News

01/02/2012 - GE award - Ichtys project

GE scoops $1bn Ichthys prize

GE Oil & Gas has confirmed signing contracts worth more than $1 billion to supply equipment and services for the giant Ichthys LNG project in north-west Australia.

Luke Johnson 30 January 2012 21:52 GMT

The $34 million Ichthys project, which received formal approval from its partners earlier this month, will source gas via an 889-kilometer-long subsea pipeline stretching from the Browse basin off Australia to an onshore processing facility in Darwin.

GE will provide rotating equipment, including gas turbines and compressors, for the plant at Blaydin Point as well as an associated floating production storage and offloading vessel and a central processing facility located in the Browse basin.

The US equipment-maker will also supply subsea production systems for the offshore portion of the project, as well as subsea connectors for the pipeline.

Under the terms of the agreement, GE will provide four Frame 7EA Gas Turbines and eight MR/PR compressors for the LNG plant; 10 PGT25+G4 gas turbines and 10 compressors for upstream facilities; and 22 subsea production trees, five off-subsea manifolds, an integrated subsea control system and a 42-inch trunkline connection system.

The equipment will be shipped by 2014, GE said in a statement on Monday following an announcement at the company?s annual meeting in Florence, Italy.

Once completed, the Ichthys facility is expected to produce 8.4 million tonnes per annum of LNG and 1.6 mtpa of liquid petroleum gas.

The project is a joint venture between operator Inpex of Japan and French giant Total. Inpex owns a 72.805% interest with Total on 24%. Tokyo Gas holds a 1.575% stake with Osaka Gas on 1.2% and Toho Gas on 0.42%.

The partners expect LNG production to begin by the end of 2016.

source: Upstreamonline.com

30/09/2011 - Saipem scoops $676m deals

Saipem scoops $676m deals

Italy?s Saipem has scooped two engineering and construction contracts in Russia and Indonesia worth a total of $676 million.

Bill Lehane 30 September 2011 10:40 GMT

In Russia, Gazprom Dobycha Shelf awarded the Milanese company a subsea development contract along with Mezhregiontruboprovostroy as part of the Sakhalin 3 project in the Russian Far East.

The project is located at the Kirinskoye Gas Condensate Field which lies in a water depth of up to 85 metres in the sea of Okhotsk around 28 kilometres off the east coast of Sakhalin Island.

The project is the first subsea development of its kind in Russia, the company said in a statement on Friday.

The scope of work includes: engineering, procurement, fabrication and installation of subsea structures; planned connections to subsea wells; network of infield umbilicals and shore approach to the main inland; and survey activities in the field.

The fabrication activities will be carried out in the Saipem yard of Karimun, the company said.

In Indonesia, PearlOil has awarded Saipem a transportation and installation contract located off the eastern coast of Kalimantan, the Indonesian territory of Borneo island, in the Makassar Strait.

The scope of the work encompasses the transportation and installation of a process and quarters platform, of a well-head platform and of an interconnecting bridge for the Ruby Field?s Sebuku block.

Headquartered in Milan, Saipem provides engineering, construction and drilling services to the oil and gas industry for both onshore and offshore, with major projects in more than 100 countries.

It is the second double dip contract success for the company in the past ten days, after it secured deals in Nigeria and Canada for $650 million on 21 September.

source: upstreamonline.com

21/09/2011 - Technip hands GE Prelude deal

Engineering giant GE has landed a deal from Technip to supply a pair of compressors for Shell?s monster Prelude floating liquefied natural gas facility off Australia.

Eoin O'Cinneide 20 September 2011 12:25 GMT

The US technology services player has also won a contract worth up to $230 million from Brazil?s OGX and a smaller deal from supermajor BP for operations at its oilfield in Iraq near where a blaze broke out on Tuesday.

GE is to supply Technip, which together with South Korean yard Samsung Heavy Industries landed the $3 billion Prelude engineering and construction contract, with two steam turbine-driven compressors.

The compressor trains will cool natural gas to a liquid state on the FLNG unit to be positioned at the Prelude field some 200 kilometres off the Western Australia?s Kimberly coast.

GE did not put a value on the Technip contract and a designated spokesperson was not available for comment. The company did say, however, that the award takes the value of new contract awards for GE in 2011 to $1 billion.

Technip has responsibility for all Prelude engineering and project management, including detailed design of the topsides as well as the liquefaction side, while Samsung will design and build the hull of the 3.5 million tonne-per-annum vessel, due for delivery in 2016.

Separately GE revealed that OGX, led by Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista, has inked a subsea and surface contract worth a potential $230 million. Some $32 million worth of orders are already committed for drilling and production equipment at three offshore platforms at OGX?s Waimea and Waikiki oil and gas fields.

The fresh orders did not stop there as BP came knocking with a $40 million deal for enhanced oil recovery operations at its Rumaila oilfield in Basra, Iraq. The UK supermajor revealed on Tuesday that production has been slashed at the oilfield after a fire broke out at a nearby, though unrelated, gas compression facility.

GE has also won orders worth over $800 million to supply gas and wind turbines for projects in Brazil as well as two contracts worth $300 million for the supply of six gas turbines in Egypt.

Published: 20 September 2011 12:25 GMT | Last updated: 20 September 2011 12:26 GMT

source: upstreamonline.com

21/09/2011 - Saipem scores $650m deals

Saipem scores $650m deals

Italian engineering company Saipem has been awarded $650 million worth of new onshore contracts in Canada and Nigeria.

Bill Lehane 21 September 2011 10:21 GMT

Canadian Natural Resources has contracted Saipem for engineering, procurement and construction at the Horizon Oil Sands Project in Athabasca Oil Sands, Alberta.

The 44-month project will see the company build a secondary upgrader at the site made up of three hydrotreaters which will have a production capacity of 42,599 barrels per stream day of hydrotreated gas oil.

After a phased development, the Horizon Oil Sands Project aims to develop oil sands resources to produce a total of 250,000 barrels per calendar day of synthetic oil.

The project is sited on the Canadian Natural Oil Sands Lease, about 70 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, with Canadian Natural Resources holding 100% ownership and working interest.

In Nigeria, Saipem has nabbed another engineering, procurement and construction contract at the Independent Power Plant at Afam in Rivers State to the south of the country.

The Rivers State government has contracted the company for services on the whole open cycle power plant except for a supplied gas turbine in an 18-month project.

The company pointed out that the project would be fully developed within Nigeria as part of its commitment to a strong presence in the west African country.

Headquartered in Milan, Saipem provides engineering, construction and drilling services to the oil and gas industry for both onshore and offshore, with major projects in more than 100 countries.

source: upstreamonline.com

29/07/2011 - Eni to fund $1.5 billion PDVSA development of Orinoco block

Source. OGJ

LOS ANGELES, July 29
By Eric Watkins
OGJ Oil Diplomacy Editor

Venezuela's state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA recently signed a $2 billion financing agreement with Eni SPA mainly for development of the two firms? joint venture in the Orinoco heavy oil belt.

Eni agreed to finance PDVSA's share of development costs for Jun?n-5's early production phase up to $1.5 billion with the remaining $500 million to fund construction of a power station on the G?iria peninsula.

The development plan for the Junin-5 heavy oil block in the Faja of Orinoco calls for early production of 75,000 b/d starting in late 2013 and full production of 240,000 b/d in 2018. The plan calls for construction of a new refinery on the coast in Jose.

PDVSA and Eni also discussed options for an early production start in late 2012 using existing PDVSA facilities to transport an initial gross output of 7,000-10,000 b/d.

The partners expect to drill 10 wells this year. By yearend they plan to award the engineering contract for the refinery.

After signing the agreement, Eni's Chief Executive Paolo Scaroni said the company plans to invest $7 billion in Venezuela in the next 7 years.

Scaroni expects Junin-5 to begin producing heavy oil next year with early production of 50,000 b/d. He said the oil would be refined into diesel for European markets.

Venezuela?s Minister of Energy and Petroleum Rafael Ram?rez said his country needs $80 billion investment to develop its Orinoco heavy oil belt and would soon sign a $4 billion deal with China National Petroleum Co. to develop another project.

Venezuela last month signed a $1.5 billion loan agreement with a consortium of Japanese banks, which may be repaid in oil shipments. Venezuela would repay the loan over 15 years in cash or oil at a rate of Libor plus 3.8 points, Ramirez said, adding that the loan will be used to finance expansion of the Puerto la Cruz and El Palito refineries.

Ramirez said Venezuela wants to nearly double production from the 140,000 b/d El Palito refinery, while Puerto la Cruz is slated to raise production to 210,000 b/d from 180,000 b/d.

Work on the upgrades is expected to start at yearend and to be completed by 2015, said Ramirez, who added the expansion project will allow diesel exports from El Palito to international markets.

Under the loan agreement backed by Japan Bank for International Cooperation and eight other Japanese banks, Mitsubishi Corp. and Itochu Corp. will receive Venezuela's light Santa Barbara crude as part of the repayment. The two firms said they will seek other crude grades and refined products from Venezuela as part of the repayment.

Earlier this year, Itochu Corp. won an order to supply four Aframax tankers to a shipping subsidiary of PDVSA, and it commissioned Sumitomo Heavy Industries to build the vessels (OGJ Online, Feb. 7, 2011).

Contact Eric Watkins at hippalus@yahoo.com.

25/07/2011 - Saipem si aggiudica nuovi contratti E&C Onshore per 800 milioni dollari

(Teleborsa) - Roma, 25 lug - Saipem si ? aggiudicata nuovi contratti E&C Onshore per un valore di circa 800 milioni di dollari, in Sud America e West Africa.
In Suriname, la compagnia petrolifera di Stato Staatsolie ha assegnato a Saipem il contratto per l?espansione della raffineria Tout Lui Faut, che si trova 20 chilometri a sud della capitale Paramaribo.
Saipem ha gi? eseguito attivit? di ingegneria per un periodo di 10 mesi sulla base di un contratto di tipo ?rimborsabile? che ? stato ora convertito in contratto EPC e che prevede le attivit? di ingegneria, approvvigionamento, fabbricazione e costruzione.
Il progetto ha lo scopo di raddoppiare la capacit? della raffineria portandola a 15.000 barili al giorno.
La fabbricazione delle sezioni pre-assemblate dell?impianto sar? svolta presso il cantiere Saipem di Arbatax, in Italia. Il progetto sar? completato in 43 mesi.
In Nigeria, Saipem si ? aggiudicata con Shell Petroleum Development il contratto per realizzazione della condotta per il trasporto di gas Otumara-Saghara-Escravos, nell?ambito di un programma che Shell ha intrapreso per la riduzione della combustione in torcia del gas ?associato? nel Paese.
La condotta, lunga 42 chilometri, avr? diametri diversi dai 2 ai 12 pollici e attraverser? aree paludose ed un grosso corso d?acqua, raccogliendo circa 30 milioni di piedi cubi al giorno di gas ?associato? gi? trattato, proveniente dai giacimenti "Otumara and Saghara" nella parte occidentale del delta del Niger, che saranno convogliati sul mercato domestico attraverso il sistema di trasporto Escravos-Lagos, permettendo di ridurre la combustione in torcia del gas associato alla produzione di petrolio (flaring).
Il progetto sar? completato in 18 mesi e sar? completamente eseguito in Nigeria, incluse le attivit? di Project Management e Approvvigionamento; inoltre, fino al 90% del personale mobilitato sar? di nazionalit? Nigeriana, a conferma del radicato impegno di Saipem per assicurare un elevato contenuto locale nel Paese.
Inoltre sempre in Nigeria Saipem ha negoziato variazioni a contratti esistenti.

