Oil and gas operators with assets in Ireland have sought clarification following the government’s announcement it plans to end all future oil exploration in the country due to its incompatibility with a low-carbon future.
During the UN Climate Action Summit on Monday evening An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar stated the Irish Government’s intention to phase out oil exploration licenses in the future.
Varadkar said that Ireland’s Independent Climate Change Advisory Council had recommended that exploration for oil should end as it is incompatible with a low-carbon future. The Council recommend that exploration for natural gas should continue for now as a transition fuel.
Following Varadkar’s statement at the summit, Europa Oil & Gas, Providence Resources, and Lansdowne Oil & Gas have issued statements saying they will seek clarification of the situation.
It is the understanding of these three companies that the phasing out of oil exploration only relates to future oil licenses and not future gas licenses. Furthermore, it is their understanding that all of the options, licenses and leases already in place will be allowed to progress for their full duration.
Europa Oil and Gas and Providence both said they would be seeking clarification of the situation through the offices of the Irish Offshore Operators’ Association (IOOA).
IOOA is the representative organization for the Irish offshore oil and gas industry. Its members are companies licensed by Government to explore for and produce oil and gas in Irish waters.
Responding to remarks by An Taoiseach, a spokesperson for the IOOA said in a statement on Monday: “IOOA look forward to seeing the full detail of the proposals to be outlined in the Taoiseach’s speech at the Climate Action Summit this evening. In particular we look forward to receiving the exact detail of the proposed implementation of today’s announcement regarding future exploration in Ireland.
“Our members remain committed to Ireland’s efforts to transition to renewable energy, however energy security for Ireland is an important part of that process and we will seek a meeting with Government in relation to the matter in the coming weeks,” offshoreenergytoday.com quoted the statement saying.
Europa has a large exploration position in Ireland, including its flagship Inishkea gas prospect which is located close to the Corrib gas field in the Slyne Basin.
Providence has interest in several licenses offshore Ireland, including the Barryroe oil accumulation. A survey over two locations on the Barryroe field was recently completed with two more locations on the cards once and if Providence’s partner APEC delivers on its promised loan.
Lansdowne has interest in the Helvick field, which is situated some 40km offshore Ireland in c. 80m (265ft) water depth. It also has an interest in the Providence-operated SEL1/11, which contains the Barryroe field.
A former Petroleum Ministry official in Nigeria, Grace Taiga, has been charged with accepting bribes and failing to follow protocol over a disputed gas deal by the country’s anti-fraud office.
Taiga, former petroleum ministry director of legal, pleaded not guilty in a court in Abuja to eight counts of wrongdoing put forward by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The EFCC alleges Taiga accepted bribes, made false statements and signed the contract without approval from the federal executive council and Bureau of Public Procurement.
According to a Reuters report, the court documents have the EFCC also alleging that the now-deceased former petroleum minister Rilwanu Lukman broke the law by signing a deal without proper approvals and protocol.
The charges revolve around a 2010 contract with the firm of Process and Industrial Developments (P&ID) to build and operate a gas-processing plant in the southeastern port city of Calabar.
The complaint alleges she received $1,000 in 2015 and payments of $10,000 in each of December 2017 and June 2018 as a reward for favors to P&ID. Taiga was remanded to prison until her bail application is determined on September 25(today).
The Nigerian government and the firm entered into international arbitration after the deal collapsed. Arbitration eventually led to a $6.6 billion award for P&ID. It has been accruing interest since 2013 and is now worth more than $9 billion.
The Reuters report said that the government claims that the deal was designed to fail and called the award “an assault on every Nigerian and unfair.”
P&ID said the EFCC had harassed, intimidated and denied due process to individuals associated with the company and the contract.
Nigeria is set to make a fresh push into rehabilitating its poorly performing refineries, Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Mele Kyari has said.
According to Kyari, there had been enough excuses and that work on the Port Harcourt oil refinery would begin by January 2020. The plan is for the refineries to be back at peak capacity in 2022.
“We are on course,” Kyari said, the NNPC team was “determined to make the refinery work,” Mele Kyari said during a visit to Port Harcourt refinery.
The West African nation has four refineries, with a nameplate capacity of 445,000 barrels per day. In June, the last month for which data is available, consolidated capacity use was 2.14%. This was based only on the Kaduna facility, the others being offline. Kaduna was running at 8.7% of capacity.
