Netherlands NEWS

Ørsted is set to develop one of the world’s largest renewable hydrogen plants to be linked to industrial demand in the Netherlands and Belgium. 'SeaH2Land' is an ambitious vision, linking gigawatt-scale electrolysis to the large industrial demand in the Dutch-Flemish North Sea Port cluster through an envisaged regional cross-border pipeline. The green electricity required to produce the renewable hydrogen is proposed to come from the build-out of additional large-scale offshore wind.

Royal Dutch Shell will not raise salaries for most of its employees this year as it looks to save cash amid an overhaul of the company. There will be as many as 9,000 job losses over the next two years, with cuts already announced in Netherlands, UK and Malaysia. In July, Chief Financial Officer Jessica Uhl told analysts that halted bonus payouts would save the company about $1billion.

Heerema, a major marine contractor based in Leiden, the Netherlands, has broken the record for the largest single lift jacket removal. Heerema’s semi-submersible crane vessel Sleipnir successfully removed the 8,100-tonne Jotun-B jacket in the Norwegian North Sea for client Vår Energi. The project was completed on Thursday, July 16 and the jacket was offloaded onto the quayside of the decommissioning site in Vats, AF Miljøbase. The removal was completed in four days.

Subsea inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) firm N-Sea has won three contracts in the Middle East. The combined worth of these contracts is about £12 million. The company has also been chosen for a saturation diving campaign for spool, clamp and riser installations. Headquartered in the Netherlands, apart from offering services to oil and gas, the company also serves the renewable sector.

Two explosions and a gas leak at a chemical plant south of Rotterdam have resulted in a heavy fine for energy major Shell. The company has been fined $2.8 million by a Dutch court for violating Dutch labour and environmental laws. The company has also been found responsible for a leak of ethylene oxide gas that lasted from Nov.14, 2015, until Jan. 27, 2016, at the same plant.

Netherlands-based Ampelmann has inked its first contract in Mexico for providing offshore access services. With the award of this contract, Ampelmann has added a new region in its portfolio. The Dutch firm has deployed its fully motion compensated A-type system in Mexico, mobilised on a flotel. The system will enable safe transfer of personnel from vessels to offshore platforms, and back.

In an attempt to expand its oil and gas transport solutions in Middle East, Netherlands-based Mammoet has joined hands with Dubai-based Astro Offshore. Mammoet, which provides engineered heavy lifting and transport services, is looking to grow its capability to provide onshore and offshore transport solutions for oil and gas construction projects in the Middle East. Astro Offshore provides services throughout Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Saudi Aramco has concluded the purchase of 50% stakes in the Netherlands-based Arlanxeo joint venture (JV). Aramco has now gained full ownership of the synthetic rubber company. The oil major bought the stakes from Lanxess in a €1.5bn deal. Proceedings from the transaction will allow Lanxess to reduce financial debt. Arlanxeo, which produces synthetic rubber and elastomers, will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Aramco.

Exxon’s Rotterdam refinery will undergo several key developments to meet the stringent quality standards in base stocks manufacturing. The upgrade will be the final step in support of the full stream production in 2019. The developments will include new lab facilities with state-of-the-art equipment, implementation of ExxonMobil’s proprietary Global BPIMS, and so on. The improvements are in line with ExxonMobil’s pledge towards product integrity and reliability at the Rotterdam refinery.

In a press conference, Saudi Aramco and a leading chemical company Lanxess announced that the Saudi’s oil giant is interested in procuring Lanxess’s 50% share, worth €1.5 billion, in Arlanxeo. It is a Netherland-based chemical JV of Aramco and Lanxess. After this acquisition, Saudi Aramco will emerge as a fully strengthened company in the entire petroleum value-chain. Also, this will help Arlanxeo gear up the growth in the kingdom.

Dutch multinational, LyondellBasell, is into discussions with Odebrecht to acquire leading plastic producer, Braskem. The two companies jointly talked about sharing a strong culture of operational excellence and legacies of value-creating innovation. The negotiations are into preliminary phase and no agreements have been reached yet. Appropriate diligence, definitive agreements, and corporate approvals are still due.