending its first exclusions based on exces- sive GHG emissions.
Three other companies – Egypt’s ElSewedy Electric, and two Brazilian firms, iron ore miner Vale and power holding Eletrobras – were also excluded for causing environmental damage.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the fund’s move marked a shift in global attitudes that oil companies would have to adjust to.
“We’ve seen investors around the world look- ing at the risks associated with climate change as an integral part of investment decisions they make,” said Trudeau in response to a question from a reporter. “I can highlight that many com- panies in the energy sector have understood that the investment climate is shifting and there is a need for clear leadership and clear targets to [be reached] on fighting climate change to draw on globalcapital.”
However, Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage criticised the exclusion of the Canadian companies as being “poorly informed and highly hypocritical”.Shenotedthatoilsandsproducers had reduced their overall emissions intensity by 19% between 2011 and 2017.
And Cenovus’ CEO, Alex Pourbaix, said: “Pulling investments from the oil sands and claiming it’s for climate change reasons is more about publicity than fact.” Cenovus is aiming to reduce its emissions intensity by 30% by 2030 and hold absolute emissions flat over that period, he added.™
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 19 14•May•2020