As sanctions against Russia increase by the day, Europe has been thrust into a position of vulnerability as supply disruptions become a threat to the region’s oil market. However, as West Africa ramps up its production numbers, especially within Nigeria, the region may be the saving grace needed for European imports. Accordingly, Nigeria alone is expected to capitalise on its 37 billion barrels of crude oil reserves in order to expand its exports into Europe.
It is no secret that the global oil market hasn’t experienced a notion of stability over the last couple of years, as both the Covid-19 pandemic and the geopolitical situation across eastern Europe tipped the proverbial scales from one extreme to another in quick succession. In a two-year period, the price of oil ranged from the historic lows of US$21.87 (WTI) to the staggering heights of US$122.11 (WTI). Thankfully, the price has now plateaued to remain in the region of a healthy US$80, but given the turbulence of the last few years, the future remains uncertain.
What is certain, however, is that even with the increased vigour placed on alternative energy sources and supporting the energy transition, renewable energy still has a long way to go until it can meet the global energy demand, meaning that at least for the next few decades, oil and gas is here to stay. As the demand for energy continues to soar, the gauntlet falls to individual regions increasing their production levels and making their own stamp on the global oil market. This change in focus gives the West African region a prime opportunity to take its place among the big hitters, especially as focus has turned into using marginal fields to up production. In 2020, 57 marginal fields became accessible for local companies to start production work on, tapping into the reported one billion barrels of oil that lie within.
With increased production, however, comes an increased demand for vessels to complete the scope of work. Once the pandemic neared its end and production returned in full force, the demand for vessels grew tenfold, creating a bottleneck in supply. It wasn’t only the demand for vessels which grew exponentially, but extreme inflation levels of up to 21% in Nigeria meant the cost of the vessels grew as well. It became not only a situation of sourcing a vessel, but sourcing an affordable one. Even with the strong presence of service providers Helix and TechnipFMC in the region, there is still a huge backlog of projects awaiting attention.
What has become apparent in the region is that collaboration between sectors is a necessity. As the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act (the ‘Local Content Act’) highlights the importance of self-sufficiency in the global oil landscape, priority of the marginal wells is now given to indigenous companies as opposed to international/multinational operators. With that in mind, local companies will need to rely on the expertise presented in other sectors to fully exploit the potential in these wells if they want to utilise the resources to their fullest.
Tirex P&E, a drilling and well intervention services company, has completed the Ikike well drilling and intervention campaign for Total Energies offshore Nigeria.
According to media reports, Tirex P&E is pleased to have participated in such developmental strides that will be of great impact on the growth and capacity of Nigeria, particularly in the promotion of local content by the Federal Government of Nigeria. This milestone will help the West African energy giant revitalise its oil output following a decline in production in the past two years.
The project reportedly commenced in July 2021 on the Ikike Field which is located approximately 20 km off the coast of Nigeria. It was part of the oil mining lease with a total of five wells drilled and completed alongside a 120-day well intervention scope at the Amenam Platform.
Located 20 km off the coast, the Ikike Platform is tied back to the existing Amenam offshore facilities through a 14 km multiphase pipeline and will deliver peak production of more than 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Petrofac has exercised its contracted rig hire option on one further well as well management contractor for the Tullow P&A campaign on PSC-A Banda and PSC-B Tiof wells offshore Mauritania.
The optional well is the Banda-1 subsea exploration well and is estimated to take 20 days to complete Petrofac’s plug and abandonment operations. This means that the total work is now for five well re-entries.
Island Drilling has stated its pleasure in extending its relationship with Petrofac and continuing to add to its backlog for the Island Innovator, a fully equipped semi-submersible drilling unit with a 165 ton active heave compensated crane.
Once completed, the vessel will continue on to UK waters where it will carry out a work programme with Dana Petroleum.
Saab Seaeye, a leading underwater e-robotics company, is assisting in the decommissioning of an oil platform in Angola – the first to undergo this work in the country.
EQS, an environmental quality services company, is leading the project with help from a Saab Seaeye Falcon underwater robot that has been deployed to help transform the platform into an artificial reef.
