Page 9 - EurOil Week 04 2021

EurOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT EurOil

Woodside expands LNG supply

deal with Uniper

AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA’S Woodside Energy has agreed to spot LNG prices soaring in recent weeks, pro-
expand its supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) jects once deemed overly risky are once again
The majority of supply to Germany’s Uniper Global Commodities. under review.
is conditional on a Woodside said on January 18 that its Singa- Woodside CEO Peter Coleman told Austral-
Scarborough FID. porean trading unit had agreed to double the ian daily The Age on January 21 that “momen-
volumes originally laid out in their binding long- tum” was returning for an FID on the AUD16bn
term sale and purchase agreement (SPA), which ($12.32bn) Scarborough project.
was announced in December 2019. Coleman said he saw “a lot of positive signs”
Woodside Energy Trading Singapore will that Asian LNG demand was strengthening,
increase initial supply volumes starting in 2021 adding: “Chinese buyers are now coming back
to 1mn tonnes per year, and again to approxi- into the market, they’ve approached us again
mately 2mn tpy from 2026. recently to re-engage on negotiations.”
While the LNG is to come from the com- He said: “We think everything is starting to
pany’s global portfolio, Woodside said the line up and gather momentum again.”
majority of supply from 2025 was conditional The deal with Uniper, Coleman said, demon-
upon a final investment decision (FID) being strated further progress towards reaching FID
reached on the development of the Scarbor- in the second half of this year. He added: “This
ough gas resource offshore Western Australia. agreement with Uniper highlights the strong
It noted that the 13-year term of the SPA was market demand we are seeing for Scarborough
unchanged. LNG as customers consider their energy require-
The Scarborough FID was delayed after last ments from the second half of this decade. We
year’s oil price collapse drove developers around have now secured long-term customers for over
the world to slash upstream budgets in a bid to 40% of our expected Scarborough equity pro-
ride out the economic downturn. However, with duction.” ™

Greece ratifies Bulgarian pipe deal

GREECE GREECE’S parliament has ratified a deal with Revithoussa, with a capacity of 7 bcm per year.
Bulgaria on a €200mn ($241mn) pipeline that But it is building a second, 5.5 bcm per year facil-
The deal covers will allow both countries to improve their energy ity in Alexandroupolis.
the tax regime and security. Greece, meanwhile, will gain access to
profit-sharing. The 182-km Interconnector-Greece-Bulgaria extra gas supply as it pushes ahead with plans
(IGB) is being built by a joint venture between to close down many of its coal-fired plants and
Bulgarian state energy utility BEH, Greek gas replace them with gas-fired generation and
firm DEPA and Italy’s Edison. It will flow up renewables.
to 3bn cubic metres per year of gas in either Addressing Greek lawmakers, Energy Min-
direction. ister Kostas Skrekas said IGB would ensure the
The agreement ratified by Greek lawmakers country does not suffer power cuts as it makes
on January 26 covers the pipeline’s tax regime the transition to cleaner fuels.
and how future profits from the project are “We are turning Greece from an energy
shared between the two countries. The pipeline island to an energy hub,” he said, noting that
will enable Bulgaria to source Greek LNG ter- IGB’s construction was half-complete and would
minals and the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC). be finished by year-end.
The country currently gets almost all its gas from The pipeline’s development is supported by
Russia. the EU, which through the European Investment
SGC’s European leg, Trans-Adriatic Pipeline Bank (EIB) granted the project a €110mn loan.
(TAP), was launched at the start of this year. It The remaining cost is covered with a €39mn state
carries gas from the offshore Shah Deniz field grant; and a €45mn grant from the European
in Azerbaijan to Southern Europe. Greece cur- Energy Programme for Recovery, and the funds
rently has only one LNG import terminal in of its developers. ™

Week 04 28•January•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9