Technology

The CongoLNG project will be significant in meeting the country's energy needs. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

Energy and marine consultancy ABL has been appointed by Eni to provide marine warranty survey services (MWS) for the offshore transportation and installation (T&I) campaign for Phase 2 of the Marine XII Congo LNG development project

Phase 2 of the project envisages the fabrication, transportation and installation of a new floating LNG vessel (FLNG), a converted floating separation, storage and booster unit (FSU), wellhead platforms and associated tie-in pipelines and ancillaries offshore the Republic of Congo.

The CongoLNG project that commenced in April 2023 is expected to reach an overall production capacity of 3 mn tons per year (approximately 4.5 bn cu/m per year) from 2025.

ABL’s scope of work includes the technical review of key project and procedural documentation, drawings and calculations, the suitability surveys of the proposed marine fleet for all T&I operations, and on-site attendance to review and approve attendances for warranted operations. 

The company's involvement on the project is expected to run from 2024 until the completion of the offshore works. It has also supported Phase 1 since February 2023. ABL’s operation in France will lead the company’s scope of work.

Supporting energy infrastructure

“Winning this latest project in the Congo is a testament to the successful work we have been doing in the country over many years, establishing ABL France as the leading technical consultant for the successful and safe delivery of energy infrastructure projects in Africa’s Francophone countries,” said Guillaume Henin, operational manager for ABL’s activities in Congo.

ABL France, based in Paris, provides the company’s full technical offering to support renewables, maritime and oil & gas sectors in France, Benelux countries, Spain and Francophone Africa.

“We are really pleased to continue our work in supporting the Republic of Congo’s energy infrastructure with this key project,” Henin said. 

The CongoLNG project will help the country meet its energy needs while seizing the opportunity to exploit surplus gas through LNG production, allowing it to join the group of global exporters of LNG in record time. 

In September 2023, Congo witnessed a mega deal that was signed between SNPC, Eni Congo, Lukoil, and Eni SPA for the purchase and sale of LNG. 

ABL’s operations in Africa cover a coast-to-coast footprint, with offices in Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and Mauritania, South Africa, and Egypt. Additional marine surveyor presence includes Algeria and Namibia. 

Vallourec will also provide tubular management services. (Image source: Vallourec)

TotalEnergies has contracted tubular solutions provider Vallourec to source 5,000 tonnes of OCTG solutions and associated services for the Kaminho deepwater project

Situated on Block 20, 100 km off the coast of Angola, Vallourec will supply VAM connections with its green, dope-free solution, Cleanwell. 

Early this month, a deal for 13-well subsea production system, including associated equipment and services, was closed by Total with SLB OneSubsea venture for the development of the Kaminho project. 

Providing offshore expertise

Vallourec will also provide its offshore expertise via VAM Field Service as well as its tubular management services (TMS) offering, which ensures tubes preparation and inspection before they are dispatched for the drilling platform. This service also covers the phase when the tubes are returened for storage.

While the products will be manufactured at the company's production hubs in France, Brazil, and Indonesia, Vallourec has a strong customer base across Africa, especially in Nigeria, Gabon, Congo, and Mozambique.

In Namibia, the company has supplied around 5,000 tonnes of tubes and connections. also for a TotalEnergies project. Recently, TotalEnergies have farmed into Block 3B/4B in Orange Basin. 

Philippe Guillemot, chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO, said, “We are proud to support TotalEnergies in its developments and exploration projects. I would like to thank the Vallourec teams for their commitment.”

Saipem will contribute to managing the integrity of a fundamental underwater infrastructure. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

Saipem has been awarded a contract to ensure the supervision and the subsea intervention services of the GreenStream pipeline throughout the offshore and onshore sections at the Mellitah (Libya) and Gela (Sicily, Italy) terminals

Last year, the Mellitah Oil & Gas BV Libyan Branch awarded Saipem a new contract for the development of the Bouri Gas Utilisation Project (BGUP), worth approximately US$1bn.

The new contract, awarded by GreenStream BV, one of the leading midstream players in the Mediterranean Sea, merges the activities that Saipem has been undertaking for GreenStream since 2008 as to asset integrity, inspection, maintenance and emergency pipeline services, and expands them to cover a wider range of scenarios and customer’s needs.

The activities will be managed by Sonsub, Saipem’s centre of excellence for robotics, underwater technologies and services, and executed in coordination with the Saipem Engineering Hub located in Fano, Italy.

Streamlining repair works

The scope of work streamlines the integrated management of survey data and critical spares, the provision of specialised engineering services related to asset integrity and readiness services for repair interventions in case of a wide range of damage scenarios. Specifically, repair interventions in case of damage will be performed via the SiRCoS technology, a remotely operated repair system industrialised by Sonsub and qualified to operate in water depths of up to 2,200 meters.

With this award Saipem will contribute to managing the integrity of a fundamental underwater infrastructure for the Italian energy supply with an integrated approach, thus confirming the company’s leadership in the underwater domain with promptly available and efficient solutions. It also consolidates the long-term cooperation between Saipem and GreenStream BV, which in 2002 awarded the company a contract for the pipelaying of said pipeline, a project thanks to which Saipem achieved the record for the deepest pipelaying with anchors. 

The Libyan National Oil Company has launched a sustainability strategy that includes an 83% reduction in gas flaring by 2030, pooling collaborative efforts from nine oil subsidiaries, Mellitah being one of them. 

The partnership will aim to establish digital solutions to address the key challenges within the sector. (Image source: SLB)

SLB and TotalEnergies have announced a 10-year partnership to co-develop scalable digital solutions to enable access to energy resources with improved performance and efficiency while establishing a flexible framework to address key challenges including carbon capture, utilisation, and sequestration (CCUS)

CCUS is currently dawning in Africa, with initiatives in countries such as South Africa, Nigeria and Algeria.

The companies will integrate advanced digital capabilities, including the use of AI with new and existing applications on SLB’s extensible Delfi digital platform. SLB and TotalEnergies will combine digital and domain expertise to accelerate the development and deployment of these solutions at scale, benefiting TotalEnergies’ global operations and SLB’s worldwide customer base.

The partnership will initially focus on subsurface digital solutions for reservoir engineering and geoscience modelling and interpretation, leveraging Delfi on-demand reservoir simulation (ODRS).

Developing new algorithms for geoscience 

Rakesh Jaggi, president of SLB’s Digital & Integration business, said, “Collaboration and knowledge sharing are key for our industry to continuously develop more effective ways of unlocking energy access. With this visionary partnership, we are combining the know-how and expertise of both companies to accelerate the delivery of new digital capabilities that will benefit the whole industry.”

Namita Shah, president, OneTech at TotalEnergies, commented, “Through this digital partnership we will develop cutting-edge next-generation software, digital applications and new algorithms applied to geoscience.

“Thanks to these innovative modelling technologies, we will not only be better able to utilise the analyses of geological reservoirs and basins in the oil and gas sector, to reduce emissions, but also make further progress in geological carbon storage.”

The 1.5mtpa-storage-capacity Habshan CCUS project, one of the largest in the MENA region, that was initiated by ADNOC last year, is a testament to the region's carbon storage progress.