According to NNPC’s accounting, the refineries had an operational deficit of 17.42 billion naira ($48 million) for June.
Because of the country’s poorly functioning refineries, it organises fuel imports under a system known as direct sale, direct purchase (DSDP). The current round of swaps under this programme will run until September 2020, but Kyari acknowledged in an interview with Bloomberg at the beginning of the month that this would be extended until the refineries were fixed. At that point, Kyari was reported as saying this would take place in 2023.
Italy’s Tecnimont and Tecnimont Nigeria won a contract to carry out a complete integrity check and equipment inspection on the Port Harcourt complex in March. The first phase was to take six months to assess the site. The second phase is to carry out a full rehabilitation of the complex, which holds two refineries with total capacity of 210,000 bpd.
The second phase is dependent on the successful completion of the integrity check and will be carried out by the Italian company, and its Nigerian subsidiary. This has the aim of boosting capacity to at least 90%. Nigeria’s The Guardian newspaper reported a Tecnimont official as saying the results of the first phase would be delivered within the next three weeks.
Kyari’s plan is ambitious. A number of rehabilitation projects have been proposed for Nigeria’s refineries and have failed to make much progress. Turnaround maintenance (TAM) on the plants has been neglected leaving them in a poor state.
The previous minister of state for petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, set out a number of plans for the refineries, none of which came to fruition. In 2018, Kachikwu predicted the country’s refining capacity would be 1.1 million bpd in 2020. A major increase is due to come from the Dangote refinery, in Lekki. This will have 650,000 bpd of capacity but has also been delayed. Most recently, company officials have said they expect to begin processing crude by the end of 2020.
The head of the shipping firm that owns the British-flagged oil tanker held by Iran since July has said it is still in Iranian waters, a day after Tehran said the vessel was free to move.
Erik Hanell who is the Chief Executive of Swedish company Stena Bulk, told the Associated Press: “We know nothing as to why she is still there.”
On Monday, Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei told journalists that legal proceedings against the Stena Impero had ended. The tanker has been kept in the
Iranian port of Bandar Abbas since July 19.
“Based on a friendly approach that allows forgiving mistakes, ground for freedom of the tanker has been paved and it can move,” Mr Rabiei said.
Iran seized the tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of the world’s oil passes.
The raid saw commandos drop on to the ship from a helicopter, carrying assault rifles, with dramatic images later replayed on state television.
Earlier this month, Iran released seven of the ship’s crew members, but 16 remain on board.
The seizure came after authorities in Gibraltar seized an Iranian tanker carrying 130 million dollars (£104 million) in crude oil on suspicion of it breaking European Union sanctions on Syria.
Gibraltar later released the tanker, then called the Grace 1, after it said Iran had promised the ship would not go to Syria.
The ship, renamed the Adrian Darya 1, now sits off the Syrian coast, angering Britain.
Iran has not said who purchased its 2.1 million barrels of crude oil.
The ship seizures came after months of heightened tensions in the Persian Gulf, sparked by President Donald Trump’s decision over a year ago to withdraw from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers and impose crippling sanctions on its vital oil trade.
Iran since has begun breaking terms of the deal.
Zambia’s state-owned power company, ZESCO Limited has announced a 200 percent increase in electricity tariffs effective 1st October, 2019.
The six months increase in electricity tariffs is meant to offset the cost of importing 300 megawatts of power from South Africa to mitigate the power deficit the country is facing.
Speaking at a media briefing, ZESCO Director Strategy and Corporate Services Patrick Mwila indicated that the tariff increase will vary for individual costs depending on spending brackets.
The acting Managing Director of ZESCO, Webster Musonda, who also spoke at the press briefing said the cost for the importation of 300 megawatts of power for six months will be passed on to consumers.
According to him, power utility will be importing power from Eskom of South Africa at a cost of US$22 million per month.
Mr Musonda states that due to low water levels at Kafue Gorge,Itezhi tezhi and Kariba North Bank and extension power stations, the country is having a power deficit of 690 Megawatts.
He adds that the importation of 300 Mega Watts of power from South Africa is meant to mitigate the complete shutdown of Kariba North Bank power station.
Oranto Petroleum has organised a tender workshop in Uganda, in partnership with the Petroleum Authority of Uganda, the Local Government Administration and KITADI consultancy to build the capacity of oil and gas businesses.
