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Capital Projects – news in brief – April 18, 2018

A quick round up of major capital projects and industry developments witnessed this week. To learn more about the CapProCon e-newsletter, click here.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said her government “has a plan to transition towards a carbon-neutral future, one that looks 30 years in advance”. In a bid to hit this target, New Zealand will grant no new offshore oil and gas exploration permits.

The ban applies only to new permits and will not affect the existing 22 offshore exploration blocks in the energy-rich Taranaki region. The move by New Zealand comes weeks after Shell sold its final oil and gas permits and producing assets to Austrian firm OMV.

Oil capital projects

Also the oil and gas arena, BP said it has approved the development of Ghazeer, the second phase of the giant Khazzan gas field in Oman, in cooperation with Oman Oil Company Exploration & Production. The final investment decision (FID) for Ghazeer follows the successful start-up of Khazzan’s first phase of development in September 2017.

BP also revealed that it has established a strategic alliance with Petrobras committing to exploring potential commercial agreements in upstream, downstream, trading and across low carbon initiatives, inside and outside Brazil.

In the civil infrastructure field Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) and Tata Projects have won five contract packages for the Mumbai Metro line-4 project. Meanwhile, construction of the 473 km-long four-lane highway between Nairobi and Mombasa, Kenya, will be delayed amid concerns that the country is taking on too much debt.

The Capital Projects and Contracts (CapProCon) e-newsletter, distributed every Monday, includes dozens more updates and developments. To learn more, click here.

New Zealand capital projcts
New Zealand has banned all new offshore oil and gas exploration permits. Source: Wikimedia Commons – Wikikiwiman
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CapProCon – update

A couple of updates from the latest CapProCon e-newsletter can be seen here.

ExxonMobil has outlined an aggressive growth strategy to more than double earnings and cash flow from operations by 2025 at today’s oil prices. In the upstream sector, ExxonMobil expects to significantly increase earnings through a number of growth initiatives and investments in US tight oil, deepwater and LNG projects.

Meanwhile, Engie, in its latest annual report, highlighted the renewable energy projects it has invested in. They include the acquisition of a wind energy portfolio of more than 400 MW with the takeover of La Compagnie du Vent in France. The company also launched a joint venture with Abraaj Group to develop a 1 GW-plus portfolio of wind energy projects in India.

Clean TeQ

In the mining arena, Clean TeQ completed an underwritten institutional placement which has raised AUD150 mn (USD118.1 mn). Proceeds raised will be used to fund early works and long lead items to accelerate the development of its Sunrise nickel/cobalt/scandium project, located 350 km west of Sydney.

In Europe, Skanska will invest EUR41 mn in the first phase of a new office development in Gdansk, Poland. The first-phase of the project will be 14 stories high with two levels of underground parking.

The Capital Projects and Contracts (CapProCon) e-newsletter, distributed every Monday, includes dozens more updates and developments. To learn more, click here.

exxon mobil oil and gas capprocon

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GE to supply Jenbacher power to Yamarna

Clarke Energy, GE’s distributor and service partner, will provide 11 of GE’s Jenbacher J624 gas engines to Australia’s APA Group for its new 45 MW Yamarna power station in Western Australia, which is being constructed to supply power to the Gruyere gold project.

The Gruyere gold project is a 50/50 joint venture between Gold Road Resources and the miner Gold Fields. It is located in the Yamarna greenstone belt of Western Australia, 200 km northeast of Laverton and to the north of APA Group’s Eastern Goldfields pipeline.

Source: GE

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Neoen and Tesla to build 100 MW lithium-ion battery

Tesla and the France-headquartered Neoen have been selected to build a 100 MW/129 MWh Tesla Powerpack system, which will be developed near Jamestown, South Australia, next to Neoen’s 100 MW Hornsdale wind park.

Under an agreement with the South Australian Government, Elon Musk’s Tesla, and Neoen, the battery – which three times more powerful than any other system in the world – will be designed to provide power to the grid at times of generation shortfall, as well as providing stability to the network, day and night.

Aurecon is the specialist and technical engineering advisor to the government of South Australia for the implementation of its energy plan. The company is providing advice across the entire programme, including the 100 MW battery, emergency gas generator and power supply contracts.

Source: Aurecon Group

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JV wins Sydney Harbour metro project

CPB Contractors, with its joint venture partners Ghella and John Holland, has been selected to deliver a new metro railway crossing deep under Sydney Harbour.

The NSW Government awarded a AUD2.81 bn (USD1.59 bn) contract to deliver twin 15.5 km tunnels and associated civil works on Stage 2 of the Sydney Metro project – Australia’s biggest public transport project. The tunnels will be excavated by five tunnel boring machines (TBMs) between Chatswood and Sydenham, including a specialised TBM to build the tunnels beneath Sydney Harbour.

Design and construction works under the Sydney Metro City & Southwest Tunnel and Station Excavation (TSE) Works contract include:

• Twin 15.5 km tunnels from Chatswood to Sydenham travelling under Sydney Harbour and the CBD using five tunnel boring machines (TBMs).
• 57 cross passages approximately every 240 m between the tunnels and a temporary access shaft at Blues Point.
• Tunnel dive structures at Chatswood and Marrickville.
• Excavation of six new underground metro stations at Crows Nest, Victoria Cross, Barangaroo, Martin Place, Pitt Street and Waterloo.
• A crossover cavern at Barangaroo to allow trains to cross from one track to another.
• Design and manufacture of about 99,000 precast concrete segments to line the tunnels.
• Demolition and removal of existing buildings on the construction sites

Tunnel and station excavation works are expected to start in coming weeks with the contract to conclude in mid-2021.

Source: CIMIC