Politics, Geopolitics & Conflict
Fighting continues to rage in Sudan (it’s been a week) in what is looking increasingly likely to descend into a civil war, with a powerful paramilitary group clashing with the Sudanese army on the streets of the capital Khartoum and across the country. According to the World Health Organisation, more than 290 civilians are dead and thousands more are injured. The Pentagon is said to be readying forces in Djibouti to potentially evacuate embassy staff there. The clashes could threaten landlocked South Sudan’s oil exports through Sudan, which is its only link to export markets. So far oil exports have not been affected and Sudan’s pipeline has not been targeted.
The 450,000 bpd pipeline that runs from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to the Turkish port of Ceyhan was still offline as of the time of writing early on Friday morning. The Iraqi PM had said on Tuesday that the pipeline (shutdown over a court ruling against Turkey and in favor of Iraq) would be turned on “this week”. While “this week” is not yet over, the pipeline has not yet been turned on with indications that Turkey has not yet agreed.
Discovery & Development
Monday saw the delivery of the first cargo to TotalEnergies’/India’s Adani group’s new LNG import facility at India’s Dhamra port, boasting a regasification capacity of 5 million tonnes per annum. Dhamra is the first LNG import facility…
Politics, Geopolitics & Conflict
Fighting continues to rage in Sudan (it’s been a week) in what is looking increasingly likely to descend into a civil war, with a powerful paramilitary group clashing with the Sudanese army on the streets of the capital Khartoum and across the country. According to the World Health Organisation, more than 290 civilians are dead and thousands more are injured. The Pentagon is said to be readying forces in Djibouti to potentially evacuate embassy staff there. The clashes could threaten landlocked South Sudan’s oil exports through Sudan, which is its only link to export markets. So far oil exports have not been affected and Sudan’s pipeline has not been targeted.
The 450,000 bpd pipeline that runs from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to the Turkish port of Ceyhan was still offline as of the time of writing early on Friday morning. The Iraqi PM had said on Tuesday that the pipeline (shutdown over a court ruling against Turkey and in favor of Iraq) would be turned on “this week”. While “this week” is not yet over, the pipeline has not yet been turned on with indications that Turkey has not yet agreed.
Discovery & Development
Monday saw the delivery of the first cargo to TotalEnergies’/India’s Adani group’s new LNG import facility at India’s Dhamra port, boasting a regasification capacity of 5 million tonnes per annum. Dhamra is the first LNG import facility in eastern India, and it will add 10% to India’s regasification capacity.
Eni is opening up the bidding on two pieces of its $8B Structures A&E project offshore Libya–one for C&V services and marine warranty surveys, and the other for insurance services. The project is for two fixed steel platforms that will be tied into the existing Mellitah onshore treatment facility, where a CCS plant is also due to be built.
Nearly two decades of hard-fought permitting has finally resulted in permits for the 732-mile-long TransWest Express high-voltage transmission line–the largest interstate transmission line in decades. The project will send 3 GW of power from what will be the United States’ largest onshore wind farm in Wyoming to Arizona, California, and Nevada. It is expected to be enough to power 2 million homes.
BP, as operator, commenced oil production at its Argos platform in the GoM with partners Woodside Energy, and Union Oil of California. Argos is expected to produce 140,000 bpd, and is BP’s first new operated platform in the area in 15 years. It is BP’s fifth deepwater platform in the area.
Chevron has issued a lease tender this week for a drilling vessel to explore for nat gas off Cyprus, Egypt, and Israel next year for a period of a year, with the option to extend for several years. Chevron has high hopes for the Aphrodite gas field, southeast of Cyprus, which could hold 4.5 tcf of gas. It is also looking to expand its oil production from Leviathan in Israel to 24 bcm by 2027.
After nearly two years of downtime, Shell has finally restarted its operations at Pierce Field in the UK’s North Sea. The field has been down and not producing since mid-2021, when Shell took the field offline to modify the FPSO and install a new subsea gas export line. The field will now be able to produce gas, too, instead of just oil.
Deals, Mergers & Acquisitions
Glencore told Teck Resources’ shareholders that it was willing to increase its $23B bid for the Canadian miner and encourage the company to negotiate. So far, Teck Resources has said in no uncertain terms that it is not interested. Instead, Teck has a plan to split into two segments, a coal, and a metals business. A shareholder vote will take place on April 26 on the split.
Chemours and TC Energy are teaming up to build two clean hydrogen production facilities in West Virginia.
Baker Hughes has been chosen to supply equipment for Petronas’ third FLNG vessel, ZLNG, in Sabah, East Malaysia. The 2 million tpa ZLNG is scheduled for delivery in 2027.
A consortium of Siemens Energy and Dragados Offshore has won contracts worth $7.68 billion to transport wind power to northern Germany after reaching a deal with TenneT. The consortium will supply tech for three offshore grid connections, BalWin3, LanWin2, and LanWin4 in the North Sea.
