Page 8 - EurOil Week 34 2022

EurOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT EurOil

it then contacted the SPM manufacturer and an presidential administration]”, he added.
organisation that supervises the safe operation Eurasianet also reported that, writing on Tel-
of equipment, the ABS classification society. It egram, Nurlan Zhumagulov, head of the Union
said they “strongly recommended that the op- of Oil Service Companies of Kazakhstan, a lobby
eration of the SPMs should be suspended until group, offered an alternative explanation for the
the buoyancy tanks are replaced”. CPC said it terminus troubles, namely the corrosive effects
was currently looking for an entity to replace of corruption.
the buoyancy tanks. A year ago, he pointed out, small investiga-
No timeline for the relaunch of the SPM tive newspaper Nasha Versiya reported that in
operations has been provided. March 2021, CPC replaced its former contrac-
CPC loadings have not been affected as yet tor, Rotterdam-based Smit Lamnalco, which had
as the CPC pipeline saw lower than expected been servicing the marine terminal for 12 years,
supply amid maintenance works on two major with local company Transneft-Service, following
Kazakh oil fields, Tengiz and Kashagan. an opaque tender. Nasha Versiya reported that
Tengizchevroil (TCO), which represents the new contractor, despite minimal experience,
Chevron and Exxon in Kazakhstan’s giant Ten- was charging 30 times more for its services. It
giz project, told Reuters it was aware of tempo- argued that it was funnelling proceeds offshore.
rary maintenance at CPC and that its oil exports In August 2021, a spill at the terminal released
and output on its Tengiz oilfield currently stood at least 70 tonnes of oil into the Black Sea, CPC
uninterrupted. confirmed; WWF Russia said the spill was no
TCO has a lower output plan for August-Sep- less than 100 tonnes.
tember on its Tengiz oil field due to planned Pointing the finger at “lawlessness at the
maintenance. CPC,” Zhumagulov concluded that “geopolitics
Exploring perspectives on the situation at the and the storm” were less likely culprits for the
Novorossijsk terminal, Eurasianet noted com- Novorossijska stoppages than “corruption and
ments from Askar Aisautov, a civil engineer in the irresponsibility of the Russian contractor.”
Almaty who specialises in the construction of The CPC’s main shareholders are Transneft
pipelines, posted on Facebook. (24%), Kazakh state-run oil and gas producer
“In my opinion, the work of the CPC in 2022 KazMunayGas (19%), Chevron Caspian Pipe-
is like litmus paper,” Aisautov wrote. Based on line Consortium Company (15%), LUKARCO
whether the pipeline is working, “you can judge (12.5%), Mobil Caspian Pipeline Company
the magnitude of tension in relations between (7.5%), Rosneft-Shell Caspian Ventures (7.5%)
the Kremlin and Akorda [the seat of the Kazakh and Eni International (2%). ™

Germany pens memo for LNG supplies

GERMANY GERMANY has signed a memorandum of LNG. However, it has had some difficulty secur-
understanding (MoU) with energy compa- ing supplies because of the global market’s tight-
Berlin is pushing plans nies Uniper, RWE and EnBW on securing ness and its reluctance to enter into contracts
for four LNG import energy supplies for its planned LNG terminals that are too long, through fear of undermining
terminals. in Wilhelmshaven and Brunsbuettel, due to be its own energy transition policy.
launched this coming winter. “We are working flat out to ensure that these
German Federal Minister for Economic plans are implemented so that at the turn of the
Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck year we have two regasification ships, or floating
announced the deal at an August 16 press event, LNG terminals, so to speak, ready at the loca-
estimating that LNG supplies would begin tions,” Habeck said in a statement. He added that
under the agreement before the end of the year. Germany lacked alternative gas infrastructure,
By March 2024 he expects the suppliers to pro- leaving it heavily exposed to the risk of Russia
vide enough gas to fill the entire capacities of the shutting off gas supply to Europe completely.
floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) German Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently
stationed at Wilhelmshaven and Brunsbuettel. advocated for the construction of a new pipeline
Wilhelmshaven is due to host a 10bn cubic from Portugal to Central Europe that could give
metres per year regasification terminal, devel- the latter region access to the Iberian peninsu-
oped by Uniper, and a second 2.2 bcm per year la’s under-utilised regasification capacity. But
by Tree Energy, while Gasunie wants to start he offered few details about the project’s scope.
up an 8 bcm per year facility in Brunsbuettel. A Germany is also reconsidering plans to retire its
fourth, 12 bcm per year terminal is planned by last remaining nuclear power plants (NPPs) at
Hanseatic Energy Hub for the port of Stade. the end of this year, has restored some coal-fired
Since putting Nord Stream 2 on hold and power generation and is asking citizens and busi-
declaring its intention to eliminate Russian gas nesses to curb their energy costs ahead of this
imports by mid-2024, Germany has embraced winter. ™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 34 26•August•2022