Europe

The UKCS 2024 Wells Insights Report from the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) stated there is a huge opportunity to access resources in a timelier, clean and cost-effective way to support the UK’s supply chain.

The report revealed that well intervention is currently able to provide hydrocarbon production at a cost of less than £12/boe, making it a very attractive option in line with today’s oil and gas prices. The report outlines the importance of operators striving to increase their well intervention activity in order to extend the production lifespan of their wells, and to provide a stable flow of work for the UK’s supply chain.

Carlo Procaccini, NSTA Chief Technical Officer, said, “Well intervention work can and does produce impressive results, boosting efficiency and providing cleaner and cost-effective production. We expect that bringing together operators with the supply chain will highlight significant opportunities for everyone.”

In 2023, interventions increased in the Northern North Sea to 102 wells, compared to the 82 in 2022. There has also been an increase West of Shetland where nine wells benefitted from intervention work last year, up from two in 2022. However, Central North Sea, Southern North Sea and the east Irish Sea have experienced a decrease in activity.

To encourage more interventions, the NTSA has already held one-to-one sessions with leading North Sea operators and completed a detailed study of 795 shut-in wells to understand the percentage figure that could be brought back online.

Separately, the report outlined that a total active well stock on the UKCS currently sits at 2,546, down from 2,560 in 2022. The past year has also seen an increase in the number of shut-in wells to an all-time high of 31% of the active well stock (795 wells). While a proportion of these wells could be brought back online, without the necessary investment in infrastructure or downhole interventions, it is more likely these wells will be permanently decommissioned.

In terms of spending, the report highlighted the total exploration and appraisal well spend was UK£571mn, compared to UK£275mn in 2022.

Archer Well Services has secured a global exclusive license agreement with Raptor Data Limited, enhancing its well integrity and plugging & abandonment (P&A) offerings with innovative technology.

This partnership integrates Raptor's advanced wireless acoustic telemetry technologies into Archer Well Services’ well integrity portfolio, significantly improving monitoring capabilities.

Raptor is a UK-headquartered company dedicated to research, design, engineering and manufacture of downhole tools for plug and abandonment. The company's proprietary wireless acoustic telemetry technology is a leader in the market for plug and barrier validation and verification (V&V) and associated workflows for confirming wellbore barrier quality and integrity.

Nicholas Pantin, Executive Vice President of Archer Well Services, said, “Raptor has developed a state-of-the-art downhole acoustic monitoring tool that, with its wireless data broadcasting capabilities, will expand Archer Well Services solutions in the temporary and permanent plug and barriers V&V market, including data transmission of downhole pressure and temperature broadcasted via a wireless acoustic telemetry from below the barrier. This demonstrates Archer’s major commitment to continue improving and managing the placement of reliable well barriers.”

Paul McClure, CEO of Raptor Data Limited UK, said, “I am delighted to announce our partnership with Archer Well Services. Together we complete the strongest offering for well decommissioning in the global market and this positions both companies as leaders of well P&A with a unique set of solutions and workflows for plug and barrier V&V. A combined Archer Well Services – Raptor Data in this space provides unparalleled resources and a technically differentiated global platform to build a scalable high impact business at the cutting edge of technology.”

Archer will be acquiring an additional 10% of the shares in Iceland Drilling from its joint venture partner Kaldbakur for US$2.5mn.

Settled in Archer Limited shares, the transaction will bring Archer’s total ownership to 60%. The transaction is expected to close within the next two months.

Iceland Drilling is an international provider of high-temperature geothermal drilling, with offerings across renewable service segments such as deep drilling for electricity generation, wells for district heating and cooling, and wells for carbon storage. It has close to 200 employees with its main operations currently in Iceland and the Philippines.

