Contributing to the nation’s energy transition with multi-fuel solutions

Ravi Shankar Srinivasan, Director and CEO, discusses the role of Shapoorji Pallonji Energy Private Limited as the only floating production, storage and offloading vessels company in India.

Please tell us about your company, primary business, and key markets

We are headquartered in Mumbai, have our engineering base in India and Malaysia, and our teams are present in Singapore and Brazil. The operations and maintenance of our FPSO assets and other onshore oil and gas processing and production facilities are managed from Mumbai.

We have been able to position SP Energy among the world’s leading FPSO solution providers and look forward to undertaking large FPSO projects in various regions, including South America and West Africa, while continuing to strengthen our presence in FPSO markets in SEA where we already have presence.

SP Energy pioneered integrated operations and maintenance solutions in India wherein we take complete responsibility for managing O&M of entire oil and gas production facilities. We are expanding this business outside India and exploring Middle Eastern and African markets where we believe we can deliver value.

SP Energy is actively investing in research and development in its focus areas to develop a clean energy portfolio. Our team is progressing well on developing new floating LNG and FSRU solutions to help our clients monetise gas, and serve our communities in transitioning towards cleaner fuels. We are investing in and developing EPCIC and O&M capabilities in floating offshore wind solutions and CCUS technologies.

How do you view the 2024 global energy market and your part in the energy transition?

We are seeing high demand for FPSO projects, and the medium-term outlook for the industry is positive. Leveraging our expertise in delivering and operating FPSO projects and integrated O&M solutions of surface facilities for energy companies in India, we are now extending these technologically advanced services globally, thereby showcasing the technological prowess of Indian services in a highly specialised and forefront segment of the energy sector.

Still, the world will need hydrocarbons while we transition. To satisfy requirements during this phase, we see potential for high investments in the offshore oil and gas space.

Our Sterling Streamline FPSO hull is a standardised design with green technologies that will help oil companies to develop large oil and gas fields with minimal carbon footprint. It is future-ready and a sustainable design that features smart and customisable plug-and-play topside configurations for reliable and efficient execution that shall maximise uptime.

We are working on developing a floating LNG terminal in India. This is an important investment that would ensure an efficient supply of natural gas to Mumbai. We are also developing other solutions for the LNG value chain we see as a bridging fuel that will play a great role in reducing emissions in emerging economies.

What are your plans this week?

We take the opportunity to proudly announce our FPSO Armada Sterling V achieved ‘first oil’ milestone on January 7 and commenced production at Krishna Godavari deepwater block KG-DWN-98/2, offshore Kakinada for ONGC.

This FPSO has a processing capacity of about 60,000bpd of liquid and 3 MMSCMD of gas and is the largest floating installation in the Indian subcontinent. It is one of the few permanently moored internal turret (very large) FPSO designed for North Sea-type cyclonic sea conditions.

We are the first to use low NOX power solutions in India. The FPSO is also equipped with state-of-the-art technologies, including machine learning aspects, radar-controlled oil slick monitoring technologies and remote monitoring.

The project also underscores India’s high-end technical proficiency - it was designed, engineered, and delivered by an Indian team of engineers and managers and its operations undertaken entirely by an Indian crew.

This marks a momentous milestone in India’s energy security by contributing 7% of total oil and gas production.

How key is India and the sub-continent to your business?

SP Energy has delivered three FPSOs in India - our most recent, Armada Sterling V, is India’s first in the eastern offshore of India. We also have two FPSOs with ONGC off the west coast of India. Our first FPSO, Armada Sterling, has been operating at D1 field for more than 10 years. ONGC has entrusted its confidence in us by extending the contract until 2035.

Our second FPSO, Armada Sterling II, has been deployed in C7 field for nine years. Like Armada Sterling, this FPSO also has 100% uptime and industry-leading safety performance. Our facilities have successfully achieved crude off-take of ~120 million barrels and gas off-take of around 190k MMSCF to date.