Page 15 - Euroil Week 17 2020

EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil
Perenco files decomm plans for gas field
UK
Perenco said the fiield was no longer considered economic.
FRENCH operator Perenco has filed plans to decommission four platforms at a gas field in the UK North Sea, the UK government states in a message on its website.
Perenco is seeking approval for the removal of the topsides of the A1D, A2D, B1D and C1D installations at the Amethyst field, some 40 km from the Easington terminal on the Yorkshire coast. Perenco became Amethyst’s operator in 2012, replacing BP. The field was first identified by Britoil in 1970, making it one of the first UK North Sea discoveries.
“Having explored all avenues” for continuing production, Amethyst is no longer considered economic because of high operational costs and falling gas production, Perenco stated in its application.
A draft cessation of production document was submitted to the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) in February.
Perenco’s plan is to remove the topsides using jack-up barges, although this will depend on the vessels available. Once the installations are made oil and gas-free, they will be removed immedi- ately or left in “lighthouse mode.”
Separate decommissioning plans will be drawn up for the jackets and pipelines.
Perenco aims to remove the topsides of C1D, B1D and A1D between the fourth quar- ter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, with A2D being taken offline in the third quarter of 2024.
Perenco has been working in the UK south- ern North Sea Basin since 2003, and also has operated Europe’s largest onshore oilfield at Wytch Farm in Dorset since 2011. It produces around 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) from its UK operations. It also works in West Africa, Latin America, the Mediterranean region and Asia. ™
Turkish refiner Tupras slashes forecasts as refinery closure rumours swirl
TURKEY
Sources claim the refinery will shutdown because of weak demand.
TUPRAS, Turkey’s largest refiner, has revised its forecasts for 2020 downwards in light of devel- opments related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the collapse in world oil prices.
The revisions came as S&P Global Platts on April 22 quoted trading sources as saying that Tupras’ Izmir refinery in Aliaga is likely to halt production due to weak demand caused by the coronavirus outbreak, according to trading sources. It said Tupras declined to comment.
In a statement to the Istanbul stock exchange, the company amended its 2020 refinery produc- tion expectation from 28mn tonnes to 24mn tonnes and its sales forecast from 29mn tonnes to 25mn tonnes.
Tupras added that it anticipated an 80-85% utilisation rate, compared with 95%-100% previously.
“The net refining margin expectation has been revised from 4.5$ – 5.5$/barrel to 3$ – 4$/ barrel,” Tupras added in the filing.
The refiner also reduced its investment fore- cast to $125mn from $200mn. However, it did not provide any profit projection for this year.
The company said that it assumed that the pandemic’s negative impact on crude oil and petroleum product demand would start to decrease by June and that normal economic
activity would resume starting from August. Tupras operates four refineries in Turkey, namely Izmir, Izmit, Kirikkale and Batman, which produces mostly low grade non transport
fuels.
Meanwhile, Socar is reportedly maintaining
full production levels at its STAR refinery at Ali- aga in Turkey on the Aegean coast, although with an altered product portfolio.
“For the time being production volumes are unchanged but we don’t know how long that will continue, we’ll have to see what happens,” a Socar spokesman told S&P Global Platts. He con- firmed that jet production has been halted and diesel production increased to compensate. ™
Week 17 30•April•2020 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m
P15