Organised in the region of the Albertine Graben where Oranto Petroleum has its Ngassa licences, the workshop was attended by over 250 participants, a majority of which were business owners and entrepreneurs.
The workshop provided information on training and capacity building in Uganda’s oil & gas sector and gave insights to participants into the best opportunities the oil sector provides in income generation across agriculture, business incubation, transportation, storage, waste management, trade and services like banking and insurance.
Critical skills in local content, enterprise development and innovation were also provided to participants.
“Oranto understands that oil resources have the potential to provide immense benefits to African nations through employment of the local workforce, and can boost local communities and generate rural transformation,” Prince Arthur Eze, Chairman of Atlas Oranto Petroleum said in a press release copied to energynewsafrica.com.
“When we hire, train, promote and give contracts to Ugandan nationals, it is a victory for the oil industry and country. We are thankful to President Yoweri Museveni and the people of Uganda for working closely with the oil industry to ensure we all succeed. With the work done so far by our technical teams, we are confident we will soon announce a discovery once we proceed to drilling wells in Uganda,” Prince Arthur Eze added.
Director of Strategy of the African Energy Chamber Mickael Vogel said commended Oranto Petroleum for building capacity of the oil and gas sector players in Uganda.
“The Chamber welcomes programmes like this and salutes Oranto for living up to its commitment to the Ugandan people and local content. The Chamber wants to support companies that contribute in enabling Uganda’s workforce and supplier development, and collaborating with the government to support the growth and success of Uganda’s new energy industry,” he said.
Oranto Petroleum was awarded the Ngassa licence in October 2017 and has been making steady progress on its work programme since then. This notably includes the completion of the ESIA studies, seismic acquisition, and the Lake drilling solution study.
The company now plans to drill in the next two years and is encouraging local companies to be ready to participate in drilling support activities.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
The Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Oil Marketing Companies (AOMC) in the Republic of Ghana, West Africa, Mr. Kwaku Agyeman Duah, says public support is important to the successful implementation of the Cylinder Recirculation Model (CRM).
Ghana’s petroleum downstream regulator, National Petroleum Authority and other stakeholders, as part of efforts to solicit public inputs before the rollout of the policy, have been engaging consumers across the country for their inputs. The team has so far engaged residents in Western, Eastern, Central, Ashanti, Northern and Upper East regions.
Addressing consumers at a public forum in the Volta Region of Ghana, Mr. Agyeman Duah, who is also the Chairman of the CRM Implementation Committee, said countries such as Ivory Coast and Senegal, where the policy is being implemented, are recording zero explosion results.
He therefore wondered why Ghana should not be part of such an important initiative.
According to a report filed my Ghanaweb.com, Mr. Duah is of the view that NPA’s public engagement is crucial and therefore appealed to the participants to bring their inputs, because of the critical role they play in the process.
Vice Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee of Mines and Energy and MP for Tarkwa Nsuaem Constituency, George Mireku Duker, said Members of Parliament from both sides of the house are in full support of the policy.
He said visits to Ivory Coast point to a successful implementation of the policy and therefore appealed to members of the public to support the policy.
On his part, the Regional Minister Dr. Archibald Yao Letsa said the public consultation goes to attest that the issue of safety in the use of petroleum products has been high on the agenda of Government.
“There is a call on all to make safety the key word in handling petroleum products to reduce if not eliminate the reported cases of fires associated with it.”
Chief Executive of the NPA Hassan Tampuli whose speech was read on his behalf by the Director of Human Resource, Abbiw Jackson, said government is targeting 50 percent consumption of LPG by 2030.
In this light, government, through the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), has been engaging the public on the Cylinder Recirculation Model.
Mr. Tampuli said a lot more can be done to improve on the 25 per cent LPG consumption.
“The CRM policy seeks to ensure the existence of robust and standard Health, Safety and Environmental practices in the production, marketing and consumption of LPG. In addition, it will provide a market-driven structure to increase access of LPG to 50% by 2030.”
Norwegian industrial investment giant Aker Group has together with the World Economic Forum announced the formation of a center “dedicated to harnessing the advances of technology to preserve our ocean and improve the environmental footprint of ocean industries.”