Increasing well services in geothermal market

Archer's CEO, Dag Skindlo, said, "Geothermal energy is an important part of the future energy mix which has direct overlap and synergies with Archer’s core services. We have a clear ambition to increase our well services participation in the growing geothermal market and we are monitoring opportunities to deploy idle and lower specification land rigs to geothermal projects globally. The market for geothermal drilling and district heating is estimated by industry experts to grow meaningfully over the next few decades, and Iceland Drilling is well positioned to capture market share. We will continue to support growth and development of Iceland Drilling and welcome Kaldbakur as a new long-term investor in Archer.”

The increased ownership means that Iceland Drilling will be consolidated into Archer’s financial accounts. The inclusion is projected to increase Archer’s full year 2024 proforma revenue by approximately 4% and EBITDA by 6-7%. Going forward, the transaction is expected to enhance Archer’s cash generation and reduce Archer’s leverage ratio.

Kent is collaborating with the UK’s Energy Institute to create guidelines for decarbonisation economics in Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission reduction projects in the upstream oil and gas industries.

This report will provide clear, actionable guidance to help the sector achieve its environmental goals, demystifying the economics of decarbonisation, including the societal cost of carbon. While it will focus on the UK North Sea upstream sector, it will take a global view so that it can serve as a basis for future research across the world. It will involve the collaboration of Kent’s Environmental team, Asset Decarbonisation team, and Energy Environment Economic (E3) Modelling and Communications team.

"We have seen the challenges of presenting decarbonisation projects against standard project economics with the only justification being the reduced OPEX related to Emission Trading Scheme credits and potential increased revenue from an increase in sales gas quantities from reducing fuel and flare gas," said Graham Filsell, Kent’s Decarbonisation lead. "There is a strong case for the societal cost of carbon and potentially an individual asset marginal abatement cost to form part of the project economics for decarbonisation projects."

James Lawson, chair of USEG (Upstream Environmental Group) added, "Decarbonisation and GHG reduction projects are inherently holistic, involving a wide spectrum of energy professionals, many of whom have not previously engaged in economic assessments and project prioritisation. Furthermore, these projects compete for capital and resources with other industry sectors. Therefore, a clear, concise, and targeted document that all energy professionals can refer to will be invaluable for ensuring that capital and resources are allocated appropriately and in line with net zero commitments."

Key guideline objectives

• Demystifying Decarbonisation Economics: Provide clarity for energy professionals with limited exposure to project economics, such as environmental or sustainability managers.
• Understanding Carbon Costs: Offer insights into how carbon costs are calculated and influenced by market forces, including societal costs.
• Alternative Metrics: Recommend non-standard metrics beyond NPV to ensure that decarbonisation goals are met, delivered as a technical note to the industry.
• Justification of Metrics: Articulate and justify the choice of both standard and non-standard metrics used in the guidance.
• Upstream O&G Value Chain: Focus on the upstream sector of the O&G value chain affected by decarbonisation and assess the potential to broaden the scope to the full value chain.

Petrofac will be supporting the Netherlands’ ambitions for CO2 capture and storage as TotalEnergies EP Nederland BV has chosen its services for a multi-million-dollar front-end-engineering design (FEED) for a CO2 injection platform.

The project involves the decommissioning of topsides and installation of a new repurposed platform connecting to the Aramis CO2 distribution network.

Petrofac is already working on a FEED project covering the design of the 32” CO2 trunkline, including onshore, landfall and offshore sections, together with the offshore CO distribution hub platform for the Aramis system, that it took up earlier this year. This additional scope will enhance the company's carbon transport and storage (CCS) sector internationally, influencing its reputation in managing the challenges and opportunities in delivering CO2 capture, transport, and storage at scale.

John Pearson, Chief Operating Officer, Energy Transition Projects, Petrofac, said, “This award demonstrates confidence in our abilities to provide vital engineering and project delivery expertise to projects that span the CCS value chain. This project, associated with the overall Aramis development, is another key component to the Netherlands’ ambitions to capture millions of tonnes of CO2 from industrial emitters in the region. We are immensely proud to be making an important contribution to these ambitions.”

Allseas has reported that Brent Charlie topsides have been successfully delivered to Able UK’s Seaton Port in Hartlepool, UK.

