Page 9 - Euroil Week 04 2020

EurOil PIPELINES TRANSPORT EurOil
Greece gets EU backing for LNG bunker ship
GREECE
The vessel will be the first of its kind in the East Mediterranean region.
GREECE has secured EU support for the con- struction of the East Mediterranean’s first LNG bunkering vessel.
The country’s state gas utility DEPA reported signing a €20mn ($22mn) loan agreement on January 28 with the European Investment Bank (EIB). The loan will cover 50% of the vessel’s cost, it said. Earlier the company also obtained a €8.9mn grant from the EU’s BlueHUBs initia- tive, aimed at developing LNG and CNG supply chains in the Eastern Mediterranean.
In a statement, DEPA President Ioannis Pap- adopoulos said the EIB loan was another “vote of confidence in the Greek economy,” confirm- ing that its investment climate had improved significantly.
“Furthermore, this is a green investment, which paves the way for cleaner and more com- petitive maritime transport in the eastern Med- iterranean,” he said, noting it would help Greece meet its climate goals.
The planned bunkering vessel will store up to
3,000 cubic metres of LNG and will be based in the Greek port of Piraeus. But it will also refuel ships in other ports in Greece and the wider area.
Refuelling ships with LNG is seen as one way shipowners can comply with stricter IMO emissions limits that came into force this year. Not only does the fuel release 99% less sulphur oxides, easily clearing IMO standards, but it will emits 80% less nitrogen oxides, 25% less carbon dioxide and 99% fewer fine particles.
While LNG has become a mainstream ship- ping fuel in northern Europe, and is gaining in popularity in the West Mediterranean, ships in the East Mediterranean continue to rely on con- ventional fuels. It is hoped that the launch of the DEPA vessel will encourage similar investments in the region.
The EIB has been investing in European gas projects for decades. But the EU bank recently announced it would drop all support for fossil fuels at the end of 2021, cutting €2bn in annual invest- ments, following pressure from member states. ™
INVESTMENT
OMV Petrom set to divest from Kazakh oil
KAZAKHSTAN
The assets are set to produce 8,000 boepd of oil and gas this year.
AUSTRO-ROMANIAN oil producer OMV Petrom has begun seeking a buyer for its assets in Kazakhstan, according to a sales document seen by Reuters.
The Romanian arm of Austria’s OMV oper- ates the Tasbulat concession area, containing three oilfields, in Kazakhstan’s western Man- gistau region, along with the nearby Komso- molskoye oil deposit. According to Reuters, the company has recruited investment bank Jefferies to manage the sale of these assets.
Bids from potential suitors will be accepted until March 27, the document stated, without indi- cating the assets’ value. Neither Jefferies nor OMV Petrom have officially commented on the matter.
OMV Petrom’s Kazakh business is set to pro- duce around 8,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) of oil and gas in 2020, according to the sales prospectus, boasting 57mn barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in recoverable reserves. Its output was around 6,800 boepd in 2018, down from 7,100 boepd a year earlier.
“The portfolio includes growth opportunities from ongoing and identified projects including, but not limited to, improved oil recovery pro- jects,” the document said.
OMV Petrom’s investments in Kazakhstan
over the years have generally disappointed. Out- put at the Tashbulat fields has been constrained by operational issues, including pipeline leaks and unsuccessful drilling work. OMV Petrom started up the larger Komsomolskoye field in 2009 and had planned to raise production to a plateau rate of 10,000 boepd, through a water injection programme. Instead, extraction peaked at 7,000 boepd in 2012 and then began declining.
OMV holds a 51% stake in OMV Petrom, while the Romanian state controls 20.6% and state-backed investment fund Fondul Propri- etatea owns 10%. The remaining equity is split between smaller shareholders.
During the first decade of its independence, Kazakhstan was crowded with Western compa- nies searching for oil. But while majors still con- trol the country's three largest upstream projects - Kashagan, Karachaganak and Tengiz - Western investors have largely retreated from the coun- try's other, smaller projects.
They have mostly been replaced by large national companies from Asia, namely China. CNPC and other Chinese ventures now have rights to around a third of Kazakhstan's remain- ing oil reserves.™
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