11/07/2011 - GT-BTX documentazione in Italiano

Sul sito ORI e' disponibile per la prima volta una descrizione in Italiano della tecnologia licenziata da GTC Technology per il recupero di BTX da stream petrolchimici, frutto della collaborazione di GTC con ORI per il mercato Italiano.

Il sistema ha solo 2 colonne di distillazione estrattiva (ED), e quindi rappresenta un saving del 30-40% in meno di costi (CAPEX) rispetto ai sistemi di estrazione Liquido-Liquido (LLE) convenzionali.

Il solvente utilizzato, proprietario di GTC, si e' dimostrato superiore a tutti gli altri in commercio ed e' idoneo anche per applicazioni di retrofit a impianti ED esistenti.

16/06/2011 - Clark-Reliance presenta il nuovo Simpliport

Clark-Reliance, leader mondiale nella produzione di strumentazione di livello per caldaie e boiler, oltre che per applicazioni di processo, ha presentato in anteprima Europea al recente Power Gen di Milano il nuovo "SIMPLIPORT 180" .

Il SIMPLIPORT 180 rappresenta l'ultima generazione di indicatore di livello a vetro bicolore per corpi cilindrici di boiler e caldaie e garantisce una lettura del livello dell'acqua nei corpi cilindrici di caldaie anche ad alta pressione (fino a 206 Bar) con un angolo visivo di a 180 gradi , da qualsiasi punto dell'impianto,fino a 40 m di distanza .

Ulteriori informazioni specifiche possono essere ottenute tramite il nostro modulo contatti presente sul sito, o sul sito dedicato http://www.simpliport180.com/ .

Potete scaricare la brochure cliccando sull'apposito link contenuto nella pagina http://www.ori.milano.it/strumentazione_di_livello.php

28/04/2011 - Eni, Sonatrach Team Up in Algeria Shale JV

Eni and Sonatrach signed a cooperation agreement for the development of unconventional oil, with particular focus on shale gas reinforcing the close relationship between the two companies.

With extensive experience in exploration and production of unconventional oil, Eni and Sonatrach will jointly implement activities to assess the technical and commercial feasibility of exploration and operational initiatives in shale gas.

Based on previous assessments, Eni confirms the significant shale gas reserves in Algeria which Eni and Sonatrach wish to explore and develop. This will enable both companies to make important discoveries which will enhance the gas potential of the country.

source: http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=106627

09/03/2011 - Saipem lands $2.2bn contracts on Wasit Offshore

by Upstreamonline

Saudi Aramco has awarded Saipem an engineering, procurement, installation and construction contract for the development of the Arabiyah and Hasbah fields, located around 150 kilometres northeast of Jubail industrial city, in the Arabian Gulf.

The complete development of the two fields includes engineering, procurement, fabrication and installation of a total of 12 wellhead platforms, two tie-in platforms and one injection platform.

The work also includes a 36-inch 260-kilometre long export trunkline, around 200 kilometres of mono-ethylene glycol (MEG) pipelines, 200 kilometres of subsea electric and control cables, 40 kilometres of offshore flowlines, and around 120 kilometres of onshore pipelines.

The fabrication activities will be mainly carried out in the yards of Dammam in Saudi Arabia and Saipem?s newbuilt Karimun yard in Indonesia.

The offshore activities will be performed mainly by the Castoro II and Castoro Otto vessels.

Saipem has also agreed various increases in the scope of its work on existing E&C offshore contracts, added the company without specifying further.

01/02/2011 - S. Korean firms to build Saudi Arabia\'s largest gas plant

JEDDAH: Saudi Aramco has awarded deals to South Korean firms to build the Kingdom's largest gas plant, Wasit, it said in a statement Tuesday.

South Korea's SK Engineering and Construction won three engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) deals, which involve the work for the inlet and gas facilities, sulfur recovery units (SRU) and utilities, and natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionation plants

Samsung Engineering has also won an EPC contract which involved building four 150 megawatt (MW) cogeneration units.

Aramco did not give a value for the deals or the cost of the project. Industry sources have said the project would cost $6-$8 billion.

Wasit, part of Aramco's push to raise gas feedstock supplies, is designed to process 2.5 billion cubic feet per day (cfd) of gas from the offshore non-associated sour gas fields Arabiyah and Hasbah when completed in 2014.

It would also produce around 1.75 billion cfd of sales gas.

Under the inlet and gas facilities package, SK will build four gas-treating trains. It will also build 4 SRUs and NGL facilities, Aramco said, without specifying the capacity of the plants.

NGL facilities call for the processing of 240,000 bpd of ethane and NGL stream produced at Khursaniyah, Aramco said earlier, in a description of the project on its website.

Wasit is one of the fast-tracked gas plants Aramco plans to build. The other one is Shaybah Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) whose bids are now under evaluation.

Most of the Kingdom's gas output is associated with oil, so when Saudi Arabia curbs crude output with OPEC it loses some gas volumes.

Aramco 's gas reserves, the world's fifth largest, stood at 275.2 trillion cubic feet in 2009, of which 50 percent was not associated with oil output.

Together with two other plants, Khursaniyah and Karan, the Wasit plant would help Saudi Arabia process its targeted production increase of raw gas to 15.5 billion cubic feet per day (cfd) by 2015 from 10.2 billion cfd.

Canada's SNC-Lavalin (SNC.TO: Quote) has carried out front-end engineering and design of the plant.

The Wasit onshore gas program includes a facility to treat 2.5 trillion cubic feet of non-associated natural gas per day, Aramco said. The gas would come from the Arabiyah-Hasbah offshore field, with production slated to begin in 2014.

SK Engineering won a contract that includes performing the engineering, procurement and construction work for the inlet and gas facilities. It includes building four gas treatment trains, flare and burn pit facilities and other related projects. SK also secured a contract for the engineering and construction of sulfur recovery units.

? The Saudi Gazette 201

11/01/2011 - JGC Awarded Large Size EPC Contract for Gas Processing Plant in Qatar

JGC Corporation announced today that it has received Award Notification to build the gas processing facilities for the Barzan Onshore Project in Qatar.

The Barzan Project is managed by RasGas Company Limited, which is a Qatari company owned by Qatar Petroleum (70%) and an affiliate of ExxonMobil (30%). The Barzan Onshore Project, located in Ras Laffan Industrial City 80 kilometers north of Doha, calls for the engineering, procurement, construction of the gas processing facilities including Gas Processing Unit, Sulphur Recovery Unit and NGL Recovery Unit to produce methane, ethane, propane, butane and condensate.

The lump-sum turnkey basis contract is a multi-billion US dollar EPC contract. Upon completion, the Project will contribute to meeting the increasing demand for gas in Qatar as fuel for power generation, refineries and petrochemicals industries.

JGC has a long track record of achievements in the construction of gas processing plants, LNG plants, petrochemical plants and Gas to Liquids plants in Qatar and it is envisaged that the contract for this project will help build closer ties with Qatar.

Drawing on its strong background in the global execution of both hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon related projects, with annual sales turnover of approximately $5 billion, JGC is currently executing projects in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Algeria, Australia and other countries.

Published 11/01/2011

30/12/2010 - Techint, Dodsal Win $1.2Bln Gasco Ruwais Sulphur Deals

DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--Abu Dhabi Gas IndustriesAbu Dhabi Gas IndustriesLoading..., or GascoGascoLoading..., has sent letters of award to Italy's Techint and India's Dodsal for two of its Ruwais schemes worth an estimated $624 million and $500 million to build new sulphur forming, handling and export facilities in the Western region, Middle East Economic Digest reported.

GascoGascoLoading..., a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., awarded a deal to Techint and the local Al-Jaber Group to build a new sulphur handling and export terminal at Ruwais, 240 kilometres from Abu Dhabi, MEEDMEEDLoading... reported Wednesday.

The second contract, awarded to Dodsal, covers new sulphur handling and processing facility at Habshan in the southwest of the emirate.

The facility will be used to form and granulate 10,000 tons a day of sulphur extracted from natural gas at AdnocAdnoc
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company
ADNOC
UAE | Oil and Gas
News | Profile | Officers
? Research
's existing gas production facilities and its new integrated gas development, MEEDMEEDLoading... reported.

AdnocAdnoc
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company
ADNOC
UAE | Oil and Gas
News | Profile | Officers
? Research
plans to build an estimated $2 billon worth of new sulphur handling and distribution facilities as it develops its sour gas resources. Production is expected to rise to 7 million tons a year by 2015 from about 1.7 million tons a year in 2008, the MEEDMEEDLoading... report said.

Newspaper Web site: http://meed.com

-By Dubai Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; +9714 446-1686; djnews.dubai@dowjones.com

Copyright (c) 2010 Dow Jones & Co.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

16/12/2010 - SAIPEM FIRMA CONTRATTO DA 1,4 MLD IN KUWAIT

ROMA, 16 DIC - Nuove opportunita' per le aziende nei Paesi del Golfo. Oggi alla Farnesina, alla presenza del ministro degli Esteri Franco Frattini, la Saipem ha firmato un contratto da 1,4 miliardi di euro per sviluppare il giacimento 'Jurassic Field', nel nord del Kuwait.

Per Frattini si tratta di un accordo di ''straordinaria importanza, non solo per il valore economico ma perche' consolida la presenza di Saipem in Kuwait''. L'Italia, ha aggiunto, ''e' interessata ad offrire proposte tecnologiche avanzate di fronte a una concorrenza sempre piu' agguerrita''. Il contratto riguarda l'esplorazione, la produzione e il trattamenti di idrocarburi nel campo denominato 'Jurassic Field'. La firma e' stata posta da Pietro Varone, della divisione ''Onshore Business'' di Saipem e dall'ad della kuwaitiana Kharafi, che ha ricevuto dal governo kuwaitiano l'incarico di mettere in funzione l'impianto. Sono previsti tre anni per l'esecuzione dei lavori e per cinque anni Saipem avra' la gestione del campo, da cui - ha spiegato Varone - si conta di arrivare a 150.000 barili al giorno di produzione.

Frattini si e' detto ''orgoglioso'' dello stato delle relazioni bilaterali con il Kuwait, ricordando la sua recente visita nel paese, nel corso della quale ha invitato il suo omologo in Italia, all'inizio del prossimo anno. E le ''eccellenti'' relazioni politiche, ha aggiunto, possono portare ad ''intensificare le relazioni commerciali tra le comunita' imprenditoriali dei due paesi''.(ANSAmed)

03/12/2010 - Brazil approves oil laws, opens presalt region for development

Eric Watkins
OGJ Oil Diplomacy Editor

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 3 -- Brazil?s lower house of congress has approved long-awaited oil industry legislation granting the federal government greater control over deepwater reserves off the nation's coast.

