Latest Energy News As Reported | Baker Hughes Rig Count: U.S. -3 to 748 Canada -16 to 111
London, 14 April, 2023, (Oilandgaspress): China’s oil demand is now expected to average 15.61 million bpd this year, up by 760,000 bpd year-over-year, OPEC said in its Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR). The latest growth estimate is higher than the 710,000 bpd growth expected in last month’s report.
Eni informs that today a group of shareholders composed of asset management companies and other Institutional Investors(1), holders of a total of 0.76% of the share capital of Eni SpA, filed the slates for the renewal of the corporate bodies of Eni, in view of the renewal of the Board of Directors and of the Board of Statutory Auditors scheduled on the agenda of the Shareholders’ Meeting called on May 10, 2023, on single call.
The slate of candidates for the office of Director is composed of the following candidates:
- Raphael Louis L. Vermeir
- Carolyn Adele Dittmeier
- Massimo Belcredi
The slate of candidates for the office of Statutory Auditor is composed of the following candidates:
Section I – Standing Statutory Auditors
- Rosalba Casiraghi
2. Enrico Maria Bignami Read More
Growth in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is expected to slow to 3.6 percent as a “big funding squeeze”, tied to the drying up of aid and access to private finance, hits the region. This is the second consecutive year of an aggregate decline in SSA growth.
• If no measures are taken, this shortage of funding may force countries to reduce fiscal resources for critical development like health, education, and infrastructure, holding the region back from developing its true potential.
• The IMF is playing its part. Between 2020 and 2022 the IMF provided more than 50 billion dollars to the region, more than twice the amount disbursed in any 10-year period since the 1990s. And as of March 2023, the IMF had lending arrangements with 21 countries, with more requests under consideration.
• Sub-Saharan Africa is far from powerless. Four policies can help navigate the current turmoil: i) consolidating public finances and strengthening public financial management, ii) containing inflation, iii) allowing exchange rates to adjust, while mitigating the adverse effects on the economy, and iv) ensuring important efforts to tackle climate change do not crowd out financing for basic needs like health and education. Read More
Saab and Embraer S.A. announced today at LAAD, in Rio de Janeiro, the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to deepen the collaboration between the companies in several areas, mainly related to business development and engineering opportunities.
The companies will collaborate to position the C-390 Millennium aircraft as the preferred solution to meet the Swedish Air Force tactical air transport requirements, and will also evaluate the integration of Saab equipment and systems into the C-390 Millennium multi-mission aircraft.
The companies will also pursue new business opportunities, including potential future customers of the Gripen, in Brazil and Latin America, considering the use of the Gripen Design and Development Network (GDDN), the Gripen Flight Test Center (GFTC) and the final assembly line at Embraer, in Gavião Peixoto. By doing so, Embraer and Saab will collaborate to increase Embraer’s participation in future Gripen contracts. Finally, the companies will collaborate on engineering and technical future fighter studies, thus consolidating the transfer of technology carried out by Saab for the Brazilian defense industry within the current Gripen program for the Brazilian Air Force (FAB). This work can support the future growth of Gripen E out to 2060 and other future fighter needs as they arise. Read More
The first flight of the fourth GlobalEye is an important milestone in Saab’s Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) programme and highlights that Saab can rapidly and reliably deliver GlobalEye. GlobalEye is the most modern multi-domain Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) solution with an array of active and passive sensors that provide long-range detection and identification of objects in air, at sea and over land. By providing real-time information to units in air forces, armies and navies, GlobalEye enables enhanced situational awareness of the surrounding areas and early detection of threats. It can also be used for non-military tasks such as leading and coordinating rescue missions during natural disasters or larger accidents at sea or on land. Read More
Sunfire has successfully installed the world’s first multi-megawatt high-temperature electrolyzer for the production of green hydrogen at Neste’s renewable products refinery in Rotterdam. Having met the refinery’s highest quality requirements, Sunfire has now achieved mechanical completion of the electrolysis system.
