“2018 is the year of electricity,” the International Energy Agency (IEA) noted given that electric power has been the fastest growing element of final demand, and will outpace all energy sources over the next 25 years. Digitalization of the global economy goes hand in hand with electrification, making it the “fuel of choice” for households and enterprises.
Hit by a triple-whammy of weak cash flows, meager profits and slumping stock values, CEOs in the oil and gas industry are vary about continuing to invest in increasingly risky fossil fuels. Looking for a quick return, investors want oil majors to prioritize profits over production growth. Some refocus on electricity markets.
MAN Energy Solutions has been contracted to provide a new combined-heat-and-power (CHP) solution for Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel. A dual-fuel engine MAN 9L51/60DF will be vital to power the airport, with plant handover scheduled for the end of 2019.
Hazards of oversupply in oil and natural gas are preoccupying International Oil Companies (IOCs) as less carbon-intensive sources of energy compound the risk of future oil and gas oversupply. Still, Moody's analysts are convinced oil majors will tackle these new issues through a triad of conservative financial policies to strengthen balance sheets, capital discipline, and robust long-term planning that anticipates secular shifts – like the global trend towards renewables and energy storage.
Taiwan Power Company has awarded a full-turnkey order to Mitsubishi Hitachi Power System (MHPS) to refurbish and upgrade its Nanpu and Datan gas-fired power plants. The contract stipulates low-NOx enhancements of seven M501F gas turbines, and the roll-out of the digital service MHPS-TOMONI. Works are due to be completed in August 2019.
Sinolam Smarter Energy (SSE), part of Shanghai Gorgeous Group, has awarded a long-term service agreement to Siemens for the SGT-800 gas turbines at the Gas to Power Panama project by Martano. The power plant will operate with LNG and is scheduled for commission in the autumn of 2020.
Withdrawal of water by U.S. thermal power stations, mostly for cooling purposes, continues to decline over the past four years and has fallen to a low of 52.8 trillion gallons. The water intensity – the average amount of water used per unit of total net electricity generated – fell from 15.1 gallons per kilowatthour (kWh) in 2014 to currently 13.0 gal/kWh.
General Electric is accelerating plans to divest most of its interest in the oil services firm Baker Hughes (BHGE). The cash-strapped American engineering giant announced a complex agreement to offload up to 166 million shares in BHGE in a deal expected to raise about $4 billion.
Promising new shale gas prospects of a “substantial size” have been identified by China National Administration of Coal Geology (CNACG) both in Hubei and in Guizhou Province. CNACG will now develop the prospects, seeking to efficiently tap domestic unconventional reserves for the fast-growing Chinese gas market.
Global gas demand is on the rise, erasing talk of a glut as China emerges as a giant consumer. Already the world's biggest oil and coal importer, China will also become the largest buyer of natural gas with net imports approaching the level of the European Union by 2040, according to International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates.
MAN Energy Solutions has been contracted to supply an LNG regasification terminal to Forchem in Rauma, Finland. The chemical company wants to convert the boiler for generating steam for the refinery process to natural gas, or bio-gas, and asked MAN to deliver a tailor-made solution with an offloading skid for LNG trailors.
Closure of the large Rough storage has left the UK in a “precarious position” and “vulnerable” to gas supply shortages, Wood Mackenzie finds. Spot LNG cargoes can help cover demand at a short notice – but it would be imprudent to rely on flexible gas imports through the Interconnector, particularly as UK gas demand is bound to increase due to the government’s coal phase-out policy.
Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, has evolved significantly and today develops turbine components that, in most cases, perform better than their conventionally manufactured counterparts. In the energy field, Siemens is aspiring to qualify 200 components for manufacture via 3D printing by 2025.
An online auction will be held for the sale of an almost complete gas-fired power station that was originally built as an energy-from-waste project at Teeside, in northeast England. The auction will be staged between November 15 and 29, accompanied by a separate private treaty sale process.
Operators in the energy sector are struggling to cope with rising threats to the security of their generating assets. Digitalisation helps ensure a save and stable operating environment to allow for flexible dispatch of power units. Wärtsilä solutions build up an active resistance to cyber threats that guarantees electric utilities a steady return on their assets.
News in Brief
Siemens opens Pittsburg Service Center
Nov 16 – Pittsburgh Service Center (PSC), a $32 million state-of the art facility spanning over 300,000 square feet, has been opened by Siemens in Mount Pleasant. The centre is home to Siemens Turbine Generator Specialty Services (TGSS) which belongs to the company’s large-scale turbine segment
Drax faces legal action over Repower project
Nov 15 – Britain’s power producer Drax is facing a law suit over plans to start converting two coal-fired units at the plant into four combined cycle gas turbines (CCGTs). Drax argues the move will help it exit coal by 2023, but environmentalist object the Repower project, arguing it would “risk locking in high-carbon energy onto the grid until 2050.”
U.S. turbine market to top 14GW by 2024
Nov 14 – The U.S. industrial gas turbine market is expected to exceed 14 GW by 2024. Federal government initiatives to expand the penetration of natural gas-fired station will augment the industry outlook, according to a Market Study Report.