The legislation passed this week replaces the current concession-based system with a production-sharing scheme that gives Brazil?s Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) a minimum 30% operating stake in all new subsalt fields.

Under the legislation, Petrobras will be the operator of the fields under the production-sharing deals, but other oil companies will have the right to bid for stakes by guaranteeing the government a large percentage of oil output.

The new production-sharing agreements will not cover presalt areas previously auctioned off under the concession system. The agreements also will not affect onshore or shallow-water areas, which will be auctioned off under the current concession-based system.

The lower house also passed a separate law to even out the distribution of oil royalties among Brazil's 26 states and the federal district of Brasilia.

"The lower house cannot maintain the current distribution, in which 92.5% of royalties go to the federal government and [Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo] states,? said Congressmen Ibsen Pinheiro.

Reports suggest that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is likely to veto the royalty measure, sending it back to congress for further debate. According to Petrobras Chief Executive Officer Jose Sergio Gabrielli, the royalty question is unlikely to be resolved until next year.

?It's probable that it could return to the lower house in 2011 as a new bill that discusses in a more-equitable way the question of royalties, allowing a larger share to be distributed to producing states while at the same time allowing other states to receive the benefits of production,? Gabrielli said over national radio.

The inclusion of the law on distribution had held up passage of the main laws for months as Brazil?s largest oil-producing states, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, said the changes would cause them to lose billions of dollars in revenue.

While Lula is expected to veto the royalty provision, he is considered likely to sign into law the measure to implement production-sharing agreements for presalt oil fields currently under government control.

Passage of the law, the last of four related pieces proposed by the Lula administration, means that Brazil can begin to step up development of the presalt oil regions, which are variously estimated to hold 50-100 billion bbl of oil.

Earlier this year, Congress passed the three other measures that Lula had proposed:

? The first created the social investment fund that will use oil revenues for education and health care initiatives.

? The second created a state-owned oil company, called Pre-Sal Petroleo SA, that will manage the government's pre-salt assets.

? The third involved a complex capitalization plan for Petrobras that granted the firm rights to produce 5 billion bbl of oil from government-held areas.

The new legislation may well improve the investment atmosphere over the 10th bidding round which took place 2 years ago. At the time, Petrobras and Royal Dutch Shell PLC were the only international oil companies to secure areas in the round.

That round saw reduced participation largely because the auction was restricted to onshore areas and excluded bidding on the potentially more-lucrative subsalt offshore areas due to the pending oil legislation (OGJ, Oct. 20, 2008, p. 29).

The government now is promoting interest in Brazil?s offshore regions with Brazilian regulator ANP last month saying that the recent Libra subsalt oil find could hold as much as 15 billion bbl of oil?a figure 2.4 billion bbl greater than the country?s existing reserves.

?The volume of recoverable oil belonging to the nation could vary from 3.7-15 billion bbl, with the most likely estimate being 7.9 billion bbl," ANP said, citing a study carried out by certification firm Gaffney, Cline & Associates (OGJ Online, Nov. 5, 2010).

According to analyst BMI, passage of the new legislation means that, ?The stage is now set for a resumption of deepwater licensing in mid-2011, with the 8 billion bbl Libra field one of many bright stars in the subsalt firmament.?

Contact Eric Watkins at hippalus@yahoo.com.

01/12/2010 - Statoil lets contract for Asgard subsea gas compression

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Dec. 1 -- Statoil awarded Aker Solutions a 3.4 billion kroner contract, contingent on a final investment decision to be made in first-quarter 2011, to design and construct the Asgard subsea gas compression system for recovering additional gas from Midgard and Mikkel fields, off Norway.

Midgard and Mikkel gas reservoirs tie back 40-50 km to the Asgard B semisubmersible production unit (OGJ Online, Nov. 10, 2010). Water depth in the Asgard area varies from 240 to 310 m.

Aker Solutions' scope of the work for the subsea compression system includes a subsea compressor manifold station, subsea compressor station template structure, three identical compressor trains, all-electrical control systems, high-voltage electrical power distribution system, topsides equipment, and tooling, transport, and installation equipment.

Statoil expects that the compressors will help recover an additional 22 billion cu m of gas and 2.2 million cu m of condensate from the two fields. Statoil in 2011 plans to let other contracts for the Asgard work that involve facility modification, pipelines, marine operations, and other major procurement items.

Statoil said, "Subsea gas compression represents a considerable technological leap for the industry. With this technology in place we can considerably boost recovery rates and lifetimes for several gas fields."

Aker Solutions will manage the project from its headquarter in Oslo, while the equipment will be manufactured primarily at the company's facilities in Egersund, and Tranby, Norway, and in Aberdeen.

Aker Solutions expects to make final delivery of the subsea compressor manifold station and subsea compressor station template structure in 2013 and the compressor trains, controls, and power equipment in 2014.

Interest owners in Asgard are Petoro AS 35.69%, operator Statoil 34.57%, Eni Norge AS 14.82%, Total E&P Norge AS 7.68%, and Mobil Development Norway 7.24%.

20/10/2010 - Saipem awarded new offshore contracts worth approximately 700 million euro

San Donato Milanese (Milan), 20 October 2010? Saipem has been awarded new offshore contracts worth approximately 700 million euro.

In Nigeria, Saipem has been awarded a subcontract for the Critical Crude Pipeline Replacement Project. The awarded scope of work encompasses fabrication, transportation, installation and testing of the replacement of
6 pipe lines (having a diameter ranging between 10 and 24 inches) connecting 6 platforms in an offshore field, for a total length of 85 kilometres; including shore approach and bridges. The marine activities will be carried out between the fourth quarter of 2010 and the second quarter of 2011, mainly by the Crawler vessel.

In Spain, UTE ACS Cobra Castor awarded Saipem the Offshore Construction Gas Pipeline contract as part of the Castor Underground Gas Storage Development Project for the delivery of onshore and offshore facilities for the compression, transportation, storage, production, treatment and reinjection of natural gas into the public grid.

Saipem?s scope of work will encompass the installation of a 30 inch diameter offshore pipeline approximately 22 kilometres from land in mainland Spain at Vinaroz to the offshore field where the WHP platform, installed by Saipem 7000 in August 2010, is located. Offshore activities will be performed between the end of 2011 and the first quarter of 2012.

Nord Stream AG had signed with Saipem additional scope of work to the contract for laying the Nord Stream twin gas pipelines across the Baltic Sea, between Vyborg in Russia and Greifswald in Germany. Each line is approximately 1,220 kilometers long. Contract extension relates to rock placement, dredging and backfilling and testing and pre-commissioning activities. Saipem started laying activities for the first line on April 2010 with the pipe laying vessels Castoro Sei and Castoro 10. The completion of the laying of the first line is scheduled in first half 2011, and the laying of the second line is scheduled between 2011 and 2012.

Saipem is organised in three Business Units: Offshore, Onshore and Drilling, with a strong bias towards oil & gas related activities in remote areas and deepwater. Saipem is a leader in the provision of engineering, procurement, project management and construction services with distinctive capabilities in the design and the execution of large scale offshore and onshore projects, and technological competences such as gas monetisation and heavy oil exploitation.


Website:www.saipem.eni.it

21/06/2010 - Foster Wheeler Awarded Contracts for New Refinery in Turkey

ZUG, Switzerland, Jun 21, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) --Foster Wheeler AG (Nasdaq: FWLT) announced today that a subsidiary of its Global Engineering and Construction Group has been awarded contracts by SOCAR & TURCAS Rafineri A.S. (STRAS) for its planned grassroots refinery to be built within the Petkim Petrokimya A.S. (PETKIM) facilities at Aliaga, Turkey. The contracts cover overall front-end engineering design for the new refinery and the license and basic design package for the delayed coker, which will use Foster Wheeler's leading SYDECSM delayed coking technology.

The Foster Wheeler contract value was not disclosed and was included in the company's first-quarter 2010 bookings.

The planned new facility will have a capacity of 214,000 barrels per stream day (BPSD). Naphtha and fuel oil from the hydrocracking unit will be delivered to PETKIM for petrochemical use.

The refinery will include crude and vacuum distillation units, naphtha hydrotreating, a 40,000 BPSD delayed coking unit, a 66,000 BPSD hydrocracking unit, kerosene and diesel hydrotreaters, LPG caustic treatment units, a 28,000 BPSD continuous catalytic reformer, a saturated gas unit, an amine and sour water stripper, sulfur and tail gas treatment units and a 160,000 Nm3/h hydrogen unit, as well as utilities, auxiliary systems and offsite facilities. The SYDECSM process as configured for this project will be designed to maximize clean liquid yields while minimizing fuel coke yields. Foster Wheeler's scope of work under these contracts is expected to be completed by the end of 2010.

"Our vision is to become the leading oil and gas company in Turkey with the creation of refining and petrochemicals integration," said Batu Aksoy, Executive Board Member of SOCAR & TURCAS Rafineri A.S. "We are implementing major investments to achieve this goal and to sustain our growth, and we are indeed very pleased to award these contracts to Foster Wheeler which has a long-standing presence in Turkey and can deliver our requirements for a high standard of expertise."

Foster Wheeler's SYDECSM process is a flexible thermal conversion process used by refiners worldwide to upgrade heavy residue feed and process it into high value transport fuels and coke products for fuel and metallurgical markets. The SYDEC(SM) process can be designed to maximize clean liquid yields while minimizing fuel coke yields, or to achieve other objectives, for example, to minimize heavy gas oil yields or to produce specific grades of coke for industrial use. Foster Wheeler is a market leader in delayed coking and has supplied its process technology worldwide for over 80 new cokers and has implemented more than 70 delayed coker revamps.

Foster Wheeler AG is a global engineering and construction contractor and power equipment supplier delivering technically advanced, reliable facilities and equipment. The company employs approximately 13,000 talented professionals with specialized expertise dedicated to serving its clients through one of its two primary business groups. The company's Global Engineering and Construction Group designs and constructs leading-edge processing facilities for the upstream oil and gas, LNG and gas-to-liquids, refining, chemicals and petrochemicals, power, environmental, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and healthcare industries. The company's Global Power Group is a world leader in combustion and steam generation technology that designs, manufactures and erects steam generating and auxiliary equipment for power stations and industrial facilities and also provides a wide range of aftermarket services. The company is based in Zug, Switzerland, and its operational headquarters office is in Geneva, Switzerland. For more information about Foster Wheeler, please visit our Web site at http://www.fwc.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

Foster Wheeler AG news releases may contain forward-looking statements that are based on management's assumptions, expectations and projections about the Company and the various industries within which the Company operates. These include statements regarding the Company's expectations about revenues (including as expressed by its backlog), its liquidity, the outcome of litigation and legal proceedings and recoveries from customers for claims and the costs of current and future asbestos claims and the amount and timing of related insurance recoveries. Such forward-looking statements by their nature involve a degree of risk and uncertainty. The Company cautions that a variety of factors, including but not limited to the factors described in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, which was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the following, could cause the Company's business conditions and results to differ materially from what is contained in forward-looking statements: benefits, effects or results of the Company's redomestication or the relocation of our principal executive offices to Geneva, Switzerland; further deterioration in the economic conditions in the United States and other major international economies, changes in investment by the oil and gas, oil refining, chemical/petrochemical and power generation industries, changes in the financial condition of its customers, changes in regulatory environments, changes in project design or schedules, contract cancellations, changes in estimates made by the Company of costs to complete projects, changes in trade, monetary and fiscal policies worldwide, compliance with laws and regulations relating to its global operations, currency fluctuations, war and/or terrorist attacks on facilities either owned by the Company or where equipment or services are or may be provided by the Company, interruptions to shipping lanes or other methods of transit, outcomes of pending and future litigation, including litigation regarding the Company's liability for damages and insurance coverage for asbestos exposure, protection and validity of its patents and other intellectual property rights, increasing competition by non-U.S. and U.S. companies, compliance with its debt covenants, recoverability of claims against its customers and others by the Company and claims by third parties against the Company, and changes in estimates used in its critical accounting policies. Other factors and assumptions not identified above were also involved in the formation of these forward-looking statements and the failure of such other assumptions to be realized, as well as other factors, may also cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Most of these factors are difficult to predict accurately and are generally beyond the Company's control. You should consider the areas of risk described above in connection with any forward-looking statements that may be made by the Company. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You are advised, however, to consult any additional disclosures the Company makes in proxy statements, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, annual reports on Form 10-K and current reports on Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE: Foster Wheeler AG

19/03/2010 - Laggan and Tormore Gas Fields

UK Government Consent for West of Shetland Gas Development
The UK Government today gave consent for Total and Dong Energy to develop the Laggan and Tormore gas fields, which lie in 600 metres of water and in one of the most hostile environments in the UK.

