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of its total annual energy consumption, day. The warm weather also help us,” said cluster development,” Longboat, which owns
which would make Czechia one of the most Vasile Carstea, general manager of Depogaz, a 10% in the offshore block, said.
affected countries in the EU, along with which manages over 90% of Romania’s According to Longboat, Rokke and n’Roll
Hungary and Slovakia. storage capacity. have an additional 127 mmboe of gross
“If Russia were to cut off gas supplies, As regards the weather, low temperatures mean prospective resource with chances of
which was not the case even in the most not only push up consumption, they also success in the range of 14%-34% which have
tense phase of the Cold War, prices could diminish the capacity to extract gas from not been reviewed by ERCE and are based
reach up to €200/MWh in the coming warehouses. on Equinor’s estimates. The drilling of the
months. Average prices for this year could “I think that until April 1 we can sustain Kveikje well 35/10-8S is expected to take up
then be around €150/MWh, taking into the pace of production and extraction,” to four weeks to drill..
account the effect of the season and a Carstea said.
stabilisation of prices,” said Jakub Cerman, Beyond the weather conditions that help
head of risk at Euler Hermes, as quoted by Romania, there are other factors. Pandion Energy to acquire
the news agency.. Natural gas imports accounted for 30%
of the domestic consumption in 2021, as the Norwegian assets of ONE-
volume of imports increased by 70% y/y.
Bulgaria’s KEVR approves But the volume of imports is expected to Dyas
decrease in response to rising prices.
3.5% natural gas price large-sized industrial capacities reducing Norwegian oil company Pandion Energy
The high prices already resulted in some
has agreed to acquire ONE-Dyas Norge, the
increase for March their operations or even shutting down. Norwegian subsidiary of exploration and
Fertilisers producer Azomures, the largest
production company ONE-Dyas Holdings.
Bulgaria’s energy regulator KEVR approved single gas consumer in Romania, was shut The financial terms of the deal have not
on March 7 a 3.5% increase in the wholesale down last autumn and plans to resume been made public.
price of natural gas for March, to BGN113.73 operations this spring, but this will depend ONE-Dyas Norge holds a 10% stake in the
(€58.14) per MWh as requested by the state- on the gas price and availability. Nova field, located in the Norwegian North
owned gas supplier Bulgargaz. Sea, and 11 exploration licences.
The increase was due to the record-high Scheduled to start production in the
prices at European gas hubs and the decision Equinor spuds Norwegian second half of this year, the Nova field is
of the authorities to suspend withdrawals being developed with two subsea templates
from the Chiren gas storage facility, KEVR well targetting 36mn barrels that are tied back to the existing Gjøa
said in a statement. platform.
The Chiren underground gas storage Equinor has started drilling operations on its Wintershall Dea operates the Nova field
facility is operating in an injection mode Kveikje exploration well in the Norwegian with a 45% stake. Other partners include
to increase its reserves in case the supplies section of the North Sea, its partner in the Spirit Energy Norge (20%), Sval Energi
from Russia stop due to its war in Ukraine. license, Longboat Energy, said on March 9. (10%), Edison Norge (15%), and ONE-Dyas
Gas is usually injected in Chiren in summer Equinor is using Odfjell Drilling’s Norge (10%).
months, when consumption is low, but the Deepsea Stavanger semi-submersible drilling Pandion Energy CEO Jan Christian
authorities decided to start it earlier due to rig to drill the prospect, an Eocene Balder Ellefsen said: “This transaction represents a
the war and the country thus needs to import Formation injectite with seismic amplitude new leap in the Pandion story, and secures
gas at much higher prices. support. the foundation for further growth. Our asset
“Injectite reservoirs are typically base is strengthened and, with Nova on
characterized by excellent reservoir stream, our daily production will more than
Romania can operate properties, with recent exploration successes double.
“During the first five years, Pandion
of this type including the King and Frosk
normally for one month discoveries in the Balder and Alvheim area Energy has earned its reputation as a trusted
respectively. The exploration well has further
partner in exploration and field development
without foreign gas, Depogaz potential upside in the underlying Paleocene on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS).
Rokke and Late Cretaceous n’Roll secondary
“ONE-Dyas Norge fits well with our
executive says prospects,” Longboat said. existing portfolio and organisation, and will
Kveikje is estimated to contain gross
strengthen our position as an active, full-
Romania’s industry can operate at current mean prospective resources of 36 mmboe cycle partner, driving value in high-quality
level without natural gas from imports, using with further potential upside estimated at assets on the NCS.”
only own reserves and production, reported 79 mmboe on a gross basis. The chance of The transaction is subject to customary
Ziarul Financiar daily quoting officials from success associated with the Kveikje prospect conditions, including, but not limited to,
Depogaz, a subsidiary of state-controlled gas is 55% with the key risks being trap presence approval by the Norwegian Ministry of
company Romgaz. and seal integrity, Longboat added. Petroleum and Energy.
Only 43% of the demand is protected “Kveikje is the primary prospect in license Ellefsen said that the company is
by the special status of consumers — PL293B, which lies in an area north of the searching for and assessing additional
households or critical industrial structures — giant Troll field in the Norwegian North Sea opportunities for further expansion.
while the rest of it can be restricted if needed. with many producing fields and significant Last month, Norway approved the
“At the moment, Romania consumes infrastructure. The Kveikje well will be development plan for the first phase of the
about 40mn cubic metres per day… drilled close to recent discoveries, lying c. Equinor-operated Kristin Sør project..
Domestic production is almost 24mn cubic 8km from the Swisher discovery and c. 10km
metres per day and we can extract from from the Toppand discovery. If successful,
warehouses another 16mn cubic metres per Kveikje could potentially form part of an area

P18 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 10 10•March•2022