Aker Group in its portfolio has the oil and gas companies Aker BP and Aker Energy, and oilfield services and construction providers Aker Solutions, Kvaerner, and Akastor, and also the FPSO owner Ocean Yield.
As part of the new initiative to preserve the ocean and improve the environmental footprint of the ocean industries, the company plans to establish the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Norway (C4IR Norway), as part of the initiative to preserve the ocean.
“Through public-private partnerships, the Centre will develop governance frameworks and solutions for a sustainable and profitable ocean economy, using digital technology ranging from Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Blockchain,” the company said.
The C4IR Norway will join the WEF’s global C4IR Network and collaborate with the Government of Norway and the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy.
According to Aker, the Centre will provide a platform for partnerships on governance policies, research and business solutions that can accelerate the application of science, data, and technology in the public interest. The Centre will be an independent non-profit foundation, financed initially by founding partner the Aker group.
The Centre will at first be based at the Aker headquarters at Fornebu, Norway, before moving into the World Ocean Headquarters, an ocean cluster being developed by Aker and REV Ocean. The Centre will officially open on 1 January 2020.
“Aker has gained valuable experience through engaging in cross-sector partnering between its own commercial and non-profit entities, such as REV Ocean, Ocean Data Foundation and VI Foundation. Once operational, the Centre will be open to new partners and projects from both the public and the private sector,” Aker said.
Aker President and CEO Øyvind Eriksen said: “The ambition with this Centre is to leverage our offshore expertise and the Nordic model of collaboration between the public and the private sector to accelerate the application of technology that can reduce the industry’s environmental footprint. Only through collaboration between business, government, and NGOs will we unlock the great potential that resides in digital technology to promote sustainable development – for our societies, for value-creation, and for the environment.”
To reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the ocean will need to provide the world with more food, jobs, energy and raw materials. According to OECD estimates, the value of the ocean economy could exceed USD 3 trillion by 2030, providing more than 40 million jobs. However, fulfilling this potential will require safeguarding and improving the health of the ocean.
Top minds to help achieve SDGs
“Building a sustainable ocean economy is one of the most important tasks and greatest opportunities of our time. To mitigate the threats to a healthy and productive ocean, we need to move faster,” underlined Vidar Helgesen, Norway’s Special Envoy to the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy.
“The Norwegian government welcomes the new technology center at Fornebu as an essential contribution to ocean health and wealth. It can bring together actors from business, academia and civil society in developing ground-breaking ocean solutions.”
Today, Aker stressed, the ocean is under immense pressure notably due to climate change, pollution and overexploitation, with declining biodiversity as a result. Saving the marine ecosystems will require innovative policies, good governance, technology, research, and new business solutions, based on sound scientific data.
“We have an opportunity to shape the future of emerging technology and the future of our planet,” Børge Brende, President of the World Economic Forum said.
“The new Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Norway will bring together some of the world’s top minds to co-design innovation policy solutions to achieve the SDGs and protect our ocean. Powered by the Forum’s international network of Centres, this Affiliate will be able to accelerate and scale quickly.”
As an affiliate of the C4IR in San Francisco, which opened in 2017, the technology center in Norway will be the only center among the seven in the network to focus on the environment. The Centre’s initial projects will fall into three categories: minimizing the environmental footprint of ocean-related industrial activities; harnessing big data to optimize marine resource mapping, monitoring and management; and using digital technology tools to protect marine biodiversity.
The British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero, which Iran seized in the middle of July in the Strait of Hormuz, is now “free to leave Iran,” Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiyee said on Monday.
Several high-profile incidents in recent months have increased the tension between Iran and the West in the Middle East and in the most important oil shipping corridor in the world, the Straight of Hormuz, which is in close proximity to Iranian coasts.
In one of the most prominent incidents in the Gulf in the summer, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) seized the British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero, owned by a Swedish company, in what appeared to be a retaliatory move after the British overseas territory Gibraltar seized the Iranian oil tanker Grace 1—released in mid-August—with the help of the UK Royal Marines at the beginning of July.
Iran has said that it had impounded the UK-flagged vessel Stena Impero because it had violated international maritime rules in the Strait of Hormuz.
The tanker is “is now free to leave Iran with the end of legal proceedings,” Iran’s Fars news agency reported on Monday.
