How will the recently built chemical plant in Singapore adds to your regional capabilities?

Baker Hughes, an energy technology company, has a strong presence across the area, including Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei, and Singapore. We concentrate our direct footprint to a number of locations, synergizing our capacities in key hubs and relying more strongly on collaborations. One of these hubs is Singapore. This new chemicals manufacturing facility allows us to better serve the entire Asia-Pacific region and drive our localization closer to key demand hubs. 

What has demand for oilfield services been like over the past few years in this region? 

Demand is growing every year. This is driven by the fact that most Southeast Asian countries struggle to meet annual production targets, creating a gap for improvements and therefore needing the solutions we have to offer. We are creating technologies and solutions for the upstream segment, from drilling to well management through to processing and transport. Using the right chemicals in the upstream is similar to taking vitamins – they both keep the entire organism healthy but need to be taken proactively rather than waiting for something to go wrong. 

Could you introduce us to Baker Hughes’ offer in CCUS and geothermal projects?

OFSE is expanding its capabilities and technology portfolio to meet the challenges of a net-zero future. These efforts include expanding into new energy areas such as geothermal and CCUS. OFSE also provides integrated well services and solutions to plan and execute projects ranging from well construction and production through to well abandonment, in addition to integrated services and solutions for the subsea environment.  

Baker Hughes has been working with major geothermal operators, and we have a comprehensive portfolio covering everything from well planning to construction and production to tackle various formations, high temperatures, and other harsh and supercritical well conditions. To give one example, our JewelSuite™ portfolio of applications for differentiated subsurface workflows allows our customers to manage the heat source while producing. At the well construction stage, we recently commercialized a Vulcanix geothermal PDC drill bit with strategically placed cutters fit for geothermal applications. Then, in the drilling application, we delivered 300 Celsius-fit drilling tools for the hottest well in Iceland. At the production phase, we have acidizing systems to eliminate corrosion to deal with hot temperatures in geothermal wells. 

Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) is also in high demand in Southeast Asia, particularly in Malaysia and Thailand. Baker Hughes has a huge portfolio tailored to such projects, focusing particularly on planning the wells for CO2 storage deep underground.

How do you look at the co-existence of traditional energies with alternative or “transitional” energies?

Energy transition is here, with its trilemma of sustainability, affordability, and security. I see three key energy transition pillars. First, the world would not be able to meet net-zero targets without a major acceleration of both current technology utilization and investments in new technologies, like carbon abatement technologies or technologies for the better valorization of renewables, including geothermal. The second pillar – and one less acknowledged – is that the reliance on hydrocarbons will not go away in the next three decades. Once this is accepted, bringing out efficiencies in the O&G industry is paramount to meet both energy security and sustainability (by reducing emissions of current assets). The third pillar is collaboration. The pathway to net zero is going to be very challenging without collaborations. It will take energy producers, technology service providers, energy buyers, policymakers, and the community at large working closely together to achieve collective targets. 

Baker Hughes has launched Leucipa™, an automated field production solution. Could you tell us more about Leucipa?

Leucipa was successfully commercialized in 2023 with a mission to deliver high-grade production rates with the lowest carbon emissions. Using this software solution, our customers can proactively manage production themselves day by day. Combining AWS cloud capabilities with Baker Hughes’s O&G expertise, Leucipa is very much a plug-and-play solution, very easy to operate. We have already introduced Leucipa to one of the majors in Southeast Asia. Moving on, we will continue to further advance the technology. In the mid to long term, digital transformation is a high priority for us. Leucipa is only a part of this larger pathway.