Page 18 - EurOil Week 46

EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil

Decommissioning at

Kinsale begins

IRELAND DECOMMISSIONING has begun at the Kin- of gas in their lifetime, and until 2015 were the
sale gas fields, which for many decades were Ire- only producing gas fields in Ireland. That year
The fields were land’s only source of indigenous gas supply but the Corrib gas field was brought on stream.
Ireland’s only source ceased production in July. Norway’s AGR won a The Kinsale fields’ operator PSE Kinsale
of domestic supply for contract for the decommissioning work in 2018, Energy, a subsidiary of Malaysia’s Petronas, said
decades. and aims to complete the task by mid-2021. in April 2018 that they were reaching depletion.
“Following the planning stages we have now It submitted a plan for decommissioning them
commenced offshore operations on the Kinsale in June 2018, which was approved the following
Alpha platform and are preparing to commence year.
operations on the nearby Kinsale Bravo platform The shutdown of the Kinsale fields follows a
in the coming months,” AGR’s COO Andrew pledge by Ireland’s new coalition government to
Stannard commented. “Despite the challenges ban the issue of new gas exploration and produc-
of [coronavirus] COVID-19, the mobilisation of tion licences. The move means that Ireland will
equipment and personnel to the Kinsale Alpha be far less likely to find deposits similar in size to
was completed without issue and the project is Kinsale Head and Corrib.
progressing well and to schedule.” Corrib currently accounts for 95% of Irish
AGR has begun mobilising a hydraulic work- gas production, but it too is mature, and output
over unit and associated equipment and services is falling. At the same time, the government has
that will plug the wells permanently, he said. taken a tougher stance against the development
The Kinsale area fields, consisting of Kinsale of new LNG import capacity, ruling out any
Head, Ballycotton and Seven Heads, have been projects that are intended to import fracked
flowing gas since 1978. They have yielded a total gas, such as US-based New Fortress Energy’s
of almost 2 trillion cubic feet (57bn cubic metres) long-delayed Shannon regasification project. ™

Total selects Honeywell tech for

Grandpuits conversion

FRANCE FRANCE’S Total plans to use Honeywell UOP’s France’s government announced plans earlier
Ecofining processing technology to produce this year to replace 2% of the country’s fossil fuel-
There have been renewable fuels at its Grandpuits oil refinery. based jet fuel with biofuel by 2025, rising to 5%
recurring problems over The oil major announced plans to convert the by 2030 and 50% by 2050. Total, which suffered
the years with cracks 93,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery near Paris its weakest refining margins in six years in the
in the pipeline that to produce biofuels, primarily for the aviation second quarter, similarly converted its former
supplies the refinery’s industry, as well as bioplastics. In a statement 160,000 bpd refinery in La Mede to produce
oil. on November 13, Honeywell UOP said it would biofuels between 2015 and 2019.
provide technology licences, basic engineering, The project at Grandpuits is slated to cost
speciality equipment and catalysts for the biofu- €500mn ($582mn) and will also involve the
els project. addition of plastic recycling units and solar
Once converted, the refinery will use up to panels.
400,000 tonnes per year of bio-feedstock to pro- Total chose to shut down the conventional
duce 170,000 tpy of aviation fuel, 120,000 tpy of Grandpuits oil refinery primarily because of the
diesel and 50,000 tpy of naphtha. The naphtha slump in fuel demand triggered by coronavirus
in turn will be used to manufacture bioplastics. (COVID-19) restrictions. But there have also
“UOP’s Ecofining process will help Total to been recurring problems over the years with
convert its Grandpuits refinery into a zero-crude cracks in the pipeline that supplies 90% of the
platform that supports government plans to facility’s feedstock.
develop fossil fuel substitutes and achieve car- Grandpuits will shut down next week for
bon neutrality,” the US technology provider said. around a month following the discovery of
European refiners are considering convert- fresh cracks, France’s CGT union told Argus on
ing loss-making facilities to produce biofuels as November 13. Total itself would not comment
an attractive alternative to closing them down. on the closure plan, but said no leaks had been
Spain’s Repsol and Sweden’s Preem also recently identified and that the refinery “remains cur-
decided to pursue this option. rently in operation.”™

P18 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 46 19•November•2020