The pioneering MultiPLHY hydrogen project is entering its commissioning phase. Over the past few months, the electrolysis company Sunfire has installed twelve electrolysis modules at the refinery, which together make up the world’s largest high-temperature electrolysis system (2.6 MW) installed in an industrial environment.
The system is based on Sunfire’s efficient SOEC (Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell) technology, which operates at temperatures of 850 °C. Utilizing industrial excess heat, the electrolyzer processes steam to hydrogen with the highest conversion efficiency. Compared to other electrolysis solutions, Sunfire’s SOEC technology is the most efficient on the market because the high-temperature-process significantly reduces the amount of electricity required.
Sunfire’s electrolyzer will be integrated into Neste’s refinery processes and will become part of the on-site production of renewable products. Once operational, the electrolyzer will produce more than 60 kg of green hydrogen per hour. “We are proud to soon demonstrate our multi-megawatt electrolyzer in an industrial refinery environment. Groundbreaking hydrogen projects like MultiPLHY are laying the foundation to secure Europe’s position as a global leader in clean technologies,” says Nils Aldag, CEO of Sunfire. In addition to Sunfire, the MultiPLHY consortium includes Neste, the French research center CEA, SMS Group company Paul Wurth and ENGIE. The project is funded by the EU Clean Hydrogen Partnership. Read More
RWE’s hydrogen pilot plant, the first electrolysis blocks for hydrogen production have arrived at the construction site of the Emsland gas-fired power plant.
Within four days, eight blocks of a 10 MW pressurized alkaline electrolyzer from Sunfire rolled onto the RWE site on semi-trailers. A gantry crane on rails lifted the components, each weighing 15 tons, to their destination in a specially built hall. There, four blocks are assembled into stacks nearly ten meters long. In the coming weeks, technicians will install the 10 MW pressurized alkaline plant and integrate it into the infrastructure of the Emsland gas-fired power plant. Sunfire’s electrolyzer is expected to be operational this fall. It can produce up to 200 kilograms of green hydrogen per hour using renewable electricity. The renewable gas will be fed into a public hydrogen network or used as a climate-neutral fuel for the turbines of the gas-fired power plant. In the future, it could also supply the mobility market and the hydrogen-capable gas turbine RWE and Kawasaki plan to build in Lingen. The state of Lower Saxony is funding the project with EUR 8 million. Read More
TotalEnergies has accepted an offer from Pacific Avenue Capital Partners for the acquisition of three product lines (Wingtack®, PolyBD® and Dymalink®) developed by Cray Valley, its resin production and sales affiliate. The transaction includes four production sites in the United States, the Cray Valley Italy affiliate and the portfolio of customers. The transaction will allow Cray Valley to focus on its global specialty C4 and pure-monomer resin businesses which will continue to be developed by TotalEnergies. Production of the Ricon®, Krasol® and Cleartack® resins will continue at Carling (France), in accordance with the commitments made when the site was restructured in 2013, Grand Junction (US) and Kralupy (Czech Republic). About Cray Valley
TotalEnergies’ Cray Valley affiliate is a global supplier of specialty chemical additives, hydrocarbon specialty chemicals, and liquid or solid tackifying resins used to make adhesives, rubbers, polymers, coatings and other materials. As a pioneer in the development of these advanced technologies, Cray Valley has already brought hundreds of performance-enhancing products to market for demanding applications in a range of sectors (energy, printing, packaging, construction, tires, electronics, etc.). Cray Valley’s European headquarters, at the Carling Saint-Avold platform, is home to its customer service, a research and development center, and production units. Read More
U.S. spies caught Russian intelligence officers boasting that they had convinced the oil-rich United Arab Emirates “to work together against US and UK intelligence agencies,” according to a purported American document posted online as part of a major U.S. intelligence breach.
U.S. officials declined to comment on the document, which bore known top-secret markings and was viewed by The Associated Press. The Emirati government on Monday dismissed any accusation that the UAE had deepened ties with Russian intelligence as “categorically false.”
