Qatarenergy selects Totalenergies as its first partner in the $28.75 billion North Field East Expansion Project

QatarEnergy announced that it has selected TotalEnergies as its first international partner in the North Field East (NFE) expansion project, the single largest project in the history of the LNG industry. The announcement comes at the conclusion of a competitive process that started in 2019 to select QatarEnergy’s international partners in the NFE project, which will expand Qatar’s LNG export capacity from the current 77 million tons per annum (MTPA) to 110 MTPA. The $28.75 billion NFE project, expected to start production before the end of 2025, employs the highest health, safety, and environmental standards, including carbon capture and sequestration, to reduce the project’s overall carbon footprint to the lowest levels possible.

A special ceremony was held at QatarEnergy’s headquarters in Doha to mark the occasion, during which His Excellency Mr. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy, and Mr. Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of TotalEnergies, signed the partnership agreements in the presence of senior executives from QatarEnergy and TotalEnergies.Pursuant to the agreements signed today, QatarEnergy and TotalEnergies will become partners in a new joint venture company (JV), in which QatarEnergy will hold a 75% interest while TotalEnergies will hold the remaining 25% interest. The JV in turn will own 25% of the entire NFE project, including the 4 mega LNG trains with a combined nameplate LNG capacity of 32 MTPA.

In his remarks during the ceremony, His Excellency Minister Al-Kaabi said: “This is a historic landmark for Qatar’s energy industry and for the world’s largest LNG development. The North Field East project is an iconic achievement that will not only ensure the optimal utilization of Qatar’s natural resources but will also provide the world with the cleaner and more reliable energy it needs. Today, QatarEnergy is standing at the threshold of a new era with a stronger commitment to energy transition and to the safe, reliable, and trustworthy access to cleaner energy. We will continue to power lives in every corner of the world for a better tomorrow for all. This is our commitment.”“We look forward to working closely with TotalEnergies, who are a long-term strategic partner that we have always trusted to support the efficient and safe delivery of our projects. I would like to thank all the team members in QatarEnergy and TotalEnergies for the excellent collaboration and for all their hard work that has led to this important moment. I also would like to express thanks and appreciation to the project’s team and to the Qatargas organization for continuing to deliver the NFE project, and with an outstanding safety record,” His Excellency Minister Al-Kaabi added.

Minister Al-Kaabi concluded his remarks by saying: “We are forever grateful to the wise leadership of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and for His unlimited support of Qatar’s energy sector.”In his remarks during the ceremony, Mr. Pouyanné said: “This is another historic day for TotalEnergies in Qatar, where we have been present for more than 80 years. Qatar has huge natural gas resources that it intends to develop further to increase the production of the least expensive, the most environmentally respectful and the best located LNG. TotalEnergies was present at the beginning of its LNG industry in Qatar some 30 years ago through its interest in Qatargas 1, and then Qatargas 2 in 2005.”

“We are very proud that Qatar has chosen again TotalEnergies, this time as the first partner for its new major phase of LNG expansion. It is a clear testimony of the profound trust that the teams have developed together, and it will extend our strategic partnership with Qatar and QatarEnergy for more than 25 years. It is good news for the fight against Climate Change as gas and LNG are key to support the energy transition, and notably the shift from coal to gas in many countries. With its low costs and low greenhouse gas emissions – thanks to carbon capture and storage – the North Field expansion will be an exemplary and major contribution to our low-carbon LNG growth strategy. This new partnership will indeed enable us to reinforce our global LNG portfolio and, together with Qatar, it will support our ability to contribute to Europe energy security.”” Mr. Pouyanné concluded.

As part of the partner selection process, QatarEnergy had received offers for double the equity available, underscoring the high-quality investment case of the NFE project thanks to its economic competitiveness, financial resilience, and also its unique environmental features.

More partners are slated to join the NFE Project, as final terms have been agreed and the relevant announcements will be made soon. 

Source: QatarEnergy

Schlumberger Awarded Extensive Service Contract for Tilenga Onshore Oil Development in Uganda by TotalEnergies

Schlumberger announced that it has been awarded an extensive contract for drilling, completions and production services by TotalEnergies for its Tilenga onshore oil development in Uganda.

