Europe

Ahead of the publication of its 2024 Decommissioning Insight, Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) has stated that operators need to plug 200 abandoned North Sea oil and gas wells a year in order to stay on top of targets.

This will be among the findings of the new report which seeks to detail the challenge facing the region’s energy industry. Multiple changes to the tax regime are causing continuing economic and fiscal uncertainly which has damaged activity levels. These goalposts are set to remain on the move following the Chancellors Autumn statement later this month.

Despite these setbacks, OEUK has said that the report will also showcase the expertise and capabilities of the UK decommissioning industry which is helping to turn this challenge into a more manageable task.

It will reportedly outline that stable government policy can help support the decommissioning industry in the UK and prevent multi-million pound contracts go elsewhere. A successful approach here could secure the future of thousands of skilled UK jobs for decades to come.

OEUK decommissioning manager Ricky Thomson said: “Operators must continue to sanction projects and the supply chain must remain resilient and competitive. The energy transition has decommissioning at its heart and sharing cross-sector information and expertise is crucial. I have no doubt we can make this happen.”

The report will be released at OEUK’s 2024 Decommissioning Conference in St Andrews, Scotland from 18-20 November.

The OWI Global Awards is returning on 14 November to gather the offshore community for a celebration as the very best in global well intervention excellence are recognised for their outstanding contribution to the industry.

Sponsored by Welltec, the 2024 edition will be held at Union Kirk in Aberdeen, Scotland, with 11 winners picked out from a wide roster of exceptional entrees. Tickets are available now and can be acquired by clicking here.

Those in attendance will have the opportunity to network with peers from the offshore community and will share in the celebration of the 2024 champions selected from the categories of:

•Best Project Outcome: Organisations that have completed an industry leading project;

•Best Example of Collaboration: Two or more organisations that have collaborated to achieve ground-breaking outcomes;

•Best Example of Digital Innovation: Trailblazers in digitising processes or solutions;

•Best Example of Downhole Innovation: Organisations with excellent well intervention technology at a subsurface level;

•Best Example of Well Integrity Innovation: Organisations with an exceptional well integrity solution or service;

•Best Example of P&A Innovation: Organisations that have a solution, technology or completed a project which signifies the best in P&A;

•Best Example of Subsea Intervention: Organisations with first-class well intervention operations in waters over 1,000+ feet deep;

•Best Example of Platform Intervention: Organisations with an outstanding project on the well head;

•Energy Transition Pioneer of the Year: Organisations spearheading the transition to greener energy through the services and tooling they offer;

•Intervention Champion of the Year: Organisations that are market leaders in the well service industry;

•Jørgen Hallundbæk Lifetime Achievement Award: An individual who has made an exceptional contribution to the well intervention community throughout their career.

With a plethora of submissions being received, the daunting task of determining the finalists from the talented entry pool and, ultimately, selecting the category winners was given to an experienced panel of judges. Industry experts from ADNOC, EGPC, ENI, Petronas and more acted as arbitrators, independently assessing and scoring each entry to determine which submissions had gone the extra mile. As such, the official 2024 finalists who are in with a chance of claiming a trophy in Aberdeen are: 

Saipem, a global leader in the engineering and construction of major projects for the energy and infrastructure sectors, has signed a MoU with Geolog and Ignis H2 Energy to develop advanced technological solutions and conduct feasibility studies for new geothermal plants.

The two companies are specialised in the geothermal sector; Geolog is a leader in the evaluation of geological formation and drilling solutions, while Ignis H2 Energy expertise lies in geothermal resource acquisition, exploration and development. Saipem has moved to utilise the experience of both companies as it aims to develop advanced solutions that can enable a greater use of geothermal energy. In particular, the company is interested in next-generation geothermal energy systems, offshore geothermal energy, and the conversion of oil & gas wells.

A strategic resource

As per the MoU, the three entities have agreed to carry out joint studies on unconventional geothermal energy such as terrestrial heat sources difficult to access as well as on offshore geothermal energy.

Saipem will lead the feasibility study of geothermal plants, by assessing the technical solutions currently available in the market and identifying potential technological gaps. Geolog and Ignis will contribute to the assessment of geological formations and drilling solutions, as well as the analysis of geothermal resources availability.