“Iran has decided to condone the violation of international maritime regulations by the Stena Impero,” the agency quoted the government spokesman as saying. The oil tanker is “now free to leave the Southern Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, as the legal formalities have been observed and completed,” according to Iran.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Stena Impero actually started to move toward leaving Iran.
Stena Bulk, the company that owns the UK-flagged tanker, told Swedish television SVT on Sunday that the tanker could be released “soon.”
“We have received information now this morning that it seems like they will release the ship Stena Impero within a few hours. So we understand that the political decision to release the ship has been taken,” Stena Bulk CEO Erik Hanell told SVT on Sunday.
On September 5, Stena Bulk said that seven out of 23 crew members of the Stena Impero had been released and were travelling to a safe location.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
A leading African Energy Attorney and founder and CEO of Pan-African corporate law conglomerate, Centurion Law Group, NJ Ayuk says he does not believe in handouts as a long-term strategy for impoverished people or nations.
Rather, he thinks that the companies working on the continent have a responsibility to help their host nations build the infrastructure necessary to expand industrialization.
Ayuk who is also the Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber expressed these views in his new book titled: “Billions at Play: The Future of African Energy” which is expected to be launched in October 2019.
Commenting on the yet to be launched book, Mr Bruce Falkenstein, who is the Joint Operations Manager of License Management & Compliance for LUKOIL, shared the views of Ayuk, which is the focus of chapter 10 in Ayuk’s new book.
Falkenstein has a 40-year career working in all facets of the international oil and gas industry. With regard to Africa, he has extensive experience managing offshore blocks in Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Cameroon, and Sierra Leone for LUKOIL and Vanco Exploration, and had great success in the exploration and development of oil fields in Egypt for Amoco (BP) in the 1980s and 90s.
“There is no getting around it: Africa is exporting raw materials it could be refining and processing, if it only had the capabilities, but not everyone is willing to admit that with the level of candor Ayuk does,” Falkenstein said. “What’s more, he has correctly linked infrastructure deficits to the lack of industrialization and describes workable solutions based on examples from around the world,” he said in a press released copied to energynewsafrica.com by APO Group.
Ayuk sees the irony in oil and gas produced in Africa being sent away to be refined, then returned as finished products that Africans pay a premium for. Roads, railways, and reliable electricity are key to building a manufacturing base in Africa, but they take resources—some of which should be provided by the international energy companies making millions on the continent, he argues.
“It is simply not ethical for American, French, Italian, and other companies to come here and not help lift people out of poverty,” Falkenstein said. “True, they employ indigenous workers and provide training, but one of the biggest benefits would be in committing to help build sustainable infrastructure and physical assets that will remain a plus for the people long after the companies have pulled up stakes and left Africa, and I will add that sustainability of the work force, also a key component of a venture’s ‘built assets’, is critical to the future industrial output of the nations and currently many of the work force assets are left behind without local supporting employment agencies after the stakes are pulled up. Sustainability is only achieved through alignment of the projects with both the real needs of the impacted communities and the spectrum of government stakeholders.
As Ayuk alludes to in chapter 9, Calling All Leaders! More on Good Governance, part of good governance requires that good leadership needs to be able to recognize the upfront additional cost to achieve sustainability results in reduced project risks and improved long-term project stability and economics.”
In Billions at Play: The Future of African Energy, Ayuk does not overlook the issues Africa has caused for itself, including unscrupulous leaders who have siphoned off funds that were intended for the public good. At the same time, as Falkenstein noted, he points out how countries like Kenya have created an enabling environment for manufacturing that supports economic diversification and should reduce the country’s exposure to external shocks, including oil and gas price volatility.
“In NJ Ayuk’s world, there are few villains, just people and businesses who can and need to do more,” Falkenstein said. “That is what makes his book so compelling—it is, truly, fair and balanced. Learning from Ayuk will put you on the successful path in Africa. His first book, Big Barrels: African Oil and Gas and the Quest for Prosperity, should be within close reach for any serious oil and gas executive and negotiator. With that said, Ayuk’s newest book needs to be in even closer reach as each of you pursue your own quest for Billions.”
A six-member high-level delegation from Sunon Asogli Power (Ghana) Limited in the Republic of Ghana, West Africa, on Friday, September 20, 2019, paid a courtesy call on the Vice President of the Republic of Liberia, Chief Dr. Jewel Howard-Taylor, at her Capitol Building Office in Monrovia.