The scope of the contract includes the provision of directional drilling services, upper completions, lower completions, artificial lift solutions, and wellheads for the Tilenga development, which comprises six fields with up to 426 wells, which will be developed across 31 wellpads.

“The Tilenga project is strategically significant to accelerated economic growth in Uganda. Schlumberger has committed to a comprehensive national content development plan, supporting TotalEnergies with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives and in-country value creation. This will be achieved through local capacity building, localization of supply chain, education development, HSE stewardship, and digital enablement,” said Wallace Pescarini, president, Offshore Atlantic, Schlumberger.

Drilling activities are expected to begin in Q4 2022.

Source: TotalEnergies

Namibia: TotalEnergies makes a significant discovery in offshore Block 2913B

TotalEnergies has made a significant discovery of light oil with associated gas on the Venus prospect, located in block 2913B in the Orange Basin, offshore southern Namibia. 

The Venus 1-X well encountered approximately 84 meters of net oil pay in a good quality Lower Cretaceous reservoir. 

“This discovery offshore Namibia and the very promising initial results prove the potential of this play in the Orange Basin, on which TotalEnergies owns an important position both in Namibia and South Africa” said Kevin McLachlan, Senior Vice President Exploration at TotalEnergies. “A comprehensive coring and logging program has been completed. This will enable the preparation of appraisal operations designed to assess the commerciality of this discovery.” 

Block 2913B covers approximately 8,215 km² in deep offshore Namibia. TotalEnergies is the operator with a 40% working interest, alongside QatarEnergy (30%), Impact Oil and Gas (20%) and NAMCOR (10%).

Source: TotalEnergies

TotalEnergies and Veolia Join Forces to Accelerate the Development of Biomethane

TotalEnergies and Veolia have signed an agreement to produce biomethane from Veolia waste and water treatment facilities operating in more than 15 countries. 

The partners will develop and co-invest in a portfolio of international projects, with the ambition to produce up to 1.5 terawatt-hours (TWh) of biomethane per year by 2025. This production of renewable gas made from organic waste will be equivalent to the average annual natural gas consumption of 500,000 residents and will avoid some 200,000 tons of CO2 per year. TotalEnergies will market the resulting biomethane as a renewable fuel for mobility or as a substitute for natural gas in other uses.

As part of this agreement, the partners will pool their industrial know-how in biomethane production. Veolia will provide its expertise in the production and processing of biogas from its facilities, and TotalEnergies will contribute its in-depth knowledge of the entire biomethane value chain.

“We are pleased to partner with Veolia to promote the recovery of waste through the production of biomethane, and thereby the circular economy, one of the pillars of sustainable development,” said Stéphane Michel, President Gas, Renewables & Power at TotalEnergies. “The development of biomethane is part of TotalEnergies’ transformation into a broad energy company, and the deployment of its ambition to be a major player in renewables.”

“Our partnership with TotalEnergies is in line with Veolia’s strategy to develop solutions for decarbonizing the energy mix, notably with biogas, as part of an ecological transition,” said Estelle Brachlianoff, Chief Operating Officer of Veolia. “At the global level, the biogas resources at our sites offer more than 6 terawatt hours of primary energy. With this biomethane production potential and our know-how in biogas management, Veolia intends to become a leading player in the value chain while developing more decentralized and local green energy production capacity.”

Source: TotalEnergies

TotalEnergies joins Masdar and Siemens Energy in initiative to drive green hydrogen development and produce sustainable aviation fuel’

Masdar, one of the world’s leading renewable energy companies, announced that TotalEnergies is adding its expertise in the energy sector to a Masdar-led initiative focused on green hydrogen to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). 

Senior executives from Masdar, Siemens Energy and TotalEnergies signed a collaboration agreement on the sidelines of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) 2022, to act as co-developers for a demonstrator plant project, which will be established at Masdar City, Abu Dhabi’s flagship sustainable urban development. The agreement was signed by Francois Good, Senior Vice President, Refining and Petrochemicals Africa Middle East and Asia at TotalEnergies, Dietmar Siersdorfer, Managing Director Middle East and UAE, Siemens Energy, and Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Chief Executive Officer of Masdar.

