Page 10 - Euroil Week 46 2019

EurOil
NEWS IN BRIEF
EurOil
Bosnia’s Federation to call
oil, gas exploration tender
by end-November
The government of Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Muslim-Croat Federation will launch a tender to award a concession contract for oil and gas exploration and production in the Pannonian Basin and the Dinarides by the end of November.
In October, the government announced plan to invite bids for rights to four subsoil blocks spanning 4,591 square km of the Dinaridi and Pannonian basins.
Now Nemir Dzindic, the Federation’s Energy Minister, has said that the entity will offer investors the right to search for hydrocarbon deposits in three blocks in the Pannonian Basin (BiHPo1, BiHPo2 and BiHTz) and one block in the area of the Dinaric Alps (BiHD1), which spread across an overall area of 5,115 sq km.
Interested investors will have six months to file bids after the launch of the tender.
Bosnia currently does not produce any oil or gas, with the bulk of its supplies coming from Russia. However, US and UK surveyors identified several potential deposits prior to the 1992-1995 Bosnian war. Experts believe that the south of the country could hold up to 500mn tonnes (3.7bn barrels) of oil at depths of 4,000- 8,000 metres, while a further 70mn tonnes (515mn barrels) potentially exists in its north.
In June, the government igned a contract with UK-based HIS Global for consultancy services on the issuing of an international public invitation for oil and gas exploration.
According to estimates by the Federation’s geology institute, the territory of the Dinaric Alps could potentially contain deposits of round 1bn barrels of oil.
bne IntelliNews, November 14 2019
TAP now 95% complete, operator says
The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project, which will transport Azeri gas to Europe, is 90.5% complete as of late October 2019, according to its operating consortium.
“TAP is currently moving further into the project construction phase. Every
day hundreds of meters of TAP’s Right of Way (ROW) are cleared, strung, welded, lowered into the trenches and backfilled, in line with the project construction steps and schedule. At the end of October 2019, the
TAP project was 90.5 percent completed,” the consortium said.
The project, valued at EUR4.5bn, will ship gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz Stage 2 field and is considered a priority energy project by the EU. It runs from
the Greek-Turkish border, where it connects with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP), across Greece, Albania and
the Adriatic Sea, and then terminates in southern Italy.
Its shareholders include BP (20%), SOCAR (20%), Snam (20%), Fluxys (19%), Enagas (16%) and Axpo (5%).
November 15 2019
Romania ponders Romgaz
replacing ExxonMobil in major
Black Sea gas project
Romania’s new Energy Minister Virgil Popescu has suggested that state-controlled natural gas company Romgaz should evaluate the option of taking over the stake held by ExxonMobil in a Black Sea offshore gas project “since there are anyway rumours about Exxon wanting an exit”, Agerpres reported.
The Neptun Deep project developed by ExxonMobil with OMV Petrom is the largest natural gas deposit in the area, containing over 200bn cubic metres of gas, a quantity that could cover the country’s needs for 10 to 20 years, and involving investments worth $1bn.
However, the two foreign companies
have deferred their investment decision indefinitely until the Romanian state adjusts the regulations set in place last year including the emergency decree OUG 114/2018 and
the Offshore Law. Popescu said that he would coordinate with Romgaz management quickly in order to estimate whether such a plan is possible or not.
As regards Exxon’s intentions, Popescu confirmed that “there is a letter from the US company received by the ministry, but I did not consult it yet”.
Notably, the head of the industry committee in parliament, Iulian Iancu, a member of the opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD), recently spoke out in favour
of idea of having Romgaz involved in the Black Sea gas project by replacing Exxon. Romgaz is already involved in the Black Sea in partnership with Lukoil.
ExxonMobil could sell its 50% share of the rights in the Black Sea perimeter, or the whole company that has the extraction rights in
this perimeter, in which OMV Petrom holds the remaining 50%, could be put up for sale, according to a confidential letter leaked to the
media in July.
Romgaz is the biggest gas producer
in Romania whereas OMV Petrom is the second-biggest. The Romanian state holds 20% of OMV Petrom, which is controlled by Austrian group OMV.
bne IntelliNews, November 18 2019
Poland claims it pays
$250mn too much for Russian
gas annually
Poland overpays around $250mn for Russian gas each year, the head of its main gas company PGNiG, Piotr Wozniak said local television on November 19.
“We are waiting for an arbitration decision in the Gazprom case. It means cheaper gas for the next three years when the contract with Gazprom is still be in force,” the official said. “We used to overpay about a billion zlotys per year as compared with the market prices.”
PGNiG notified Gazprom on November 15 that it did not intend to extend their gas supply contract, due to expire at the end of 2022.
November 19 2019
Energean applies to send gas to Cyprus
Mediterranean-focused oil and gas company Energean has filed an application with authorities in Cyprus to import and supply natural gas to the country starting in 2021.
The gas would come from the Energean-operated Karish and Tanish deepwater fields off Israel. The application to sell gas to Cyrus comes after Energean’s submission earlier this year of a development plan to Cypriot authorities for construction of a gas pipeline to send the supplies from Israel.
The pipeline would be 215-km in length and cost $350mn to complete. Energean has pledged to cover the investment in full.
Mathios Rigas, CEO of Energean, stated: “Energean’s proposal offers the Republic of Cyprus the option to switch to natural gas
as soon as possible, and under the most competitive terms. Execution of the proposal will bring competition to the Cypriot natural gas market, decrease energy costs across the economy and result in enhanced diversity and security of supply.
“Our proposal enhances the planning of the Republic of Cyprus and the security of
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Week 46 21•November•2019