But the U.S. has had growing concerns that the UAE was allowing Russia and Russians to thwart sanctions imposed over the invasion of Ukraine.The document viewed by the AP includes an item citing research from March 9 with the title: “Russia/UAE: Intelligence Relationship Deepening.” U.S. officials declined to confirm the document’s authenticity, which the AP could not independently do. However, it resembled other documents released as part of the recent leak. Read More
When the gas rig arrived off the coast of Saint-Louis, residents of this seaside Senegalese town found reason to hope. Fishing has long been the community’s lifeblood, but the industry was struggling with climate change and COVID-19. Officials promised the drilling would soon bring thousands of jobs and diversification of the economy.
Instead, residents say, the rig has brought only a wave of problems, unemployment and more poverty. And it’s forced some women to turn to prostitution to support their families, they told The Associated Press in interviews. To make way for the drilling of some 15 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (425 billion cubic meters) discovered off the coasts of Senegal and neighboring Mauritania in West Africa in 2015, access to fertile fishing waters was cut off, with the creation of an exclusion zone that prevents fisherman from working in the area. Read More
Climate change is making droughts faster and more furious, especially a specific fast-developing heat-driven kind that catch farmers by surprise, a new study found.
The study in Thursday’s journal Science found droughts in general are being triggered faster. But it also showed that a special and particularly nasty sudden kind — called “flash droughts” by experts — is casting an ever bigger crop-killing footprint.
It comes only in the growing season – mostly summer, but also spring and fall – and is insidious because it’s caused not just by the lack of rain or snow that’s behind a typical slow-onset drought, hydrologists and meteorologists said.
What happens is the air gets so hot and so dry that it sucks water right out of plants and soil.
“It’s the increasing thirstiness of the atmosphere,” said UCLA and National Center for Atmospheric Research climate scientist Daniel Swain, who wasn’t part of the study. Swain called the issue “very relevant in a warming climate.” Read More
A startup business that places small turbines in irrigation canals to generate electricity has raised $18.4 million to scale up its technology for carbon-free hydropower.
Emily Morris, CEO and founder of Emrgy, said her inspiration for making electricity in places that some people might find unlikely was seeing water swiftly flowing through the vast network of U.S. irrigation infrastructure. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation alone operates 1,600 miles of main canals.
In the same way that putting solar on rooftops avoids disturbing the land, making use of existing canals means the hydropower turbines don’t have to disturb the natural environment. “Our infrastructure represents a new sector of renewable energy real estate,” Morris said in an interview.
Irrigation canals in the U.S. are made of concrete or stone and transport water from main sources to fields. Emrgy units look something like a propeller with blades rotating parallel to the ground. Water in the canals turns them and then flows past; there is no dam. The spinning turbines do change how the water moves through the canals, slowing it, so Emrgy works closely with water operators. Emrgy’s installations are very small in the commercial sense — between 2 and 10 megawatts. But that’s approximately enough to power a neighborhood or a small campus. Read More
Demand for tanker services has surged as sanctions forced Russia to sell a whole lot less oil to Europe and more to other parts of the world, such as India and China, a longer-haul route. As a result, the tankers that move it are tied up longer, and that’s affecting the entire global market for those vessels. Over the last two months, the average cost that producers pay to ship fuel and petroleum has more than doubled. Read More
Russian oil trade post-ban is dominated by Greek tanker operators, and the size of the Greek-operated fleet post-EU ban is nearly 2.5 times bigger than the next fleet, i.e. Russia’s. Russian-operated vessels make up the second highest share due to a large crude tanker fleet which existed pre-war.
It is important to emphasise that it is not illegal for EU operators to be part of the Russian trade post-insurance ban, provided the correct insurance documentation exists to show use of the price cap mechanism if a vessel uses EU/UK insurance and services. For example, after the shipping insurance bans, almost all the Greek-operated vessels still have coverage under the International Group of P&I clubs – which is the group of protection and indemnity clubs that provide insurance for almost all of the world’s shipping. This could give us an indication that the price cap mechanism is being used.
