Wood’s Hall sees oil and gas projects progressing while energy transition work gains scale

Interview with JEREMY HALL, President, Technical & Assurance in Projects, Wood plc   

Fig.1. Wood’s President of Technical & Assurance in Projects, Jeremy Hall.

Recently, World Oil Editor-in-Chief Kurt Abraham visited with Wood’s President of Technical & Assurance in Projects, Jeremy Hall, Fig. 1. During their conversation, Mr. Hall discussed his company’s operating philosophy, his sense of where the market is headed, major projects that Wood is involved in, and the engineering and other technical issues that he is most concerned about. What follows is the full text of that conversation.  

World Oil (WO): Several months ago, your firm, Wood, participated in the Gastech conference and exhibition in a significant way. What was the motivation behind this presence?   

Jeremy Hall (JH): I think it's really ideal for Wood specifically, because one of our centers of excellence is in Houston, especially for the upstream space and the gas space. It's definitely ideal that Gastech found its way to Houston’s city center. And we definitely wanted to take advantage of that.  

All of these conferences are really about relationships, and it's about learning. It's about understanding what the pulse is of our customers, but it’s also working with our other partners, both the large fabricators and some of our other smaller subcontractors, making sure that we get a lot of engagement in a short amount of time—a lot of time spent building relationships. Really, Wood is a people company. That's all we have. We don't make anything other than ingenuity. So, it is about the people, and that's both internal and external, making sure that our customers are taken care of and understanding what their trajectory is.  

Regarding Gastech specifically, we’re here, because we see that gas is part of that energy transition. And it's no surprise that in the energy transition, there’s not a transitioning to new energies like green hydrogen as quick as anyone was hoping for. But that's because of the cost of capital. It's because of making sure that projects are economic. In this transition, gas is going to be a super, uber-important driver in making sure that energy demand is kept up with over the next few decades.   

WO: So, on energy transition, what are some examples of projects that you are involved with?  

JH: We are involved with a lot of different projects. I think in some form or fashion, whether from a consulting standpoint early on or not, Wood is involved with a third of the energy transition projects in the world. And that's all across the globe. Specifically, we're seeing a large investment in Europe and in North America. That's where our focus has been over the last 24 months in the energy transition space. It is helping our customers understand their energy transition journey. So, balancing the longer term versus the near term, what can we do to take some practical steps in that energy transition? That's really about decarbonization. It could be methanol reduction, it could be electrification. All of those are the near-term, small baby steps that we're seeing, which are needed to get to the larger, true transition. i  

WO: I understand that we're still really several years away from even having the first blue hydrogen project up and running. Is that correct?  

JH: I think you're probably not too far off. I think we're not doing ourselves too many favors from a regulatory and permitting standpoint. We really need to see some step changes from governments all over the world before we start seeing some real transformation in that space for blue hydrogen. For green hydrogen, we are seeing some of those projects move forward. But I think it's early adopters. It's people that are not necessarily looking from an economic standpoint, but more looking at, “hey, how can we be the first one out of the gate, to say that we were the first?”    

WO: Circling back to traditional energy, specifically oil and gas, what are some of the major projects you have underway right now?   

JH: From a traditional oil and gas standpoint, we are executing quite a few major capital projects. I'm specifically responsible for the Western Hemisphere. And so, in the West, being the Americas, we are executing a couple of large offshore projects in the Gulf of Mexico. But we are also supporting ConocoPhillips in Alaska’s Willow project and on the North Slope. We are also looking after several midstream projects in in the continental U.S. And then, we’re continuing to support many of our IOCs in Canada and many NOCs in South America, with their traditional oil and gas developments.  

WO: With respect to the Gulf of Mexico, what specifically are you working on?   

Fig. 2. In the Mexican portion of the Gulf of Mexico, there is the Trion development project, where Woodside is the end client, and where Wood is working for Hyundai Heavy Industries on that particular project.

JH: So, one example is the Trion development project, where Woodside is the end client, and where we're working for Hyundai Heavy Industries on that particular project, Fig. 2. So, HHI is the EPC for that project, and we're supporting for engineering. That project is approximately 70% through detailed design.  

WO: When do you think that'll be finished?   

JH: For our scope, the aim was toward the end of last year. We also planned to wrap up with some follow-on support early in the first quarter of this year. But that's ongoing discussions.   

WO: You said there is more than one project in the Gulf.  

JH: We're doing quite a few projects in the Gulf. That (Trion) is the only one currently in detailed design. So, we're doing quite a few early studies for many of the operators, whether they be concept studies or pre-feeds for the Gulf of Mexico.   

WO: What about Alaska? You were talking about ConocoPhillips.  

JH: Yes, we're supporting ConocoPhillips in the Willow development and on the North Slope of Alaska. That's the ongoing, detailed design phase of the project.   

WO: And that work will continue for a while?  

