Page 35: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (May/Jun 2015)

34 36

“The EU is rightly concerned about its energy security last year had, however, given the ? rm hope that the Italian and the Mediterranean could contribute,” says Lescoeur. administration was actively progressing approvals “that had been outstanding for some years.” Further hope has been given “There are opportunities, for exploration and production, as well as pipelines, but also geopolitics,” he said, referring to by a decision in February to rescind an additional 10.5% tax imposed on the industry since 2008, the so-called Robin Hood

Israel and Cyprus, the Ukraine and Russia, from which Italy

Leading in development and manufacturing of oil mist tax, as described by Lescoeur. gets a lot of its gas, as well as the instability in North Africa,

In 2013, a new area to the west of Sardinia, called Zone E, from which Italy imports a large amount of its oil. “The separators for combustion engines and turbines.

Mediterranean needs to become a hub for increased sustain- was opened to exploration by the Italian government. Some able production.” research on the area, which covers part of the Balearic Sea and

Emission reduction &

However, no exploration wells have been drilled in Italy’s off- Alghero Province Sea, with waters as deep as 2800m, has been shore since 2008 (a drilling ban was imposed in 2010 following carried out. According to a presentation at OMC 2015, the area increased effciency the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the US Gulf of Mexico) and contains Messinian reservoir rock and Oligo Miocene source there are no incentives to change this, only disincentives and rock. “There’s not a lot of data because it’s an under explored regulatory bureaucracy, “The whole system has to be improved area,” OMC was told. Just two offshore wells have been drilled, by the use of highly effcient oil mist separators right down to the bottom,” he says. one 1800m deep, which reached the Miocene and Oligocene, at crankcase and lube oil tank ventilation.

“The situation in the Adriatic is a paradox: Croatia has and a second 1700m deep. According to the US Geological assigned its marine areas for oil and gas exploration while Italy Survey, the area could contain 1.4 Tcm gas and 0.42 billion bbl is a mere onlooker, at activities carried out just miles away,” oil, she says. There is interest from operators in the area, she says Guido Ottolenghi, President of the Con? ndustria Ravenna, says, but for now little activity.

Italy’s offshore industry hub. The situation is frustrating not only for Italian explorers, but

Northern Petroleum has suffered from such delays. It recently also Italian contractors, who are hopeful they could secure work issued an update on its southern Adriatic Sea acreage offshore in Italy’s offshore. Saipem, Italy’s most well-known offshore

Italy. The company said there had been little opportunity to contractor, currently has virtually no activity offshore Italy at discuss ongoing activities due to lack of “tangible progress,” present and some of the traditional areas where the country’s primarily relating to an application to carry out 3D seismic contractors look for work have been suffering from local ten- acquisition across the Giove oil discovery (1998) and Cygnus sions and even con? ict.

exploration prospect. The application process started in 2012 Italy has had close ties with Libya and Egypt in North Africa, and without the 3D seismic the ? rm is unable to move ahead both importing hydrocarbons from both and providing services. with exploration drilling. Due to the tensions in both countries, resulting in a drop in oil

The award of a new license in the Sicily Channel to Northern output and activity, contracts have waned, if not dried up alto- gether, a situation further exacerbated by the low oil price.

Regulation

The world´s only

Regulation around offshore safety is also high on the agenda for the Mediterranean basin. EU member states have until 19 oil mist separator with

July this year to transpose into legislation new rules around

GL type approval offshore safety, this includes splitting the licensing and regula- tory functions, integrating environmental protection mea- www.ut99.ch sures into operator’s safety case, common forms for incident

Benefts of UT99 oil mist separators reporting and measuring safety performance, outlined Marcelo

Masera, Head of the Energy Security Unit in the Institute for •

Emission reduction, even to obtain EPA Tier 4 fnal

Energy and Transport of the European Commission’s Joint •

Reliable increase of effciency at gas / dual-fuel engines

Research Centre (JRC).

While North Sea bordering countries already mostly con- •

No deposits on turbocharger

Deepwater form to the proposals, drawn up in the wake of the •

No leakage of oil and oil mist disaster in the US Gulf of Mexico, the situation is more

Horizon complex in the Mediterranean. •

Long-lasting operational reliability

At the moment, coordinated rules around offshore operations and regulations in the Mediterranean Sea, with many more bor-

Key features of UT99 oil mist separators dering countries than the North Sea, including non-EU member states, are lacking, Lescoeur says. •

For engines from 50 kW to 100 MW “The only common rules are the ones the IoCs are imposing and turbines up to 2000 MW by themselves to their own activities,” he says. “These com- •

For closed (CCV) / open (OCV) crankcase panies are applying international best practices. We also need and lube oil tank (OTV) ventilation to change public perception. Almost all activities are seen as dangerous and polluting.” •

Residual oil amount < 1 mg / m³ guaranteed

Getting offshore safety right – or not – could have signi? - •

Filter service lifetime up to 24.000 h cant consequences, on human life, the environment and •

ATEX (ex-proof) approved design available ? nancially, Masera says.“Macondo was an alarm bell to the serious consequences (of an accident offshore) - casualties, environmental issues and ? nancial consequences. It is not

Long-term supplier for many well-known just a technical issue. This could hurt industry and all these engine, turbine and power plants manufacturer.

oedigital.com 035_OE0515_Analysis_inDepth.indd 37 4/20/15 3:52 PM