Energy News to 22/12/22 . OPEC daily basket price at $79.36/bl, 21 Dec. 2022
API reported a large draw in crude oil inventories of 7.819 million barrels, while the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a crude inventory increase of 10.2 million barrels for the week to December 9.
Nippon Cargo Airlines (NCA), the only international cargo airline based in Japan, has for the first time used Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel™ for several cargo flights in November and December this year. The sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is supplied by Neste at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. The flights with SAF are a result of NCA’s commitment to making consistent efforts to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, including using sustainable aviation fuels. SAF has been widely acknowledged as a key element in helping to achieve aviation’s emission reduction goals globally. It delivers the performance of conventional jet fuel but with a significantly smaller carbon footprint over the fuel’s life cycle. “NCA is delighted to announce that NCA has used sustainable aviation fuel supplied by Neste on its flights from Amsterdam. NCA is eagerly implementing various fuel saving activities to reduce CO2 emissions, and among them using SAF is considered one of the most effective measures to reduce these emissions. Therefore, we are confident that these flights with SAF will become a big step for NCA. Neste is the leading SAF producer in the world, and NCA aims to expand business activities with Neste to increase the number of flights with SAF. NCA will source SAF at all of its destinations and work hard to tackle carbon emission issues to meet various customers’ demands,” said Hitoshi Watanabe, Vice President & General Manager, Corporate Planning at NCA. Read More
Nel Hydrogen Inc., a subsidiary of Nel ASA, has signed a Capacity Reservation Agreement (CRA) with an undisclosed US energy company, for the delivery of 16 hydrogen fueling stations to be deployed in the US.
In line with the agreement Nel will reserve capacity and start sourcing long-lead items for the fueling stations. The manufacturing of the equipment at Nel’s factory in Herning, Denmark, will commence when a final purchase order is signed.
“We look forward to providing our hydrogen fueling equipment to this important client and contributing to the deployment of hydrogen fueling infrastructure in the US”, says Robert Borin, Senior Vice President, Nel Fueling Division.
The value of the CRA is about USD 7 million and is paid upon signature. The final purchase order (including the CRA fee) is estimated to be about USD 17 million, whereas a final agreement is expected to be made in H1 2023. Delivery of the fueling equipment is scheduled to commence in Q4 2023 and run throughout 2024. Read More
Neptune Energy welcomes Equinor’s announcement on submission of the plan for development and production (PDO) of Snøhvit Future, which will maintain higher gas exports from the Hammerfest LNG facility and reduce operational emissions.
Neptune’s Managing Director for Norway and the UK, Odin Estensen, said: “We congratulate Equinor on reaching this key milestone for the Snøhvit Future project, in close collaboration with the licence partners.
“Snøhvit is currently the second largest producing field for Neptune Energy in Norway, representing about 25 percent of our total production in the country. The electrification of Snøhvit will reduce the CO2 emissions from Hammerfest LNG plant by around 850,000 tonnes per year, and is a major step towards the decarbonization of our production.”
Neptune Energy is also a partner in the Equinor-operated fields Njord, Gudrun and Fram, which are all in the process of being electrified. The Gjøa field in the North Sea, operated by Neptune, is already powered by hydroelectricity, generated onshore. Read More
Hitachi Energy, announced it has won an order to supply its Grid-eMotion® Flash ultrafast charging system for the two busiest bus routes in the city of Clermont-Ferrand, central France. Grid-eMotion Flash was the first choice of the city’s public transportation operator, SMTC-AC, which requires a fast, efficient, reliable and safe charging system that will help persuade motorists to leave their cars at home and use emission-free public transportation instead.
Grid-eMotion Flash is part of the city’s InspiRe program to create sustainable urban mobility and reduce emissions, congestion and noise in the metropolitan area. It includes 40 new ebuses, dedicated bus lanes to shorten passenger journeys, very short intervals between buses in timetables, and no interruptions in bus services due to discharged batteries. As a result, SMTC-AC aims to raise passenger satisfaction and significantly increase the number of passenger journeys from 32 million today to 52 million by 20321. The new electric transportation system, integrated into a complex urban environment, will reduce CO2 emissions by around 5,000 tons a year. Grid-eMotion Flash – Hitachi Energy’s ultrafast charging system – is enabling cities to reduce the environmental pollution of their transit systems without affecting passenger capacity or journey times. It flash-charges buses within seconds at selected stops, with ultrafast top-up charging during short rests at the route terminus and the depot. Read More
Hitachi Energy and Linxon are collaborating to strengthen London Power Tunnels (LPT), a key power infrastructure project that will ensure reliable, clean electricity supply for England’s capital city. To support National Grid in accelerating its net zero targets, Hitachi Energy will deliver EconiQ™ 420-kilovolt (kV) gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) and gas-insulated lines (GIL) containing no sulfur hexafluoride (SF6).