These will be the first gas fields to be developed in UK waters at this depth and will produce more than 1 trillion cubic feet of gas in the course of the field's life.

The Industry and Government Taskforce to examine the potential for new infrastructure in the area and the Government's recent tax change to support the development of remote, deep water gas fields have been significant factors in bringing this project forward.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson, visiting Aberdeen today, said:

"The announcement today that this ?2.5 billion investment is going ahead is a major win for the Shetlands, for Scotland and for the UK.

"The new investment will involve a new gas processing terminal which will create up to 500 jobs in the Shetland during construction and the project overall will support about 2,100 UK jobs during its lifetime.

"It will be a major technical challenge developing the deepest gas fields to date on the UK continental shelf, Laggan and Tormore. I congratulate everyone involved for their hard work and for bringing on stream this very ambitious and worthwhile project.

"The recent initiative by the Treasury in extending Field Allowance to such fields has been particularly important. I wish Total every success."

Energy Minister Lord Hunt said:

"This is a huge step forward for the wider development of the West of Shetland area which still contains about a fifth of the UK's oil and gas reserves.

"As we make the transition to a low carbon future, we must ensure we have secure energy supplies by making the best use of our indigenous energy through projects like Laggan and Tormore."

Secretary of State for Scotland Jim Murphy said:

"This news is a major boost for one of Scotland and the UK's most vital industries. Our North Sea workforce is one of the most accomplished and respected in the world and the hostile environment they will face in the deep waters West of Shetland should remind us of the dedicated contribution they make to our economy and energy security."

1. In January the Government announced an incentive to extend the "field allowance" which was announced in Budget 2009, and introduced in Schedule 44 to Finance Act 2009, to remote deep water gas fields, such as are found in the West of Shetland area.

2. The field allowance works by exempting an amount of production income from the supplementary charge. All profits generated by the qualifying field would still be subject to ring fence corporation tax (currently 30%).

3. The allowance could provide up to ?160 million worth of tax relief for each gas field in the West of Shetland region that qualifies for the support.

4. Assuming the project proceeds on schedule, the first production of gas from Laggan and Tormore is expected in 2014.

Source: Dept of Energy and Climate Change
3 Whitehall Place, London, SW1A 2AW
Press enquiries +44 (0)300 068 5226
Public enquiries +44 (0)300 060 4000
Textphone +44 (0)20 7215 6740 (for those with hearing impairment)

12/02/2010 - Saudi Aramco plans

The state owned firm Saudi Aramco has announced its spending plans for the next 5 years. The company intent to spend approximately US$ 120 billion on investments in the oil and petrochemical industries.

US$ 60 billion is to be spent in the oil sector and the remaining on branching in to petrochemicals. Saudi Aramco is the world?s biggest oil exporter and will now be working towards meeting Saudi Arabia?s gas demands and petrochemical needs.

09/02/2010 - Shtokman partners delay production start

HOUSTON, Feb. 8 ? Citing ?changes in the market situation and particularly in the LNG market,? Shtokman Development AG has delayed by 3 years the start-up of production from Shtokman gas-condensate field in the Barents Sea.

The partnership of Gazprom, Total, and Statoil said final investment decisions on pipeline gas will be made in March 2011 and on LNG before the end of 2011.

That schedule will allow for the start of pipeline gas production in 2016 and of LNG in 2017, each 3 years later than initially planned (OGJ, May 18, 2009, p. 23).

The field, discovered in 1988, holds an estimated 135 tcf of recoverable gas. It lies in 1,100 ft of water near the edge of winter sea ice.

The Shtokman partners have decided to treat offshore production facilities, the pipeline to shore, and onshore gas treatment as a stage in the first phase of the development project separate from LNG work.

The first phase targets production of 2.4 bcfd of gas from 20 producing wells drilled from three subsea templates. It includes installation of a floating production unit, construction of two dual-phase pipelines to shore, construction of a liquefaction plant at Teriberka, and a link to the North Stream pipeline serving Europe.


Oil & Gas Journal

27/01/2010 - PDVSA and Eni sign agreement to develop Junin 5 giant heavy oil field in Venezuela

Rafael Ram?rez, Venezuela?s Minister of Energy and Petroleum and President of PDVSA, and Paolo Scaroni, Eni's CEO, have today signed in the presence of Venezuelan President Hugo Ch?vez Fr?as and Vincenzo Scotti, Undersecretary of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, three strategic agreements: an agreement for the development of Junin 5, a Technology Agreement and an MoU for the construction of a power plant.


Junin 5 Agreement .

Junin 5 is a heavy oil block located in the Orinoco oil belt (Faja). The block is located some 550 kilometers south east of Caracas and covers an area of approximately 425 square kilometers..

The Orinoco belt is the world's largest deposit of heavy oil with oil in place of 1,300 billion barrels which are mostly undeveloped. Its current oil production is approximately 600,000 barrels per day..

Under the terms of the agreement, which will be finalized in the next 60 days and submitted to the relevant approvals, PDVSA will hold 60% and Eni 40% of a joint venture company (Empresa Mixta ) to develop the Junin 5 field which has 35 billion barrels of certified oil in place. The JV company plans an early production phase of 75,000 barrels per day from 2013, and a long term production plateau of 240,000 barrels per day following the construction of a new refinery in Jose..

Eni will pay a bonus of 646 million dollars, of which 300 million dollars will be paid at the creation of the Empresa Mixta and the balance in tranches subject to the achievement of project milestones..

Technology Agreement .

PDVSA and Eni will study the use of advanced hydrogenation technology for complete conversion of heavy oils into high-quality light products. Such technology would use natural gas to enable the full elimination of refinery residues. This will have significant environmental and commercial benefit, allowing Venezuela to achieve major synergies in the development of its vast heavy oil and gas reserves..

The Technology Agreement will also provide PDVSA access to Eni?s gas shale experience in the US Barnett basin as well as its worldwide studies to evaluate the potential of Venezuela?s shale basins, and selecting areas of interest for the exploitation of this fast growing energy source..

Memorandum for the construction of a power plant .

Eni is ready to present a proposal for the construction of a facility with a capacity of 1 GW in the Guiria peninsula. The power plant would provide electricity to the local residents as well as to the LNG infrastructure which will be built in the area..

Through these agreements, PDVSA and Eni will further strengthen and consolidate a strategic alliance which will allow the development of important resources for Venezuela, and also enhance their value through the use of innovative technologies which can be applied in future to Venezuelan oil and gas fields..

In Venezuela, Eni is currently co-operator with a 50% stake in the Cardon IV licence, located offshore in the Gulf of Venezuela, where the giant Perla gas field has been discovered in October 2009. The field has a reserve potential of more than 6 trillion cubic feet of gas (1 billion of barrels of oil equivalent)..

In addition, Eni is present in two offshore licenses, Petrosucre, which operates the Corocoro Field (PDVSA 74%, Eni 26%) with a daily equity production of approximately 10,000 barrels of oil, and Petrolera Guiria (PDVSA 64.25%, Eni 19.50% and Ineparia 16.25%) which operates the Punta Sur discovery.

15/12/2009 - Eni and Gazprom Celebrate 40 Years of Co-operation

Last week Eni and Gazprom celebrated the 40th anniversary of their co-operation, which dates back to the first contract between the former Soviet Union and Italy for the supply of natural gas signed in December 1969.

The relationship between Eni and Gazprom over the last 40 years has been characterized by mutual trust and several successful industrial achievements, including the construction of the Blue Stream gas pipeline which connects Russia to Turkey. This long standing relationship culminated in the broad strategic alliance signed in Moscow in November 2006.

This historic agreement sees Eni and Gazprom jointly committed to the realization of projects across the entire gas value chain and has allowed Eni to enter the Russian upstream sector through the SeverEnergia joint venture, the first Italian-Russian E&P company.

The strength of the relationship between Eni and Gazprom significantly contributes to guaranteeing the security of gas supply to Europe and Italy. In light of this, the two companies are currently studying a new large project, the South Stream, which will bring gas from Russia through the Black Sea.

The South Stream project represents the latest collaborative step, in accordance with the strategy of relationships launched in the 50s by Enrico Mattei, who initially signed the first oil contract with the Soviet Union in 1958.

Through the development and strengthening of the strategic alliance with Gazprom, the first class producer of gas, Eni intends to consolidate its leadership in the European gas market.

10/11/2009 - Takreer contracts awarded

Abu Dhabi, 4th Nov. 2009 (WAM) -- TAKREERTAKREER (Abu Dhabi Oil Refining CompanyAbu Dhabi Oil Refining Company) announced today that two Contracts worth $ 5.2 billion have been awarded to two international companies as part of the overall plan to expand the oil refining capacity in the Ruwais refinery.

The Contracts are for "Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Commissioning" (EPC) works for two packages of the Ruwais Refinery Expansion Project which comprises of seven EPC packages.

Eight companies competed for these two contracts. SK Engineering & Construction Co. from South Korea was awarded package No. 1 for a total value of US$ 2.1 billion for the Crude Distillation Unit & Associated Downstream Units and GS Engineering & Construction Corp. also from South Korea was awarded Package No. 2 for a total value of US$ 3.1 billion for the Residue Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit & Associated Refining Units.

The Ruwais Refinery Expansion Project which consists of seven different packages is aimed at increasing the crude oil refining capacity by 417,000 barrel per day with latest advanced Technology for down stream processing units to produce higher quality products. The new Refinery has been designed to comply with U.A.E. and International Environmental Standards.

The other packages comprising of Offsites & Utilities, Tankage & Associated Interconnecting Piping, Marine Facilities and Non-Process Buildings will be concluded soon.

TAKREERTAKREER, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), stated that the PROJECT is due to meet commercial production by end of 2013.

? Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2009.

07/07/2009 - Tecnimont on Borouge 3

Tecnimont Awarded Polyolefins Plant Contracts by Borouge
3:47 AM EDT | July 6, 2009 | Natasha Alperowicz

Borouge, a joint venture between Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and Borealis, says it has awarded the three main contracts for front end engineering design (FEED) for its Borouge 3 polyolefins units at Ruwais, Abu Dhabi, to Tecnimont, a unit of Maire Tecnimont. The contract, which also covers utilities and offsite facilities, is valued at $22 million. It represents another milestone in the development of Borouge 3, following the appointment of Bechtel as project management contractor and the selection last week of the Linde Group to build the core unit of the complex, a 1.5-million m.t./year ethylene plant, under a contract valued at $1.075 billion. Tecnimont's FEED contract has a duration of approximately nine months.

Borouge 3 downstream units will include two Borstar polyethylene facilities, each designed for 540,000 m.t./year and two Borstar-process polypropylene plants each with capacity for 450,000 m.t./year. Borealis supplies Borstar technology. Tecnimont will also be responsible for the 350,000 m.t./year low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plant, which will also form part of Borouge 3 and serve the wire and cable industry. LyondellBasell is providing the LDPE technology. Completion of Borouge 3 is scheduled for end 2013. It will expand Borouge's total polyolefins capacity to 4.5 million m.t./year.

Tecnimont was the main contractor on the Borouge 1 polyolefins unit and is currently involved in the construction of the polyolefins units, which will form part of Borouge 2 when that complex comes onstream in the middle of next year.

19/06/2009 - Saudia Aramco, Total Award EPC Contracts for Jubail Export Refinery

Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Company (SATORP) finalized the awarding plan for Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts that constitute the thirteen different process packages of their Jubail joint venture refinery, following a meeting of the SATORP Board of Directors. The awarding of these contracts marks an important step in the execution of this 400,000 barrel per day world-class, full-conversion refinery in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, which plans to be fully operational by the second half of 2013.

When completed, the export refinery will be one of the most advanced refineries in the world and will process Arabian Heavy crude to products fulfilling the most stringent specifications, to meet rising demand for environmentally-friendly fuels. A portion of Jubail refinery's production will be consumed locally to meet spikes in domestic demand. In-Kingdom refineries, such as the Jubail joint venture, have the location advantage to effectively and efficiently supply both international and domestic demand.

The full-conversion refinery will maximize production of diesel and jet fuels, and will also produce 700,000 tons per year (t/y) of paraxylene, 140,000 t/y of benzene and 200,000 t/y of polymer-grade propylene.

"Today we are marking a major milestone in our partnership with Total, which has been strong historically but is now stronger than ever," said Khalid Al-Falih, President and CEO of Saudi Aramco. "The Jubail Export Refinery is a strategic project for Saudi Aramco and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and its timely implementation will ensure that global and regional markets will be well supplied with high quality products in the next decade. Our commitment to fund a project of this scale demonstrates our confidence that energy markets will grow in the years to come, and our confidence that the Kingdom is the ideal location for energy investments by global investors."

"I am delighted that we have decided to launch the development of the Jubail refinery project with Saudi Aramco," said Christophe de Margerie, Chief Executive Officer of Total. "Today, we have passed an important milestone, which shows the quality of the strategic partnership between our two companies and their determination to bring off such a far-reaching project, even in a weaker economic environment. As a result, we will be able to meet, from 2013, the increasing demand for high-quality refined products from Asia and the Middle East."

The synergies between Saudi Aramco and Total lie in the fact that both companies bring knowledge and expertise to the joint venture company. Saudi Aramco's crude oil supply is located near Jubail, a world-class industrial area, while Total is an international oil company with a fully integrated value chain and a global presence.

The project adds value to the local economy through job creation and opportunities for further downstream investments by local businessmen. It is estimated that the refinery will create approximately 1,200 direct employment opportunities in the Kingdom, each of which typically creates five to six indirect job opportunities.

On May 6 and May 8, 2008, respectively, the Executive Committee of Total and the Board of Directors of Saudi Aramco decided to launch the project, and on June 22, 2008, a 'Shareholder Agreement' was signed in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, by Saudi Aramco and Total S.A.

Following the signing of the agreement, SATORP was formed during the third quarter of 2008, and the project remains on schedule.

Saudi Aramco and Total will ultimately own 37.5 percent of the company each. Subject to required regulatory approvals, Saudi Aramco plans to offer 25 percent of the company to the Saudi public in an Initial Public Offer (IPO) during the last quarter of 2010.

18/06/2009 - Foster Wheeler awarded carbon capture consultancy contract

Foster Wheeler AG?s Milan-based subsidiary has been awarded a contract for engineering consultancy services related to a planned carbon capture & storage facility in the Netherlands.


Foster Wheeler Italiana S.p.A was awarded the contract by the Rotterdam Climate Initiative (RCI), for the provision of consultancy services related to RCI?s planned carbon capture, storage (CCS) and utilisation solution in the Rotterdam region.


While the value of the contract was not disclosed, it is perhaps of more interest that the CCS facility is in progress in the first place.


Established in 2007, RCI is a collaboration between the City of Rotterdam, the Rotterdam Port Authority, Deltalinqs (a representative of the plant operators), and DCMR Environmental Protection Agency of the Rotterdam-Rijnmond region.


RCI aims to achieve a 50% reduction in the Rotterdam region?s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2025, relative to 1990. RCI aims to achieve this goal by improving energy efficiency, increasing renewable energy production, and via a carbon capture, utilisation and storage initiative, involving the major CO2 emitting companies of the Rotterdam Port area.


Captured CO2 can often be utilised for a variety of applications, either captured and simply stored underground, liquefied for eventual use in the food & beverage industry, or perhaps even used for injection into oil recovery fields.


Foster Wheeler will support RCI in the economic and technical validation of engineering plans for carbon capture facilities to be developed by each individual CO2 emitter located in the Rotterdam Port area.

11/06/2009 - ERG, Shell Committed to Sicily LNG JV, Terminal Ready in 2013

ROME (Dow Jones Newswires), Jun. 10, 2009

ERG SpA and Royal Dutch Shell are still "committed" to building a liquefied natural gas receiving terminal on the Italian island of Sicily with operations starting in 2013, ERG Chief Executive Officer Alessandro Garrone told Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday.

ERG and Shell are still committed to the LNG project that will have an annual capacity of 8 billion cubic meter, ERG's CEO said in an interview on the sidelines of a conference in Rome.

The LNG project, which is equally split between the two companies, in Sicily's Priolo, suffered a setback last month when local authorities said they needed more time to consider granting permission. The original start date was 2010.

Separately, ERG's CEO also said the company has no plans to join forces with Lukoil Holdings (LKOH.RS) as part of the Russian company's efforts to enter the Italian gas market.

Garrone also said ERG, which is a major service stations player in Italy, had no plans for a venture with Lukoil in the sector in Italy. He added the company will assess possible future "cooperation" between the two in the fuel sector.

Lukoil in November 2008 finalized a joint-venture deal with ERG, which included the Russian company taking a 49% stake in ERG's Isab refinery in Priolo. ERG is Italy's biggest independent refiner by capacity.

In recent weeks, Italian media has quoted Lukoil as saying it was interested in entering such sectors.

Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

10/06/2009 - E.ON hopeful on Trieste LNG green light

E.ON hopeful on Trieste LNG green light

By Upstream staff


The Italian unit of German utility group E.ON expects to obtain the go-ahead for a planned regasification terminal at Trieste later this year, according to E.ON group board member Lutz Feldmann.


The move comes amid further efforts to open up delivery opportunities for more liquefied natural gas into Europe, Feldmann told Reuters on the sidelines of a company event in Spain.

"We expect approval for the Trieste LNG regasification project in 2009," he said.

The terminal is envisaged to have a capacity to receive and feed into Italy's gas pipeline network up to eight billion cubic metres per year of LNG.

E.ON, traditionally a pipeline gas shipper to German industry and local utilities, is building up an LNG business around Europe to create more delivery options and flexibility, said Feldmann, who is in charge of M&A, legal and corporate development and new markets.

It has been nurturing plans for the terminal at Trieste - named Alpi Adriatico - in the context of its purchase of some former Endesa assets in Italy last year.

Trieste would come on top of LNG deliveries E.ON is already receiving from two terminals in Spain, and to future terminal projects which are still under construction in Britain, the Netherlands and off the coast of Livorno in Italy.

09/06/2009 - QAPCO 3 AWARD

Uhde has been awarded a lump-sum turnkey contract by Qatar Petrochemical Co. (QAPCO), a subsidiary of Industries Qatar and Total Petrochemicals of France, to build a 300,000tpy low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plant within the scope of its LDPE-3 project. The plant will be based on the Lupotech T technology licensed by LyondellBasell. Having already executed the basic engineering for this LDPE project, Uhde's scope of services and supplies will now include the project management, detail engineering and supply of equipment and materials, as well as the construction work. The latter will be executed in close cooperation with Tekfen Construction and Installation Co. of Istanbul, Turkey. The contract is worth some USD 550 million to Uhde. The new plant will produce LDPE pellets for a wide range of applications. It will be integrated into the polyethylene production area inside QAPCO's petrochemical complex in Mesaieed. The plant is planned to be completed in December 2011.

20/05/2009 - Force Majeure Declared on 52,000 B/D from Nigeria Brass Field

Italian oil major ENI Spa (E) confirmed force majeure has been declared on 52,000 barrels a day of crude from the Brass River field in Nigeria Tuesday.

Production from the field is shared, and the measure would apply to 9,000 barrels a day of ENI's equity share.

The news, which provide the company with legal protection for not meeting a contractual obligation to customers, follows reports from traders of damage to specific pipes.

Traders in West African crude estimated production from the Brass facility when running at full capacity last year at around 160,000 barrels a day.

Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

29/04/2009 - IEC 61508 Product Approvals - Veering Off Course

article by Angela Summers - SIS Tech, published on controlglobal.com

IEC 61508 Product Approvals - Veering Off Course
ControlGlobal.com
Upon Close Examination It Appears That the Product Approval Process of IEC 61508 (1) Has Veered Seriously Off Course, Possibly Rendering Many Safety Instrumented System (SIS) Applications Less Reliable Than Expected or Required

By Angela Summers, SIS-TECH

Following a careful review of a significant variety of product safety manuals, it appears that many field devices are achieving higher safety integrity level (SIL) claims than can be supported by process industry data. Appendix F.1.3 of CCPS Guidelines for Safe and Reliable Instrumented Protective Systems (2) states that ?a sampling of data for pressure transmitters from various manufacturers report theoretical mean time to failure dangerous (MTTFD) values that are three to ten times better than owner/operator prior use data.? ―a claim that some manufacturers (3) have openly validated.
Unfortunately, changes now being considered by the IEC 61508 committee will not likely improve the situation. It appears that the committee is intent on piling on additional requirements instead of addressing serious structural weaknesses. The only sensible option is for users to take control of this situation by refusing to install any field device in a safety application that has not demonstrated its required integrity and reliability in a similar non-safety operating environment. Users should demand that manufacturers stop making exaggerated performance claims, manipulating the safe failure fraction (SFF), and shifting responsibility for safe operation to the production operator when products behave unreliably. Users must also demand that safety manuals provide complete proof test procedures that achieve compliance with IEC 61511 (5) and OSHA process safety management (PSM, 6) requirements.
1. Exaggerated performance claims
Prior to the release of IEC 61508, many manufacturers provided in-service and accelerated test failure data. Following the approval of IEC 61508, manufacturers increasingly began claiming compliance based on a shelf-state analysis with seemingly perfect operating environment conditions. IEC 61508 allows manufacturers to make SIL claims based on predictive analysis without any burden of later substantiating the claims using actual field data, so technically manufacturers are not doing anything wrong. However, the theoretical dangerous failure rate, safe failure rate and probability of failure on demand (PFD) values declared in analysis reports are much better than can be achieved in actual field applications. The gap between the theoretical analysis and real world performance is egregious and pervasive.
With rare exception, these analysis reports do not provide enough information to fully illuminate the disparity between manufacturer?s claims and user experience―exactly the point being made by Thomas et al.(4) in stating ?quality and consistency in safety manuals is lacking.? The analysis reports do not provide a boundary description, installation and configuration assumptions, or a failure modes and distribution listing. Instead, the reports provide a summary table of the failure class distribution. The issue this raises is that while failure modes and effects are product-related and can be independently evaluated by the manufacturer, the failure classification is application-dependent.
There are many ways that a field device can be installed and configured, making the failure classification difficult for manufacturers, especially for commodity products. A manufacturer cannot properly assess whether a failure should be classified as safe or dangerous without first acquiring knowledge of the intended application.
For example, in a typical demand mode operation where a solenoid-operated valve controls the pneumatic supply to a valve actuator, solenoid coil burn-out is safe in a de-energize-to-trip application and is dangerous in an energize-to-trip application. All failures of the solenoid operated valve are likely dangerous in a continuous-mode application.
Users should be provided with the failure modes and effects results, not just a failure classification summary. Armed with this information, the user can then classify the failures according to their intended application and calculate an application-specific PFD and spurious trip rate.
Most reports do not clearly define the analysis boundary or describe what is included or excluded from the analysis. For a variety of reasons, many in-service failures are excluded from the product analysis reports. Some failures are deemed to occur due to product ?wear out? and excluded from the useful life analysis. Operating environment impacts, such as plugging, corrosion and electrical interference, are considered application issues that are the user?s responsibility to analyze and estimate. The restricted view of the product and its environment is a significant source of disparity between the theoretical analysis and real-world performance, but it is not the only problem.
Excessive diagnostic coverage claims are routinely made on programmable electronic field devices. Claims in excess of 90% are very common even with the restricted boundary and operating environment assumptions. A high diagnostic coverage translates directly into a high SIL Claim Limit and low reported PFD. That makes sense when the credited diagnostic actually yields safer operation and is periodically proven to work―the same rule applied to any safety device. Diagnostics must be verifiable and auditable.
Unfortunately, many manufacturer-supplied diagnostics are not capable of being tested in compliance with IEC 61511 Clauses 11.3―Requirements for system behavior on detection of a fault ―and 16.3.1.1―periodic proof tests shall be conducted using a written procedure to reveal undetected faults that prevent the SIS from operating in accordance with the safety requirements specification. Additionally, analysis reports do not include information on the product?s integrity, if the diagnostics are not configured per the safety manual or fail during operation.
The safety manual should clearly describe the analysis boundary and the assumptions with regard to installation, commissioning, configuration, diagnostics, maintenance and testing that support the SIL claim. Without such information, it is very difficult for users to comply with IEC 61511 Clause 5.2.5.3―Procedures shall be implemented to evaluate the performance of the safety instrumented system against its safety requirements―which requires a comparison of equipment reliability assumptions with field operating performance. Identified failure modes and effects should be included in the maintenance troubleshooting guide in order for in-service failures to be tracked using the same modes, thereby allowing users to periodically compare their actual operating results against manufacturer?s claims.
2. Manipulation of safe failure fraction
The IEC 61508 committee included the safe failure fraction (SFF) and associated hardware fault tolerance requirements as a way of preventing manufacturers from claiming high SILs for non-redundant devices simply based on the PFD calculation. The SFF tables were intended to ensure fault tolerance (through required redundancy) in an environment of optimistic theoretical data. However, because the SFF is calculated from the same potentially ?bad? data, the SFF is susceptible to the same error.
In practice, there is no correlation between SFF and product safety. The inverse is being demonstrated in the product approval process where it has become easier to certify a high total failure device with a high diagnostic coverage claim to SIL 3 than it is to certify one with a low total failure rate but no diagnostics.
While reviewing the various safety manuals, it became obvious that manipulation of the SFF is quite common. Many analysis reports, in direct disregard of the original intent of SFF, have included failure classifications that are not even acknowledged in IEC 61508 or IEC 61511. Contrary to what these reports frequently state, ?no effect,? ?residual,? ?don?t care,? and ?annunciation undetected? are not discussed in IEC 61508 and are not included in any failure definition.
Within some analysis reports, failure classes, such as ?no effect,? ?don?t care? and ?residual? are being loosely defined as a failure that is neither safe nor dangerous. IEC 61508 defines a failure as the termination of the ability of a functional unit to perform a required function. Similar definitions can be found in IEC 61511 and the CCPS book, Guidelines for Safe and Reliable Instrumented Protective Systems. If the device has not failed in a deterministic state―safe or dangerous―it is still functional. It has not terminated its ability to function as specified. However, the analysts have counted these non-failures as safe in the SFF calculation, thereby artificially inflating the calculated SFF value.
IEC 61508 only acknowledges two types of failure, safe and dangerous, so it must be that analysts believe that any degraded, not safe, or not dangerous failure can be assumed to be a safe failure. Ironically, though these non-failures are generally included in the SFF calculation, the analysis reports actually recommend not including them in any spurious trip rate calculation.
Some reports are defining ?annunciation undetected? as the failure of a diagnostic circuit such that it will not annunciate a future fault occurrence. The simple truth is that, if the user is not notified of the diagnostic failure, the user can not be in compliance with IEC 61511 Clause 11.3.1 which addresses the requirement of using diagnostic tests, proof tests or other means to detect dangerous faults. Dangerous diagnostic failures should not be classified as safe, but again, analysts are consistently reporting ?annunciation undetected? failures as safe and astonishingly cite IEC 61508 as a basis for their claim.
When analysts count these ?new? failure classes as safe, the product achieves a higher SFF without any measurable safety benefit. Products with mechanical components are often assumed to have a substantial percentage of ?no effect? failures thus achieving SFF values greater than the 60% or 90% values required to reduce the hardware fault tolerance requirements in accordance with IEC 61508 Tables 5 and 6. A higher SFF frequently leads to SIL 2 or 3 Claim Limits without any redundancy requirement.
For example, a diaphragm-actuated globe valve manufacturer has claimed failure rates of 9.356e-03/yr ?no effect? on a product with only 8.226e-03/yr of real safe and dangerous failures. More non-failures are included than real failures. The SFF calculated without the ?no effect? failure is 59.2%, which is below the SIL 2 claim for a type A component. With the ?no effect? failures included, the SFF is increased to 80.9%, sufficient for an SIL 2 claim.
All this to say, these ?new? failure classes appear to have been created since IEC 61508 was approved solely for the purpose of inflating the SFF; thus these ?new? failure classes are unsubstantiated theoretical constructs―the very phlogiston of safety engineering. Users should reject hardware fault tolerance claims based on such failure classes and should demand that manufacturers substantiate their claims following accepted reliability engineering principles.
3. A tendency to shift responsibility for safe operation to the operator
Many reports are issued with SIL claims assuming detected failures are configured to alarm rather than forcing the failed product to its specified safe state. This assumption allows manufacturers to report a low spurious trip rate and a low dangerous undetected failure rate, even when the product is inherently unreliable. Under IEC 61508 requirements, a product with a high total failure rate can achieve a high SIL Claim Limit as long as its failure is detected and annunciated. The SFF is not penalized by the choice to alarm rather than achieving the safe state. Therefore, the more failures that are detected, the higher the SFF becomes, regardless of the number of times or the total amount of time that the device is in the failed state, essentially dumping responsibility for process protection back on the operator.
Fault detection simply informs the user that the device is no longer capable of operating as required; it does not achieve or maintain process safety. Continuing to operate the process with a degraded or disabled SIS is a serious decision, requiring planned compensating measures that ensure safe operation and provide equivalent risk reduction. Many safety instrumented systems (SIS) are installed because the operator does not have sufficient time, is not continuously present or is not capable of achieving a consistent, reliable protective response in the time required. If the hazard and risk analysis has already taken credit for an operator appropriately acknowledging an alarm, the operator?s contribution to process hazards management has already been considered. An operator acknowledging a diagnostic alarm does not reduce the risk or make the operator stronger, faster or smarter. Only the user, through careful consideration of many application-specific factors, including the process hazard, process safety time, operator attendance, required safe state actions and operator work load, can determine if the operator is capable of providing equivalent risk reduction while the detected failure is corrected.
Manufacturers recommending that failures be alarmed rather than taking the appropriate safety action are potentially accepting significant liability. They simply do not have sufficient information about the intended operation or process risk to make such recommendations. Unfortunately, nearly every analysis report reviewed assumes that an operator is on-hand to step in and substitute for the basic process control system (BPCS) and/or SIS immediately upon receiving a diagnostic alarm, and that they will remain available to monitor the process equipment until the failed device is returned to service. Such assumptions are unrealistic, and manufacturers would be better advised to provide a detailed failure modes and effects analysis, so users armed with an understanding of what is necessary for safe operation can calculate an application-specific PFD and spurious trip rate.
4. Lack of complete proof test procedure
The user must validate and periodically demonstrate that the equipment operates according to the safety requirements specification. This demonstration includes diagnostics, alarms, manual operation and safety functionality as required by IEC 61511 Clauses 11.3, 16.2.2 and 16.3. Unfortunately, very few of proof-test procedures reviewed actually satisfy OSHA PSM requirements for a witnessed test of the equipment?s ability to operate as required.
Most safety manuals provide limited-scope proof-tests with estimated test coverage. Product operation is not fully proven by these partial tests. Since failure modes and distributions are not provided, it is not possible to determine whether the claimed proof test coverage is reasonably conservative or what failures the suggested test covers or does not cover. As already discussed, the proof test procedures do not address testing product diagnostics. Many devices have achieved a high SIL claim limit via large diagnostic coverage factors; yet, means and procedures for testing the diagnostics are not provided or discussed in the majority of safety manuals reviewed.
Safety manuals should provide proof test procedures that demonstrate equipment operation, including diagnostic, alarm and trip functions. Partial testing and diagnostics are tools for allowing more frequent validation of a subset of the failure modes, but the use of partial testing does not eliminate the need for full functional testing. Fundamentally, all protection layers must be auditable, therefore periodic proof-testing is necessary in order to prove that random and systematic errors have not degraded equipment performance. Incomplete testing cannot be accepted solely based on probabilistic techniques. Any failure that is not covered by test is a latent condition that can manifest itself anytime in the device?s life. No user should approve a device for a safety application that cannot be fully proof-tested in order to ensure proper operation according to the safety requirements specification.
Path Forward
Processes operate in a safe manner when installed equipment meets the owner?s operability, reliability, and maintainability requirements. Safety is not sustainable when unreliable equipment is used. Low reliability equipment increases maintenance costs, reduces operation?s trust in the equipment and those that specified it, and increases overall risk due to process upset, shutdown, and start-up. Users must assess how well a device works in the intended application. Prior use information is essential to ensure proper installation, commissioning, testing, and maintenance in process industry applications.
The root of the safety manual problem is an inadequate understanding by manufacturers of what is really needed by users. The manuals reviewed do not contain sufficient information to ensure compliance with IEC 61511 or OSHA PSM requirements. To better support users, manufacturers must perform reasonable and conservative analysis of their products and provide better documentation of assumptions. Users require more than a table of numbers in order to verify that analysis assumptions match their device?s application. Manufacturers are responsible for providing the ?fundamental information for that which they have control, thereby enabling users to efficiently and consistently do their job (4).? Instead, most devices are making exaggerated claims based on rather flimsy and in some cases, suspect evidence.
Unfortunately, it appears that many of these issues will not be addressed by an upcoming release of IEC 61508. Committee members are encouraged to consider seriously changes to IEC 61508 that steer manufacturers in a direction that yields safe and reliable products. Manufacturers should be required to supply a failure modes and effects analysis with failure distributions so users can track their failures against the defined modes. They should also be required to report in-service data, ensuring that product claims can be met by field performance. Manufacturers should not assume that it is safe to alarm a fault rather than forcing the product to its safe state condition. They should report the failure modes that can be detected and allow users to determine whether it is appropriate to alarm or trip based on a hazards and risk analysis of the process equipment. Finally, manufacturers should provide proof-test procedures that fully test all required product functionality in order for users to achieve and remain in compliance with IEC 61511 and OSHA PSM.
References
1. IEC 61508, Functional Safety of Electrical /Electronic/Programmable Electronic Safety Related Systems, Parts 1-7, Geneva, Switzerland (1999-2001).
2. Guidelines for Safe and Reliable Instrumented Protective Systems, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, NY, (2007).
3. http://www.emersonprocess.com/rosemount/solution/faq61508.html
4. Thomas, Harold, David Deibert, David C. Arner, and David Weir, Air Products & Chemicals, Inc., ?Safety Instrumented System Manuals-A Need to Balance Reliability and Safety,? Process Safety Progress, Vol 27, No 1 (March 2008).
5. IEC 61511, Functional Safety: Safety Instrumented Systems for the Process Industry Sector, Geneva, Switzerland (2003).
6. OSHA, ?Process Safety Management of Highly Hazardous Chemicals; Explosives and Blasting Agents, 29 CFR Part 1910.? Federal Register 57, 36, Washington, DC (1992).

