Off shore oil and gas production

Кафедра

Иностранных языков

 

ARKTIKMORNEFTEGAZRAZVEDKA

SHTOKMAN GAS FIELD

OFF SHORE OIL AND GAS PRODUCTION

NORWEGIAN PORTS OF OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY

(АРКТИКМОРНЕФТЕГАЗРАЗВЕДКА.

Штокмановское месторождение газа.

Морская добыча нефти и газа.

Норвежские порты нефтегазовой промышленности)

 

Методические рекомендации

По развитию навыков устной речи и чтения

для студентов специальности 130401.65 «Физические процессы горного и нефтегазового производства» и направления 130500.62 «Нефтегазовое дело»

                                                                                  

 

 

Мурманск

2009

УДК

ББК

 

 

Составители –

Татьяна Павловна Волкова, канд. фил. наук, доцент, зав. кафедрой иностранных языков Мурманского государственного технического университета Анастасия Александровна Максимова, преподаватель кафедры иностранных языков Мурманского государственного технического университета

 

Методические указания рассмотрены и одобрены кафедрой 28 октября 2009 г., протокол № 2

 

Рецензент –

Т. Ю. Карикова, старший преподаватель кафедры иностранных языков Мурманского государственного технического университета

 

 

 

 

Редактор Г.В. Зобнина

 

 

© Мурманский государственный технический университет, 2009

ОГЛАВЛЕНИЕ

 

Введение............................................. Ошибка! Закладка не определена.

I. ARKTIKMORNEFTEGAZRAZVEDKA Ошибка! Закладка не определена.

II. Shtockman gas field................................................................................ 13

III. Off shore oil and gas industry............................................................... 20

IV. Norwegian Ports of Oil and Gas Industry............................................. 41

V. Articles for additional reading………………………………………………48

Literature.................................................................................................... 57

Введение

Данные методические рекомендации предназначены для студентов направления 130500.62 «Нефтегазовое дело» и специальности 130401.65 «Физические процессы горного и нефтегазового производства»

Лексическим материалом для методических рекомендаций послужили специальные аутентичные тексты и словари. Цель методических рекомендаций в активизации навыков говорения по темам «Арктикморнефтегазразведка», «Штокмановское месторождение газа», «Морская добыча нефти и газа», «Типы буровых установок»,  «Норвежские порты нефтегазовой промышленности», а также формирования и совершенствования навыков чтения специальных текстов.

В методические рекомендации включены несколько текстов, содержащих информацию об истории создания компании Арктикморнефтегазразведка, и ее деятельности на различных этапах развития, о разработке Штокмановского газового и газоконденсатного месторождения, типах буровых установок и норвежских портах нефтегазовой промышленности. Каждый раздел методических рекомендаций содержит словарь и послетекстовые упражнения, целью которых является закрепление лексических единиц, вводимых текстовым материалом, а также активизация грамматического материала, изучаемого параллельно. Кроме этого, студентам предлагаются задания, способствующие формированию их репродуктивных навыков.

В результате изучения данного материала студенты должны расширить свой лексический запас за счет усвоения новых слов и терминов, связанных с их будущей профессией, научиться обсуждать предлагаемые темы, говорить о сферах своей будущей профессиональной деятельности на английском языке, читать и переводить тексты по специальности.

Unit 1

ARKTIKMORNEFTEGAZRAZVEDKA

1. Scan the words and word combinations below and memorize them:

 

prospecting	разведка, разведочные работы
exploration, n	поисково-разведочные работы; пробная эксплуатация с целью изучения месторождения и выявления запасов
penetration, n	1.проникновение; глубина проникновения; углубление; внедрение; глубина проникновения; 2. проходка (в бурении); глубина проходки
commercial oil production	коммерческая добыча нефти
to outlive usefulness	пережить срок эксплуатации
oil and gas bearing province	нефтегазовая провинция
general purpose sea-going vessels	универсальные морские суда
to confirm predictions	подтвердить предсказания
undergo, v	подвергаться
flare, n	вспышка, пламя
ignite, v	загораться, воспламенять
yield, v	производить
to carry out drilling and diving operations	проводить бурильные и водолазные операции
to gain experience	приобретать опыт
to take into account	принимать во внимание
vulnerability, n	уязвимость
to give grounds	давать основания
adjacent land areas	соседние территории
to render services	оказывать услуги

 

2. Read the international words and translate them without a dictionary:

federal, shelf, specialist, expert, total, operation, gas-condensate, base, reserve, complex, design, analytical, hydrocarbon

 

3. Read and translate the text:

The Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Arktikmorneftegazrazvedka" was founded for prospecting, exploration and development of oil and gas fields on the shelf of the Russian Arctic Seas. During many years of work on the Arctic offshore shelf, the specialists of the company drilled 58 prospecting and exploratory wells with total penetration of more than 170 thousand meters. The operations were conducted at the sea depth from 10 up to 338 meters. As the result 15 oil, gas, gas-condensate and oil-and-gas fields were discovered. Thus, the oilmen of AMNGR initiated the commercial oil production in the arctic conditions, developing the Peschanoozerskoe oil-and-gas-condensate field on the Island of Kolguev.