Xcel snaps up Mankato Energy Center
Nov 13 – U.S. electric utility Xcel Energy has agreed to purchase Mankato Energy Center in Minnesota from Southern Power in a $650 million deal. A second gas-fired power unit is scheduled to come online in 2019, set to increase the plant’s total generating capacity to 760 MW.
Shell re-focuses on new energies
Nov 12 – Electricity and new green fuels have risen on the agenda of Royal Dutch Shell, with the company announcing plans to invest up to $2 billion a year through to 2020. “That might seem modest by oil and gas standards, but we can do a lot with it in this space,” commented Brian Davis, Shell’s VP energy solutions.
Kollsnes shut down
Nov 9 – A collision between the frigate Helge Ingstad and the tanker TS Sola off the Sture terminal near Bergen in western Norway has led to the closure of the Vestprosess pipeline and Kollsnes gas processing plant, the Norwegian TSO Gassco said in a market note.
MHPS to service Uzbekenergo’s power plants
Nov 8 – Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Ltd. (MHPS) has signed an accord with state-owned Uzbekenergo and Mitsubishi Corp to collaborate in a service and maintenance program (CSMP) for power plants in Uzbekistan. The agreement is meant to help grow the reach of Japanese companies in Central Asia.
Austria to import more Russian gas
Nov 7 – Russia’s gas giant Gazprom and OMV of Austria have signed Gazprom and OMV an amendment to their supply contract, stipulating deliveries to Austria will be increased by 1 Bcm/y beyond the contractual. In the first ten month of 2018, alone supplies of Russian pipeline gas have grown by a third compared to the previous year, reaching 8.8 Bcm.
UK launches 1st geothermal plant
Nov 6 – The UK’s first geothermal electricity plant has gotten underway today, backed by £18 million in funding. Drilling started using a rig from Helsinki. Once operational, demonstration plant will deliver up to 3 MW of electricity to the National Grid.
Germans register more EVs
Nov 5 – Electric vehicles (EVs) are gaining popularity in Germany: The share of pure EVs in s new car registrations climbed to 1.3% in October, as the total number of new EVs increased 55% year-on-year, according to the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA). Hybrid cars account for a 4.4% market share, diesel fell to 31.8% and the lion’s share of 62.3% is still taken by petrol models.
GE retrofits Wet FDG in India
Nov 2 – India’s largest energy conglomerate NTPC Ltd. has asked GE Power to supply and install Wet Flue Gas Desulphurization (Wet FDG) technology at four power plants in a deal worth US$247 million. The four facilities are the 2x660 MW Solapur power plant, the 2x660 MW Tanda Stage-II, the 1x500 MW Feroze Gandhi Unchahar project and the 2x660 MW Meja power project.
Floating power barge
Nov 1 – Siemens has developed barge-based, turnkey floating power solutions that take a critical part of an FLNG facility’s infrastructure — power generation — off a project’s critical path. According to the manufacturer, this helps reduce overall project execution time by as much as 25% or more, maximizing return on investment.
KBR posts 28% rise in profit
Oct 31 – U.S. engineering company KBR has reported a rise in net profits and voiced optimism to secure more mid-scale LNG and downstream projects with its joint venture partner ConocoPhillips. Third-quarter revenues rose by more than 23% to $1.27 billion, compared with $1.03bn in Q3-2017. Net profit was $58 million, up 28% from $45m in the year-ago period.
Togo: IPP gets go-ahead
Oct 30 – Eranove, a private equity-backed independent power producer (IPP), has received the green light for a $110 million power project in Togo. A concession agreement was signed for the combined-cycle power plant to be built in the area of Lomé port. The Spanish firm Grupo TSK was selected as EPC contractor for the 65-MW project.
Goldman, Cargill fined for avoiding tax on Teeside
Oct 29 – Goldman Sachs and Cargill have been hit with a £79 million fine for dogging tax on their ownership of a Teesside power plant. The two U.S. banking giants took over Teesside Power Ltd after the collapse of Enron in 2001, and HM Revenue and Customs just won a court case against the two trading houses over a tax avoidance scheme.
Gazprom to start production at Kovyktinskoye in 2019
Oct 26 –The Russian gas giant Gazprom has announced it will to start production drilling at the vast Kovyktinskoye field in 2019, with a view to start feeding gas from Kovyktinskoye into the Power of Siberia gas pipeline in late 2022. Situated in eastern Siberia near Lake Baikal, the field holds an estimated 2.7 Tcm of gas reserves, and 90.6 million tons of gas condensate, and 25 Bcm/y of planned design capacity.
MAN launches ETB blower in China
Oct 25 – A new Electrical Turbo Blower, the designated ETB40, has been launched by MAN Energy Solutions at a ceremony in Shanghai hosted by its two-stroke licensee, CSSC-MES Diesel Co. (CMD). The blower raises the exhaust-gas pressure in order to overcome the pressure difference between exhaust gas and scavenging air receiver.