The Delegation had earlier met with His Excellency, President George M. Weah before their courtesy on the Vice President.
The Chinese Company has entered a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Liberia to conduct pre-feasibility studies for investment in the development and operation of electricity generation, transmission and distribution utilities in Liberia, a Press Release from the office of the Veep said.
The Delegation which was led by Togbe Afede XIV, Director of the Sunon Asogli Power Ghana Limited, a subsidiary of Shenzhen Energy Group Limited, also had Mr. Qun Yang(Chairman of Sunon-Asogli and Shenzhen Energy Africa Development Unit) Mr. Kojo Wang(Director of Africa Projects Development Unit), Elikplim K. Apetorgbor( Manager Energy Trading, Research & Business Development) as well as Mr. Yan Wei(Commercial Manager).
They were accompanied to the office of the Vice President by the Minister of Lands, Mines and Energy, Honorable Gesler E. Muray, and then the Chairman of the National Investment Commission, Honorable Molewuleh B. Gray.
The Delegation in a group photograph with the Vice President of Liberia
The Company, according to the MOU, will also set up a legally registered Liberia subsidiary once modalities for a power purchase agreement are reached with the Government of Liberia.
Vice President Howard-Taylor welcomed the delegation to her office and expressed appreciation to officials of the National Investment Commission, the Ministry of Lands, Mines, and Energy as well as her Office Chief of Staff, Honorable, George T. Nimely, for the coordinated effort to reach this far with the Agreement.
According to the Analyst Newspaper, the Vice President described Energy as crucial to the development and a major component of the President’s development agenda.
“Access to modern energy, especially in the lower-income developing countries, is an important factor for achieving key aspects of the Millennium Development Goals and supporting government’s Pro-poor Agenda for Prosperity & Development,” the Liberian Vice President told the Dele
Speaking earlier, the Director of Sunon Asogli Power Ghana Limited, Togbe Afede XIV, explained that the company does not only see a lot of potentials but also challenges, promising that following the feasibility studies, the company will present findings to the GOL and make application consistent with opportunities in the electricity generation, transmission or distribution.
According to him, the presence of the Chinese Company in Ghana has greatly impacted the energy sector, expertise he noted will be brought to Liberia to positively impact the energy sector.
For his part, Lands, Mines, and Energy Gesler Muray thanked the Vice President for the level of cooperation during the discussions while expressing optimism for a positive outcome from the MOU.
Minister Muray disclosed that the MOU for the pre-feasibility is enforceable for the period of six months and that the Government, through the Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy and the National Investment Commission will recommend the appropriate next steps leading to power purchase between the GOL and the Shenzhen Energy following the review and validation of the findings presented.
The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) has announced further initiatives to accelerate the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and support the goals of the Paris Agreement, ahead of OGCI’s annual event in New York City.
First, OGCI launched a new initiative to unlock large-scale investment in carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS), a crucial tool to achieve net zero emissions. OGCI’s CCUS KickStarter initiative is designed to help decarbonize multiple industrial hubs around the world, starting with hubs in the US, UK, Norway, the Netherlands, and China. The aim of the KickStarter is to create the necessary conditions to facilitate a commercially viable, safe and environmentally responsible CCUS industry, with an early aspiration to double the amount of carbon dioxide that is currently stored globally before 2030.
Second, OGCI showed progress towards its methane intensity target announced last year. Members are on track to meet the methane intensity target, having reduced collective methane intensity by 9% in 2018. In addition to the methane intensity target, OGCI is now working on a carbon intensity target to reduce by 2025 the collective average carbon intensity of member companies’ aggregated upstream oil and gas operations.
We are scaling up the speed, scale, and impact of our actions in support of the Paris Agreement OGCI members.
Third, all OGCI member companies have pledged to support policies that attribute an explicit or implicit value to carbon. Acknowledging the role that attributing a value to carbon plays as one of the most cost-efficient ways to achieve the low carbon transition as early as possible, OGCI supports the introduction of appropriate policies or carbon value mechanisms by governments.
OGCI Climate Investments, OGCI’s US$1 billion-plus fund, has nearly doubled the number of investments in promising clean technologies over the year. The fund now has a total of 15 investments in its portfolio. Climate Investments actively supports these companies in deployment and scale-up as well as continuing to search for additional opportunities in its focus areas.