The History of the company

1979 - the foundation of the company. The ice-free port of Murmansk became the base for Arctic drilling operations.

1980 - the transport vessel «Sevastopol», which had outlived her usefulness, became the first point of support for the Murmansk drilling crews at the start of the exploration of the Arctic Seas’ reserves on the Russian shelf.

1981 - the first wells were drilled at the mouth of the Pechora river and the world got to know about a new oil and gas bearing province in the Pechora Sea.

During 1981 and 1982 the company underwent a period of development. Special facilities were developed, general purpose sea-going vessels were acquired and drilling vessel constructions were completed. Experts from various regions in the country were brought together in Murmansk. Local personnel underwent further training in preparation for working on offshore oil and gas fields.

1983 - most of the first wells drilled from the vessels «Viktor Muravlenko» and «Valentin Shashin» in the Murmanskaya and Severo-Kildinskaya areas confirmed the geologists' predictions of the presence of oil and gas in the Barents Sea. In the spring of 1983 the first gas flare was ignited.

1985 - the first well was drilled in the Kara Sea. Once again a gas condensate field was discovered.

1987 - well № 1 on the Prirazlomnoye field yielded about 400 t/d (tons per day) of oil.

1988 - Shtokman gas condensate field was discovered in the central area of the Barents Sea.

Nowadays AMNGR is able to provide the performance of offshore exploratory works in complex, including well designing and construction, scientific processing of obtained data and reserves estimation. For conducting offshore operations, AMNGR possesses special-purpose fleet comprising 26 various-purpose vessels, including the drill ship "Valentin Shashin", two jack-ups ("Murmanskaya" and "Kolskaya"), three tankers, the special-purpose diving ship “Sprut” and the passenger vessels “Anna Akhmatova” and “Boris Pasternak”.

AMNGR's fleet is in demand both at the domestic services market and at the foreign one. The Enterprise's vessels and rigs operate not only in the Arctic but also in the offshore areas of South America, Africa and South-East Asia, in the North and Norwegian Seas as well as they represent AMNGR in many ports of the world situated in the USA, Brazil, Argentina, India, the South African Republic and Kenya as well as in the ports of the Black, Mediterranean, Baltic and Caspian Seas. Working in harsh conditions, AMNGR's fleet has gained large experience in carrying out drilling and diving operations on sea shelf as well as drilling platforms towing, cable laying at very large depths, vessels bunkering and search-and-rescue operations.

Taking into account the particular vulnerability of the northern environ­ment, the «Arktikmorneftegazrazvedka» company pays special attention to operational procedures, especially at sea. AMNGR cooperates with a wide range of academic and special scientific centres in order to design specific environmental control routines, ecologically clean technologies and to protect the reproduction of natural biological resources. All of the company activities on the shelf and islands are conducted under the control of local authorities and within their strict requirements and give no grounds to doubt the safety of the technology.

In future AMNGR's activity will be concentrated on the following main directions:

· Prospecting drilling for oil and gas on the continental shelf and in adjacent land areas of Russia and on the shelf of foreign countries;

· Participation in commercial development of the discovered fields of the Russian Western Arctic shelf;

· Commercial oil production on the Peschanoozerskoye field on the Kolguev Island;

· Development of the shelf geological structure and its hydrocarbon potential on the basis of the results obtained from analytical and research studies;

· Rendering services to domestic and foreign companies in their performance of exploratory works and offshore oil-and-gas production.

4. Find in the text and give the Russian equivalents for the following words and phrases:

ice-free port; to outlive one’s usefulness; to undergo a period of development; to confirm the geologists’ predictions; to discover gas condensate field; to yield oil; to design specific environmental control routine; to protect the reproduction of natural biological resources; to doubt the safety of technology; to provide the performance of offshore exploratory works; well designing and construction; scientific processing of obtained data; jack-up; special-purpose diving ship; to be in demand; drilling platforms towing; commercial development of the discovered fields; prospecting drilling for oil and gas

 

5. Find in the text and give the English equivalents for the following words and phrases:

государственная компания; опыт работы; основание компании; буровая бригада; нефтегазоносная провинция; универсальные морские суда; проходить обучение; морские и наземные месторождения нефти и газа; уязвимость северной природы; обращать внимание на; экологически чистые технологии; под контролем местных властей; строительство скважин; оценка ресурсов; проводить поисковые работы на шельфе; приобретать опыт работы; проводить бурильные и водолазные операции; прокладывать кабель; поисково-спасательные работы; поисково-разведочные работы; углеводороды; оказывать услуги

 

