E&P Highlights: Oct. 16, 2023

From collaboration agreements to major contract awards, below is a compilation of the latest headlines in the E&P space. 

SBM Wins Whiptail FPSO FEED

SBM Offshore announced Oct. 13 it has been awarded contracts to perform FEED for the Whiptail FPSO for Guyana.

The FEED contract triggers the initial release of funds by Exxon Mobil Guyana Ltd. to begin FEED activities and commits a Fast4Ward hull for the execution of the Whiptail development project.

Subject to government approvals and project sanction, Exxon Mobil will release the second phase of development, under which SBM Offshore will construct and install the FPSO. 

The FPSO will produce 250,000 bbl/d of oil, treat 540 MMcf/d of associated gas and inject 300,000 bbl/d of water. The FPSO will be spread moored in water depth of about 1,630 m and will be able to store around 2 MMbbl of crude oil.

AWS, Shell, SLB Subsurface Collaboration

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Shell Global Solutions Nederland BV and SLB have signed a multi-year three-way collaboration agreement to deliver digital end-to-end workflows for Shell using SLB subsurface solutions on AWS cloud infrastructure, SLB announced on Oct. 10.

The collaboration intends to deliver high performance and cost-efficient subsurface digital solutions, to be used by Shell and made available to the industry. The digital workflows will use Open Subsurface Data Universe (OSDU) data platform standards.

The three parties share a long-term commitment to the OSDU data platform and its community standardization, open source, open marketplace, ability to liberate industry data and to maximize the technology footprint available to the industry. The collaboration will expand SLB’s multi-platform strategy to include AWS.

Vår Energi Upgrades Oil Spill System

Vissim announced Oct. 13 that Vår Energi has contracted the company to implement upgraded oil spill detection technology at Vår’s installations on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

Under the agreement, Vissim will provide a new and upgraded oil spill detection solution to Vår for use on the Balder FPSO and the Ringhorne processing platform.

The radar-based solution from Vissim uses upgraded image processing technology to detect oil and uses machine learning to teach the system what needs to be responded to and what can be ignored.

DeepOcean, Aker BP to use USV for IMR Work

DeepOcean and Aker BP will pioneer the use of an unmanned surface vessel (USV) for subsea inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) and survey work, DeepOcean announced Oct. 10.

The first USV is planned to be ready for offshore operations in 2025, where it will go on an eight-year charter agreement with DeepOcean from specialist provider USV AS. Aker BP and DeepOcean cooperates under a frame agreement for subsea IMR and survey work and Aker BP has contributed to the development of the USV. The two companies aim to transition 30% of IMR work from traditional vessels to USVs. 

KCA Wins $200MM in Drilling Contracts

KCA Deutag announced on Oct. 16 it had won $200 million in land drilling contracts and options in the Middle East and Latin America.

The company won two separate five-year extensions for rigs in Saudi Arabia, while in Oman one rig has received a two-year extension and another was awarded a one-year extension, with options to increase to three years. In Latin America, KCA won a one-year contract for a rig in Ecuador and a rig in Peru won a short-term workover contract. 

Kelvin.ai, Santos Collaborate on Autonomous Operations

Kelvin.ai announced on Oct. 10 signing a multi-year enterprise software agreement with Santos.

This collaboration aims to deliver operational efficiencies, safety enhancements, and sustainable practices. The collaboration will combine Kelvin’s AI-powered industrial automation and control software with Santos’ expertise in digital transformation of onshore upstream operations to accelerate the deployment of autonomous systems for wellsite operations, facilities and production activities.