Gastech Days I & II: Energy transformation through innovation

The first two days of Gastech 2024 have flown by with talking points aplenty and a who's-who of the energy industry in Houston at the city's George R. Brown Convention Center. 

Former US President George W. Bush got things going on Monday night by highlighting his state and country's achievements in the global energy sphere at the Gastech pre-event gala dinner. 

The state of Texas is the US' top crude oil and natural gas producing state. It also has the nation's highest refining capacity by some distance and remains a wind power leader. As Q4 2024 approaches, the US remains world's largest LNG exporter and its largest crude oil producer. 

However, as Day I of Gastech - which is formally running from September 17 to 20 - kicked off on Tuesday, energy bosses bemoaned the lack of clarity and consistency from Washington on policy matters pertaining to natural gas exploration and LNG permits. (Read full report for Forbes here)

The Oilholic kick-started his Gastech 2024 speaking circuit journey on Tuesday as well, with India's Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri - a seasoned diplomat turned politician and a lively keynote speaker at international events. 

Our fireside chat was titled 'Energy transformation through innovation and investment'. It also served as a curtain raiser for India Energy Week 2025. 

Puri explained how India was managing the cyclical volatility in the energy market, its efforts aimed at improving energy diversity, investments in renewables and a call for changing the paradigm from a production-oriented approach to a more consumption-oriented approach. All at a time when oil prices are currently lurking around 2021 lows. 

The event's exhibition floor also opened its doors on the first morning for the 4-day event, with 800 exhibitors and 20 international country pavilions. Overall 50,000 attendees are expected this week, with 7,000 delegates from 125 countries. 

Later on Tuesday, yours truly also hosted a pivotal panel discussion titled 'Harnessing the advantages of natural gas to fuel the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution.' 

The panellists included Rebekah Eggers, Global Client Engagement & Innovation Director, Energy & Resources Sector, IBM, Arun Kumar Singh, Chairman & CEO, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd, Ken West, President & CEO, Honeywell Energy and Sustainability Solutions, Naser Al Yafei, SVP, Strategy, Sustainability & Transformation, ADNOC Gas, and Matthew Babin, Head of Energy & Natural Resources, Palantir Technologies. 

The panel touched on the growing need for electricity - often and increasingly generated by natural gas plants - to power data centers and fuel the AI revolution. This is expected to drive a surge in natural gas demand. 

Some panellists noted that natural gas is the most cost efficient energy source capable of delivering the round-the-clock, reliable power required by tech giants. Others said AI itself could chalk sustainable future pathways predicated on renewables. 

It better be, for according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global power demand from data centers could skyrocket to over 1,000 TWh by 2026 – double the levels seen in 2022. 

It is a subject area yours truly rounded up the first day of Gastech 2024 with a BBC Business Today interview with Sally Bundock. We talked about the complexities and opportunities of using natural gas to power the AI revolution which seems to be the most plausible near-term solution. 

Day II - Wednesday - brought further profound discussions on the energy transition and learning to do more (in terms of throughput) with less (energy). It is something the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) segment is taking pretty seriously. 

The Oilholic touched on the subject in a fireside chat with Chris Ashton, CEO of Worley, who discussed how contractors manage these variables in today’s operational landscape and are having to contend with a high interest rate and inflation climate in a very competitive industry. 

Ashton also offered perspectives on how AI, new technologies and innovative approaches are revolutionizing energy networks, power grids and gas infrastructure, and how these advancements contribute to the efficient and cost-effective completion of projects to accelerate the path toward net zero. 

That's all for now folks. There's plenty more to come from yours truly from Gastech. So keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

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© Gaurav Sharma 2024. Photo I: Houston's George R. Brown Convention Center, the venue of Gastech 2024. Photo II: Gaurav Sharma holds a fireside chat with Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, India on 17.09.24. Photo III: Gastech 2024 exhibition floor. Photo IV: Gaurav Sharma on BBC World Business Today on 17.09.24 at 11:46 CDT. (Courtesy: BBC) Photo V: Gaurav Sharma holds a fireside chat with Chris Ashton, CEO of Worley on 18.09.24.