Francois Good, Senior Vice President, Refining and Petrochemicals Africa Middle East and Asia at TotalEnergies, said, “We are very pleased to partner with Masdar and Siemens Energy to meet the challenge of decarbonizing air transport through sustainable aviation fuel from green hydrogen. In this project, TotalEnergies brings its expertise in renewables energy as well as SAF manufacturing and marketing advanced sustainable fuel production with the aim of acting directly on the carbon intensity of the energy products used by our customers. This is in-line with our strategy of building a multi-energy company with the ambition to get to net zero by 2050 together with society.” 

Dietmar Siersdorfer, Managing Director Middle East and UAE, Siemens Energy, said, “Green hydrogen has a vital role to play in the decarbonization of many industries, with the aviation sector presenting an excellent opportunity. With deep expertise in  electrolyzers and plant integration we understand that collaboration is vital to success. We’re excited to have a longstanding and strong partner such as TotalEnergies bring its expertise to help accelerate this landmark project.” 

Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Chief Executive Officer of Masdar, said, “Today’s signing and the participation of TotalEnergies as a co-developer represents a significant step forward for this exciting project. The demonstrator plant will help to establish the commercial viability of green hydrogen as an essential decarbonized fuel of the future, and will support Abu Dhabi’s development as a green hydrogen hub. While the hydrogen market is still at a comparatively early stage, we firmly believe that by working together with international partners on projects such as this, we can help the hydrogen market develop its full potential and it will really take off in the years to come.” 

Masdar announced ahead of ADSW 2021 last year that it was collaborating with Abu Dhabi Department of Energy, Etihad Airways, Lufthansa Group, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Siemens Energy, and Marubeni Corporation on the demonstrator plant initiative. Having joined the initiative, the aim now is that TotalEnergies will offer its expertise in SAF production, offtake and supply the partner airlines . 

Since January 2021, the partners in the initiative have completed a range of evaluations on technology suppliers, feasibility studies and conceptual designs, while working closely with regulators on compliance issues. The aim is to proceed to the front end engineering design (FEED) stage later this year. 

By leveraging their respective areas of expertise across the energy spectrum, and their local and global market reach, the co-developers believe that the demonstrator project can pave the way to commercial production of SAF, helping to reduce production costs and making it commercially viable. 

Source: Masdar

Air Liquide and TotalEnergies partner to develop low-carbon hydrogen production in the Normandy industrial basin

Air Liquide and TotalEnergies are joining forces to decarbonize hydrogen production at TotalEnergies’ Normandy platform in France. This project will enable in time the supply to TotalEnergies by Air Liquide of low-carbon hydrogen by relying on Air Liquide’s hydrogen network in Normandy and the implementation of a large-scale CO2 capture and storage solution (CCS). In line with the objective of both companies’ to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, this ambitious project is part of a sustainable development approach which will help develop a low-carbon hydrogen ecosystem in the “Axe Seine/Normandy”, progressively supported by technologies such as CCS and electrolysis.

Reducing Carbon Emissions

Under a long term contract agreement, Air Liquide will take over and operate the 255 tons-per-day hydrogen production unit at the TotalEnergies platform in Normandy. Connecting the unit to Air Liquide’s hydrogen network will enable to optimize its performance and, ultimately, develop the world’s first low-carbon hydrogen network. The network already includes a hydrogen production facility in Port-Jérôme equipped with Air Liquide’s CryocapTM carbon capture solution since 2015. Air Liquide is considering adding a large-scale unit to produce renewable hydrogen via electrolysis.

In addition, the companies will launch development studies to deploy a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project to decarbonize the hydrogen produced in this unit at the Normandy platform. Air Liquide would install its Cryocap™ process to capture CO2, while TotalEnergies would handle transportation and storage of the captured CO2, notably through the Northern Lights (Norway) and Aramis (Netherlands) CCS projects being developed in the North Sea.