25/03/2009 - Sonatrach/ENI award Menzel project

The joint venture of Algeria's state-run energy company Sonatrach and Italy's Eni have awarded Italy's Saipem a $1.8bn construction contract for the development of the Menzel Ledjmet East (MLE) field in the southeast of the country.
The lump-sum turnkey contract covers engineering, procurement and construction of the natural gas gathering systems, processing plant and related export pipelines from the field, along with future developments of the associated Central Area Field Complex.

Other bidders were JGC Corporation, Petrofac UAE and SNC Lavalin.

Saipem was favourite for the award as it is 43 per cent owned by Eni, which is developing the field with Sonatrach.

The facilities will provide a processing capacity of 350 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) of gas and 35,000 barrels a day (b/d) of liquids.

The facilities are located in the Berkine Basin, about 1,000 kilometres southeast of Algiers.

The contract is for 36 months.

Eni took control of a 75 per cent stake in the MLE field in September 2008 after buying Canada's First Calgary Petroleums, which was developing the field, for $865m.

Eni estimates the acquisition will increase its reserves by about 190 million barrels of oil within its Algerian asset portfolio on a proven plus probable reserves basis.

09/03/2009 - Venezuela sees oil price steady this year

Wire services

World oil prices will likely remain steady this year despite being below their "fair" value, says Venezuela's finance minister, who is an ex-president of Opec.

Venezuela, one of the largest oil exporters to the US, is a price hawk in Opec and has said it could this month propose that the group cut supply to try to lift prices, which have been doggedly around $40 a barrel for weeks.

Only a few Opec members have also called for a new Opec cut even though prices are more than $100 a barrel below their high of last year.

Venezuela has budgeted this year for a price for its basket of crude of $60 a barrel.

But Finance Minister Ali Rodriguez acknowledged world oil prices were unlikely to move much in the short-term.

"I think that for this year the price will keep to current levels, maybe rise a little," he told local television.

But he added that world prices were likely to spike some time in the future if the price remained at current levels, which dissuade companies from investing to find and produce oil, Reuters reported.

09/03/2009 - McDermott lands Saudi gas field deal

Wire services

State oil giant Saudi Aramco said it has awarded a contract for the Karan gas field to US engineering and construction outfit J.Ray McDermott.

The turnkey contract provides for the manufacture and installation of four platforms and the construction of a 110 kilometre long (68 miles) subsea pipeline to carry the gas from the Karan field, Aramco said in a statement.

It did not disclose the value of the contract.

The gas from Karan will be processed at the onshore Khursaniyah gas plant with start-up production scheduled for mid-2011, Aramco said. Karan will produce 1.5 billion cubic feet per day, and will process about 1.8 billion cubic feet per day.

Aramco has awarded onshore contracts for the project to UK-based Petrofac Ltd and South Korea's Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co Ltd, Aramco has said.

The cost of the Karan project was reported to have fallen by at least 20% from previous estimates that pegged it as high as $5 billion, reported Reuters.

04/03/2009 - Saudi Aramco looks to cut costs

Saudi Aramco looks to cut contract costs
Wire reports

State oil giant Saudi Aramco said today it may renegotiate the terms of projects that have yet to be granted as the world's top oil exporter grapples with falling global demand for energy resources.


Turmoil in world credit markets and tumbling crude oil prices have prompted energy companies around the world to reconsider more expensive projects or cut back on spending to preserve liquidity.

Aramco is examining "more flexible, innovative new strategies to reduce financial risk in projects management", it said in a statement issued after a meeting with representatives of Saudi and foreign contractors.

The meeting, it said, aimed "at shedding the light on the company's plans towards recalculating the costs of prospective projects after the decline in prices of material and costs".

Aramco plans 144 projects until 2014, including eight "giant projects", it said without fixing a timetable for the execution of projects.

Finance Minister Ibrahim al-Assaf told Reuters in November the kingdom planned to invest $100 billion in the oil sector until 2014.

ConocoPhillips and Aramco said in November they halted bidding on the construction of the 400,000 barrel per day joint-venture Yanbu refinery in Saudi Arabia, citing uncertainties in the financial and contracting markets.

Global refining margins have been falling on weaker demand due to a slowing economy and increased supply from new export refinery capacity.

21/01/2009 - Enel Gets Green Light for Sicily LNG Terminal

by AFX News Limited
January 20, 2009

Italian power group Enel SpA has received final clearance from authorities for its liquefied natural gas terminal (LNG) in Sicily, Chief Executive Fulvio Conti said on Tuesday.

Investments in the project will be around 600 million euros ($778 million) and construction will probably take around 40-50 months, Conti said, speaking on the sidelines of a conference.

Enel owns 90 percent of the project, which should have a capacity of 8 billion cubic metres per year.

Enel will use gas it already has in its portfolio from Nigeria, Conti said, adding that the group was also looking to close contracts with countries like Algeria, Egypt, Qatar and the Arab Emirates.

Asked about talks to buy the 25 percent stake in Endesa held by Spain's Acciona, Conti said the company was assessing various opportunities.

"At the moment there is no concrete solution," Conti said.

Acciona has a put option on its 25 percent stake in Endesa, which can be exercised from March 2010, but reports have said Enel is interested in buying the stake earlier.

Corriere della Sera said a deal with Acciona could be reached within a week.

Conti, who had been in Abu Dhabi on Monday for a business fair, added that Abu Dhabi investment funds had expressed interest in buying stakes in its renewable energy business, Enel Green Power.

Enel intends to either sell or list a minority stake of around 30-40 percent in Enel Green Power, excluding its large hydro plants.

($1=.7705 Euro)

Copyright 2009 AFX News Limited. All Rights Reserved.

14/11/2008 - Sonatrach Taps Saipem for LPG Contract Worth $1.63B

Saipem has been awarded a new onshore contract in Algeria worth approximately US $1.63 billion (1.3 billion euro).

The Algerian oil company Sonatrach has awarded Saipem the lump sum turn-key contract for the LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) processing facility project at the Hassi Messaoud oil and gas complex in central Algeria, 900 kilometers southeast of Algiers.

The contract covers engineering, procurement and construction of three LPG production trains with a total capacity of 8 million cubic meters a day.

The works will be completed by first half of 2012.

27/10/2008 - Italian LNG - Update GDF

France's GDF Suez hopes to start an offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Italy in 2012, the executive of its Italian division said on Wednesday.

Italy has scarce natural resources and relies on natural gas imports to cover about 85 percent of its needs. The country is trying to diversify its supplies to reduce its dependence on gas imports from Russia and Algeria.

Italy has only one operating LNG terminal with an under 4 billion cubic meter (bcm) capacity, owned by ENI, the energy giant.

GDF Suez has received the initial approval from local authorities to build the terminal 30 km off the Adriatic coast south of the port of Ancona, said Andrea Galeti, head of business development at its Italian division.

GDF Suez wants to complete a multistage authorisation process by the end of 2009 and make the terminal operational in 2012, Galeti told an energy conference in this Italian city.

"Our group has a strong will to go ahead with this project," Galeti said, adding that he expected the permitting process to be less than smooth.

Authorization of big industrial projects can take years in Italy, often because of local opposition.

It took more than 10 years for ExxonMobile, Qatar Petroleum and Italy's Edison to push through an 8 bcm LNG terminal.

The 600 million euro ($771.3 million) project will see GDF Suez build a ship-based terminal with an initial capacity of 5 bcm that can be doubled if a second ship is added, Galeti said.

GDF Suez was not afraid of competition from Exxon, whose terminal -- the first to be built in Italy since the 1970s -- is expected to be up and running in 2009, he said.

Nor was GFD Suez afraid of another authorized project led by Germany's E.ON and Italian utility Iride to build an offshore LNG terminal of up to 5.2 bcm near Livorno, not far from Pisa, Galeti said.

"There is room for everyone in Italy. We have gas and we are not afraid of competition," he said.

Galeti said GDF Suez may offer a minority stake in the project to a third party and some potential investors have already shown interest. No talks were under way, he added.

Valter Pallano, chief executive of Livorno's project -- OLT Offshore LNG Toscana -- said he expected the 600 million euro terminal to be operating in 2011. Its authorized capacity is 3.75 bcm, but it can be extended to 5.2 bcm, he said.