Gastech 2024 sessions to be hosted by yours truly

The Oilholic is delighted to be back in Houston, Texas, US for Gastech 2024, one of the world's largest energy industry fixtures, being held here from September 17 to 20. Yours truly will be holding three panel sessions and two fireside chats at the event with Hardeep Singh Puri, India's Honorable Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, and Chris Ashton, Chief Executive Officer of Worley. 

The three panels will include distinguished industry thought leaders. Please do join if you can for some fantastic and insightful industry dialogues. Here are the details of the sessions:

Tuesday, September 17, 2024 @ 12:45 pm CDT

IEW2025: Energy transformation through innovation and investment

With His Excellency Hardeep Singh Puri, Honorable Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, India

(Click image to enlarge for details)

Tuesday, September 17, 2024 @ 4:50 pm CDT

Harnessing the advantages of natural gas to fuel the Artificial Intelligence revolution

With:

- Rebekah Eggers, Global Client Engagement & Innovation Director, Energy & Resources Sector, IBM

- Arun Kumar Singh, Chairman & CEO, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd

- Ken West, President & CEO, Honeywell Energy and Sustainability Solutions 

- Naser Al Yafei, SVP - Strategy, Sustainability & Transformation, ADNOC Gas

- Matthew Babin, Head of Energy & Natural Resources, Palantir Technologies

(Click image to enlarge for details)

September 18, 2024 @ 10:40 am CDT

Delivering projects in a challenging operating and cost environment

Executive leadership fireside chat with Chris Ashton, CEO, Worley

(Click image to enlarge for details)

September 19, 2024 @ 10:45 am CDT

Decarbonizing heavy transportation: Collaborations to address the acceleration of climate technology solutions from development to deployment

With:

- Sukhmal Jain, Director (Marketing) & Board Member, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited

- Yoki Firnandi, CEO, PT Pertamina International Shipping

- Meg Gentle, Executive Director, HIF Global

- Mark S. Brownstein, SVP, Environmental Defense Fund

(Click image to enlarge for details)

September 19, 2024 @ 2 pm CDT

Fostering greater climate technology innovation, deployment, and scale across the value chain

With:

- Mahdi Aladel, CEO of Aramco Ventures

- Paula Gant, President & CEO, GTI Energy

- Vikas Dhole, GM of Project Management, AspenTech

(Click image to enlarge for details)

Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

To follow The Oilholic on Twitter click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Forbes click here.

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To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2024. Photo © Gastech / dmgevents 2024. 

$80 is looking like Brent's price ceiling not the floor

The second day of the fresh trading week has heaped yet more misery on the oil market. Its the same story as the last week - of declines along familiar lines (global demand, lower Chinese imports, economic uncertainties, oversupply of light crude in particular - the whole works). 

Compared to last week, on Monday the Brent front-month contract ended 8.11% lower while the WTI ended 7.01% lower. 

Having breached $75 per barrel floor, Brent futures are now testing $70 with the WTI having fallen through it some time ago. This is for all intents and purposes a rout based on weaker demand and more than adequate supply. It means that as things stand - at least from the Oilholic's perspective - a $80 oil price is now the ceiling, and not the floor!

The current market sentiment has sent Wall Street banks scrambling to lower their oil price forecasts and market observers to tone down their demand growth forecasts for both this year and the next. This blogger has long been suggesting that 2024 will end in an oversupply of light sweet crude. But as it appears, the whole market might well be in surplus regardless. 

Away from pricing, here's yours truly latest missive for Energy Connects on M&A activity in the sector which appears to be pretty buoyant. Looks like the low price climate has seemingly narrowed the buyer-seller disconnect.

