Thursday, October 3, 2024

Nova Scotia News

Renewable Energy: First Floating Tidal Power Delivered to Nova Scotia Grid

Photo courtesy Sustainable Marine Energy Ltd.

Sustainable Marine said it has successfully harnessed the tidal currents in Canada’s Bay of Fundy, delivering the first floating in-stream tidal power to Nova Scotia’s grid.Nova Scotia has allocated circa 30MW of capacity via demonstration permits and berths at FORCE (Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy) for developers to demonstrate their energy generation prowess. “Achieving ‘first power’ to the grid from our new platform in Grand Passage signals a real inflection point for our business…

Sustainable Marine Preps to Feed Tidal Energy into Nova Scotia Grid

Image courtesy Sustainable Marine

Sustainable Marine is poised to push the button and feed zero emission electricity generated from the tidal flows in the Bay of Fundy into the Nova Scotia grid, an achievement that follows several months of intense activity in the Bay of Fundy by Sustainable Marine’s Canadian, British and German team, supported by an international network of supply chain partners.After laying a 1km underwater cable in late January, the firm subsequently connected its PLAT-I 6.4 tidal energy system to a purpose-built substation…

KBR to Move Away from LNG, Energy Business

Credit: KBR

Engineering and construction firm KBR Inc will exit most of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) construction and other energy projects, it told investors and employees, as customers pull back on energy investments.The company will refocus on government contracts and technology businesses, Chief Executive Stuart Bradie wrote to employees on Monday. It will "no longer engage in lump sum, blue collar construction services," saying the COVID…

Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Turbine Components En Route to U.S.

Image Credit: Dominion Energy

Dominion Energy and Ørsted have said that the turbine components and monopiles for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) pilot project have started their journey to North America. The foundations, consisting of the turbines' monopiles, transition pieces and anode cages fabricated by EEW SPC, have been loaded onto the Bigroll Beaufort cargo ship in Rostock, Germany. The components for the two, 6-megawatt Siemens Gamesa turbines were loaded in Esbjerg…

Cheap LNG from Qatar Imperils N.American Projects

Cheniere's Sabine Pass LNG Terminal (CREDIT: Cheniere)

Proposed projects to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from North America face an uphill battle against Qatar, which announced plans to further ramp up production to hold onto its position as the world's leading LNG exporter.The United States is on track to overtake Qatar and Australia as the top LNG exporter by 2024, but now will only hold that title for a few years as Qatar announced this week it will boost production by 64% by…

Schottel Merges Tidal Units to Sustainable Marine Energy

Schottel, the manufacturer of propulsion and steering systems for ships and offshore applications, has made a strategic decision to merge its tidal energy businesses into Sustainable Marine Energy (SME), including UK subsidiary TidalStream Ltd and Canadian subsidiary Black Rock Tidal Power Inc (BRTP)."Following the successful collaboration between SME, Schottel Hydro and Black Rock Tidal Power to develop and demonstrate the PLAT-I floating tidal energy system…

BP Gives Up Acreage Offshore Nova Scotia

BP Canada is scaling back its oil and gas exploration plans off Nova Scotia, as the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (NSOPB) said the company is giving back 50% of the area included in its license.According to NSOPB, half of the area included in in Exploration License 2434R is a consolidation of four offshore parcels roughly 300 kilometers southeast of Halifax.The move comes after BP failed to drill four wells within the first phase of its exploration license…

Hess Corp Completes Drilling on Aspy Well Offshore

The  exploration and production company Hess Corporation said that Aspy probe did not encounter commercial quantities of hydrocarbons.Hess Corporation announced in a press statement that drilling of the Aspy exploration well offshore Nova Scotia reached total depth of 7,400 meters."The prospect did not encounter commercial quantities of hydrocarbons and Hess’ share of the well cost through September 30, 2018 will be expensed in the third quarter and reflected in the company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q…

Pieridae Energy to Construct Goldboro LNG

Pieridae Energy has welcome the decision of the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board to issue the permit to construct the Goldboro LNG Facility.Pieridae will now proceed diligently to satisfy each of the associated conditions of that permit and to commence the construction of the Goldboro LNG Facility as soon as a positive financial investment decision is taken by Pieridae.In anticipation of the commencement of construction, Pieridae has engaged Hatch Ltd. to act as its engineering adviser.

