LNG

Production from the Njord oil and natural gas field in the Norwegian Sea has just resumed to supply Europe following a landmark upgrading project in which both the platform and the floating storage and offloading vessel (FSO) were brought ashore and overhauled before being towed back to sea and re-fitted to the fields.

The leading Western subsea oil and gas field services companies Schlumberger, Aker Solutions and Subsea 7 plan to join forces to form a separate joint venture to deliver a step change in subsea production economics as energy exploration and production is set to gather pace amid the supply crisis.

The three companies propose to help customers unlock reserves, reduce time to first oil and lower development costs while simultaneously delivering on their decarbonization objectives.

The proposed joint venture will comprise the subsea businesses of Schlumberger and Aker Solutions, with Subsea 7 purchasing 10 percent of the joint venture for $306.5 million.

“This combination brings together deep reservoir domain and engineering design expertise, an extensive field-proven subsea production and processing technology portfolio, world-class manufacturing scale and capabilities, and a comprehensive suite of life-of-field solutions to customers all over the world,” said a statement.

It added that the transaction was subject to regulatory approvals as well as other customary closing conditions and is expected to close during the second half of 2023.

Following completion of the transaction, Schlumberger will own 70 percent of the joint venture, with Aker and Subsea 7 owning 20 percent and 10 percent respectively.

Transaction details

The Board of Directors of the joint venture will consist of three representatives from Schlumberger, two from Aker and one from Subsea 7.

The new joint venture will form part of the Subsea Integration Alliance, currently an unincorporated alliance between Schlumberger and Subsea 7.

The alliance will be extended by 10 years from the transaction completion date.

“This joint venture will bring together world-class businesses that are uniquely positioned to provide subsea technologies to help our customers improve recovery and reduce overall subsea development costs,” said Olivier Le Peuch, Chief Executive of Schlumberger, whose main offices are in Paris and Houston.

“Customers will benefit from enhanced services that leverage digital and technology innovation to drive improved performance while increasing energy efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions,” added Le Peuch.

Schlumberger CEO Peuch had forecast in January 2022 that a super-cycle may be underway for natural gas and oil markets.

Kjetel Digre, CEO of Norway-based Aker Solutions, said that by combining strong and complimentary competence and technologies, this compelling combination will deliver an industry step-change that will benefit all involved and the customers.

Economics case

“The offshore market activity is increasing, and this joint venture will drive enhanced offerings both in terms of subsea production economic,” added Digre.

John Evans, CEO of Subsea 7, said he was excited to build on the highly successful alliance with Schlumberger and partnership with Aker Solutions.

“This new joint venture is a critical step as we collaborate on the integrated subsea projects that drive maximum value for our customers,” added Evans for Subsea 7, headquartered in London and domiciled in Luxembourg.

Other transaction details show that Aker will receive $306.5M from Schlumberger which will be settled in the form of shares in Schlumberger.

The shares will be settled based on the volume-weighted average trading price of Schlumberger shares in the 10 business days preceding the closing of the transaction and are subject to a lock-up period of a minimum of 180 days.

Subsea 7 will purchase a 10 percent interest in the joint venture from Aker Solutions for $306.5M, which will be settled in cash.

Of this, 50 percent will be settled upon closing of the transaction and the remainder will be settled, with interest, by June 30, 2024.

Aker will receive $87.5M in proceeds from a vendor note from the joint venture. Of this, at least 50 percent will be paid, with interest, one year after the transaction closes and the remainder within two years.

Norway’s oil and gas company Equinor and partners in a block Norwegian Sea have decided to invest almost US$1 billion to bring six new natural gas fields on stream as the LNG export plant at Hammerfest in Northern Norway also started up again.

Norway’s two largest offshore energy contracting and supply companies, Aker Solutions and Kvaerner, have decided to re-merge into a new super-energy engineering and subsea company for Norway for the 21st century just nine years after they were split up.

Australian LNG plant operator Santos has awarded contracts to European firms for the supply and installation of subsea infrastructure for the Barossa natural gas field that will provide future feed-gas for the Darwin LNG export plant in the Northern Territory.

Santos, operator of the Gladstone LNG plant in Queensland and with stakes in Darwin LNG and the Papua New Guinea plant, said these contract awards were the final commitment made prior to the final investment decision for the Barossa project.

The contract for the transport and installation of all the subsea umbilicals, risers, and flowlines, as well as the supply of the in-field flowlines, was awarded to European firm Subsea 7, while Aker Solutions of Norway will supply the umbilicals and National Oilwell Varco Denmark I/S will supply the flexible risers.