Stadtwerke München (SWM), one of the largest municipal companies in Germany, has announced that the construction for a new geothermal plant in Germany is now underway.

Already operating six geothermal plants in and around Munich, the new project will be built on the site of the Michaelibad in southeast Munich and is expected to be completed in 2033. It is being undertaken as part of SWM’s efforts to cover Munich’s district heading needs in a climate-neutral way by 2040 at the latest.

Projected to supply heat to around 75,000 Munich residents, the plant will have four extraction and four reinjection boreholes, an adjacent heating station and a large heat pump to further increase the heat yield.

So far, demolition work has been carried out on buildings where the heating station will be located and preparations have also been made for the integration of the future geothermal plant into the district heating network. Now, attention turns to construction, a milestone marked by a groundbreaking ceremony held at the site.

“Geothermal energy is a climate-neutral, inexhaustible and at the same time reliable source of energy that is available all year round,” commented Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection. “It can also be used to cover a persistently high demand for heat. The Munich municipal utilities are a good example of how this technology can be successful in densely populated cities. The development of geothermal heat has the potential to cover around a quarter of Germany's required renewable heat demand by 2045. The aim is to increase the current geothermal energy feed into heating networks tenfold. The SWM is actively contributing to achieving this goal.”

Karin Thelen, SWM Managing Director of Regional Energy Transition, added, “In order to generate district heating in an even more climate-friendly way, we are consistently expanding the use of geothermal energy as part of our transformation plan. 20 years after our first geothermal plant at the Riem trade fair, we are building our seventh plant here at the Michaelibad.

“We are planning another on the site of the former Virginia depot in the north of Munich, and additional locations are currently being explored with the city administration. In total, we want to build ten geothermal projects with more than 50 new deep boreholes in and around Munich. In addition, we are making our existing plants more efficient through additional drilling. Large heat pumps directly at the location of the geothermal plant, as here at the Michaelibad, should also make the heat from the return flow usable for district heating. However, without federal funding for efficient heating networks, the feat of municipal heat transition cannot be managed. We are receiving funding for the plant at the Michaelibad, for which I would like to express my sincere thanks.”

The Northern Lights cross-border carbon capture and storage facility at Øygarden in Norway has been declared completed and ready to receive CO₂.

The official opening of the facility – a joint venture between Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies – was confirmed in a visit by the Norwegian Minister of Energy. The facility is expected to provide a vital outlet for large and hard-to-abate industrial emitters that need to decarbonise their processes.

It is part of the Norwegian full-scale CCS project Longship. This includes the capture of CO₂ from industrial sources and shipping of liquid CO₂ to the terminal in Øygarden before transportation – via pipeline – to the offshore storage location below the seabed in the North Sea.

“The completion of the Northern Lights facility marks an important milestone for the global development of a business model for carbon capture, transport and storage. It opens a value chain for decarbonisation of European industry and energy and shows the role we and our partners take in developing low carbon solutions in the energy transition” remarked Equinor CEO Anders Opedal.
The first phase capacity of 1.5mn tons of CO₂ per year is fully booked, and the joint venture owners continue to work on plans to increase the transport and storage capacity for the future.

“This project demonstrates what can be achieved when authorities and industry are working towards the same goal and co-invest to reduce risks,” added Opedal. “Equinor has several CO₂ transport and storage developments in our portfolio as operator and partner. The established Northern Lights value chain and experience from the project will be valuable in maturing and scaling up future CCS projects.”

European Commission-endorsed body, European Technology & Innovation Platform on Geothermal (ETIP-Geothermal), has launched the new vision for geothermal 2030/50, 'Geothermal Horizons: from Cities to Regions'. 

Designed in lines with the EU climate-neutral milestone by 2050, this vision aims to address the climate transition and secure Europe’s energy supply in an affordable way. Its research agenda targets the development of novel geothermal applications tailored to meet the diverse energy needs of European citizens and industries. A crucial step is the integration of these applications into the European energy security scheme, particularly in regions vulnerable to external energy dependencies.

“This ETIP Geothermal Vision looks towards the future of geothermal energy development to achieve the European Union’s climate-neutral milestone by 2050, and it highlights the great benefits of geothermal to decarbonise our economy. It is a unique solution to allow a sustainable energy transition with a paradigm shift for a circular economy. Geothermal is a key enabler for energy system integration, bringing renewable resources to the power, and heating and cooling industries in addition to energy storage and critical raw materials supply,” said Luca Xodo, ETIP Geothermal Chair.