In a joint statement, the heads of the OGCI member companies said: “We are scaling up the speed, scale, and impact of our actions in support of the Paris Agreement. Accelerating the energy transition requires sustainable, large-scale actions, different pathways and innovative technological solutions to keep global warming well below 2°C. We are committed to enhancing our efforts as a constructive partner with governments, civil society, business and other stakeholders working together to transition to a net zero economy.”
“The progress towards our methane intensity target makes us confident that the actions we are taking deliver results. We are on track to reach our methane intensity target of 0.25% by 2025. Encouraged by our experience of working together on reducing methane emissions, we are now working on a target to reduce by 2025 the collective average carbon intensity of our aggregated upstream oil and gas emissions.”
OGCI’s CCUS KickStarter initiative is designed to facilitate large-scale investment in a commercially viable, safe and environmentally responsible CCUS industry. To achieve this, OGCI will start by building on the work of many others to jointly put five emerging hubs into operation – in the US, UK, Norway, the Netherlands, and China. Its aspiration is to double the amount of carbon dioxide that is currently stored globally, while building a pipeline of potential future hubs to bring this new industry to scale.
In parallel, OGCI has launched a joint CCUS Acceleration Framework with the 11 countries supporting the Clean Energy Ministerial CCUS Initiative, which brings governments and industries together to create a global, commercial CCUS industry at the scale needed to meet the Paris Agreement.
Nature Based Solutions are crucial to achieving net zero emissions, in tandem with CCUS. OGCI has joined the Natural Climate Solutions Vision initiative, convened by the World Economic Forum and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
Methane emissions progress
OGCI members reduced their collective average methane intensity by 9% in 2018, and members are on track to meet the 2025 target of below 0.25%. As part of OGCI’s engagement to expand the impact of its actions, OGCI joined the Global Methane Alliance, together with the United Nations and Environmental Defense Fund, which aims to work with gas-producing countries to include methane emission reductions from oil & gas in their nationally determined contributions.
Carbon intensity target preparation
To complement its methane emissions intensity target, OGCI is working on a target to reduce collective average carbon intensity by 2025. The target will take into account carbon dioxide and methane emissions from members’ aggregated upstream oil and gas operations emissions from a baseline of 24kg CO2e/boe in 2017. Member companies have developed a baseline and are aligning methodology and assumptions to work towards the collective target. Reducing carbon intensity involves actions including improving energy efficiency, minimizing flaring, upgrading facilities and co-generating electricity and useful heat.
Statement on responding to the climate challenge and stakeholder engagement
OGCI member companies have pledged to support policies that attribute an explicit or implicit value to carbon.
Recognizing the urgency of responding to the climate challenge, all OGCI member companies support the consideration and introduction by governments of appropriate policies or carbon valuation mechanisms, such as through tax, trading systems, incentives or other market-based instruments appropriate to the profile of emissions, to the carbon mitigation opportunities and to the socio-economic situation of each jurisdiction.
OGCI Climate Investments
OGCI Climate Investments, the US$1 billion-plus fund set up by OGCI member companies to lower the carbon footprint of energy and industries, has made the following seven new investments in the last year:
Kelvin reduces methane emissions by using artificial intelligence to better control complex processes and systems.
SeekOps develops and fields advanced sensor technology for methane emissions detection, localization and quantification.
Boston Metal has developed an electrochemical process to manufacture low-emissions ferroalloys, and ultimately emissions-free steel.
75F aims to increase occupant productivity and reduce energy use in commercial buildings through its smart control solution.
Norsepower manufactures mechanical rotor sails that provide auxiliary propulsion power for large ships to reduce their fuel consumption
XL provides hybrid and plug-in-hybrid electrification solutions for commercial vehicles.
Wabash Valley Resources captures and stores carbon dioxide from ammonia production in what is expected to be the largest carbon storage project in the US.
Further information
About the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative:
The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative is a CEO-led initiative which aims to drive the industry response to climate change. Launched in 2014, our members engage together on action to accelerate the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. We explicitly support the Paris Agreement and its aims, and we act with integrity to accelerate and participate in the energy transition. Our US$1 billion-plus fund, OGCI Climate Investments, supports the development, deployment and scale-up of technologies and business models that can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Our 13 members account for 32% of global operated oil and gas production.
