Page 16 - EurOil Week 49

EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil

Another fire breaks out

at Equinor facility

NORWAY NORWAY’S Equinor reported a second fire at production since 1997 and has a capacity of
one of its facilities in little more than two months. 900,000 tonnes per year (tpy) of methanol. Its
The incident comes The fire broke out during the afternoon of feedstock is natural gas from the offshore Heid-
a little more than December 2 at a compressor house at Equinor’s run field. The facility accounts for a quarter of
two months after a coastal methanol plant in Tjeldbergodden, it said Europe’s total methanol output and around 10%
serious fire at Equinor’s in a statement, adding there were no injuries. of its consumption of the chemical. Equinor
Hammerfest LNG plant. Images published by local newspaper Adresseav- operates the plant with an 82% interest, while
isen showed a large plume of black smoke rising ConocoPhillips has 18%.
from the facility. Another investigation is underway by safety
The fire began at 14:40 and was extinguished authorities and the Norwegian police relating
an hour later. Emergency services and the police to a fire that broke out at Equinor’s Hammerfest
were sent to the scene, and Equinor’s personnel LNG terminal in late September. The PSA has
were evacuated. The state oil firm said it was said it had found “serious breaches” of regula-
investigating the causes and consequences of tions at the facility.
the incident. Hammerfest LNG is not expected to resume
Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) production until October 1, 2021, Equinor has
has said it too is investigating the fire. said. The facility usually exports up to 5.6mn tpy
The Tjeldbergodden plant has been in of LNG, using gas from the Snohvit field. ™

NEWS IN BRIEF

Turkey boosts LNG imports Hatay province. slightly negative for sentiment on Gazprom,”
VTBC commented, while reiterating a Hold
Turkey plans to expand its LNG storage
in first half capacity by adding a third FSRU in Saros recommendation on the company’s shares.
However, this does not substantially
Bay, north of the Gallipoli Peninsula in
The share of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in northwestern Turkey, by 2021. change the expectations of VTBC analysts,
Turkey’s gas imports increased from 27% who conservatively see the launch of the
in the first half of 2019 to 43% for the same Nord Stream 2 pipeline in mid-2022 (with
period of this year, state-run news service US Congress agrees on the full-scale launch only in 2023 and some
Anadolu Agency quoted Yunus Emre Icik $1.4bn saving on transport expenses, which
of crude oil and natural gas pipeline trading draft sanctions on Russia’s is about 5% of that year’s Ebitda).
company BOTAS as saying. As reported by bne IntelliNews, last
Emre Icik confirmed a total daily send-out Nord Stream 2 week BCS Global Markets “enthusiastically
capacity of more than 120mn cubic metres confirmed” a Buy call on shared of Russian
from Turkey’s two land-based liquefied The US Congress has agreed on sanctions natural gas giant Gazprom with an
natural gas (LNG) terminals and its two against the Nord Stream 2 pipeline of Russia’s unchanged target price of $8 per American
floating storage regasification units (FSRU). natural gas giant Gazprom, which will be Depository Receipt (ADR) and estimated
“From this infrastructure, Turkey has included in the country’s 2021 defence budget, return of 58%.
been able to benefit from low LNG prices to according to RBC business portal. The analysts note that Gazprom’s exports
supply almost half of its peak daily natural As reported by bne IntelliNews, Gazprom are recovering faster than anticipated after
gas demand,” Icik said. still has to complete the last part of the a tough year, with European exports seen
The country’s LNG imports rose sharply pipeline in Danish and German waters, returning to normal by 2023.
most particularly in May when LNG prices under pressure from US sanctions.
dropped to very low levels. The latest draft includes previously
Turkey supports its energy supply reported sanctions on companies providing HALO acquires closed North
security through its LNG and FSRU terminal insurance and certification services, as well
infrastructure and meets nearly 45-50bn as welding equipment, and modernisation Sea field
cubic metres of annual consumption. and installation related to the project
Turkey’s Marmara Ereglisi LNG Terminal construction. HALO said in am operations and corporate
has a capacity of 5.9mn tonnes while the The draft which has been submitted also update announced on December 8 that it
Aliaga Egegaz LNG Terminal has an annual requires consulting with the UK, Switzerland, was formally awarded the Schooner field
capacity of 4.4mn tonnes. Norway, the EU and other countries when located in licence P2578 (Block 44/26a) in the
Turkey’s first FSRU was launched in imposing sanctions, VTB Capital (VTBC) Southern North Sea on the UKCS.
Aliaga, Izmir in December 2016. In early reminds on December 4. Schooner was shut-in despite material
February 2018, a second FSRU with 20mn “We think that this development might natural gas resources remaining in the field
cubic metres of send-out capacity per day trigger another obstacle to completing the due to the abandonments of hub facilities
was launched in the country’s southernmost Nord Stream 2 pipeline, and so might be and the pipeline to a market in the UK.

P16 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 49 10•December•2020