01/10/2008 - Galsi, Snam Rete Gas commit to pipeline construction

MILAN, ITALY: Galsi and Snam Rete Gas signed an agreement confirming the mutual commitment to, and setting out the conditions for, the construction of the Italian section of a new pipeline importing gas from Algeria to Italy, via Sardinia.



The Galsi project includes the international subsea section, from the Algerian coast to the south of Sardinia, near Cagliari, and the Italian section comprising the overland section crossing Sardinia (to the Olbia area) and a new subsea section to Tuscany (near Piombino), where the pipeline will be connected to the Italian national transport network.



The pipeline will be approximately 559 miles (900 km) in length overall, of which 373 miles (600 km) will be offshore and at a maximum depth of around 9,186 feet (2,800 m) between Algeria and Sardinia. The initial transport capacity will be 282.5 Bcf per year.



The agreement addresses the development, realization and start-up of the Italian section of the project. According to the agreement, Galsi will develop the engineering and obtain the main permits and authorizations required, while Snam Rete Gas will build the pipeline and subsequently manage the gas transport activities.



The agreement reached confirmed the commitment of Galsi and Snam Rete Gas to invest resources in the construction of one of the biggest natural gas procurement projects in Italy's history and one that represents, beyond the new technological challenge, the first step towards a methane supply for Sardinia, a region that currently does not have natural gas available.



This agreement represents another strategic stage in the process of opening up the gas market in Italy and in Europe, since it will allow the importation and sale of natural gas along a new route and allow new operators to embark on the Italian market. The agreement follows a memorandum of understanding signed on Nov. 7, 2007, and it lies in the framework of the subsequent inter-governmental agreement between Italy and Algeria signed on Nov. 14, 2007.



Galsi is a joint venture between Sonatrach (41.6 percent), Edison (20.8 percent), Enel (15.6 percent), Sardinia Region (11.6 percent) and Hera Trading (10.4 percent). Snam Rete Gas, in which Eni owns a majority interest, is the main Italian operator transporting and dispatching natural gas over the national territory.

28/07/2008 - Snamprogetti-Chiyoda Consortium Wins Algeria LNG Project

Algeria's state energy conglomerate Sonatrach signed a contract with a consortium of Italy's Snamprogetti SPA
The 277 billion Algerian dinars ($4.49 billion) contract is for the construction of a liquefied natural gas train in the western Mediterranean port of Arzew with a production capacity of 4.7 million tonnes a year, the statement said.

The project, to be financed 100 percent by Sonatrach and to be fed by gas from Algeria's Gassi Touil and Rhourd Nouss gas fields, is part of Algeria's plans to raise gas exports to 85 billion cubic metres a year in 2012 from 62 billion at present.

The plant is to be built in 48 months under the terms of the contract, which was signed on Saturday, said Sonatrach, Africa's biggest gas exporter and biggest company by revenue.

Sonatrach had provisionally awarded the work to a consortium of Britain's Petrofac
Sonatrach at the time gave the two companies 10 days to provide guarantees they could build the train in 50 months within the price they had offered. But on July 22 Sonatrach announced documents subsequently submitted by Petrofac and IKPT did not meet Sonatrach's requirements and Sonatrach would open discussions on the work with the Snamprogetti-Chiyoda consortium, the runners-up in the tender competition

14/05/2008 - Saudi Aramco and Total Confirm Jubail Refinery Project

The Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) and Total have both confirmed their decision to invest in a 400,000 barrel per day world-class, full-conversion refinery in Jubail, Saudi Arabia.
The refinery will process Arabian Heavy crude to high quality refined products that will meet the most stringent global product specifications and is expected to begin operations at the end of 2012. The refinery will benefit from the proximity to the Arabian Heavy crude supply system and from the excellent facilities of the Jubail industrial city such as King Fahad Industrial Port, power and water grids and residential area.

"At Saudi Aramco we are pleased to announce our commitment to strengthen our strategic partnership with Total by moving forward with the Jubail export refinery project. Our vision of this world-class refinery is to further expand the Kingdom's refining and petrochemical infrastructure and create job opportunities here at home. This facility will provide our customers, both domestic and international, with high quality fuels and petrochemicals?" Khalid G. Al-Buainain, Saudi Aramco Senior Vice President of Refining Marketing and International said.
"Launching this project is a major achievement, enabling Total and Saudi Aramco to build a strong strategic partnership. By developing this world-class project in Jubail, Saudi Aramco and Total will contribute to supply growing demand for transportation fuels and petrochemicals, especially in Asia and the Middle-East, but also in Europe where the deficit of diesel is growing", President of Total Refining and Marketing.
In a comprehensive, joint Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) study launched in May 2006, Saudi Aramco and Total have selected state- of- the- art proven technologies for a full conversion refinery scheme geared to maximizing the production of diesel and jet fuels. In addition, the project will produce 700,000 tonnes per year (t/y) of paraxylene, 140,000 t/y of benzene and 200,000 t/y of polymer grade propylene.
A joint venture company for the refinery will be formed during the third quarter of 2008. Saudi Aramco will initially own 62.5% of the company and Total will own the remaining 37.5%. Subject to required regulatory approvals, the parties are planning to offer 25% of the company to the Saudi public while the two founding shareholders each intend to retain a 37.5% ownership interest. Saudi Aramco and Total will share the marketing of the refinery's production.
Saudi Aramco and Total are planning to release invitations-to-bid for the project's construction in June 2008 with a view to awarding all packages during the first quarter of 2009. Orders for long-lead items will be placed as soon as the third quarter of 2008. The project will be introduced to the lending community in the second part of 2008 with a targeted financial close in early 2009.

source: oilvoice.com

28/03/2008 - SAIPEM CONTRATTO OFFSHORE IN NIGERIA DA OLTRE 1,3 MLD DLR

Saipem si e' aggiudicata il contratto per lo sviluppo sottomarino del giacimento offshore di Usan, situato circa 160 chilometri a sud di Port Harcourt, in Nigeria. Il contratto, si legge in una nota della societa' del gruppo Eni, ha un valore complessivo di oltre 1,3 miliardi di dollari ed e' stato assegnato da Elf Petroleum Nigeria (Total) in qualita' di operatore della concessione esplorativa OML 1381 dove e' situato il giacimento di Usan. Riguarda l'ingegneria, l'approvvigionamento, la fabbricazione, l'installazione e le attivita' di assistenza relative alla messa in servizio di condotte sottomarine (per 61 chilometri), ombelicali (per 72 chilometri) e risers2 che collegheranno 42 teste pozzo sottomarine al sistema di produzione galleggiante (FPSO, Floating Production Storage Offloading). Il contratto, inoltre, comprende la realizzazione del sistema di esportazione del greggio costituito da una boa di ancoraggio e due linee di esportazione e di parte del sistema di ancoraggio dell'FPSO. Le attivita' di fabbricazione saranno svolte in Nigeria, presso il cantiere di Rumuolumeni, di proprieta' di Saipem. I lavori in mare saranno svolti dai mezzi navali altamente specializzati Saipem FDS e Saipem 3000, in profondita' d'acqua comprese tra i 730 e gli 850 metri, tra il quarto trimestre 2010 e il quarto trimestre 2011.

19/03/2008 - Foster Wheeler for SARAS, Italy

HAMILTON, BERMUDA, March 19, 2008--Foster Wheeler Ltd. (Nasdaq: FWLT) announced today that Milan-based Foster Wheeler Italiana S.p.A., part of its Global Engineering and Construction Group, has been awarded an engineering, procurement, and construction management contract by Saras S.p.A. for the revamp of the mild hydrocracking unit at the Sarroch refinery in Sardinia, Italy.

This project is part of an important refinery upgrade.

The terms of the contract, which will be included in Foster Wheeler?s first-quarter 2008 bookings, were not disclosed.

This award follows the successful completion by Foster Wheeler of the front-end engineering design for the mild hydrocracker revamp and the procurement of major items. The revamp?s objectives are the upgrade of the mild hydrocracker?s capacity, performance and conversion, while achieving a longer catalyst life duration.


The revamp includes major modification to the reaction section, including installation of a new pretreat reactor, as well as upgrading the gas compression circuit and installing a new high-pressure amine wash section.



?We are very pleased to be awarded this revamp project by Saras,? said Marco Moresco, chief executive officer, Foster Wheeler Italiana S.p.A. ?We have been working with Saras for a number of years at this refinery. We have an alliance-type frame agreement with Saras under which we undertake work at this refinery and, under this agreement, we have developed a strong, successful and cooperative working relationship with our client.?



?The upgrading of our refinery at Sarroch, one of Europe?s largest and most complex refineries, is proceeding at a fast pace,? said Dario Scaffardi, general manager, Saras S.p.A. ?This latest award to Foster Wheeler demonstrates our continued satisfaction with its professionalism"

26/02/2008 - Technip awarded contract for refinery in Greece

Technip has been awarded by Motor Oil (Hellas) Corinth Refineries S.A. a contract for the engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) of a crude oil distillation unit at the Corinth refinery, Greece.

This unit will have a production capacity of 60,000 barrels per day. It is scheduled to be operational at the beginning of 2010.

The investment for the new unit will be approximately ?180 million.

This project is part of the refinery expansion program. Following the installation of the new unit, the total capacity of the refinery will exceed 170,000 barrels per day.

Technip?s operations and engineering center in Rome (Italy) will execute this contract. It marks a new step in the long-standing and successful collaboration between Technip and Motor Oil, for whom Technip has already carried out several contracts in the Corinth refinery.

14/02/2008 - Peter Brotherhood delivers AKER SMART 1 FPSO turbines

PETER BROTHERHOOD DELIVERS AKER SMART 1 FPSO TURBINES

Specialist engineering company Peter Brotherhood Ltd has delivered three 5 MW steam turbine driven generator sets to Aker Floating Production of Norway.

The turbines will be installed on the top deck of the Aker Smart 1 FPSO (floating production, storage and offloading) vessel which will operate in the Indian Ocean and will be maintained by Aker Borgestad Operations AS.

Aker Smart 1 will be deployed in India?s MA-field which is located at water depths of 1,000 to 1,400 metres, some 60 kilometres offshore from eastern India. The operator of the field is Reliance Industries Ltd. Production start-up will take place in two phases: oil production is scheduled in the first half of 2008 and gas production towards the end of 2008.

The three steam turbine driven generator sets each consist of a turbine, gearbox and generator, all mounted on a common bedplate which incorporates the oil system and a separate water cooled condenser mounted directly below the turbine?s exhaust.

Aker Floating Production ASA chose Peter Brotherhood because of the company?s extensive experience in manufacturing steam turbine driven generator sets for installation on FPSO vessels. These sets have to incorporate features to enable them to operate reliably in a floating environment where they can be affected by, for example, the pitch and roll of a ship.

Peter Brotherhood?s managing director Stephen Fitzpatrick said: ?This was an important order to secure as Aker Floating Production is planning to launch a number of Smart FPSOs over the coming years. We have now installed 36 turbines on board 22 FPSO vessels which have a total power output of over 300 MWe.?

Peter Brotherhood has been designing and manufacturing steam turbine driven generator sets for FPSOs since 1981 and has installed turbines on vessels which are moored off the coast of West Africa, Indonesia, Thailand, Brazil and Australia and in the North Sea.