Has Green Hydrogen Sprung a Leak?
The green hydrogen express is gathering pace, but it may have a worrying problem with leaks.As governments and energy companies line up big bets on the much-touted fuel of the future, some scientists say the lack of data on leaks and the potential harm they could cause is a blind spot for the nascent industry.At least four studies published this year say hydrogen loses its environmental edge when it seeps into the atmosphere. Two scientists told Reuters that if 10% leaks during its production, transportation, storage, or use, the benefits of using green hydrogen over fossil fuels would be completely wiped out.Governments are pushing ahead with financial support for the industry…
Tendeka Appoints BD Manager for S. America
Tendeka has appointed a new business development manager for South America as the company increases its support for oil and gas operators in the region.Renato Barbedo will work with operators across the continent to deploy Tendeka’s broad range of products and technologies.Barbedo brings over two decades of global experience in upstream projects to the position. He previously worked with Schlumberger and Emerson and has vast experience in the areas of sand control, well construction and completions, upstream measurements, production optimization and reservoir…
Allan Joins RMEC
Oilfield services firm RMEC has appointed an oil and gas industry veteran to boost its operations as it prepares for its next stage of international growth.Vic Allan has joined the company from American multinational corporation Halliburton, where he spent 28 years working his way up through the slickline division. Most recently, he oversaw a team of 120 in the department servicing a large portfolio of clients in the UK and Europe. In this role, he was responsible for ensuring the company delivered efficient slickline operations and met challenging customer requirements.
Orsted Breaks Ground for Taiwan OWP
Construction of Taiwan's Formosa 2, an offshore wind power (OWP) development project, officially broke ground in Miaoli County.Orsted Taiwan said in a statement that it held a ground-breaking ceremony for the onshore substation works for the 900MW Greater Changhua 1&2a offshore wind farm off Taiwan.Ørsted awarded an onshore substation EPC contract to TCC last November. TCC will build two onshore substations, cable corridors, and transition joint bays for the first 900MW Greater Changhua projects. The contract, with an amount over NTD 7bn, is being now executed by Star Energy Corporation (SEC), a 100% subsidiary of TCC.SEC has hired more than 60 additional employees since last year.
Novatek Signs LNG Equipment Deal
The Russian natural-gas company Novatek and Atomenergomash, a mechanical engineering division of the Rosatom State Corporation, have signed a memorandum on strategic partnership and localizing the fabrication of critical equipment for liquefied natural gas (LNG) production.Novatek said that under the memorandum, the two companies will cooperate in the long term to localize the fabrication of pumps, heat exchangers and other equipment for Novatek's LNG projects at Atomenergomash's facilities.The Memorandum notes the results already achieved on the fabrication of coil-wound heat exchangers and medium-tonnage cryogenic pumps…
Penman to Head up Malin React
Newly launched Malin Group arm Malin React has appointed Graham Penman as a Business Unit Manager to head up its operation.Penman has been appointed to oversee Malin React, one of seven subsidiary brands which make up Malin Marine Limited, formally Malin Marine Consultants Aberdeen. It specializes in complete solutions for rapid installation of offshore marine equipment onto vessels (mobilizations), with a focus on the defense, renewables and offshore oil and gas sectors.With over 25 years’ experience in engineering, subsea installation, construction and project management, Penman has previously held various roles in the oil and gas industries.
Gasum Appoints Torbjörn Holmström as Director
The Annual General Meeting of Gasum Ltd elected Torbjörn Holmström as a new member to the Board of Directors.The new member of the Board, Torbjörn Holmström (b. 1955, M.Sc Mechanical Engineering) has over 30 years' experience in the Swedish commercial vehicle industry, a press note from the integrated gas company located in Espoo, Finland said.Holmström is Senior Advisor of Volvo Group, Research & Technology since 2017 and before that he has held several high-level executive positions, including CTO, within Volvo Group which he has been with since 1979.The Board's current members Juha Rantanen…
Xodus Appoints Phil Cooper as New Director
The Scottish energy group Xodus Group has appointed Phil Cooper as a new corporate development director to support the continued growth of the company.The Aberdeen-based international energy consultancy said in a press release that Cooper has more than 35 years of experience and was most recently London general manager at Heerema Marine Contractors where he led a team of engineers engaged in heavy lift and subsea technical activities.Previously, he was the global technology director at INTECSEA and was responsible for defining and delivering its technology…
dena Launches Global Alliance Power Fuels
The Deutsche Energie-Agentur (dena) – the German Energy Agency – and partners from industry have launched the Global Alliance Power Fuels. The aim of this international alliance is to open up global markets for synthetic fuels based on renewable energy sources. It is supported by a cross-sectoral network of companies and intends to establish a broad network of partners from the areas of research and science, politics and society. Among other things, it will analyze international markets for power fuels and the regulatory frameworks for their use in various sectors.Andreas Kuhlmann…
New Managing Director of Semco Maritime Norway
Lars Jønholt Halvorsen has been appointed Managing Director of Semco Maritime Norway as per August 1st. Based in Bergen, Halvorsen now heads all Semco Maritime activities in Norway, including the rig facilities at Hanøytangen, Bergen, as well as Semco Maritime’s offices in Kristiansand and Stavanger.Lars Jønholt Halvorsen joins Semco Maritime from a position as Deputy General Manager and Senior Project Manager at Enhanched Drilling, and before that he held a position as Vice President at Odfjell Drilling.Senior Vice President Lars Skov, Head of Semco Maritime Rig Projects…
Hardide Coatings Invests in North America
Surface coating technology company Hardide Coatings has appointed Mark Hanania as Business Development Engineer based in Houston to help drive growth in the oil, gas and energy sectors throughout North America.Strong growth in demand from oil and gas customers in North America and recent entry into the aerospace market is underpinning significant investment in coating technology and quality accreditation at the company’s U.S. coating facility in Martinsville, Va.A third coating reactor will be installed by fall 2018 to accommodate increased demand from major oil and gas operating and service companies.