Answer the questions

1. What kind of enterprise is AMNGR?

2. When was it founded?

3. What was the first point of support for Murmansk drilling crews?

4. When and where were the first wells drilled?

5. What was happening in 1981 -1982?

6. Did the first wells confirm the presence of oil and gas in the Barents sea?

7. When was the first gas flare ignited?

8. What was discovered in the Kara Sea in 1985?

9. How much oil was yielded on the Prirazlomnoye field?

10. When and where was Shtokman gas condensate field dis­covered?

11. What types of vessels and rigs does the fleet of the company consist of?

12. What are they used for?

13. Where do they operate?

14. How wide is the geographical coverage of the AMNGR? What are its main operational areas?

15. How does the AMNGR try to prevent the northern environment pollu­tion?

16. Are the techniques of its work safe for the environment?

17. What do you know about the prospects of AMNGR development?

Unit 2

Development Plan

The Shtokman field development will include up to four platforms. TLP and spar-type platforms are likely to be the most preferable choices of platform construction. The specialists of Sevmorneftegas have estimated that the total number of wells required to develop the Shtokman will be around 156, which breaks down to 144 production wells, three monitor wells and nine reserve wells. There are likely to be around 40 wells completed subsea.

The General Offshore Facilities Plan includes:

• Subsea production unit;

• System of field pipelines and flexible risers for feeding gas condensate to the process vessel from the wells;

• Floating Production Unit — FPU with quick disconnectable system and evacuation from the iceberg motion trajectory;

• Trunk-line for gas condensate transportation to onshore facilities for LNG production and pipeline gas supplies

Safety and Environment

Given the scale and complexity of the Shtokman project, the Company takes on serious commitments as to environmental protection, mitigation of potential environmental impact on the vulnerable and unique ecosystem of the Barents Sea and the shore areas. Shtokman Development AG environmental policy is to attach paramount importance to environmental issues at all levels within the Company and to ensure compliance with the highest Russian and world safety and environmental standards.

Shtokman Development AG has initiated and financed a significant number of surveys in the project areas: offshore, near-coastal waters, onshore. Data obtained from these surveys is being used for engineering and environmental studies.

Unit 3

Off shore oil and gas production

1. Scan the words and word combinations below and memorize them:

 

challenging	требующий напряжения (сил); испытывающий (способности, стойкость)
to overcome challenges	преодолеть проблему, решить трудную задачу
manned platform	платформа с персоналом, обитаемая платформа
anchor, v	закреплять, ставить на якорь
to safeguard the environment	защищать окружающую среду
economically feasible	экономически возможный, осуществимый

2. Read and translate the text:

Oil and gas production in the sea is more challenging, compared to land-based installations. Much of the innovation in the offshore petroleum sector concerns overcoming these challenges including the need to keep manned facilities above sea-level. Manned facilities can be maintained with enormous constructions with their "feet" on the bottom of the sea, such as the Troll A platform standing on the depth of 300 meters. With height of 472 meters, it is the largest man-made structure ever to be moved. Other platforms may be floating, only anchored to the bottom of the sea. Thus, the development of subsea oil and gas fields requires specialized equipment. This equipment must be reliable enough to safeguard the environment and make the exploitation of the subsea hydrocarbons economically feasible.

 

 

3. Find in the text and give the Russian equivalents for the following words and phrases:

challenging, compared to, to concern, manned facilities, enormous constructions, man-made structure, to be anchored to the bottom of the sea, reliable, to safeguard the environment

4. Find in the text and give the English equivalents for the following words and phrases:

наземные установки, преодолевать, обслуживать, глубина, высота, таким образом, разработка, требовать, углеводороды, экономически возможный, осуществимый

 

Answer the questions:

1. Why is offshore oil and gas production more challenging, compared to land-based installations?

2. How can drilling units used for offshore production be maintained?

3. What is the largest man-made structure ever to be moved? Do you know where it is located?

4. What characteristics must the equipment used for subsea production have?

Fixed Platforms

Fixed Platforms

In shallow waters, it is physically possible to fix a platform to the sea floor. This is what is called a fixed platform or rig. The 'legs' are structures made of concrete or steel, extending down from the platform, and fixed to the seabed with piles. With some of the concrete fixed platform structures, the weight of the legs and seafloor platform is so great, that they do not have to be physically attached to the seafloor, but instead simply rest on their own mass. These are called gravity based fixed platforms. There are many possible designs for these fixed, permanent platforms. The advantage of these types of fixed platforms is their good stability, as they are permanently fixed to the sea floor there is no movement due to wind and water forces. These platforms cannot be used in very deep water as it is not economical or practical to build legs that long.

 

Seastar Platforms

Seastar platforms combine characteristics of tension leg platforms and semisubmersible drilling rigs. The Seastar platform consists of a floating rig as for the semisubmersible drilling rigs. A lower hull is ballasted with water when drilling, which increases the stability of the platform movement from environmental loads. In addition to these features of semisubmersible rig type, Seastar platforms also incorporate the tension leg system found in larger platforms. The tension legs are long and hollow and extend from the seafloor to the floating Seastar platform. These legs are kept under constant tension, and prevent any vertical movement of the platform. Their flexibility does however allow for horizontal motion, which allows the platform to withstand the loads of the sea and wind, without breaking the tension legs off. Seastar platforms are typically used for small deep-water reservoirs, where it is not economical or practical to develop a larger platform. They can operate in water depths of up to 1000 meters.

