Europe

The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) has released the latest version of the Decommissioning Data Visibility Dashboard in a bid to make decommissioning operations more cost-efficient.

When first piloted by the organisation in 2021, the platform included field-specific information of just three operators. Now, that number is up to 15, unlocking even more vital information about upcoming work to potential suppliers. This will allow for enhanced collaboration and careful planning to achieve more cost-effective decommissioning operations, ultimately making them more attractive.

According to NSTA, the interactive dashboard provides suppliers with the confidence to invest in technologies and training by reducing the uncertainty and lack of transparency around the timing of decommissioning activities. Armed with data from the annual UKCS Stewardship Survey, it shows how many wells, subsea structures and pipelines the companies plan to decommission – as well as the weight of platforms to be removed – over the next five years.

Alastair Bisset, NSTA Head of Decommissioning and DaRT Co-Chair, remarked, “Suppliers need to know when decommissioning work is going to happen so that they can invest with confidence and plan effectively. The dashboard was created to help plug this knowledge gap, so it is very satisfying to see this group of leading operators put their weight behind it.”

Increasing decommissioning capacity

Operators will be able to use this data to identify potential collaboration opportunities to decommission wells together (thereby saving costs) while service providers have the chance to discover what skills and resources will be in demand at an earlier date.

Scott Barr, Executive Vice President, North Sea, at Harbour Energy and DaRT Co-Chair, commented, “This dashboard will help provide the supply chain with the visibility and confidence they need to deliver UK decommissioning works in a timely and cost-competitive way. It will also enable organisations to better understand future demand for skills and resources and to further increase their capacity to invest in technology and training programmes accordingly.”

Austrian fruit and vegetable producer and marketer, Frutura, has commissioned an energy module from Orcan Energy allowing the company to transfer excess heat from geothermal drilling into clean power.

The Orcan Energy module produces around 625MWh of electrical energy per year, enabling Frutura to save approx. 100 tons of CO2 annually.

In 2016, the company opened Frutura Thermal Vegetable World in Styria, Austria, marking a significant step for a new era of sustainable agriculture. Thermal water is used to heat greenhouses, and until recently the excess heat generated by geothermal drilling remained unused. Now, Futurua is converting the heat into clean energy with the help of Orcan Energy’s module and utilizing the geothermal borehole all year round, enhancing energy efficiency.

Manfred Hohensinner, Managing Partner for Frutura, said, “Now that we have become independent of fossil fuels for heat generation, it was a logical step to convert the excess heat from geothermal drilling into electricity. Orcan Energy was the ideal partner for us, providing all the flexibility we need to respond to any changes in the future thanks to their modular approach.”

Andreas Sichert, CEO of Orcan Energy, commented, “Together, we combine the direct use of geothermal heat with the production of electricity. With Orcan Energy, heat-to-power is also possible on a smaller scale thanks to our modular approach.

“In particular, the simple combination with our standardised modules has great potential: We can meet both the heat and electricity requirements of the building sector, commercial and industrial businesses with geothermal energy in a decentralised, CO2-free and attractively priced way.”

Plexus Holdings PLC, an AIM-quoted oil and gas engineering services business, and owner of the proprietary POS-GRIP friction-grip method of wellhead engineering, has won a contract valued in excess of £1mn to provide specialised equipment and services for multiple plug and abandonment (P&A) activities in the North Sea.

Under the terms of the contract, Plexus will provide Exact adjustable surface wellhead equipment, and specialised centric mudline system tooling and services for P&A operations on wells in the Dutch sector of the North Sea. Operations are planned to commence in Q2 2024 for a period of nine months. Exact adjustable wellheads and centric mudline systems are part of the Plexus licence/collaboration agreement with SLB.

Commenting on the contract, Plexus' CEO Ben Van Bilderbeek said, "The number of wells that must be permanently plugged and abandoned is fast growing, particularly in mature offshore locations such as the North Sea, where the OEUK indicated that decommissioning would account for 25% of oil and gas expenditure in 2023, up from 12% in 2022, and encouragingly I believe this trend will continue. We are therefore delighted that Plexus' reputation is strengthening within this sector, and that our range of customers is broadening. Furthermore, this contract demonstrates the progress we are making in getting back into the adjustable wellhead and mudline equipment market as an established expert in this field and 'go-to' company for this type of equipment and service."

The Federal Government of Austria, through the Climate and Energy Fund (Klima und Energiefonds), has announced a new funding programme worth EUR10mn to support deep geothermal projects.

The ‘Deep Geothermal Energy’ programme will support feasibility and preliminary studies, exploration and investigation measures, pilot drillings and the preparation of projects for the economic use of deep geothermal energy.

The aim of the funding programme is to create the basis for the implementation of efficient and environmentally-friendly deep geothermal projects. The Climate and Energy Fund will support companies and public institutions in five modules:

• Module One – Basic preliminary studies 
• Module Two – Feasibility studies 
• Module Three – Exploration 
• Module Four – Pilot drilling 
• Module Five – Citizen participation and information events

Climate and Energy Fund Managing Director, Bernd Vogl, said, “Our new programme helps to develop and implement projects for deep geothermal energy in heating networks and in industrial processes.