As one of the world’s largest investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities, National Grid has the ambition to remove all SF6 from its fleet by 2050. In 2020, it embarked on LPT project that will replace ageing high-voltage electricity cables and expand network capacity to meet the increasing electricity demand. Considered to be one of the city’s largest engineering projects since the 1960s, the LPT will span 32.5 kilometers via underground tunnels in South London.
Linxon is building Bengeworth Road substation for National Grid to develop the LPT infrastructure. To support National Grid in its transition to SF6-free solutions, Hitachi Energy will deliver 7 bays of its EconiQ 420 kV GIS to enable the transmission of electricity over long distances while eliminating SF6, in addition to EconiQ 420 kV GIL. The EconiQ high-voltage portfolio is 100 percent as reliable as the conventional solutions based on SF6. The installation is expected to commence by 2023. Read More
DNO ASA, the Norwegian oil and gas operator, announced the acquisition of an additional 10 percent stake in the Berling (previously Iris Hades) field development project from Sval Energi AS. Following the acquisition, DNO Norge AS holds a 30 percent interest in the 2018 gas and condensate discovery offshore Norway, with operator OMV (Norge) AS and Equinor Energy AS retaining 30 percent and 40 percent interests, respectively. The partnership will submit a plan for development and operation (PDO) to the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy before the end of December with a recommendation that the Berling field be developed as a subsea tieback to the Åsgard B platform some 20 kilometers away. The Berling field stretches across three licenses with aligned ownership interests (PL644, PL644B and PL644C).
Separately, plans have been submitted to the Ministry for the Andvare field development (previously Gjøk) by a partnership comprising DNO Norge AS (32 percent), operator Equinor Energy AS (53 percent) and PGNiG Upstream Norway AS (15 percent). The field lies within a license (PL159B) that also includes the producing Alve field as a subsea tieback to Norne FPSO. Andvare will use existing infrastructure and an available Norne well slot, allowing for a fast-track development of the gas discovery. A third DNO field development that was matured towards a 2022 investment decision is the DNO-operated Brasse project also offshore Norway (PL740). As recent changes in the temporary petroleum tax system and industry cost pressures have significantly weakened the project’s economics, the license partners (DNO and Vår Energi ASA with 50 percent each) have decided not to submit a PDO by yearend 2022. DNO is considering its options to commercialize the Brasse oil and gas discovery, including through a modified development concept. Read More
An innovative range of high strength austenitic stainless steels has been developed that will revolutionise the design and construction of onshore and offshore facilities in the oil, gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector.
The global demand for LNG is projected to reach 700 million tonnes per year by 2040 fuelling the need for greater LNG infrastructure including import receiving and export terminals, FLNG vessels and LNG carriers. Since these facilities are being designed with larger capacities and operating under increasingly more challenging conditions, advanced materials technology is required to maximise performance, reduce carbon emissions and optimise through-life costs. Fortunately, an N’GENIUS solution is on the horizon.
Patent protected in 30 countries around the world, the N’GENIUS Series is a complete ‘family’ of high strength austenitic stainless steels possessing major improvements compared to 300 Series stainless steels, and a highly economical alternative to various nickel-alloys.
As with conventional austenitic stainless steels, the N’GENIUS Series has excellent ductility and toughness at sub-zero and cryogenic temperatures. But exceptionally higher strength and vastly superior corrosion resistance makes this new family an entirely different proposition.
Its unique combination of design characteristics provides key engineering advantages for the onshore and offshore industry.
LNG piping systems, engineered products, fabricated products and equipment can be developed and manufactured with reduced wall thicknesses, offering the potential to make products and equipment lighter and smaller, significantly reducing topside weight and helping facilities overcome space and height restrictions. Any space savings would also improve accessibility regarding servicing and maintenance, repairs, upgrading or replacement work on products and equipment in the future.
In particular, large facilities with extremely heavy topsides including floating production storage offloading (FPSO) vessels, FLNGs and upstream fixed platforms, would greatly benefit from the design and construction advantages that the N’GENIUS Series can provide. This includes the potential to reduce the overall construction time and costs, as well as benefitting from easier handling and lower associated transportation costs.