 

 

Tension Leg Platforms

Tension leg platforms are much like the Seastar platform described earlier. The tensioned flexible legs are permanently fixed to the seafloor, and run up to the Tension leg platform itself. As for the Seastar platform, these tension legs allow for significant side to side movement of the platform with no or little vertical movement. Tension leg platforms can operate as deep as 2,500 meters to produce from deep or ultra deep waters.

Match the synonyms

to incorporate	small
structure	to yield
platform	important
significant	characteristic
little	rig
feature	to work
to produce	boring
to operate	to include
permanently	construction
drilling	constantly

 

Match the antonyms

shallow	without
possible	those
fixed	vertical
to build	above
much	deep
with	floating
these	impossible
long	to destroy
under	little
horizontal	short

 

Floaters

 

Floaters

Floaters include those drilling units which are floating during the process of drilling without supporting by the sea bottom. Major problems with these units have been excessive motions leading to inefficient operations. Floating drilling rigs come in variety of shapes and sizes:

 

Floating submersible drilling installation consists of the lower hull and upper (working) site rigidly connected with the hull. From that site the process of drilling is carried out. In a working condition the lower hull is filled with water and submersed to the bottom; the higher site remains on a certain level over the water surface.

Floating semisubmersible drilling rig is towed or self-propelled to the location and partially ballasted to minimize the motions and anchored while drilling. She has a hull, consisting of pon­toons, and upper (working) site connected with each other by the stabilizing columns (that's why they are sometimes called rigs with stabilizing columns). In a working condition pontoons are submersed for 20-25 meters under water, reducing the area of operating waterline and decreasing the influence of sea waves on the platform. Semisubmersible rigs are kept at the point of drilling with the aid of anchors or by means of dynamic positioning system. Structural failures due to hostile environment and loads have been the major problems associated with these units.

The jack-up rig is characterized by a barge hull supporting the drilling equipment and legs with some type of jacking mechanism capable of elevating the hull above any anticipated wave ac­tion. Jack-up floating drilling installation has a hull, possessing sufficient buoyancy for safe transporting all the installation including equipment and supplies to the place of drilling. On the place of drilling the hull is lifted and is kept on a given elevation with the aid of special lifting mechanisms and columns standing on the sea bottom. The major worry with this type has been the movement from one location to the next.

The Spar platforms are among the largest offshore platforms or constructions in use today. The massive Spar platforms consist of a large cylinder supporting a typical fixed rig platform. The large cylinder does not extend all the way to the seabed, but instead is hold to the bottom by several big cables and lines. The large cylinder stabilizes the Spar platforms in the water, and allows for horizontal and vertical movement to absorb the force of extreme weather conditions such as hurricanes.

Drilling vessels are assigned for prospecting drilling and they are kept at the point of boring with the aid of anchors or by means of dynamic positioning system.

Supply vessels are not intended for drilling, but nowadays it's impossi­ble to imagine the offshore oil extraction without ships of this type. They are assigned for delivering the necessary equipment, spare parts, provi­sion and other supplies to the drilling installations.

 

Rig personnel

Offshore manned facilities present logistics and human resources challenges. An offshore oil platform is a small community in itself with cafeteria, sleeping quarters, management, and other support functions. In the North Sea, staff members are transported by helicopter for a two-week shift. They usually receive higher salary than other industry workers do. Supplies and waste are transported by supply vessels, and the supply needs to be well planned because floor area on the platform is limited. Today, much effort goes into moving as much of the personnel as possible onshore, where management and technical experts are in touch with the platform by video conferencing. An onshore job is also more attractive for the aging workforce in the petroleum industry, at least in the western world.

1) Do you agree that an offshore oil platform is a small community in itself? Prove your point of view.

2) What are working conditions of the staff members in the North Sea?

3) What are supply vessels used for?

4) How is work organized nowadays?

36. Personnel on a drilling rig vary greatly depending on the size of the rig, type of rig, and the type of a well being drilled. Read the list of the most common rig personnel and speak about professional duties and responsibilities:

· Company man (представитель компании)

· Derrick hand (рабочий на буровой вышке)

· Directional driller (бурильщик, осуществляющий направленное бурение или наклонно-направленное бурение)

· Driller (буровик, бурильщик; буровой мастер)

· Geologist

· Rig Medic

· Mud engineer (инженер по буровым растворам)

· Mud Logger (лицо, ведущее учёт данных о буровом растворе)

· Measurement while drilling operator (оператор телеметрической системы определения параметров в процессе бурения)

· Roughneck (Driller's Offsider) (рабочий буровой бригады)

· Roustabout (неквалифицированный подсобный рабочий буровой бригады)

· Tool Pusher (буровой мастер)

· Motorman (дизелист буровой бригады)

37. The equipment associated with a rig is to some extent dependent on the type of rig but typically includes at least some of the following items. Match the rig equipment and its description:

 

anchors	a container for boiling water that is a part of steam engine
BOPs (Blowout preventers)	store drilling fluid until it is required down the wellbore and to allow sand and silt to settle out before reuse
Boilers	hold a mobile offshore drilling rig in place while drilling is taking place
Centrifuges	separate gas from drilling fluid so that the mud can be safely re-used
Degassers	separate fine silt and sand from drilling fluid
Hydrocyclones	pieces of equipment installed at the wellhead to control pressures and fluids during drilling and completion and in particular to quickly close a well when something goes wrong in order to prevent spillage of mud, oil and/or flammable gas
Mud motors	pump drilling mud or cement through the system
Mud pits	separate coarse drilling cuttings from the drilling mud before it is pumped back down the borehole
Mud pumps	a machine that changes power into movement and is used for pumping the mud
Shale shakers	separate fine silt and sand from drilling fluid

 

38. Read the text and answer the questions given below:

Let's regard the construction of a jack-up not self-propelled drilling rig of Pomorye type. Her purpose is to carry out prospecting drilling oil and gas wells 6,500 meters deep at the depth of the sea from 20 up to 100 me­ters. The areas of operation are the Barents Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk. The conditions of operation are as follows:

· water depth (m)	100
· wave height (m)	15
· wind velocity (m/sec)	45
· current velocity(m/sec)	0.5

 

The rig is used in moderate-cold maritime climate. She is designed for operating in the ice conditions of fine smashed ice. On passage the strength of the wind is to be up to 6, sea- up to 5.

Displacement:
Not loaded (t)	14,780
Amount of supplies (t)	1,700
Specifications: Main dimensions:
Length (m)	88.2
Breadth (m)	68.0
Free board (m)	9.7
Draught, not loaded (m)	5.3
Draught with supplies (m)	5.5
Length of base (m)	142.8
Diameter of casing shoe (m)	16.0

                                      

Equipment:
Diesel-generator 1,800 kWt, 750 rpm, 690 V	3
Diesel-generator 500 kWt, 500 rpm, 400 V	1
Emergency diesel-generator 200 kWt, 150 rpm, 400 V	1
Boiler 2,5 t/h,7 kg/cm	2
Derrick, carrying capacity 400 t, height 53 m	1
Mud pump 950 kWt.	3
Cementing equipment, compressor station, logging equipment	3
Deck crane carrying capacity 63 t	2
Complement	90

Crewmembers are allocated in 35 double and 18 single cabins.

Vocabulary

self-propelled	самоходный
displacement, n	водоизмещение
free board	надводный борт
casing shoe	башмак обсадной колонны
derrick (boring frame)	стрела, вышка
mud pump	буровой насос
cementing equipment	цементировочное  оборудование
compressor station	компрессорная станция
logging equipment	каротажное оборудование
complement, n	численность экипажа

 

1. What is the purpose of the drilling rig of Pomorye type?

2. Where are the areas of her operation located?

3. What are the operating conditions of this drilling rig?

4. What is the displacement of the Pomorye type drilling rig?

5. What are the main dimensions of this drilling rig?

6. What equipment does she carry?

7. How many crewmembers are there on board this drilling rig?

8. Where do they live?

 

39. Read, translate the text and do the tasks given below:

Condeep platform

Underwater drilling is taking place today in many parts of the world - indeed off every continent. The managing director of a large interna­tional oil company said that over the next 25 years as much as one quarter of the additional oil and gas needed by the world would come from under the ocean bed - and at far greater depths than in the current exploration programmes.

Apart from drilling platforms, production facilities are needed to get the oil out of the ground. The Condeep platform shown here is a Norwe­gian design and consists of nineteen 66 feet diameter cylindrical cells 185 feet high. These cells form a base about 300 feet in diameter, from which three columns project to support the deck. The overall height from the sea bed to the helicopter deck is 650 feet. Sixteen of the cylindrical cells provide an oil storage volume of the million barrels while the other three form the bases of the columns.

Two of the supporting columns can be used for drilling (up to 35 wells) the third column is used for services. Constructing such a platform is, of course, far from easy. It is necessary to have a deep water con­struction site, and such sites are hard to find.

The Condeep base is built in a dry dock and then floated out to a deep water site. After that, the columns are constructed.

Vocabulary

Condeep platform	бетонное стационарное морское основание
cell, n	камера
column, n	колонна
support, v	поддерживать
barrel, n	баррель
base, n	основание
construction site	строительная площадка

Unit 4

North Sea Gold

South Rogaland is the centre of oil and gas industry of Norway. The main ports of this area are Sola, Sandness, Rogaland, Stavanger. Some of the biggest names in the oil industry have set up business in the ports of South Rogaland and contribute enormously to the local economy. As investment in oil development goes up they are here to stay.

Stavanger and South Rogaland are the undisputed oil capital of Nor­way, with oil and offshore activity responsible for 60 per cent of jobs across the region. More than 20 000 people in Rogaland owe their live-hoods to the oil industry including several thousand working for more than 100 companies at both Dusavik and Tanager offshore bases. Almost every kind of oil related activity, from the construction of platforms and drilling equipment by huge multinational organisations to the provision of supplies and services by a host of smaller, specialised companies, is represented in the region.

And with more than 60 billion NOK set to be invested in the Norwegian oil industry over the next few years, the importance of oil to the region shows no sign of declining for at least the next 50 years.