In the long term, the implementation of these projects would reduce the carbon emissions from the unit’s hydrogen production by approximately 650,000 tons of CO2 per year by 2030.

Decarbonizing the Normandy Industrial Basin

This cooperation between Air Liquide and TotalEnergies is aligned with their shared ambition to help decarbonize industrial operations in the “Axe Seine/Normandy”. Along with other industrial companies, the partners signed a Memorandum of Understanding announced in July 2021, to develop carbon capture and storage infrastructure in Normandy with the goal of reducing CO2 emissions by up to 3 million tons per year by 2030.

François Jackow, Executive Vice President and a Member of the Air Liquide Group’s Executive Committee supervising Europe Industries activities, said:

“Decarbonizing industry is a major challenge. The large range of solutions we have developed enable us to support our customers in their path towards energy transition. We have worked with TotalEnergies for many years, and are pleased to strengthen our partnership today with the deployment of solutions that will provide the Normandy industrial basin with a low-carbon hydrogen network in the years ahead. In line with our objective to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, Air Liquide is acting now to develop low-carbon and renewable hydrogen production and build a more sustainable future.”    

Bernard Pinatel, President, Refining & Chemicals and Member of the Executive Committee of TotalEnergies, said:

“This planned investment at our Normandy platform will enhance its industrial competitiveness and secure its long-term future. We are delighted to partner with Air Liquide on low-carbon hydrogen projects so we can work together on reducing the carbon emissions from our industrial operations. These projects contribute to the collective effort launched in the Le Havre industrial zone and the Seine corridor. This is fully aligned with TotalEnergies’ ambition to get to net zero emissions by 2050.”

Under French law, the proposed transfer of the hydrogen production unit to Air Liquide is subject to the process for notifying and consulting employee representatives of the TotalEnergies Normandy platform, and to the approval from the competent authorities.

Source: Air Liquide

TotalEnergies signs major agreements for the sustainable development of the Basra region natural resources in Iraq

TotalEnergies, the Iraqi Ministries for oil and electricity, and the country’s National Investment Commission have signed, in the presence of the Prime Minister of Iraq, major agreements covering several projects in the Basra region, designed to enhance the development of Iraq’s natural resources to improve the country’s electricity supply. Iraq, a country rich in natural resources, is indeed experiencing electricity shortages while it faces a sharp increase in demand from the population.

TotalEnergies, with the support of the Iraqi authorities, on the one hand will invest in installations to recover gas that is being flared on three oil fields and as such supply gas to 1,5 GW of power generation capacity in a first phase growing to 3 GW in a second phase, and, on the other hand, will also develop 1 GWac of solar electricity generation capacity to supply the Basra regional grid.

These agreements include: 

  • The construction of a new gas gathering network and treatment units to supply the local power stations, with TotalEnergies also bringing its expertise to optimize the oil and gas production of the Ratawi field, by building and operating new capacities.
  • The construction of a large-scale seawater treatment unit to increase water injection capacities in southern Iraq fields without increasing water withdrawals as the country is currently facing a water-stress situation. This water injection is required to maintain pressure in several fields and as such will help optimizing the production of the natural resources in the Basra region.
  • The construction and operation of a photovoltaic power plant with a capacity of 1 GWp to supply electricity to the grid in the Basra region.

 These projects represent a total investment of approximately $10 billion (100% share).

“These agreements signal our return through the front door to Iraq, the country where our Company was born in 1924. Our ambition is to assist Iraq in building a more sustainable future by developing access to electricity for its people through a more sustainable use of the country’s natural resources such as: reduction of gas flaring that generates air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, water resource management and development of solar energy,” said Patrick Pouyanné, TotalEnergies’ Chairman and CEO.“This project perfectly illustrates the new sustainable development model of TotalEnergies, a multi-energy Company which supports producing countries in their energy transition by combining the production of natural gas and solar energy to meet the growing demand for electricity. It also demonstrates how TotalEnergies can leverage its unique position in the Middle East, a region where the lowest-cost hydrocarbons are produced, to gain access to large-scale renewable projects”, he added.

Source: TotalEnergies