Dr C.V. Roscoe, the inventor of the N’GENIUS Series, said: “Some of these larger facilities can have topsides weighing more than 50,000 metric tonnes, which has a major impact on the design and construction cost of oil, gas and LNG projects. “The N’GENIUS Series has an infinite range of Alloy types, variants and grades and is perfectly suited for all the different material specifications, scopes of work and products including piping systems, pumps, valves, modules, vessels and tanks. Therefore, the potential to optimise the weight and space of all these components, and in turn reduce costs, could be invaluable. It really is the total system material.” The weight-saving benefits provided by the N’GENIUS Series are achieved from superior wrought mechanical strength properties. For example, the minimum yield and tensile strength of the N’GENIUS 304LM4N and N’GENIUS 316LM4N grades are typically 2.5 and 1.5 times higher respectively compared to the minimum strength values of conventional 304L and 316L. This enables the N’GENIUS Series to have significantly higher allowable design stresses than conventional austenitic stainless steels. Read More
Hess Corporation has been recognized for climate change stewardship in CDP’s Climate Change Scores for 2022. Hess has earned Leadership status for 14 consecutive years from CDP, an international nonprofit organization that runs a global environmental disclosure system. This year, Hess is one of only two U.S. oil and gas producers to achieve Leadership status, scoring well above both the oil & gas extraction and production sector average and the overall North American regional average. Read More
The Snøhvit partners will invest NOK 13.2 billion (2022) in upgrading the Hammerfest LNG plant, HLNG, at Melkøya. The project involves gas onshore compression and electrification and will secure the future of HLNG. Today, at a ceremony in Hammerfest, Equinor submitted a plan for development and operation (PDO) of Snøhvit Future to the Minister of Petroleum and Energy on behalf of the Snøhvit partnership. Onshore gas compression will provide enough flow from the reservoir to extend plateau production and maintain high gas exports from HLNG beyond 2030. Electrification will reduce CO2 emissions from HLNG by around 850,000 tonnes per year. Read More
Origis Energy, one of America’s largest solar and energy storage developers, has contracted Mitsubishi Power Americas to deliver three utility-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) projects totaling 150 megawatts / 600 megawatt hours. The projects will be co-located with three Origis Energy photovoltaic solar facilities in the Southeast United States to reduce curtailment of excess solar generation which will enable greater efficiency and higher capacity of the sites.
Origis will use the Mitsubishi Power Emerald storage solution for the three projects, successively coming online over the next two years. Origis has pioneered large-scale solar in the Southeast, working with leading utilities, municipalities and electric cooperatives to deploy over 1.5 gigawatts of operational and contracted projects in the region. The company’s U.S. total for operational and contracted solar and BESS projects is over 4 GWs. Energy storage enables Origis to add grid services to renewable energy generation. Consequently, Origis has 2.3 gigawatt hours (GWh) of BESS projects contracted or in negotiation with 13.7 GWh currently being developed.
Origis and Mitsubishi Power Energy Storage
Representative illustration of the solar with storage project, including solar energy and battery energy storage system clean energy solutions. (Credits: Origis Energy and Mitsubishi Power)
“Storage of renewably generated power is an increasingly important grid asset,” said Kenneth Kim, Vice President, Engineering & Strategy Planning, Origis Energy. “By adding the BESS solution to these facilities, we increase the value of the asset, adding enhanced grid solutions to clean, cost-effective solar power. We thank Mitsubishi Power for their collaboration on these projects, creating long term benefits for our customers.”
The BESS projects will employ Mitsubishi Power’s Emerald Integrated Plant Controller – an Energy Management System (EMS) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system – that instructs the BESS when to charge and deploy, monitors status, sends alarms and alerts, and enables long-term data storage. Read More
ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) will host a conference call webcast on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023, at 12:00 p.m. Eastern time to discuss fourth-quarter 2022 financial and operating results as well as 2023 guidance items. The company’s financial and operating results will be released before the market opens on Feb. 2. Read More
Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) 9104.T and state-run GAIL (India) Ltd GAIL.NS have signed a time charter contract for a newbuild liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier, and for joint ownership of an existing LNG carrier. The newbuild vessel will be built by South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering 042660.KS with a charter period from 2023, according to a joint statement by MOL and GAIL on Wednesday. This is the second charter agreement for an LNG carrier signed between MOL and GAIL, which is India’s largest gas distributor, it added.