NRCAN Grant Triggers Major Investment in the Bay of Fundy

Photo: DP Energy

The next wave of tidal energy development at the FORCE facility in the Bay of Fundy Nova Scotia has been triggered by a substantial grant of $29,750,000 under the Emerging Renewable Power Program (ERPP) from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan).European based renewable energy developer DP Energy is managing two berths in the Bay of Fundy through its Canadian registered company, Halagonia Tidal Energy Limited. It intends to develop both…

PLAT-I: Renewable Energy for Canada

PLAT-I and the 15m Meercat workboat “Venetia” prior to disconnection from the mooring system during the demobilisation operation. Photo: ©SCHOTTEL HYDRO

Sustainable Marine Energy is preparing to ship the PLAT-I tidal energy platform from Connel in Western Scotland to Grand Passage in Nova Scotia. Sustainable Marine Energy’s (SME) PLAT-I tidal energy platform hosting four SCHOTTEL HYDRO SIT 250 turbines has  completed the first phase of its testing program at Connel, on the West coast of Scotland. The Company is now preparing to ship the platform to Nova Scotia and install it for a second phase of testing.

US LNG Projects Buoyed by China Import Talks

© Igor Groshev / Adobe Stock

China's interest in reducing its trade surplus with United States through increased energy imports could advance plans for U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants, said energy executives involved in developing new facilities.The White House and China on Saturday said a U.S. trade team would travel to China to explore new energy and agricultural deals. The joint communique lowered trade tensions, lifting stock markets in Asia and the United States on Monday.There are over two dozen proposed U.S.

InterMoor Delivers H-Links Connectors for Appomattox FPS

Photo: InterMoor

InterMoor, a provider of mooring services, foundation solutions and offshore installations in subsea services group Acteon, completed the delivery of all H-Links connectors for the Appomattox Floating Production System (FPS) mooring lines. The Appomattox facility will be a four-column semi-submersible production platform moored using 16 mooring lines arranged in 4x4 clusters, in 2,255m (7,400ft) of water approximately 130km (80 miles) offshore Louisiana. The platform will become Shell’s largest floating platform in the Gulf of Mexico.

ConocoPhillips Beats Street, Cuts Budget Anyways

ConocoPhillips, the largest U.S. independent oil producer, reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday helped by rising crude prices, though it slashed its capital budget to further cut costs. Those cost curbs come as other U.S. oil producers as well bid to control spending and focus on shareholder returns, with crude prices not expected to markedly rise before the end of the decade. "We are focused on free cash flow generation…

Buyers Eye Sinopec's Argentina Oil Assets

Sinopec's Argentine assets worth about $750 mln-$1 bln; Sonangol, Rosneft among potential suitors. Advisers to China's Sinopec have offered its oil assets in Argentina to about a dozen potential suitors, three sources familiar with the matter said, as losses and labour headaches prompt Asia's largest refiner to pull out. The Argentine oil and gas assets, mainly in the southern province of Santa Cruz, could be worth $750 million to $1 billion, one of the sources said.

Glencore in talks with Canadian pension fund on royalties JV-sources

Mining giant Glencore Plc is working with a Canadian pension fund to create a standalone 50:50 joint venture for its portfolio of royalty assets, two sources with knowledge with the matter said on Friday. Royalty deals give the owner the right to receive a percentage of revenue or profits from a mining operation, often in exchange for financing. Reuters reported in May that Glencore had hired the Bank of Nova Scotia to sell its royalty assets…

Canada Orders Seizure of Oil Tanker

The Federal Court of Canada has ordered the seizure of a 721,915-barrel cargo of crude from Kurdistan aboard the "Neverland" oil tanker on the request of the Iraq Oil Ministry, court documents show. The Iraq Oil Ministry has also filed a claim against commodity trading house Vitol S.A. and subsidiaries including Mansel Ltd, the charterer of the ship, and affiliate Finaval SpA di Navigazione, the owner of the ship, for $32.5 million.

Pieridae Seeks Natural Gas Acquisitions, CEO Says

Pieridae Energy Ltd, the company behind a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal on Canada's east coast, is looking to buy producing assets in western Canada or in the Marcellus shale play in the United States, its chief executive said on Monday. Alfred Sorensen told Reuters in a phone interview that Calgary-based Pieridae wanted to buy about 200 million cubic feet a day of natural gas production to supply its terminal and would consider buying a company or just assets.

Waterous Targets Canadian, U.S. Energy Assets

Private equity firm Waterous Energy Fund is seeking investment opportunities in the Canadian oil and gas sector as valuations turn attractive after a prolonged slump in the oil price, making a contrarian bet as global players pull back, its top executive said. Calgary-based Waterous Energy, which invests C$100 million to C$400 million ($75 million to $300 million) per deal in energy assets, is targeting companies in Canada and the United States…

Energy East Pipeline woes Worry Canada's Atlantic Coast

For years, heavy equipment operator Ashley Underhill has tried to defy the notion that one could only make a good living in Canada's poorer east coast by spending most of the time away from the family in the nation's western oil patch. One reason Underhill had battled on, working on small private contracts, including snow clearing and wood cutting, was Energy East, a planned 4,600-km (2860-mile) pipeline between Alberta's oil sands and the east coast and the promise of an economic boost it could bring.