Energy

The Scottish government has announced that Scotland’s first near shore commercial wave power array has been approved by energy minister Fergus Ewing.

Two new Oyster wave energy converters are to be added to an existing device at the European Marine Energy Centre at Billia Croo, Orkney, to allow operators Aquamarine Power to test the devices as an array.

Each machine has a capacity of 800 KW, bringing the total capacity of the array to 2.4MW.

Netherlands-based NEM has secured an order from Saudi Arabia’s Arabian Bemco Contracting Co. for generators at the PP10 Combined Cycle Power Plant project.

The order is for 40 unfored dual pressure heat recovery steam generators with integral deaerators. The generators are designed with vertical gas flow natural circulation.

DuPont and Yingli Energy (China) Company Limited have signed a $100 million strategic agreement for photovoltaic materials to accelerate the adoption of solar energy.

The agreement was signed today in Washington, DC, in a ceremony organized by the US Department of Commerce and the Ministry of Commerce, People's Republic of China. 

Under the terms of the agreement, Yingli will purchase a range of trademarked photovoltaic materials from DuPont.

Tullow Oil has signed two new production sharing agreements (PSAs) with the government of Uganda, paving the way for completion of its asset sale to France’s Total and China’s CNOOC.

The new PSAs cover the EA-1 and Kanywataba licences in the Lake Albert Rift Basin. Tullow has also been awarded the production licence for the Kingfisher field, which is estimated to hold around 300 million barrels of oil.

UK-based Subsea 7 has been awarded a $100 million contract by BP Exploration for work on the Clair Ridge Project, West of Shetland.

The Clair Ridge development will comprise two new bridge-linked platforms to be sited to the north-east of Clair Phase 1.

The contract scope includes the project management, engineering, procurement, fabrication and installation of a six kilometre, 22 inch oil export pipeline and a 14 kilometre, 6 inch gas export pipeline connected to the new production facilities and existing Clair Phase 1 export systems.

Westinghouse Electric Company today announced the signing of an exclusive memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Czech construction company Metrostav, in preparation for the potential construction of nuclear power plants in the Czech Republic.

With a number of new subsea oil and gas mega-projects on the horizon in the Asia Pacific region, Technip is gearing up for growth. Hallvard Hasselknippe, COO of Technip’s Asia Pacific Subsea Division, talks to Gay Sutton about building people, assets and technology.

The Weir Group PLC has agreed to acquire Novatech LLC, a US manufacturer of well service pump valves and valve seats for upstream oil and gas applications, for $176 million (£113 million) in cash.

Based in Dallas, Texas, Novatech is a family-owned business producing a wide variety of proprietary valves and valve seats for high pressure applications such as frac, cement and mud pumps used in unconventional upstream oil and gas operations.

The business is well known to Weir, being a long standing local supplier to Weir SPM.

UK oil and gas producer EnQuest has acquired a further 25 per cent stake in the Kraken oil discovery from Nautical Petroleum.

EnQuest will pay up to $240 million for the stake, together with interests in surrounding exploration acreage, based on the determination of gross reserves.

The acquisition will bring EnQuest’s stake in Kraken up to 45 per cent, following its previous purchase of a 20 per cent stake from oil and gas explorer Canamens earlier this month. Nautical retains a 25 per cent interest, with First Oil holding the remaining 30 per cent.

A new report from the American Chemistry Council suggests that untapped natural gas resources from shale could rejuvenate the economy of the US state of Michigan.

The report concludes that more than 19,000 permanent, high-paying chemical manufacturing jobs could be created in Michigan, revitalizing the state's industrial base, driving economic growth and boosting exports while generating tens of millions of dollars in much-needed state revenue.