Turning the tide: the transformation of the North Sea

2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 427
Author(s):  
Adrian Del Maestro ◽  
Craig Stevens
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Private Equity ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Price Volatility ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Oil Field ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Sea

As part of the Sea Change campaign, we looked at the evolution of the UK North Sea, interviewing over 20 senior stakeholders across the value chain ranging from operators, oil services and regulators, to academia, private equity and banks. We collected their views across three themes: (1) Competitiveness of the basin – Recognition that the supply chain in the basin has been exposed to enough pressure and was not sustainable going forward. New business models were required to incentivise collaboration between operators and oil services. (2) Investment in the basin – Respondents confirmed that private equity and smaller operators would continue to play a major role. However, in a post private equity world, the emergence of private capital from developing countries might proliferate in the North Sea. (3) Energy transition and impact on the basin – For investors it was increasingly challenging to justify investments in oil and gas due to commodity price volatility and growing concerns around environmental, social and governance themes. Nevertheless, the sector had a need to articulate the value it brought and the importance of hydrocarbons in facilitating the energy transition. The basin has the potential to become a ‘test laboratory’ for the energy transition – from low carbon solutions to decommissioning. All these themes are extremely relevant to the Australian upstream sector. We explore the emergence of new partnership models between operators and oil field services and how a mature basin continues to attract investment and adapt to a lower carbon world.

Cross-border petroleum geology in the North Sea: an introduction

2022 ◽  
pp. SP494-2021-182
Author(s):  
Stuart G. Archer ◽  
Henk Kombrink ◽  
Stefano Patruno ◽  
Domenico Chiarella ◽  
Christopher Jackson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Near Field ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Oil And Gas Exploration ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Data Continuity

AbstractThe North Sea has entered a phase of infrastructure-led exploration in an attempt to extend the economic lives of the main fields and arrest the overall production decline to a certain extent, while the transition to a future low-carbon use of the basin is also in progress. As the papers in this volume demonstrate, in order to find, appraise and develop the mostly smaller near-field opportunities as well as making sure to grasp the opportunities of the near-future energy transition, a regional understanding of the North Sea is still critical. Even more so, a cross-border approach is essential because 1) some of the plays currently being targeted have a clear cross-border element, 2) it allows the comparison of stratigraphic names throughout the entire basin and 3) it enables explorers to learn lessons from one part of the rift to be applied somewhere else.This volume offers an up-to-date, ‘geology-without-borders’ view of the stratigraphy, sedimentology, tectonics and oil-and-gas exploration trends of the entire North Sea basin. The challenges associated with data continuity and nomenclature differences across median lines are discussed and mitigated. Examples of under-exploited cross-border plays and discoveries are discussed.

The North Sea through the energy transition

First Break ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 31-43
Author(s):  
David G. Quirk ◽  
John R. Underhill ◽  
Jon G. Gluyas ◽  
Hamish A.M. Wilson ◽  
Matthew J. Howe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Sea

scholarly journals Decommissioning Plans for Fixed Offshore Platforms: A Brief Revision

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcio Soares Pinheiro ◽  
Paulo Roberto Duailibe Monteiro
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Rio De Janeiro ◽  
The State ◽  
Oil Field ◽  
Offshore Platforms ◽  
The North ◽  
Campos Basin ◽  
Heavy Lift ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The North Sea

Brazil began to explore its seas in the 60’s of the XX Century looking for petroleum. This journey began in the Northeast and the first oil field produced offshore was the Guaricema Field, in the State of Sergipe. During the 70’s, Petrobrás found oil in the Campos Basin, between the States of Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro, that became the most important oil province in Brazil until the discovery of the Pre-Salt province, in the Santos Basin. As these fields are producing for a long time, many of them are already completely depleted or their production is in way of to be not commercial anymore, and their facilities need to be decommissioned. This review of decommissioning practices of fixed offshore platforms carried out worldwide has focus on the removal of topside with special vessels designed for this purpose or with conventional methods (crane vessels + barge). It will show the benefits of using specialised heavy lift vessels to remove the topsides and move it to shore for dismantling / recycling / reuse / disposal. The cases for study were the successful decommissioning projects in the North Sea: Brent B/D, Valhall QP, Viking, Curlew, Eider A, Golden Eye and Leman, Iwaki-Oki, Halfweg Q1, Yme and Ninian North.

