Readers’ choice: Offshore Energy’s most-read news of 2024

With increasing coverage of global energy transition efforts, but also energy security worries, keeping up with everything can be a challenge. To celebrate the year gone by, the Offshore Energy editorial team brings you the most-read stories on the site that defined the journey throughout 2024.

Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) has declared the dusky sea snake an endangered species under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. The areas where this animal is found have been identified to include the Browse Basin, where Woodside Energy is working on developing a gas project located beneath the Scott Reef off the coast of the Kimberley in Western Australia.

While some fear that this will jeopardize the development of what is said to be the country’s largest untapped conventional gas resource, others openly seek to pull the plug on the project and shoot down attempts to bring it to life.

The UK government has unveiled the results of Allocation Round 6 (AR6) of the contracts for difference (CfD) renewable auction, with six projects across five sites securing contracts to deliver 28 MW of tidal stream capacity at a rate of £172/MWh (approximately $225/Mwh).

AR6 marks the third consecutive renewable auction in the UK with a dedicated ringfence for tidal stream energy, the Marine Energy Council (MEC) said. This approach has established the UK as a leader in tidal stream deployment, with over 130 MW of capacity expected to be operational by 2029.

The strike price in this round is £172/MWh, representing a 34% reduction from the administrative strike price. This is the lowest cost for tidal stream projects contracted since the ringfence was introduced.

History was made at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HD HHI) in Ulsan, South Korea, at the beginning of 2024, as the world’s first large methanol-enabled container vessel was named.

The 16,000 TEU containership was named Ane Maersk after Ane Mærsk Mc-Kinney Uggla, the Chair of the A.P. Moller Foundation and A.P. Moller Holding. It is the first of Maersk’s 18 large methanol-enabled vessels to be delivered between 2024 and 2025, and is the world’s second methanol-enabled container vessel.

UK energy sector construction, maintenance & enhancement solutions player Global Energy Group announced in the summer the launch of a recruitment drive to cover key fabrication operations at one of its facilities, following a contract with Subsea7.

Under the contract, the company is responsible for the manufacture of 134 subsea spools for the Aker BP-operated Yggdrasil project in the North Sea, described as the next major field development on the Norwegian shelf with gross resources of more than 700 million barrels of oil equivalent. Global Energy Group then said it would shortly be undertaking a substantial recruitment drive focused on key fabrication operations at the Port of Nigg.

Israel’s Navitas Petroleum has postponed a final investment decision (FID) for its giant Sea Lion oil project in the North Falkland Basin (NFB), bumping it to next year for Phase 1, following the cost hike to $1.4 billion.

Following Harbour Energy’s move to leave the Sea Lion project in September 2021, Rockhopper, Harbour, and Navitas inked a detailed heads of terms deal in December 2021 to allow a clean exit for Harbour and a farm-in for Navitas. The trio followed this with legally binding definitive documentation in April 2022, opening the doors for Navitas to enter the NFB.

French company Grain de Sail has celebrated the christening ceremony for Grain de Sail II, the world’s largest modern cargo sailboat built by local shipbuilder Piriou. After more than a year of manufacturing and more than two months of transit, the Grain de Sail II was delivered and reached its home port in Saint-Malo, France at the end of November 2023.

On January 11, 2024, the christening ceremony was organized to celebrate the entry of this new vessel into Grain de Sail’s fleet of cargo sailboats.

San Bernardino Ocean Power Corporation (SBOPC), an affiliate of Energies PH, has awarded the UK’s Inyanga Marine Energy Group with a contract to build Southeast Asia’s first-ever tidal power generation plant.

The 1 MW project, expected to deploy in late 2025, will use Inyanga’s HydroWing tidal stream technology, which will be connected to the electrical network of the off-grid island Capul, currently relying on a 750 kW diesel power plant.

A consortium consisting of Lotte Chemical, Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) and Samsung Engineering has chosen KBR’s K-GreeN technology for Lotte Chemical’s green ammonia project, a part of H2biscus green hydrogen and ammonia project development in Sarawak, Malaysia.

Specifically, under the terms of the contract, KBR will provide a technology license and proprietary engineering design to Lotte Chemical for the ammonia project.

Chinese power cable specialist Orient Cable (NBO) is entering the Morocco-UK Power Project with the acquisition of a stake in the company behind the multi-technology renewable energy project.

Xlinks First Limited announced it had entered into a share subscription agreement for the placement of common shares for gross proceeds of around £5 million on January 22, 2024. The transaction will include participation from Ningbo Orient Wires & Cables for approximately 2.4%. In a separate statement, Orient Cable announced its plans to buy 8.5% of XLCC, a UK-based company that produces standardized 525 kV submarine cables, for £10 million.

U.S. Plug Power reached nameplate capacity at hydrogen plants in Georgia and Tennessee in the first half of 2024, marking a milestone for the company’s hydrogen network.

Green hydrogen plant in Georgia reached a nameplate capacity of 15 tons per day (TPD) of liquid hydrogen production, while the plant in Tennessee is now operating at a nameplate capacity of 10 TPD, Plug said, noting that the company can now fulfill approximately 50% of its customers’ green hydrogen demand.

The offshore-energy.biz team wishes you a great 2025 and may we only read good news!

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