“The entire spectrum extends from planning to exploration to pilot drilling. This is intended, among other things, to reduce the risks associated with geothermal drilling. We are excited about the projects that will emerge from this initiative.”

Energy services provider Expro has announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Coretrax, a technology leader in well integrity and production optimisation solutions, from an investment group led by Buckthorn Partners.

The acquisition of Coretrax will enable Expro to expand its portfolio of cost-effective, technology-enabled well construction and well integrity solutions, particularly across the North and Latin American, Europe and sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East and North Africa. Building on Coretrax’s successful 15-year history, the acquisition will accelerate the availability of the company’s innovative tools by leveraging Expro’s global operating footprint.

Michael Jordan, Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are thrilled to announce our proposed acquisition of Coretrax and look forward to welcoming John Fraser and his teammates to the Expro family.

“Coretrax has a complementary offering to Expro with little overlap and will bolster the portfolio of technology-enabled services and solutions offered through our Well Construction and Well Intervention & Integrity product lines, adding significant value to our clients from innovative technologies that reduce risk and cost, optimise drilling efficiency, extend the life of existing well stock, and optimise production.”

John Fraser, CEO at Coretrax, commented, “The synergies between our respective technology portfolios will enable us to grow our market share while significantly increasing our capabilities to tackle the most complex well challenges. We are proud of the innovation-led approach, strong customer base and performance history that we developed over the last 15 years, and we look forward to joining forces with Expro to create greater value for our customers globally.”

UK-based, closed-loop geothermal energy developer, CeraPhi Energy, has acquired the business of Third Energy Limited, a former shale gas development company with plans to repurpose the existing wells into clean geothermal energy centres.

The acquisition includes the subsidiaries, namely Third Energy Trading Limited, Wolfland Renewables Limited, Wolfland Utilities Limited, Third Energy UK Gas Limited, and the 50% holding in West Heslerton Renewables Limited.

The assets located in North Yorkshire, UK, include eight well sites consisting of 12 former gas wells in a suspended state, 22.4 km of 6-inch and 16.6 km of 3-inch subterranean pipelines and a further 22.4 km of buried fibre optic comms lines. 

CeraPhi completed a commercial demonstration of its CeraPhiWell system earlier in the summer using the Third Energy KMA site. CeraPhi’s strategy is to de-risk the scaling and commercialisation of large-scale heat networks using boreholes down to a depth of 2km, reducing the space required for deployment of large-scale systems and increasing the extraction of thermal energy available for network connections. By both drilling new wells and repurposing end-of-life and non-producing oil and gas wells, the CeraPhi solution will provide 'huge commercial potential' for the scaling of geothermal heat networks in the UK and globally.

CeraPhi Energy CEO Karl Farrow said, “The decarbonisation of heat represents a huge UK and global challenge in meeting our net zero targets. Combined with the continued insecurity customers face with volatility and seasonal cost of fossil fuels, we have to move geothermal energy to scale to reduce the cost of deploying direct use heat, which is an endless resource not subject to price fluctuation, enabling a move away from our dependency on fossil fuels within our day to day energy mix.

"By using the inexhaustible resource beneath our feet using closed-loop technology we can access this energy anywhere with zero environmental risk, requiring no hydraulic fracturing, no use of water and providing enough energy within the next 15 years to solve our energy crisis indefinitely."

Third Energy Managing Director Russell Hoare said, “At Third Energy we’ve been pursuing a transition strategy for several years now with geothermal energy at the centre of that strategy and in CeraPhi we have found a capable and accomplished partner, as proven by the successful geothermal demonstrator project at our KMA site this summer. Bringing together the expertise of CeraPhi with the assets of Third Energy is a natural progression and I look forward to working with Karl and his team to continue the story.”

Siem Offshore has secured long-term contracts with Helix Energy Solutions for two of its Siem Helix well intervention vessels.

The two contracts for Siem Helix 1 and Siem Helix 2, valued at US$682mn, will come into effect from 1 January, 2025, and 1 January, 2026, respectively and will replace existing agreements to ensure firm utilisation for these vessels until at least 2030.

Each vessel will have a duration period of six years, with an optional extension period of up to five years, the contracts provide a solid foundation for future endeavors and growth for Siem Offshore. Siem Helix vessels have played a crucial role in the well intervention segment, and the longstanding partnership between Siem and Helix is a testament to the success both companies have endured.

Oilenco Ltd has been awarded a contract for the provision of engineering and manufacturing services for a major North Sea operator.

The contract will see Oilenco provide well intervention and downhole equipment throughout a 52-well subsea plug and abandonment campaign, as well as its range of services including engineering, CNC machining, assembly, and maintenance services.

Blair McCombie, Operations Director at Oilenco, commented, “This contract award is an outstanding achievement for Oilenco. Not only does it demonstrate our capability to provide high-quality P&A solutions, but our clients will benefit from our breadth of knowledge and experience in this market.

“As Oilenco celebrates turning 15 this year, securing this contract and being part of this significant P&A campaign is a fantastic way to kick-start our celebrations.”

Oilenco has been providing P&A tooling solutions to the UKCS for more than six years, accounting for a significant growth area within the company through the provision of hybrid plugs, remote opening devices, and scale remedial solutions in its extensive fleet.