Chief Technical Officer at EQS, Carlos Rodrigues said, “By operating the Seaeye Falcon and all its related capabilities, EQS is supporting its aim to fulfil specific works in a safe and cost-effective manner delivering accurate and relevant information.”
The Falcon is assisting in the survey and mapping of all underwater components, including checking the wellhead, pipelines and the surrounding maritime environment.
Baseline environmental conditions are determined by taking water and sediment samples at several stations and at different depths, focussing on biological matter, namely zooplankton, phytoplankton, and benthos.
Significant marine growth already exists throughout the structure with abundant marine life already in the area for populating the rig when toppled on its side to become an artificial reef. Once decommissioning is complete, a series of surveys will be scheduled to monitor the evolution of marine growth on the newly created reef.
EQS selected the Seaeye Falcon for its ability to handle an array of cameras, sensors, tooling and complex data gathering systems that include a digital multi-frequency profiling sonar.
Future work involves clearing an area of fish nets, restoring platform signalling and marking, positioning of signal buoys and confirmation of pipeline locations along with the surveys to monitor marine growth.
Following its success in the Gulf of Thailand, Decom Engineering (Decom) has secured two contracts worth more than UK£300,000 in the North Sea and offshore West Africa, strengthening their reputation as a leading provider of decommissioning services.
The northern Irish company had designed and developed a range of cold cutting saws which are deployed on a variety of energy sector decommissioning projects which require pipelines and associated infrastructure to be safely removed.
The UK Continental Shelf contract is a conductor recovery and removal project deployed topside on a vessel and Decom’s C1 Chopsaw is expected to complete eight cuts on behalf of a global offshore contractor. Separately, Norwegian-headquartered subsea and offshore wind farm contractor Havfram have commissioned Decom to carry out cutting operations on a ROVCON connecter in water depths of up to 800 metres off the coast of West Africa.
Both projects were secured following a series of technical trials at JFD Global’s testing tank and the National Hyperbaric Centre in Aberdeen, and they follow the successful completion of two phases of another international workscope offshore in the Gulf of Thailand in which Decom’s chop saws performed hundreds of cuts on piping of up to 16” diameter.
Decom Engineering Managing Director, Sean Conway, commented, “The successful completion of a strategic project offshore Thailand and our imminent mobilisation on workscopes in the North Sea and Africa, demonstrates that our technology is gaining traction with energy companies and contractors who have technically challenging requirements on a range of international decommissioning projects.
“Recent technical trials in Aberdeen have proven our cutting technologies can operate safely in deeper waters and that they are preferable to rival solutions where accessibility to subsea infrastructure is an issue.
Steven Gibson, Senior Engineer with Havfram during testing, remarked, “The potential of Decom’s saw to cut the heavy grade material we are going to be cutting through on the West African seabed, the speed of the cut, and the ability to position it in a very restricted space, were the driving factors in awarding this workscope.”
Decom opened up a new base near Aberdeen at the start of 2022 to be located closer to potential North Sea clients and the policy appears to be paying off following this most recent contract award.
Conway added, “We will continue to invest in infrastructure and to build our asset portfolio to ensure we are positioned to be able to respond to more technically challenging projects as the global decommissioning sector continues to grow.
“Our R&D and engineering teams are currently working on new chop saws which are capable of handling piping of up to 36” diameter in anticipation of potentially winning other contracts in the second half of this year.”
BiSN, a leading supplier of sealing solutions and technology to the global oil and gas industry, has reached a significant milestone after completing its 300th deployment, helping operators around the world to effectively solve common downhole flow issues.
The operations were carried out on six continents (Australia, The Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and South Asia) and took place in a range of challenging conditions and location; onshore, offshore, high temperature or high pressure.
By providing critical production enhancement, intervention, completion, and plug and abandonment services, using its patented Wel-lok sealing technology, BiSN reduced costs, improved production, and dramatically extended the life of hundreds of wells.
By working with specially developed chemical reaction heaters to carefully melt unique bismuth-based eutectic alloys into plugs, BiSN developed its Wel-lok technology to create a bismuth plug that is not only safer, but much more reliable and easier to deploy. It makes it possible to form a gas tight (v0) seal and with a density that is 10 times higher than water it effectively displaces all wellbore fluids.