More musings to follow soon. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

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To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2024. Photo: Oil production site. © Jplenio / Pixabay, 2018. 

Up close to world's 'strongest land-based crane'

Last week the Oilholic headed out to Westdorpe, The Netherlands, for an opportunity to get up close to what is being described as 'the world's strongest land-based crane' designed and built by Mammoet. Meet the SK6000. 

But just how strong and big you ask? Well the vital stats provided by the good folks at Mammoet are impressive. The '6000' in the name gives it away that it has a maximum lift capacity of a whopping 6,000 tons. 

It can routinely lift components of up to 3,000 tons - roughly the weight of six Airbus A380 super-jumbo aircraft - to a height of 220 m. It utilizes 4,200 tons of ballast to lift with a maximum ground bearing pressure of 30 tons /sq m. 

Naturally for a crane of such a record-breaking capacity, it has to be ginormous and it is. Yours truly saw the gleaming red structure from nearly a mile away on approach to the Mammoet pilot site. We're looking at a main mast of 127-171 m, a jib length - or the distance between the crane axis and the jib - of 29-95 m and a ballast to mast foot length of 59.2 m. 

It has the capability of full electric power (grid, fuel cell, batteries) or standard generators, and it will be primarily containerised for simplicity of movement to sites worldwide. 

Undoubtedly, this beast of a crane will likely have a huge impact on the construction processes and life-cycles within the energy infrastructure sphere - its intended primary market. 

That is a world where there is constant pressure on project sponsors and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firms to complete projects safely, on time and on budget or if you wish - with more efficiency, more productivity and through safer operations. 

Nuclear, renewable and traditional energy project segments would all welcome Mammoet's latest offering. The company has lined up its first client for the SK6000 "in Asia" with a deployment scheduled at some point in 2025.  

Here's the Oilholic's more detailed feature for Forbes on the business case for the SK6000, following a conversation with Gavin Kerr, Director Global of Services at Mammoet. 

Additionally, he discussed the concept to completion journey of the crane, describing it as four-year endeavour involving multiple teams, and a satisfying final assembly phase that began in June and was completed last month ahead of schedule. 

The report also has more awesome photos of this modern engineering marvel, rather than yours truly's admittedly amateurish attempts to capture a huge crane on a tiny mobile phone camera for this blog!  

In a nutshell, Mammoet believes the SK6000 would enhance the serviceability for refining and offshore new-build and / or maintenance projects in the following ways:  

• Its facilitation of modular construction will allow energy facilities to be built simultaneously, in controlled environments that are safer and high-quality. 

• It would assist with building in larger components, which shortens the build phase and reduces on-site installation activities.

• The more (and the bigger bits) that can be built off-site, the fewer the connections needed to be made on-site with less testing and fewer working hours.

• And, a combination of the above reduces the time to first energy, and/or reduces the downtime needed to maintain facilities.

All-in-all a very interesting development for the energy EPC segment to watch out for as Mammoet's latest record breaker undergoes final safety and stress testing ahead of its first outing. With those final thoughts, it's time take your leave. More musings to follow soon. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

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To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2024. Photos: Gaurav Sharma at the launch site of heavy engineering group Mammoet's latest crane - the SK6000 which is considered to be the world's 'strongest land-based' one. © Gaurav Sharma, August 30, 2024. 

Speaking and moderating at Gastech 2024

Delighted to announce that yours truly will be moderating and speaking at Gastech 2024 in Houston, Texas, US, from September 17 to 20. Explore the global event's critical conference agenda that is driving the energy transition through groundbreaking innovation, visionary leadership, and action here.

And more on the Oilholic's panels and sessions here.

Looking forward to the deliberations, meeting thought leaders and friends. Join, if you can, for some fantastic industry exchanges and networking in H-Town.

Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

To follow The Oilholic on Twitter click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Forbes click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Motley Fool click here.

To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2024. Digital event banner courtesy of dmgevents.