Greek operators’ involvement in both Russian crude and product trade is not a new phenomenon, but has fallen. In all of 2022 leading up to the 5 December ban, the average share of Russian Baltic and Black Sea crude exports carried by Greek operators was around 40% of total volumes. Following the ban and through Q1 2023, the Greek share fell to 33%. This drop is partially because some of the Greek share has been displaced by new operators from countries such as India and the UAE. These new operator entities acquired fleets to serve new trade patterns such as the reshuffling of Russian crude flows to the East. Consequently, Indian-controlled vessels are the third largest in the Russian trade and UAE-controlled are the fourth largest. Read More
Delta, a global leading provider of power solutions and thermal management, will present its pioneering 5kW DC-DC Power Conversion and Charging Unit for Hydrogen Fuel Cells at Hannover Messe 2023.The unit leverages Delta’s core competence in high-efficiency power systems to include a unique built-in 6-phase boost topology design, which helps to protect the integrity of power equipment by preventing abrupt current spikes that hydrogen fuel cells may produce. Its wide input voltage from 36 to 75V broadens its potential to support several applications powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Moreover, the unit can also convert 43.2 ~ 57.6 V output voltage for the Li-ion batteries of electrical equipment.
Hiroshi Chiu, General Manager of Delta’s Personal Computer Business Unit, said “Guided by its corporate mission, ‘To provide innovative, clean and energy-efficient solutions for a better tomorrow’, Delta continuously develops next-generation high-efficiency power supplies to support critical infrastructure and equipment for carbon emissions reduction. As hydrogen power is gradually becoming a major game-changer technology for mankind’s energy transition, our team applied Delta’s expertise in high-efficiency power electronics to develop this new 5kW DC-DC power conversion and charging unit as an integrated solution to enhance the power-generating process of hydrogen fuel cells. With its interleaved multi-phase boost design and wide input voltage, the unit is especially suitable for several applications that are increasingly adopting hydrogen fuel cells.”
The multi-phase interleaved boost design inside the unit features 6 phase diagrams to shunt sudden rise currents from hydrogen fuel cells.
It also allows 36 ~ 75 V wide input voltage and converts to 43.2 ~ 57.6 V output voltage for the Li-ion batteries of electrical devices. “Power limit” is also another highlight of the unit, which alters the power supply speed in accordance with the energy-generating capability of various hydrogen fuel cells. The unit also features up to 93% efficiency, which is key to help reduce carbon footprint. The RS-485 Modbus protocol and in-built digital signal processor (DSP) allow users to have real-time bi-directional communication with the unit and send the required signals. Read More
U.S. Rig Count is down 3 from last week to 748 with oil rigs down 2 to 588, gas rigs down 1 to 157 and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 3.
The U.S. Offshore Rig Count is up 3 to 20, up 8 year-over-year.
Canada is down 16 to 111 rigs.
Canada Rig Count is down 16 from last week to 111, with oil rigs down 7 to 45, gas rigs down 9 to 66.
| Region | Period | Rig Count | Change from Prior |
| U.S.A | 14 April 2023 | 748 | -3 |
| Canada | 14 April 2023 | 111 | -16 |
| International | March 2023 | 930 | +15 |
The latest IEA’s Monthly Oil Statistics report including January 2023 data shows that for Total OECD:
• Total OECD production of crude oil, NGL and refinery feedstocks increased by 3.9% in January 2023 compared to January 2022.
• Refinery gross output of total products grew by 1.0% on a year-on-year basis.
• Net deliveries of total products decreased by 0.6% in January 2023 compared to January 2022.
• Oil stock levels on national territory grew by 8705 kt in January 2023 compared to the closing stock levels in December 2022 and closed at 480 million metric tons. Read More
IEA’s Monthly Gas Statistics report including January 2023 data shows that for Total OECD:
• Production of natural gas increased by 4.9% compared to January 2022.
• Imports (entries) 1 of natural gas were 12.7% lower on a year-on-year basis, and total OECD exports (exits) 1 decreased by 6.7% in the same period.
• Gross consumption of natural gas decreased by 9.3% in January 2023 on a year-on year basis. Read More
OilandGasPress Energy Newsbites and Analysis Roundup | Compiled by: OGP Staff, Segun Cole @oilandgaspress.
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