Paul Carragher, CEO of BiSN said, “As operators strive to address downhole flow issues safely, increasing production while reducing costs, we have made it our mission to help them achieve this. We have the extensive real world experience in applying this method. As a result of carrying out more than 300 deployments globally, we know how to successfully use our technology to complete operations aimed at enhancing production, completions, plug and abandonment, and intervention. These jobs represent operations carried out for many repeat customers, illustrating the value and confidence they continue to place in our work.”
To help operators tackle complex challenges downhole, BiSN draws upon its varied experience and services. These range from shutting off water production and isolating zones to setting a gas-tight plug, repairing damaged casing or tubing, and permanently sealing multiple annuli, among others.
While the company continues to provide downhole sealing solutions to new and existing customers in the US, Canada and Australia, BiSN is actively expanding in Europe and Africa and has recently opened an office in Aberdeen.
Petrofac, one of the leading providers of services to the global energy industry, has grown its presence in Africa having been selected by Tullow Oil to provide well decommissioning services in Mauritania.
The contract, with a potential total value of more than US$60mn, involves the project management, engineering, planning and plugging and abandonment (P&A) of seven subsea wells on Tullow Oil’s Banda and Tiof fields.
Petrofac will assume responsibility for the subsea well decommissioning scope from Maersk Decom, who have been preparing the work since 2020. By mutual agreement, the parties have novated the contract to Petrofac who will take immediate responsibility for the project, with the offshore scope running from the fourth quarter of 2022 throughout first quarter of 2023.
Petrofac said it will provide all personnel, assets and equipment required for the project, including management of the ‘Island Innovator’ drilling unit and offshore support vessels.
Nick Shorten, Chief Operating Officer for Petrofac’s Asset Solutions business said, “The contract award is a demonstration of the international demand that exists for the skills and quality of delivery we have established in the North Sea. Since 2016 Petrofac has delivered three successful decom campaigns for Tullow Oil. We look forward to emulating this success for them in Mauritania, and across the African continent as we continue to grow our business here.”
Havfram, a Norwegian oil field equipment supplier recently announced that PC Mauritania 1 Pty Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PETRONAS, has awarded Havfram an offshore decommissioning contract.
The contract includes the provision of engineering, procurement, retrieval and disposal (EPRD) services for the abandonment and decommissioning of Subsea Facilities at Chinguetti and Banda Fields, offshore Mauritania, in March 2022.
“The PETRONAS Chinguetti and Banda EPRD project is another significant project award for Havfram in the Africa region. This is one of four projects Havfram has been awarded in Africa and the Mediterranean in the last 12 months, further enhancing our already strong track record in the region. We are proud to have been chosen by PETRONAS to meet their decommissioning needs in this field,” said Odd Strømsnes, CEO, Havfram.
Under the contract, Havfram will utilise its in-house expertise to project manage, engineer, retrieve and dispose of the remaining field infrastructure, having already executed the first phase of decommissioning operations in 2018.
“Our focus on risk mitigation and efficient execution solutions has seen us selected by Petronas once again as the perfect partner for decommissioning operations,” said Kevin Murphy, EVP Subsea and Deputy CEO, Havfram. “Havfram has consistently delivered a range of subsea projects across the continent for our clients, and we look forward to renewing our working partnership with Petronas’ Chinguetti and Banda team.”
Andrea Sbordone, Business Development Manager at TechnipFMC, will describe four case studies of successful riserless light well intervention (RLWI) campaigns at the upcoming Offshore Well Intervention West Africa 2022 conference in Accra.
At the conference, which is running from 12-13 July, Sbordone will review the four campaigns which were performed by Island Constructor in West Africa, providing the opportunity for the audience to appreciate the efficiency of this fully integrated RLWI system.
At the session, Sbordone will assess how RLWI can effectively increase production at the lowest total cost in the upcoming 5th West Africa campaign running in Q4 2022 and Q1 2023.