The first carrier, under the agreement signed in 2019, ships LNG from the U.S. Gulf Coast to India. Read More
Oil and Gas Blends | Units | Oil Price $ | change |
Crude Oil (WTI) | USD/bbl | $79.11 | Up |
Crude Oil (Brent) | USD/bbl | $82.98 | Up |
Bonny Light | USD/bbl | $80.34 | Up |
Saharan Blend | USD/bbl | $80.50 | Up |
Natural Gas | USD/MMBtu | $5.42 | Down |
OPEC basket 21/12/22 | USD/bbl | $79.36 | Up |
China’s imports of oil, pipeline gas, LNG, and coal from Russia have hit a total of $68 billion since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, up from $41 billion for the same period last year, as Western buyers shun or have banned imports of many Russian energy products, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
China’s imports of LNG from Russia surged to a record in November although overall Chinese LNG purchases were down by 5.4% year over year, per Chinese customs data cited by Bloomberg. Chinese imports of LNG from Russia doubled to 852,000 tons in November compared to the same month in 2021. Oil imports from Russia also jumped last month, by 17%, and Russia beat Saudi Arabia to be China’s top oil supplier in November, according to the data. Read More
One-fifth of all passenger cars, SUVs and trucks sold in Canada in 2026 will need to run on electricity under new regulations Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault proposed Wednesday. By 2030, the mandate will hit 60 per cent of all sales and by 2035, every passenger vehicle sold in Canada will need to be electric.
Guilbeault’s parliamentary secretary Julie Dabrusin said during Wednesday’s announcement that the new target is “about making sure that Canadians have access to the vehicles they want.”Manufacturers or importers who don’t meet the sales targets could face penalties under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act through a phased-in approach. Under the draft regulations, to be formally published Dec. 30, the government proposes tracking the sales by issuing credits for vehicle sales.
Fully electric cars and trucks would be worth a bigger credit than plug-in hybrid versions, though the government acknowledges that plug-in hybrids will likely remain in demand in rural and northern areas. The mandate fulfils a 2021 Liberal election promise. It’s the first major set of regulations to come out of an emissions reduction plan the government published in April. That plan is Canada’s broad road map toward hitting its goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors to a level in 2030 that is 40 to 45 per cent below what it was in 2005. Read More
Scientists have achieved a new world record for solar cell efficiency, marking a “really big leap” forward for renewable energy. A team from Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin (HZB) was able to convert 32.5 per cent of solar radiation into electrical energy using a novel tandem cell technology. The design involved a bottom cell made of silicon – a material typically used in conventional solar panels – together with a thin top cell made of the so-called “miracle material” perovskite. Read More
In the UK a full tank of petrol is £4.50 more expensive than last Christmas, while the price of filling up with diesel is £15 more than last year, according to research from the RAC.
Petrol is currently being sold for an average of 152.96p per litre, which is 7p more than it was on 22 December last year, when it was 145.66p per litre.
The price of diesel is now 27p more expensive at the pump than it was a year ago, at 175.75p compared to 148.95p per litre.The RAC calculated that the average price of petrol should be around 138p, 15p cheaper than it actually is, and that diesel should be around 160p a litre, 13p cheaper than it is now. Read More
Petrobras’s new management should carry out a two-month review of the oil giant’s business plan to bring it more into line with Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s wider policy goals, according recommendations from Lula’s transition team.The energy experts who worked on Lula’s transition concluded that Petrobras’s existing $78 billion five-year strategic plan is insufficient to build out priorities such as refining and biofuels, according to a person familiar with the team’s formal policy recommendations. The group also calls for congress to approve a stabilization fund to ease price shocks during events such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the framework ready in about three months, the person said. The recommendations could still be changed before they are sent to the mines and energy ministry for formal consideration, the person said. Read More
Baker Hughes Rig Count
U.S. Rig Count is down 4 from last week to 780 with oil rigs down 2 to 625, gas rigs down 2 to 153 and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 2.
Canada Rig Count is up 7 from last week to 202, with oil rigs up 3 to 131, gas rigs up 4 to 71.
Region | Period | Rig Count | Change from Prior |
U.S.A | 09 December 2022 | 780 | -4 |
Canada | 09 December 2022 | 202 | +7 |
International | November 2022 | 910 | -1 |
OilandGasPress Energy Newsbites and Analysis Roundup | Compiled by: OGP Staff, Segun Cole @oilandgaspress.
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