South Africa Petroleum News

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• May 2023: SBM Offshore and Esso Exploration & Production Guyana entered a 10-year Operations and Maintenance Enabling Agreement. The agreement entails SBM Offshore being responsible for the operations and maintenance of four FPSOs: Liza Destiny, Liza Unity, Prosperity, and ONE GUYANA.
• April 2023: Following a major upgrade to enable gas production, Shell resumed operations at the Pierce field in the United Kingdom Central North Sea. The Haewene Brim floating production, storage, and offloading vessel (FPSO), utilized for hydrocarbon production at the Pierce field, underwent significant modifications. A new subsea gas export line was installed, connecting to the SEGAL pipeline system, which transports gas to the St Fergus facility north of Aberdeen. This development allows for the extraction of gas from the Pierce field, which had previously been focused solely on oil production.
• April 2023: KBR, headquartered in Houston, officially announced the unexpected acquisition of an engineering contract for Equinor's Bay du Nord project, valued at USD 9.4 billion and located in the offshore eastern region of Canada. The awarded contract encompasses the possibility of providing detailed design and procurement management services until the completion of the FPSO unit.

• February 2023: Astron Energy, a subsidiary of Glencore, has announced plans to reopen the Cape Town oil refinery based on a compelling commercial rationale. The company is fully dedicated to restarting the refinery and is progressing with the required work to achieve this objective.
• November 2022: the Mineral Resources and Energy Ministry of South Africa reached out to Saudi Aramco to explore the possibility of rekindling their interest in constructing a refinery within the country. The proposal entails the establishment of a new crude oil refinery on the East Coast, with a projected capacity of 300,000 barrels per day. The targeted timeline for the refinery to become operational is by 2028. The estimated cost for this venture is approximately USD 10 billion.

• April 2024: the Indian Gas Exchange announced the contracts for small-scale liquefied natural gas on its platform after receiving approval from the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board.
• November 2023: Elengy, a unit of Engie’s GRTgaz, established a new small-scale LNG carrier loading service at its Fos Tonkin terminal on France’s Mediterranean coast.
• May 2023: The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited signed a MoU with Globus Energy Group Trinidad Limited, Corban Energy Group, and Chester LNG LLC to identify and screen technologies for micro- and small-scale LNG development projects in the Caribbean.

• March 2023: Fossil fuel energy companies seeking to extract oil and natural gas from the Gulf of Mexico in US waters received a positive development when they successfully acquired access to 1.6 million acres of available waters through an auction conducted by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), a department within the U.S. government. The auction, known as Lease Sale 259, involved bidding for approximately 13,600 blocks of "outer continental shelf" acreage in the Gulf of Mexico.
• July 2022: Subsea Integration Alliance partnered OneSubsea, and Subsea 7 to secure an engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) contract with Kosmos Energy to deliver an integrated subsea boosting system for the Odd Job field in the Gulf of Mexico.
• January 2022: Subsea 7 SA announced that the company won the contract to install subsea systems at Beacon Offshore Energy LLC's Shenandoah host facility in the Gulf of Mexico in water depths up to 6,300 feet.

• January 2023: CDI introduced the Qube, a groundbreaking device transforming the pipeline pig tracking approach. The Qube is an innovative, compact, and robust above-ground monitoring (AGM) solution specifically designed for the oil and gas industry. Its primary function is to detect the presence of pipeline pigs as they traverse the pipelines. Equipped with GPS and magnetic data sensors, the Qube offers remarkable capabilities, allowing it to identify up to eight frequencies of magnetic transmitters attached to the pipeline pigs. Additionally, it can detect MFL magnetizers. With its industrial-grade construction, the Qube ensures reliable performance in demanding environments. This revolutionary device is set to redefine and enhance the efficiency of pipeline pig tracking operations.
• January 2022: KPTL secured a contract from JSW Utkal Steel Ltd. to install an iron ore slurry pipeline (Spread I) in Odisha Mines. The scope of work includes the laying, testing, pre-commissioning, and commissioning of a 32" x 131 km slurry pipeline. The project also involves the construction of five Pressure Monitoring Stations and two Intermediate Pigging Stations along the pipeline route.

• April 2023: South Africa-based Ultimate Aviation acquired North Sea helicopter services provider Offshore Helicopter Services. The deal has been completed, and the acquisition is expected to present exciting opportunities for OHS, as both companies believe.
• March 2023: At Heli-Expo 2023, Leonardo announced that Abu Dhabi Aviation (ADA) inked a contract to purchase six AW139 intermediate twin-engine helicopters. The aircraft are scheduled to be delivered between 2024 and 2026. They are to be used to execute offshore transport missions, boosting ADA's AW139 fleet, which is expected to assist the energy industry largely.
• July 2022: China's CITIC Offshore Helicopter Corporation purchased four AW139 helicopters for offshore oil and gas production. Four AW139 offshore-configured helicopters are planned to arrive in 2023. The acquisition brings COHC's Leonardo fleet to ten helicopters, including eight AW139s, one AW169, and one AW109 Power.

• In May 2023, Twelve and Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate on the advancement of E-Jet® fuel, Twelve's sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) made from CO2 and renewable energy, as well as plans for an international demonstration flight and a supply roadmap that will support Etihad's sustainability strategy.
• In February 2022, Engie SA and the US engineering company Infinium Holdings announced a EUR 500-million project to produce renewable aviation and maritime fuels in northern France. The final investment decision for the project is planned for the end of 2023, with commercial operations expected to start in 2026.
• In February 2022, Boeing announced a supply agreement for two million gallons of blended renewable aviation fuel with EPIC Fuels to power its commercial operations in Washington State and South Carolina by the end of 2022.

• In May 2023, TGS, in partnership with PGS and Schlumberger, has secured pre-funding for a 6,885 square kilometer (2,658 square miles) multi-client 3D seismic survey offshore Malaysia in the North Luconia Province of the Sarawak Basin.
• In February 2022, Abu Dhabi's state-owned oil and gas company ADNOC announced the discovery of between 1.5 to 2 trillion standard cubic feet of gas in an offshore area located in the Emirate's Northwest.
• In January 2022, Shearwater GeoServices secured contracts for two multicomponent surveys in offshore Western Australia with the oil and gas company Santos. The two-month program covers the Keraudren North Extension with an area of approximately 680 sq. km in the Bedout Basin and the Petrel Sub-Basin 3D survey of roughly 1,100 sq. km.

• In January 2022, a researcher at Texas A&M University came up with a novel 3D printing-based approach to accurately simulate the hydraulic fracturing or fracking oil and natural gas mining process.
• In North America, North Dakota voted to repurpose USD 221 million in federal coronavirus aid to various state agencies, including a USD 16-million grant to oil companies in support of the fracking process.
• In January 2021, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) told the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality week that the state could take charge of the federal government's responsibilities to regulate discharging produced water if the water met certain toxicity standards. This is expected to push for cleaner hydraulic fracturing methods.

• April 2023: Indian Oil Corporation intends to form a joint venture with US-based clean energy technology company LanzaJet Inc and numerous domestic airlines to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). At USD 366 million, the proposed business will establish a factory to manufacture SAF using alcohol-to-jet technology at the state-run company's Panipat refinery in Haryana.
• March 2023: NREL regional analysis can aid in accelerating the production and delivery of sustainable aviation fuel. Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), made from nonpetroleum sources such as trash and biomass, can reduce aviation greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 50% or more than fossil-derived jet fuel.