“These are the final major facilities contracts for Barossa as we get closer to pushing the button on the project’s development in the second quarter,” said Santos Chief Executive Kevin Gallagher.

“They follow the award of the floating production, storage and offloading  (FPSO) unit, subsea wells and subsea production system, and gas export pipeline tenders, with the contract for the drilling of the production wells to be awarded in the near future,” explained Gallagher.

“They represent the final stages of the front-end engineering design phase and give us greater certainty over cost and schedule for the Barossa development,” stated the CEO of the Adelaide-based company.

The Barossa project area encompasses petroleum permit NT-RL5 located in Commonwealth waters, 300 kilometres north of Darwin, offshore the Northern Territory.

The development concept consists of an FPSO, six subsea production wells, supporting in-field subsea infrastructure and a gas export pipeline tied into the existing Bayu-Undan-to-Darwin pipeline, supplying gas to Darwin LNG.

On 14th October 2019, Santos announced the acquisition of Australian assets from ConocoPhillips in northern Australia.

These included the Timor-Leste portfolio including its interests in Darwin LNG and the Bayu-Undan and Barossa gas fields. 

Completion of the transaction and the planned sell-down to SK E&S of South Korea will leave Santos with increased stakes in these assets amounting to 43.4 percent for Darwin LNG, 43.4 percent for Bayu-Undan and 62.5 percent of the Barossa field.

Santos has said it was prepared to sell down equity in Barossa to a target ownership of 40-50 percent to achieve increased partner alignment. 

Feb 8 (LNGJ) - Aker Solutions, the Norwegian energy and LNG engineering company, is getting back on track as it reported fourth-quarter net income of 178 million Norwegian crowns ($20.7M), up on the same three months a year ago. Aker’s full-year net income came in at 554M crowns ($64.45M) versus 239M crowns ($27.8M) in 2017. The company said its order backlog amounted to 35.1 billion crowns ($4 billion) and it forecast good times ahead for the industry.
    “We saw a record number of studies and front-end engineering work for larger and more complex projects than previous years, a positive sign of more work to come,” said Chief Executive Officer Luis Araujo. The company said tendering activity remained high in the main subsea and offshore markets. “Aker Solutions is currently bidding for contracts totaling about 45 billion crowns ($5.2Bln). About two thirds of this is in the subsea area and key projects are anticipated to be awarded over the next six to 12 months,” stated Aker.

Oct 24 (LNGJ) - Norwegian energy and LNG project engineering company Aker Solutions posted third-quarter net income of 155 million Norwegian crowns ($19 million) compared with 124M crowns in the same three months a year ago. Revenues amounted to 6.54 billion crowns ($790M), a rise of 21 percent compared with the 5.41Bln crowns logged in the year-ago quarter. Orders totaled 5.9Bln crowns in the quarter, bringing the backlog to 36.1Bln crowns. “Our order intake in the quarter more than doubled versus the same period a year earlier and we're seeing high tendering activity in all our markets,” said Luis Araujo, Chief Executive of Aker Solutions. The company said it was bidding for contracts totaling about 45Bln crowns. “About two-thirds of these are in the subsea area, where the company expects key projects to be awarded over the next six to 12 months, including in Brazil, the UK, Africa, Australia and Asia Pacific,” added Aker.

Sept 26 (LNGJ) – Equinor, the Norwegian energy major and European LNG export plant operator, has signed a strategic global collaboration agreement with engineering company Aker Solutions to ensure mutual and continuous improvement on current and future subsea projects within the domains of quality, technology, execution and cost. “Aker Solutions and Equinor's ongoing collaboration has consistently generated mutually beneficial technology developments, working process simplifications and standardizations,” said Luis Araujo, Chief Executive of Aker. “Aker’s newest subsea production system with vertical trees and associated tools were developed in close collaboration with Equinor, designed to be more efficient and reduce life-cycle costs,” explained the companies.

Aker Solutions, the Norwegian energy project engineering and oil and gas services company seeking more LNG work in subsea, gas compression and floating facility design said its first-half order intake amounted to 14.3 billion Norwegian crowns ($1.76Bln), almost double the amount of a year ago.

Aker Solutions, the Norwegian energy project engineering and services company, said it was bolstering its liquefied natural gas capabilities and had hired more project specialists to capitalize on an expected surge in global demand for the fuel.