The Greater Kittiwake Area joint venture has appointed EnQuest to continue as GKA operator for the full decommissioning scope, with Shell transferring its decommissioning management role to EnQuest.

Shell had retained operator responsibility for decommissioning the Kittiwake platform and the Mallard field, a subsea tie-back to the Kittiwake platform, when it divested the GKA fields.

EnQuest is delivering on its strategic objective to be the preferred decommissioning operator in the North Sea. The company has demonstrated exceptional decommissioning operator performance through execution of complex decommissioning projects, including the removal of the EnQuest Producer and Northern Producer facilities and the ongoing and extensive well plug and abandonment (P&A) scopes at the Thistle and Heather fields at 40% below benchmark costs. It is on track to complete the P&A of 77 wells, which represents 60% of the EnQuest operated suspended and shut-in wells, within 5 years of cessation of production.

John Allan, EnQuest Decommissioning Director, said, “This is a great vote of confidence in EnQuest by our GKA partners Shell and Dana. It reflects our strong track record of safe, efficient and successful execution of complex decommissioning scopes which is an important part of our company growth strategy.“

Offshore engineering solutions provider Aquaterra Energy has launched well re-entry and re-abandonment services along with its new patent-pending recoverable abandonment frame (RAF)

The combined solution will address challenges in locating, re-entering and re-abandoning legacy wells that penetrate, or pass through, offshore oil and gas reservoirs or saline aquifers that have been earmarked to be repurposed for carbon dioxide (CO2) or hydrogen storage.

The significant economic and technical challenges of re-abandoning problematic legacy wells that pose a leak risk beneath the seabed could derail many carbon capture and storage (CCS) and hydrogen storage projects, that intend to use previously penetrated oil and gas or saline aquifer formations. Technical challenges such as traditional relief well drilling could be infeasible in shallow intersects or where azimuth and depth are unknown.

Excavation methods require enormous amounts of material to be removed and may also fail to isolate re-abandonment loading from the compromised legacy well, meaning both methods may fall short in addressing technical, environmental, safety, and regulatory issues effectively.

Aquaterra Energy’s solution overcomes these challenges by employing advanced seabed and subsurface surveying technologies, well imaging, marking, and tagging to precisely locate wells. This allows the RAF to adjust to an exact well position and install conduits below the seabed to re-engage the legacy well and then back to the surface to allow for successful re-abandonment via a vertical well re-entry tieback method. Crucially the RAF also protects the legacy well components from environmental, lateral and axial loading generated by wave action on the tieback conduits and the re-abandonment operation itself.

RAF to address energy transition

George Morrison, CEO at Aquaterra Energy, said, “The introduction of the RAF and our re-entry services illustrate our strategy of pivoting decades of offshore expertise to address the wider challenges of the energy transition. Our team is committed to innovating and taking on the tough issues, ensuring that carbon and hydrogen storage can be effectively delivered as part of our broader commitment to driving the energy transition forward.”

The technology is intended for repeated use across multiple wells or locations with flexibility built in for differing seabed conditions. Its modular design allows for shipping worldwide or road transport for quayside assembly. This could enable the effective abandonment or re-abandonment of wells that may not have been previously possible, while also significantly lowering costs, saving operators £18-20 million per abandoned well - an estimated 80% reduction in comparison to other methods currently deployed. The approach could also lead to major reductions in project timelines, estimated to be up to 50% quicker per well.

"The RAF and our associated suite of services for legacy well re-entry represents a significant leap forward in abandonment technology," said Ben Cannell, Innovation Director at Aquaterra Energy. "Well re-abandonment for CCS is a new challenge, and our solution has been developed to meet it head-on. By reducing project risk, costs and operational time, we're not only making well abandonment more efficient, but also enabling the viability of carbon or hydrogen storage, as these projects would generally be far more costly or even impossible to deliver." 

Aquaterra Energy is currently in discussions with major oil and gas operators and specialist CCS operators in several global regions, including the North Sea and APAC, to deploy their legacy well re-entry services and RAF technology.