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NEWS AND INITIATIVES OF MEMBERS
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The ACP Pipeline Group
The ACP (Association des Consultants Pétroliers) is a non-profit organisation (French law 1901) whose objective is to network independent Consultants within the Oil and Gas industry. Within this organisation, the Consultants focused on pipeline teamed together to offer services similar in nature and reliability to the ones of the best service companies, while staying independent Consultant.
The ACP Pipeline Group is therefore a network of independent consultants covering all the spectrum of this industry from upstream to downstream, but with a focus on pipeline. The operating core is made of 17 senior professionals of the petroleum industry. The narrow world of pipeline is in fact a wide world, and the professionals of the ACP Pipeline Group can handle all the various problems related to pipeline.
They deal not only with standard Construction and Operation problems, but with all the different specialities like Training, Inspecting, Auditing or the different expertises like Hydraulic, Control Systems, SCADA, Leak Detection, or Strength of Materials, even Environment and Pollution problems. Looking for a Project Manager for a construction project (on-shore / off-shore) or a Hydraulic expert (steady state / Transient, dense phase / non-Newtonian fluids / heat conduction), looking for a first pipeline route optimization for a feasibility project, looking for help for the revamping of an aging pipeline or a standard audit, as long as the problem deals with pipeline, either one of the consultant of our group will be able to help, or through our network we will find the independent consultant you can rely on.
We are seniors, so through our long experience not only we learnt to manipulate the most modern tools, but working with us you will also get the industrial best practises, what is done and what is not, even who does and who does not. Members of the Pipeline Group are Independent Consultants, i.e. professionals working directly with the client, who are paid only when this client is satisfied, and who make business only through their reputation. Independent consultant, they go anywhere and are operational on the spot. If you sign to day, tomorrow they will operate within your teams. They know what costs a single day without deliveries in operation, or a single day late in construction. Their interests are directly linked to yours.
CENTRAL ASIA AS GAS PROVIDER FOR EUROPE (Gilbert de Montricher)…
Guaranty against lack of gas supply in Europe, for the medium / long term (year 2020) is a complex problem; it is nothing more than predicting the future. The solution relies on estimates of future production and consumption. Theses estimates are difficult and often non consistent, even among experts. Nevertheless, it can be assumed that:
- Europe is and will stay a net Gas Importer. The Gas will flow essentially from Russia, Algeria and Central Asia.
- Russia and Central Asia will be net exporters. The gas will be exported to Europe and China. Russian exports .
Russia can, without the help of the Turkmen gas, keep exporting gas to Europe only if its economic growth is weak.On the contrary, with the help of the Turkmen gas, Russia will keep exporting gas to Europe under any case. Not with certainty, but nevertheless with high probability, it can be said that in year 2020 the supply of Europe with Russian gas will be possible only with the help of the Turkmen gas.Chinese Gas Imports.The data are fairly consistent (from 37 to 60 Gm3), i.e. of the order of 50% of the Turkmen gas production. From the pipelining, this gas will flow from Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, (resp. 70/30/25 Gm3). So, from theses numbers, the Chinese’s had over invest, gas imports limited to Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, or limited only to Russia would have been sufficient. Catherine Locatelli & Jean-Pierre Angelier argue that the Chinese’s accepts theses pipelines investments only to push on the prices down through free trade, Russia and Central Asia (Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan) being both willing to sell them gas. Following this hypothesis, the data are then consistent, with 45 / 60 Gm3 flowing from Russia or Central Asia.
Turkmen gas exports.There is a large amount of gas in Turkmenistan, but it is already sold to Russia, Pakistan, Ukraine and China (resp. 85/30/55/30 Gm3). Theses data are not consistent with the actual gas export capacity of Turkmenistan (110 Gm3/an). It then becomes clear that the ex-President Supermurat Niyazov oversold the Turkmen gas, by a factor close to two. If nothing is sure about the future, what can happen besides a complete renegotiation of the allocation of the Turkmen gas?
Let it be politics or economics, Europe clear interest, is to keep as many gas providers as possible in order to avoid any dependency on Russia, whatever origin the gas flowing out the pipes of Gazprom could have.One possibility of diversification of supply is the Turkmen gas, and we already know that this supply will be renegotiated. The already existing pipelines will drive this renegotiation. So, for this negotiation in sight, the clear interest of Europe is the existence of pipelining capable of transporting the Turkmen gas directly to Europe i.e. without the help of Gazprom tubes.That is the quite heavy stake of the « Nabucco » project.
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