JH: Yes, for a while. It is a mega project. It has multiple phases. The first phase is going well, and we're partially into the larger phase because of weather windows. It's a really intriguing, fascinating project from an engineering standpoint. It's a once-in-a-career type of opportunity to minimize impact to the environment, but then work in such a harsh environment, to see the ConocoPhillips kind of scope come to life. Considering the weather windows and ice roads and all of the like, it's an amazing project. We're really humbled and fortunate to be able to support ConocoPhillips through that journey.   

WO: Beyond the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska, what are some other areas where there are significant projects for Wood?  

Fig. 3. Wood is seeing huge growth in the Middle East, where the company is doing traditional oil and gas projects, and also seeing considerable decarbonization.

JH: We're seeing huge growth in the Middle East for Wood, where we are doing traditional oil and gas projects, Fig. 3. We're also doing decarbonization all over the Middle East. That includes Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi in the UAE. We're also seeing significant developments, both in gas and in oil. So, with Qatar Energy and also Qatargas, we're seeing major investments, and we’re there to support them. The Middle East is probably the single-largest region in 2024, where we've seen continued growth.   

WO: What do you think are some of the more difficult or pressing engineering challenges at this point in the upstream?  

JH: It's probably a balance. In engineering, there's an ever-present need to be faster, more efficient and cheaper while still balancing technology and trying to deliver more digitally. That’s because our owners are in a world where they're seeing more and more  advantages in the long term of having a digital twin or some type of digital asset to be able to test, to be able to troubleshoot, to be able to train.   

We are in the ever-evolving process of engineering to get ourselves up to speed. The other half of that is just economics. How do we deliver more engineering for a lower cost? Because overall, our clients are in an ever-challenging environment to provide traditional oil and gas, as well as some of the decarbonization projects, where economics are maybe not as favorable as some of the more traditional energy sources. We need to help them get those projects across the line economically. If I had to choose one thing that is actually the most challenging part, it is to look for materials and equipment and merge those with an actual engineered product that is fit-for-purpose, yet as standardized as possible. We need to make sure that it's economic, and it could be potentially repeatable.  

WO: The trick is to make it something you can do again.   

JH: Yes, exactly. Our clients hate paying for customized stuff, even though sometimes, the facilities require some customization. If they could buy it, design it once and use it multiple times, that's a win for everyone.   

WO: Do you ever say to yourself, “sometimes I wonder how much farther we can go in being efficient, reducing cost and getting it down to the nub?” Do you ever say there's got to be a limit?   

JH: I would say, there will be a limit. But ultimately, you will always need some form of engineering. You'll need some form of design. We are always looking at transformational growth, not just continuous improvement. We are looking at how do we transform, at how we do work. How do we sit down with the customer in the future and sit across the table and work up a design on a tablet that gets them to a decision process that may have taken them ten months in 2024, but it could take ten minutes in some year in the future. Sure, I would say there is a limit, but we are far from that today.  

WO: Considering that 2024 was pretty much a flat drilling picture in the U.S., are you surprised that the industry still squeezed out as much production growth as it did?  

Fig. 4. in the U.S., Hall believes that the industry’s ability to squeeze out more production growth is a case of driving efficiencies, taking advantage of repeatability.

JH: Absolutely. But it is a case of driving efficiencies, taking advantage of repeatability, Fig. 4.   

WO: The extra U.S. production seems to be a case of reducing the number of days to drill a well, coupled with unbelievably long laterals.    

JH: That's exactly right. Operators are trying to minimize additional upfront capex and string out costs as much as they can.   

WO: What is your outlook for the future of the industry in general?   

JH: I would like to say that Wood is excited about the future. I think the demand in energy is ever-increasing. Yet, for some reason, over the last couple of years, the investment has not been there, which means it's driving this additional cycle. We are here to support that cycle. And that’s whether we’re in the near term of helping our clients on those first baby steps of decarbonization, or in the longer term of LNG.  

The U.S. has all of this increased production. How can we get this gas to the rest of the world? What would Europe have looked like without LNG over the last couple of years, and we have to continue to solve that problem. I think the unfortunate thing is we're hindering ourselves with regulatory and permitting issues that are really causing our owners and operators to stumble, to question whether they want to spend. And we've got to get to a place from a legislative standpoint to increase production and remove some of the injuries that the U.S. has been giving to itself, to increase energy production.   

JEREMY HALL is Wood’s President of Technical & Assurance in Projects. He is a seasoned leader at Wood, having worked at the company for 21 years in key operational and functional roles across the U.S., UK, Australia and Malaysia. ​Today, he is based in Houston, Texas, and is a key member of Wood’s Projects business unit leadership team, where he is ultimately responsible for the quality of engineering and technical assurance, a key hallmark of Wood’s leading market position. ​Prior to his current role, Mr. Hall was Senior Vice President of Oil & Gas and New Energies in the Western Hemisphere and former Vice President of Wood’s business in Malaysia. He also has led multiple, major capital projects, including Chevron’s iconic Anchor project in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, which was a world’s first in terms of deepwater high-pressure projects. ​Mr. Hall holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, is a registered professional engineer, a Project Management Professional, and has a Masters of Business Administration from Texas A&M University. ​