Page 10 - GLNG Week 15 2021

GLNG EUROPE GLNG

Rosneft wins rights to Arctic gas fields

INVESTMENT RUSSIA’S Rosneft has secured exploration rights had asked authorities not to auction off Ushak-
to the Turkovsky and Deryabinsky gas blocks on ovskoye, to ensure its gas is used locally. Instead,
the country’s Arctic Taymyr Peninsula after win- Norilsk reached a compromise deal last July
ning a state auction. The company plans to use with Rosneft, under which the Russian producer
their resources to underpin the construction of pledged it would provide some of the field’s gas to
an LNG export terminal. the miner while exporting the rest.
Rosneft was widely expected to obtain the Offers for rights to the Deryabinsky
licences when the auction was first announced in block began at RUB1.42bn and Rosneft paid
February, as the terms of contest only permitted RUB1.57bn. Some 15 exploration and appraisal
companies that already have active oil and gas wells have been drilled to date at the 404.8-square
projects in the north of the Krasnoyarsk region km Deryabinsky block. The area contains the
to take part. Russian Natural Resources Minister 1982 Deryabinskoye gas and condensate find.
Dmitry Kobylkin confirmed last October that Its C1+C2 reserves are estimated at nearly 55
this effectively singled out Rosneft. bcm of gas and 3.43mn tonnes (30.9mn barrels)
The starting price for bids for the Turkovsky of condensate.
licence was RUB759mn ($10.2mn) and Rosneft Rosneft requested that the government hold
paid RUB835mn. The block is 975 square km in auctions for Ushakovskoye and Deryabinskoye,
size and contains almost 54bn cubic metres of and a third field Kazantsevskoye, last summer.
gas in C1+C2 reserves, along with an additional It was awarded a licence for Kazantsevskoye in
5 bcm in Dl-category resources. Nine explora- October last year.
tion wells have been drilled in the area in the Both fields are situated near the Payakhskoye
past, with one in 1988 discovering the Ushak- field and other deposits that collectively form
ovskoye field. Rosneft’s Vostok Oil project. Vostok Oil is pro-
Ushakovskoye is situated less than 10 km jected eventually to flow over 2mn barrels per
from the producing Pelyatinskoye field, which day (bpd), and Rosneft hopes to also produce up
is used to supply gas to facilities controlled by to 50mn tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG. Devel-
Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel. Norilsk opment plans are yet to be finalised, however.™

Russia slashes fossil fuel forecasts

PERFORMANCE RUSSIA has slashed its forecasts for oil, gas and to 743.1 bcm from 758.1 bcm, while the predic-
coal production in 2021 and 2022, taking into tions for 2023 and 2024 remain unchanged at
account the pandemic’s impact, OPEC+ quotas 773.1 bcm and 795.1 bcm respectively.
and lower commodity prices. The forecast for LNG production in 2021
The government now projects that oil output remains notably unchanged at 30.1mn tonnes.
will reach 517mn tonnes (10.4mn barrels per This supply comes mainly from the Gazprom-led
day), versus a previous projection of 11.25mn Sakhalin LNG project in the Russian Far East
bpd. The earlier forecast was made before Rus- and Novatek’s Yamal LNG plant in the Arctic.
The forecast for LNG sia committed to unprecedented production Russia approved a new roadmap for expanding
production in 2021 cuts with its OPEC+ allies, in attempt to rebal- its LNG exports last month, targeting an output
remains notably ance markets following the demand destruction as high as 140mn tonnes per year (tpy) by 2035.
unchanged at 30.1mn caused by the pandemic. The government has also decreased its fore-
tonnes. The prediction for output in 2022 has also casts for coal output over the next three years. It
been lowered to 548mn tonnes (11mn bpd), now expects extraction to amount to 390.7mn
compared with 11.2mn bpd previously. But the tonnes in 2021, down from 455mn tonnes. Pro-
forecast for production in 2023 has not changed duction is projected to fall to 389.5mn tonnes in
from 11.17mn bpd, while the one for 2024 has 2022 instead of growing to 465mn tonnes. It will
been increased slightly to 11.17mn bpd from remain at this level in 2023 instead of expanding
11.15mn bpd. to 475mn tonnes, but will rise to 420mn tonnes
Russia has also reduced its forecast for gas in 2024, although it was previously expected to
extraction this year to 698.3bn cubic metres from reach 490mn tonnes that year.
750.1 bcm. The country’s biggest gas company Global coal demand is under unprecedented
Gazprom suffered a slump in output last year pressure, as the energy transition gains momen-
owing to weaker demand in Europe, as a result tum across the world. Coal consumption is antic-
of the pandemic and a range of other factors, ipated to suffer significant losses in Asia over the
including greater competition from LNG sup- coming decades, as countries switch their power
plies. The gas forecast for 2022 has been lowered systems to natural gas and renewables.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 15 16•April•2021