Weighing more than 31,000 t, Brent Charlie is the largest single offshore topsides to be lifted, transported and delivered to shore, according to Allseas. It was initially removed in a single lift by the Pioneering Spirit, Allseas’ heavy lift vessel that is capable of lifting entire topsides of up to 48,000 t and 20,000 t jackets.

After being carried on the vessel to near-location, the topsides was transferred to the custom barge, Iron Lady, for the short tow to the Tees Estuary and onwards to the Seaton Port disposal facility.

Barge and topsides were grounded onto the grounding bed in the wet dock for the load-in. All safety checks complete, the former production platform was skidded onto Quay 6, designed specifically to distribute the weight of the heaviest topsides facilities.

Now delivered, the massive topsides will be decommissioned with as much recycled or re-used as possible. Able UK has achieved over 97% recycling/re-use rates on previously decommissioned Brent topsides Delta (24,000 tonnes), Bravo (25,000 tonnes), and Alpha (17,000 tonnes), and aims to match or exceed this figure for Charlie using its well-established supply chain.

Geothermal services provider DMT GmbH & Co. KG will be exploring geothermal potential in Münster for Stadtwerke Münster GmbH who commissioned the project as part of the 2030 decarbonisation strategy

The project will involve a large-scale 3D seismic measurement campaign before winter 2024/25, surveying the deep underground between 1,400 and 7,000 meters, covering the entire city.

"25% of the heat demand in Germany could already be covered in the long term, sustainably and CO2-neutrally using deep geothermal energy. The first steps to accelerate the heat transition with the help of deep geothermal energy have been taken. Now it is important to consistently use and roll out instruments such as exploration loans or insurance, national and international funding and accelerated approval procedures. This means that projects like the one in Münster can soon be implemented throughout Germany," said Maik Tiedemann, Chairman of the Management Board / CEO of DMT, and CEO of the TÜV NORD GROUP Business Unit Energy & Resources.

The campaign will see five vibrator fleets working in parallel, consisting of up to 18 vibro trucks and a measuring crew of around 80. Data collected from the campaign will influence further planning and implementation of the heat transition using deep geothermal energy in Münster and the associated decarbonisation. 

"The upcoming measurements in the deep underground around Münster will provide valuable information to specify the agenda for the use of deep geothermal energy in the Münsterland and to define a roadmap for this project. With our recent acquisition of high-quality and state-of-the-art measuring instruments, we are also well prepared for the expected increase in orders," said Thorsten Müller, Head of Business Entity Exploration Seismic at DMT, who leads operational teams. 

Electrocentrale București (ELCEN), one of Romania’s leading producers of thermal and electric energy, has signed a MoU with Sage Geosystems for the carrying out of a feasibility study for the implementation of geothermal technologies in the Bucharest district heating system.

The benefits of this collaboration are aimed at ensuring sustainability, innovation and efficient economic solutions for the future of centralised heating in Bucharest in an approach that is consistent with the national and European energy transition objectives.

Through the MoU, ELCEN will facilitate access to the relevant data and necessary infrastructure in order to carry out the study, and will contribute its technical expertise and specific operational knowledge to the centralised heating system within Bucharest. Sage Geosystems will perform the technical and geological analysis and feasibility study on the geothermal utilisation solution.

The aim of the partnership is to explore how geothermal energy can be implemented within the city the replace a fossil fuel-based thermal plant with a clean alternative. The first project is expected to generate up to 70MW of thermal power for a district in Bucharest, and upon its a success, will be expanded to other Romanian projects and cities.

General Director of ELCEN, Claudiu Crețu, stated, “We signed this Memorandum of Understanding to see how we can use the geothermal potential in the coming years for the heating of Bucharest as efficiently and sustainably as possible in a hybrid approach."

Cindy Taff, CEO and Co-Founder of Sage Geosystems, commented, “Sage is thrilled to be supporting Romania’s transition to clean energy and to introduce geothermal energy applications to its capital city.”