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Overall activity has dropped sharply as a 2018 and ExxonMobil the following year. Its
result of low oil and gas prices and restrictions main focus is the Greater Ekofisk Area, which
related to the coronavirus (COVD-19) pan- consists of the Ekofisk, Eldfisk and Embla fields,
demic. Only 54 wells were drilled in the first in the southern North Sea.
10 months of the year, compared to 112 for the Conoco has a 65%interest in PL1009, while
whole of 2019. Only six exploration wells were PGNiG has 35%. The pair will “assess the results
completed during the period, and it is possible of the discovery together with other nearby pros-
there will be no more this year, OGUK said. pects with a view to a potential development to
The recovery will not happen overnight, the existing infrastructure,” the NPD said.
association has warned. It estimates that pro-
jects shelved during the downturn could take If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
three years to be restarted, with around the Europe’s oil and gas sector then please click here for
same amount of time needed for investment to NewsBase’s EurOil Monitor. UK oil and gas
rebound to pre-crisis levels. The drilling and rig
companies needed to implement these projects FSU: Rosneft returns to red drilling is slated
are also in dire shape, OGUK said, noting that The Russian oil giant Rosneft returned to a net to fall this year
many were undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. loss in the third quarter, on the back of ruble
All this undermines the UK North Sea’s devaluation and low prices. to its lowest level
competitiveness versus other basins, the asso- The company swung to its first net loss since
ciation continued, and highlights the need for a 2012 in the first quarter after sustaining heavy since the 1970s
so-called North Sea transition deal to help oper- impairments but rebounded to profit in the
ators get through the downturn and develop second quarter. The company suffered another
cleaner energies. The government has said it will loss of RUB64bn ($800mn) in the third quarter,
publish the deal within the current parliament, though, owing to a weaker ruble. This compared
but OGUK is hopeful that it will arrive shortly, with a RUB225bn profit a year earlier.
possibly by the end of the year. Rosneft’s EBITDA performed better, arriving
In Norway, ConocoPhillips and its Polish at RUB366bn ($5bn) in the third quarter of 2020,
partner PGNiG have made a “substantial” gas beating a forecast by BCS Global Markets (BCS
discovery in the Norwegian Sea, with an esti- GM) by 6%. This is versus RUB544bn of earn-
mated size of between 8mn and 30mn cubic ings in the same period of 2019 and RUB170bn
metres (50-189mn barrels) of recoverable oil in the second quarter of 2020. Its net loss was
equivalent. also 7% less than the Moscow-based brokerage
Conoco said it had found gas and condensate projected.
at production licence (PL) 1009 after drilling a Core earnings outperformed thanks to solid
wildcat well some 35 km from the Equinor-op- free cash flow (FCF), BCS GM said. This “con-
erated Heidrun oil and gas field, where Conoco firmed a significant recovery in the macroeco-
has a 24% position. The discovery is also 27 km nomic environment for Russian oil producers,”
south-west of the Aker BP-operated Skarv field, it said. “We consider this to be a positive for the
in which PGNiG has a 11.9% stake. stock.”
Conoco is the only US-based major left in Revenues totalled RUB1.44 trillion ($20.1bn)
Norway following the departure of Chevron in in the three-month period, down 42% year on

P20 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 46 19•November•2020