The region's decision to seize the initiative has led to 12 international oil companies and more than 100 international service and technology companies establishing operations in South Rogaland since the discovery of oil back in the late 1960s. These include Statoil, BP, Shell, Norsk Hydro, Saga, Total, Norske Agip, Esso, Amoco etc, while Norway Directorate of oil is also based in the Stavanger region.

Norske Shell's depot and refinery at Sola alone handles 5.45 million tons of gas and fuel oil a year, ensuring that the company enjoys a 20 percent share of the Norwegian gasoline market.

Phillips Petroleum Company Norway, which currently employs 1,350 staff on platforms in the eight most southern North Sea fields uses offshore base at Sola's Tananger terminal to provide 320,000 tons of supplies yearly to Ekofisk. The company has been a key player in the Norwegian oil sector since making the first commercial find of oil nearly 30 years ago.

Phillips' 30 platforms in the Ekofisk field, located 1.5 days steaming time from Tananger or a 90 minute helicopter ride, have to date pro­duced more than two billion barrels of oil and nine million cubic feet of gas for the European market.

Aker Maritime Group is another huge oil company working in the re­gion, it is the parent company of Aker Base, which operates offshore supply bases at Dusavik and Tananger, is a market leader in the pro­duction of floating production platform systems, with 20 percent of all "floaters" worldwide having been built to its designs. The Group, also re­sponsible for the concept development and construction of several land-based terminals and plants, has designed 50 percent of the world's newest Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels. Multi-faceted Aker Maritime also provides loading and discharging equipment for offshore installations and tankers, ships' gears and complete mooring system for FPSO vessels. The Group employs 12,000 staff worldwide with 300 being based at Aker Base's Dusavik and Tananger offshore supply bases. The company is operator for the larg­est supply bases in the North Sea. Its two bases at Dusavik and Tananger each cover an area of 400,000 square metres.

At Dusavik Aker Base has its main shore base consisting of 700 me­tres of deep water quay and the base itself- which includes warehous­ing, open air and tubular storage and quayside facilities. It is home to more than 60 oil an service companies involved in a variety of activities. Aker Base's modern Tananger supply base is also a leading supplier, both to the offshore industry as well as the service company is working in close co-operation with the oil companies, liner companies and agents to introduce regular liner services between its supply bases.

It needs to say that the Stavanger region is also home to market leading offshore fabrication companies Kvaerner Rosenberg, Norwegian Contractors and Offshore & Marine.

Kvaerner Rosenberg, part of the Kvaerner Group, operates the Port of Stavanger's 100-year old Kvaerner Verft terminal, which is now one of the world's leading offshore fabrication yards producing a range of rigs, platforms and floating production units.

More than 1,400 staff currently work at the high-tech terminal which counts the construction of the multi-billion US dollar "Sea Launch" float­ing rocket platform, designed to launch satellites into space, among its most recently completed projects.

Although the demand for deep sea concrete oil installations has dra­matically declined in recent years, Stavanger based Norwegian Con­tractors remains at forefront of the field.

The company has installed some of the largest oil and gas platforms ever built, including the 370-metre high Troll platform which provides 10 per cent of the gas consumed in Western Europe.

Offshore & Marine AS uses its 40,000 sq. metre facility at the Port of Sandness for the design, fabrication and maintenance of drilling and production equipment for vessels and rigs operating within the Norwe­gian offshore market.

Dusavik base operator Smedvig Offshore AS uses its 180,000 sq. metre facility to provide vital supplies and equipment to both its North Sea rigs and to Philips Petroleum Norway Company platforms at Eko-fisk.

Smedvig which owns and operates three semisubmersible drilling rigs as well as two huge jack-up rigs, is a market leader in the operation of worldwide self-erecting tender rigs and a key developer of advanced mobile production units.

Globally the company focus is on well construction and maintenance, mobile production and reservoir technology.

Both the Port of Stavanger Dusavik offshore base and Sola's Tananger terminal are home to a host of service sector companies de­voted to serving the North Sea oil industry. They include Nor-Cargo, D.Danielsen, Norwegian Exploration Service (Norex), Halliburton etc.

Other important service organizations based in the Stavanger region include IBM, Schlumberger, Scana Industries and RF-Rogaland Re­search, which is investigating ways of environmentally disposing of over the next 30 years.

Indeed oil is of such importance to Stavanger and the surrounding re­gion that Rogaland's capital city hosts numerous conferences and exhi­bitions on the subject, including the biannual Offshore Northern Seas (ONS) international oil fair, attended by more than 1,000 companies and nearly 30,000 visitors.

Oil currently accounts for 60% of activities at the ports of both Sta­vanger and Sola and is expected to continue to do so for years to come as the search for new fields in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, blessed with almost limitless supplies of natural gas, goes on into the next millenium.