To listen and participate in this exclusive session be sure to attend OWI WA 2022 which will play host to a range of key operators in the region including BP, Shell, Tullow Oil and more, as well as a range of experts from across the industry.
To learn more, be sure to download the event brochure here:
https://www.offsnet.com/owi-wa/conference-brochure
Or reach out to the details below:
Rachael Brand
Project Manager
T: +44 (0) 20 3409 3041
e:
David Carr, Senior Vice President – International at Helix Well Ops, will be hosting a session at the upcoming Offshore Well Intervention West Africa (OWI WA) which will look at the potential for light well intervention (LWI) in Africa.
Exclusively for attendees of the event, which is arriving in Accra from 12-13 July, Carr will examine examples of innovative LWI vessel based solutions for complex well integrity issues and production enhancement purposes that improve the efficiency of well intervention projects.
Despite the seemingly incredible benefits that can be achieved through the use of such vessels, there remains somewhat of a reluctance to make use of them in the West African region. However, with Covid-19 forcing oil companies to keep hold of capital wherever they can, LWI could provide a viable outlet by offering them the chance to achieve their offshore objects but at a much lower cost.
Carr will continue the session by reviewing multi-service campaigns completed on an integrated vessel and how this can solve a variety of challenges operators face when embarking on intervention projects.
Those attending OWI WA will then have the chance to engage in a discussion with the Helix representative to explore how collaboration with an international and multi-disciplinary team can lead to seamless operational efficiency.
Such unique sessions are not to be missed by anyone involved in the African offshore industry or those interested in squeezing more from their offshore operations. To learn more, be sure to download the event brochure here:
https://www.offsnet.com/owi-wa/conference-brochure
Or reach out to the details below:
Rachael Brand
Project Manager
T: +44 (0) 20 3409 3041
e:
A session on understanding wax formation in the TEN Field will be presented by Daniel Konadu, Production Chemist, Tullow Oil at the fast-approaching Offshore Well Intervention West Africa (OWI WA), to be held from 12-13 July, in the city of Accra, Ghana.
Participants will be given details, allowing for a better understanding of ‘wax’ and its process of formation. Daniel will also shed light on operational issues encountered by operators during and because of the wax formation and deposition.
The session is also said to be information-rich, as it examines the methods to prevent or remediate wax deposition to reduce flow assurance challenges. Daniel will further identify risk in operational tests, followed by a detailed study on wax deposition.
The upcoming OWI WA is said to be West Africa’s answer to issues relevant to operational obstacles in production. The event is also featuring experts, global and national level companies as well as seasoned service providers.
To learn more, be sure to download the event brochure here:
https://www.offsnet.com/owi-wa/conference-brochure
Or reach out to the details below:
Rachael Brand
Project Manager
T: +44 (0) 20 3409 3041
e:
A presentation on well productivity practices will be delivered by Ejimofor Agbo, Senior Completions Engineer, NewcrossEP at the upcoming Offshore Well Intervention West Africa (OWI WA), which is to be held from 12-13 July, in the city of Accra, Ghana.
NewcrossEP is an exploration and production firm based in Nigeria and Ejimofor will be talking about the company’s innovative approach to water management via extended perforation. The speaker will discuss in length the approach to arresting the increase in water cut in a producing well, thereby reducing crude handling and transportation charges.
Participants will also be able to learn more about candidate selection and obtain a comprehensive analysis of datasets in maturing the candidate for execution. Ejimofor will also address establishing a selection of perforation intervals using cased hole logging and open-hole logging in selected sand conditions
The session will be concluded with participants being able to explore NewcrossEP’s project execution and well monitoring that has resulted in a shown appreciable drop in the water cut by 80%, as well as a corresponding increase in the oil gain by 20%.
OWI WA is set up to be the platform for discussion on the region’s offshore well intervention topics. The event is filled with experts from regulatory bodies, international and regional companies, alongside regulatory bodies and service providers.
To learn more, be sure to download the event brochure here:
https://www.offsnet.com/owi-wa/conference-brochure
Or reach out to the details below:
Rachael Brand
Project Manager
T: +44 (0) 20 3409 3041
e:
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