OGCI is made up of 13 oil and gas companies: BP, Chevron, CNPC, Eni, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Occidental, Pemex, Petrobras, Repsol, Saudi Aramco, Shell and Total.
Azerbaijan’s national oil company SOCAR has evacuated 500 offshore workers in the Caspian Sea, citing severe weather conditions as the reason behind it.
“On September 21-22, due to the severe deterioration of weather conditions, SOCAR significantly enhanced its security measures,” the company said over the weekend.
More than 500 oil workers were evacuated by air and maritime transport, and work was stopped in the open.
According to Trend.az, an Azeri business news website, BP did continue normal operations at its Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli offshore project, despite the weather conditions.
Contract of the century
Azerbaijan last week, September 20, marked Oil Workers’ Day and the 25th anniversary of the signing of the “Contract of the Century,” which was the signing of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) production sharing agreement, signed on 20 September 1994 between the Government of Azerbaijan and eleven international companies representing six countries.
President of SOCAR Rovnag Abdullayev said: “Today we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the PSA on the Azeri, Chirag and Deepwater Gunashli fields, known as the “Contract of the Century”. This contract has played a unique role in the history of independent Azerbaijan. Although shorter than a moment from historical perspective, these 25 years passed in the atmosphere of strenuous day-to-day work. Looking back at this track of success and the magnificence of the projects we’ve accomplished, we’re filled with a sense of pride.
“In the last 25 years, the annual oil production has grown fourfold in our country, recovering all branches of economy. Some essential technologies and innovative solutions were applied in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, in order to develop the deepwater fields. Around $265 billion were invested in total in the economy of Azerbaijan during these years, whilst the amount of investment in the oil and gas industry totaled $101 billion with around $36 billion invested by the ACG partners alone in the development of these fields.”
From the start of production in November 1997 till the end of 2Q 2019, ACG produced about 488 million tonnes (more than 3.6 billion barrels) of oil. Around 3.3 billion barrels of ACG oil have been exported to world markets via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. Since 2006, 4,300 tankers loaded with ACG oil have been lifted from the Ceyhan terminal. More than 44 billion cubic meters of associated gas were delivered to Azerbaijan since the start of production till the end of 2Q 2019. Capital expenditure in the ACG project by the end of 2Q 2019 was $36 billion.
Gary Jones, BP’s Regional President for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, said: “The 25th anniversary marks an important milestone in the new history of Azerbaijan’s oil and gas industry. It is a historical date for SOCAR, BP and all other partners in the ACG contract.
“What has been achieved by this contract since 1994 is extraordinary. It is with this contract that the massive developments, turning Azerbaijan once again into one of the world’s major energy suppliers and transforming the country’s economy, started. One reason for this success is the extraordinary partnership built here within ACG. And for that we want to pay tribute to President Aliyev, his government and SOCAR. Together we have demonstrated what partnership can deliver.”
Four pirates armed with a gun and knives boarded a tanker in the early hours of Sunday, September 22, 2019, according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) Piracy Reporting Centre.
The perpetrators reportedly took the watchman on duty hostage, tied his hands and forced him to lead them to the bridge.
Once inside the bridge the robbers took the duty officer hostage and forced him to lead them to the Captain, Chief Engineer, third officer and bosun’s cabins, the IMB centre said.
After looting the cabins, the robbers locked the crew in a cabin and escaped. Crew personal belongings, cash and ship’s properties were stolen, the report shows.
The operator of the vessels, Latvia-based ship manager LSC Ltd, emphasized that there were no injuries to the crew members adding that the entire crew is in “good spirit and health”. The company noted that there were no reports of damages to the cargo and the vessel following the incident.
The Delegation which was led by Togbe Afede XIV, Director of the Sunon Asogli Power Ghana Limited, a subsidiary of Shenzhen Energy Group Limited, also had Mr. Qun Yang(Chairman of Sunon-Asogli and Shenzhen Energy Africa Development Unit) Mr. Kojo Wang(Director of Africa Projects Development Unit), Elikplim K. Apetorgbor( Manager Energy Trading, Research & Business Development) as well as Mr. Yan Wei(Commercial Manager).
They were accompanied to the office of the Vice President by the Minister of Lands, Mines and Energy, Honorable Gesler E. Muray, and then the Chairman of the National Investment Commission, Honorable Molewuleh B. Gray.