1300 Tons Grouted Integrity Support Installation Case Study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatriz Alonso Castro ◽  
Roland Daly ◽  
Francisco Javier Becerro ◽  
Petter Vabø
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Structural Integrity ◽  
High Strength ◽  
Regulatory Compliance ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Oil Field ◽  
The North ◽  
Future Production ◽  
Heavy Lift ◽  
The North Sea

Abstract The North sea Yme oil field was discovered in 1987, production started in 1996 and ceased after 6 years when it was considered no longer profitable to operate. In 2007 a new development was approved, being Yme the first field re-opened in the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The concept selected was a MOPUStor: comprising a jack-up unit grouted to a subsea storage tank. Due to compromised structural integrity and lack of regulatory compliance that came to light shortly after installation, the platform was required to be removed [1]. The remaining riser caisson and the future 1050 t wellhead module required a support to allow the re-use of the facilities and tap the remaining oil reserves. The innovative tubular frame support was designed as a braced unit, secured to the existing MOPUstor leg receptacles and holding a grouted clamp larger than typical offshore clamps for which design guidance in ISO is available. The existing facilities had to be modified to receive the new structure and to guide it in place within the small clearances available. The aim of this paper is to describe the solutions developed to prepare and verify the substructure for installation; to predict the dynamic behavior of a subsea heavy lift operation with small clearances around existing assets (down to 150 mm); and to place large volume high strength grouted connections, exceeding the height and thickness values from any project ever done before. In order to avoid early age degradation of the grout, a 1 mm maximum relative movement requirement was the operation design philosophy. A reliable system to stabilize the caisson, which displacements were up to 150 mm, was developed to meet the criteria during grouting and curing. In the stabilizer system design, as well as the plan for contingencies with divers to restart grouting in the event of a breakdown, the lessons learned from latest wind turbine industry practices and from the first attempt to re-develop the field using grouted connections were incorporated. Currently the substructure is secured to provide the long term integrity of the structure the next 20 years of future production in the North Sea environment.

GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS IN THE DISCOVERY OF GIANT OIL FIELDS

1973 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
P. E Kent
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Oil Field ◽  
Petroleum Exploration ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Continental Margins ◽  
Lateral Plate ◽  
Vertical Movements ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Northern Alaska

The paper gives the case histories of discovery in three major oil field areas-Iran, northern Alaska and the North Sea. These areas differ in their regional features and in the consequent requirements for geological and geophysical investigation and delineation. In Iran the earlier discoveries were based entirely on surface geology; geophysics became important with the need for deep survey. In northern Alaska structures mapped at surface gave only minor shows. Seismic surveys following geological deductions on reservoir development led to discovery of the giant Prudhoe Bay field near the Arctic coast. In the North Sea, in the much more complex extension of Permian-Mesozoic basins already well known on land, location of structures has been entirely by seismic survey.There is no close relation between the new Global Tectonics and the location of major oil field belts. The factors controlling the latter are multiple and complex. Resolution of the relative importance of vertical (epeirogenic) displacement as against the effect of lateral plate movement is nevertheless critical, particularly in Alaska.There is at present a large unresolved discrepancy between the times at which some continental margins developed (North Atlantic, East and West Indian Ocean) and with the physical evidence of sea floor spreading. In the three areas quoted, breakdown of the continental margins by vertical movements started in the Permian (—280 million years), but spreading is dated as beginning only in the late Cretaceous (—70 million years). It is the earlier movements, unexplained by current global theories, which have most relevance for petroleum exploration.

Oil Rig Disaster in the North Sea

1985 ◽  
Vol 1 (S1) ◽  
pp. 357-359
Author(s):  
Helge Bryne ◽  
Eilif Dahl
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Oil Production ◽  
Oil Field ◽  
Mobile Platform ◽  
Norwegian Coast ◽  
Drilling Rig ◽  
The North ◽  
Production Platform ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Oil Rig

Since oil was found under the North Sea in the mid 1960's, oil production now plays an important part in Norwegian economy. A major oil field isEkofisk, between Norway and Britain (Figure 1). TheAlexander Kielland, one of the rigs atEkofisk, was a mobile platform of the pentagon type, floating on 5 columns, 150 nautical miles of f the Norwegian coast. It was developed and built as a drilling rig, but was used as an accommodation platform since delivery in July 1976. OnMarch27,1980, theAlexander Kiellandrig lay at anchor on theEkofisk field, close to the production platform EDDA.

A Private Equity View of the North Sea

2005 ◽  
Vol 57 (09) ◽  
pp. 24-26
Author(s):  
Graeme Sword
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Private Equity ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Sea
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