Maersk Establishes Decomissioning Company
A 50/50 joint venture (JV) between Maersk Drilling and Maersk Supply Service will provide decommissioning services to oil and gas operators. After decades of production, an increasing amount of offshore oil and gas fields are approaching the end of their economic life. In the North Sea alone, more than 400 fields are expected to cease production by 2026 at an estimated cost of $56 billion. Globally, more than 700 fields are expected to require decommissioning. The JV will initially offer bundled solutions for up to 80 percent of the oil field decommissioning process…
Schaller Takes Over as Head of the Voith Group
As of April 1, 2018, Stephan Schaller has begun in his role as head of the Corporate Board of Management at Voith GmbH & Co. KGaA and will lead the international technology company. He succeeds the long-serving head of the Board, Dr. Hubert Lienhard, who, at the age of 67, is retiring as planned. Schaller has supported Voith since 2015 as a member of Voith’s Shareholders’ Committee. Schaller has many years of international experience in various sectors and industries outside Voith. In the course of his career he has been employed in multiple management and leadership positions at Linde, Schott and Volkswagen.
Siemens Gamesa Gets DNV GL Type Certificate for Wind Turbine
DNV GL has awarded Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy with the Type Certificate for its eight megawatt (8 MW) offshore wind turbine SWT-8.0-154. Fully compliant to the international wind turbine standard IEC-61400-22, the turbine is now ready for immediate market implementation. New technologies like large offshore wind turbines with an output rate of 8 MW are vital to support the growing wind energy industry in reducing the levelised cost of energy. Siemens Gamesa’s optimised turbine has a rated power increase of 14% compared to the previously certified turbine variant.
DNV GL Taps Oudman as Regional Manager
As the global energy transition in the oil and gas industry marks significant changes to come, regional adaptions will pose a broad variation of challenges and opportunities. DNV GL – Oil & Gas has appointed Ben Oudman as Regional Manager for Continental Europe, Eurasia, Middle East, India and Africa to further strengthen the company’s efforts to help the industry overcome barriers to progress. DNV GL’s 2017 Energy Transition Outlook report shows that while the energy transition is well underway, oil and gas will likely remain major energy sources for many years to come.
Awaiting Trump's coal comeback, miners reject retraining
When Mike Sylvester entered a career training center earlier this year in southwestern Pennsylvania, he found more than one hundred federally funded courses covering everything from computer programming to nursing. He settled instead on something familiar: a coal mining course. "I think there is a coal comeback,” said the 33-year-old son of a miner. Despite broad consensus about coal's bleak future, a years-long effort to diversify the economy of this hard-hit region away from mining is stumbling, with Obama-era jobs retraining classes undersubscribed and future programs at risk under President Donald Trump’s proposed 2018 budget.
Jenkins Joins Well-Safe
Well-Safe Solutions has appointed a director of well abandonment to its growing list of decommissioning experts, bringing the senior team to nine since launching this summer. Matt Jenkins has joined Well-Safe from Conoco where he led its UK P&A (plug and abandonment) Engineering and Strategy and was pivotal in the Southern North Sea Decommissioning project. As director of well abandonment at Well-Safe, Jenkins will lead the technical team to design safe and efficient well P&A operations for clients, ensuring the best possible solutions are implemented to mitigate risk. Well-Safe now employs over 22 people at its newly refurbished head-quarters at the Hill of Rubislaw in Aberdeen.
Corbin Joins Sparrows Group as European Director
Sparrows Group has appointed Matt Corbin as its regional operations director for the UK and Europe to support the company’s continued growth in the oil and gas, renewables and industrial sectors. Corbin, who has more than 20 years’ experience working in the oil and gas industry, has held several leadership positions including UK managing director for the subsea division of Aker Solutions and UK regional general manger for GE Oil & Gas. Most recently, he was supply chain consultant to the UK Government’s regulatory body, the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) and contributed to Oil & Gas UK’s Efficiency Task Force.
Voith to Switch Corporate Legal Status Into a KGaA
Unlisted German mechanical engineering group Voith on Monday said it plans to change its legal status into a KGaA, or a partnership limited by shares, as a way to give it greater flexibility to pursue growth options. Voith's management has recommended that the family controlled company switch its corporate legal status from Voith GmbH, into Voith GmbH & Co KGaA in July 2017, the Heidenheim, Germany-based engineering giant said. "The step is designed to increase Voith's room for manoeuvre in the next couple of years and to support the company's growth strategy as part of a digital transformation," Voith said in a press release on Monday.
German Industrial Plant Building Orders dip to 2004 Levels
German manufacturers of large industrial plants reported a 12-year low in new orders for 2016 as the weak oil price held back demand in the Middle East while Germany's move to renewable energy wiped out demand for conventional electricity generation. Orders booked by the Germany-based companies - which include Linde, Siemens and Thyssenkrupp - fell 3 percent to 18.9 billion euros ($20.6 billion), their lowest level since 2004, with foreign orders down 10 percent. "A number of mega-projects in Egypt and Russia ensured that export business did not contract further…