Vocabulary

undisputed	бесспорный
to owe	быть обязанным
livehood	средства к жизни
a host	множество
to seize	захватывать
depot	хранилище
gasoline	бензин
slot	прорезь
tubular storage	трубохранилище
wellhead	устье скважины
concrete gravity base structure	бетонное основание гравитационного типа (удерживается за на месте счет собственного веса и веса балласта)
quayside facilities	причальные сооружения
forefront	передний край
tender rig	тендерная платформа, используемая для размещения части оборудования и материалов при бурении со стационар­ного основания
to bless	благословлять
millennium	тысячелетие

2. Answer the following questions:

1. What are the main oil and gas ports in Norway?

2. Do many people in Rogaland owe their livehoods due to the oil industry?

3. What kinds of activity are represented in the region?

4. How large are the investments in the Norwegian oil industry?

5. Are there any signs of declining of oil importance?

6. What kinds of companies are establishing their opera­tions in the South Rogaland?

7. What company dominates in the North Sea fields?

8. How long has this company been a key player in the Norwegian oil sector?

9. How much oil does this company produce?

10. Where does Aker Maritime operate offshore supply bases?

11. What kind of company is Aker Maritime Group?

12. What kinds of structures does it build?

13. What does Aker Maritime provide?

14. Where are the bases of Aker?

15. What does Dusavik Aker Base include?

16. What does Aker supply base co-operate with? What for?

17. What other com­panies operate in the Stavanger region?

18. Has the demand for deep sea concrete oil installations declined recently?

19. What kind of oil in­stallations has the Norwegian Contractors produced?

20. What compa­nies uses facilities of the Port of Sandness, the port of Sola and the Port of Stavanger else?

21. How can you prove the importance of oil to Stavanger?

22. Is oil expected to be very important for the Norwegian ports in the next millenium?

3. Express the main idea of the text. Retell it according to the following plan:

1. South Rogaland as the centre of the Norwegian oil and gas industry Main ports of the region.

2. Significance of offshore oil extraction for South Rogaland.

3. The port of Sola.

4. Dusavik Aker Base, the leader in production of offshore installations.

5. Stavanger region leading offshore fabrication companies.

6. Service companies operating in South Rogaland.

7. Prospects of development of oil and gas industry in Norway.

4. Translate into English using Subjunctive Mood:

1) Что бы вы сделали, если бы вы завтра оказались в одном из портов южного Рогаланда?

2) Если бы 10 лет назад норвежцам, живущим на юге страны, рассказали бы об огромных запасах морской нефти, они бы не поверили.

3) Нефтяная компания Акер использовала бы все портовые сооружения порта Сола, если бы у нее была такая возможность.

4) Если бы в следующем году компания Филипс Петролеум закончила бы строительство газопровода, газ мог бы доставляться с месторождений прямо в хранилища.

5) Если бы в прошлом году строительная фирма закончила бы сооружение этого трубохранилища, в порту было бы гораздо больше свободного места.

6) Чем бы занимались жители Ставангера, если бы нефтегазовая промышленность не была развита в этом регионе?

7) Сократился бы спрос на бетонные основания гравитационного типа, если бы в Норвегии строилось бы больше плавучих самоподъемных плат­форм?

8) Я бы предпочел работать на нефтеперерабатывающем заводе в порту, чем ходить в море, если бы у меня сейчас была возможность выбирать себе работу.

5. Reproduce the text given below in English:

 

Unit 5

Working from afar

from: Offshore Engineer

by: Jennifer Pallanich

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

 

Vocabulary

scrutinize, v	внимательно изучать, исследовать
onslaught, n	натиск, атака
feed, n	подача материала, поданный материал
frac job	испытание на разрыв, гидравлический разрыв пласта
squiggly, adj	волнообразный
log, n	буровой журнал, каротажная диаграмма (диаграмма результатов геофизических исследований в скважине)
gravel packing	заполнение скважинного фильтра гравием
fracturing, n	гидравлический разрыв пласта (закачкой жидкости под большим давлением)
redeploy, v	реорганизовать
WITS (Windows Integrated Test Suite)	комплекс тестов в среде Windows, контрольный набор тестов WITS
hub	центр
round-the-clock	круглосуточный

 

2. Make the article review. Use the following expressions:

 

The plan which can be followed making the article review	Expressions which can be used while making the article review
The title of the article	The article is headlined … The headline of the article I’ve read is …
The author of the article; When and where the article was published	The author of the article is … The article is written by … It was published in …
The main idea of the article	The main idea of the article is … The article is about … The article is devoted to … The article deals with … The article touches upon … The purpose of the article is to give the reader some information on … The aim of the article is to provide the reader with some material (data) on …
The content of the article; Some facts, names, figures	The author starts by telling the reader (about …/that …) The author writes (states, stresses, thinks, points out) that … The article describes … According to the article … Further the author reports that … The article goes on to say that …
Conclusion	In conclusion … The author comes to the conclusion that …

From Russia with tough love

from: Offshore Engineer
by: Derek Brower

Monday, October 29, 2007

 

1. Translate into Russian the following word combinations:

Host governments; resource nationalism; inward investment; Russia’s environmental watchdog; to be faced with $30 billion in fines; production sharing agreements; slippage in the contracts; to strip of the development licence; to play hardball; to finalise finer points of the contract; to pursue international agenda; downstream assets.

