Nancy Pelosi at least deserves appreciation for illuminating dark urges of energy politics.

The partnership operating Taq Taq oil field in the Kurdistan region of Iraq is drilling a well to test northern reach of the free-water level after an independent study cut proved and probable reserves by two thirds.

The US count of active drilling rigs jumped 15 units to 824 during the week ended Mar. 31, according to data from Baker Hughes Inc. This count is up 374 units from a year ago.

FAR Ltd., Perth, has signed an area of mutual interest (AMI) agreement with CNOOC UK Ltd. that covers selected permits offshore Senegal as well as FAR’s recent farm-in to blocks offshore Gambia.

The deepwater oil and gas industry is emerging from the downturn with three projects sanctioned for this year—BP PLC’s Mad Dog Phase 2 and Shell US’s Kaikias, both in the US Gulf of Mexico, and Noble Energy Corp.’s Leviathan project offshore Israel in the Mediterranean Sea.

The light, sweet crude oil contract for May settled above $50/bbl on the New York market Mar. 30 while the May Brent contract settled above $52.90/bbl in London. Prices edged lower on both markets on Mar. 31.

Siemens has received an order for a new combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) at King’s Lynn power station in Norfolk, United Kingdom (UK), owned by British energy and services company Centrica.

The existing plant is to be replaced with more efficient gas turbine technology.

The gas-fired power plant will consist of one unit in a single-shaft configuration and deliver a total capacity of approximately 380 MW to the grid. This is sufficient to provide electricity for approximately 380,000 British households. The agreement includes the installation and long-term servicing of a gas turbine, the servicing of a generator and a steam turbine, as well as the modernization of the existing instrumentation and control systems.

The scope of supply encompasses the replacement of the existing V94.3 gas turbine with a new SGT5-4000F gas turbine, delivered from the Siemens gas turbine factory in Berlin, Germany.

In addition, the existing generator and steam turbine will be refurbished at the Siemens site in Newcastle, UK. Also included in Siemens’ scope of supply are services including the extension of the existing air cooled condenser (ACC) and an update of the existing Distributed Control System (DCS) to the latest SPPA-T3000 Control System. Centrica will refurbish the heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) and parts of the Balance of Plant. The long-term service agreement (LTSA) between Siemens and Centrica is for a period of twelve years and includes spare parts, the performance of scheduled turnkey outages, as well as Power Diagnostics®, part of Siemens’ Digital Services for Energy portfolio.

“Siemens is able to offer Centrica highly efficient power plant equipment and services for the company’s specific requirements in a competitive market environment. The new Siemens F-class gas turbine will further increase the efficiency of the King’s Lynn plant”, says Olaf Kreyenberg, Head of PG Sales Europe at Siemens.

Siemens built the existing plant back in 1997 but was put into long-term preservation in March 2012 when the site became uneconomic to run. Since then the requirements of the UK electricity market have changed significantly and King’s Lynn needed to be reconfigured in order to continue to play a vital part in the UK’s electricity supply.

Siemens and Centrica worked closely together to develop the best fit. This joint effort has paid off as Centrica participated successfully in the UK Capacity Market Auction in December 2016. The King’s Lynn combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant was the only large new-build CCGT that was successful in the auction.

The fast start capability of these plants make them well suited to stabilize the grid and balance fluctuating renewable power generation.