 

Service station

Having seen BP and Shell put to the sword, companies vying for a stake in the vast Shtokman gas field in the Russian Barents Sea inevitably set their sights low. Gazprom had already disappointed them once. Statoil, Total, Chevron, Hydro and ConocoPhillips were all originally on a shortlist of potential partners at the 3.7tcm field. But in October 2006, Gazprom claimed that none of them had provided a suitable development plan, leaving the company to develop Shtokman on its own.

That was as much to do with politics as it was to do with the technical plans. The inclusion of two US companies on the list allowed Russia to play hardball during negotiations with Washington over Russia’s entry to the World Trade Organisation. A year after it ended negotiations with the shortlisted quintet, Gazprom realised that it would, after all, need a company with offshore expertise to develop Shtokman. But by then, with Sakhalin and Kovykta looming large in the recent memories of foreign IOCs, Gazprom was in a position to dictate terms to Total, the company it chose.

Total’s agreement could be the clearest sign yet of just how weak the majors’ position has become. Details of the deal remain murky but what is known is that Total will take a 25% stake in Sevmorneftegaz, the company formed to develop the field. Gazprom will retain 51% of that company – leaving 24% for at least one more partner, probably Statoil, which it will announce in coming weeks – and own all of the resources. When the field comes onstream, Total will return its stake in Sevmorneftegaz to Gazprom.

Last month, Total chief executive Christophe de Margerie claimed that the contract would allow Total to book reserves from the field. But the company’s shareholders will want to watch carefully to make sure that is true. Gazprom says it owns the gas and has implied that Total will be paid a fee for services. Jonathan Stern, of Oxford’s Institute for Energy Studies, says Total has yet to finalise many of the finer points of the contract.

If a model for this deal could be found elsewhere in the world, it would be in Mexico’s multiple service contract (MSC). There, too, the foreign firm providing the service is prohibited from owning the reserve. Yet in Mexico, the majors have avoided the MSCs en masse. In Russia, it seems, the potential rewards remain sufficiently great to make attractive even a glorified service contract of the kind Total has signed.

Yet it isn’t just in Russia where the majors are being squeezed. In Kazakhstan, Eni’s slow progress as operator of the Kashagan oilfield in the Caspian Sea has erupted in a conflict with Almaty that is reminiscent of Shell’s difficulties in Sakhalin. The difference here is that there isn’t much sympathy for Eni. Kashagan is Kazakhstan’s most important energy development – and one of the world’s most significant in decades. When production peaks, output will be 1.5 million b/d, making it the largest greenfield development to come into production in decades. But the problem for Kazakhstan is that Eni has twice delayed start-up and continues to increase the cost of the project.

The company’s latest estimate, says the energy ministry, is that Kashagan will cost $137 billion, more than double the $57 billion estimated – Eni says phase one development will cost a more modest $19 billion, itself a neardoubling of the original $10 billion price tag. It will now come onstream in 2010, two years later than the most recent deadline and five years after the first. The delays and cost overruns, says Almaty, are contract violations – and serious ones, given that they will affect the country’s economic growth.

The likeliest outcome is that a new royalty regime will be agreed with the companies developing Kashagan, which include Total, Shell, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and Inpex. Eni has ‘violated’ its contract, say some analysts, noting that oil companies don’t want to hear the word, because it destroys their argument that this is about resource nationalism. But it also remains possible that Eni will be stripped of the operatorship, or that Kazakhstan state company Kazmunaigas’ stake will grow. Either way, Eni is in no position to win an argument with Almaty. It can only hope to lessen its losses.

Meanwhile, as the majors find their power being shortcircuited on these frontier developments, their vanquishers – state companies and the well-connected listed firms from resource rich countries – go from strength to strength. While Kazmunaigas has squeezed Eni in the Caspian, it has also been pursuing its own international agenda, buying downstream assets in Romania. Gazprom’s ambitions in the European gas market have become so pronounced that last month the European Commission added a whole new clause to its third package of proposals on the continent’s energy liberalisation that would prevent Gazprom – or any other foreign company – from buying control of assets in the EU unless European companies were also free to do the same in the host country.

It might not come in time to stop Russia’s Lukoil, another company that is proving an exemplar of the shifting power balances in the energy world. Last month it said it had $10 billion to spend on refineries or other assets in Europe and would seek to capitalise on the weakness in the downstream market of Western integrated majors, which hold reserves in Europe that are marginal compared with Lukoil’s 15 billion barrels in the Russian ground. Even in their native markets, the power of the majors seems to be in decline.

Lukoil is a listed company – ConocoPhillips owns 20% of it – but its close ties to the Russian government are increasingly a source of power and persuasion. While president Putin toured Asia and Australia last month selling weapons and buying uranium, he took Vagit Alekperov, head of Lukoil, along for company. In Indonesia, Lukoil signed an upstream contract with Pertamina for ‘several prospective offshore blocks’ that Alekperov thinks could hold up to 150 million barrels. Lukoil, he added, is already the Russian company wi