Page 8 - FSUOGM Week 33

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Japan’s JGC announced last week that the region further. Turkey has previously drilled
it had been awarded a $3.75bn contract to wells in waters claimed by Cyprus. Yavuz is cur-
build new refining facilities on land adja- rently one of two Turkish drillships in the East-
cent to the existing 210,000 barrel per day ern Mediterranean, and a third is reported to be
(bpd) Shuaiba refinery outside Basra in coming to the region soon.
southern Iraq. The company said that it European Union (EU) foreign ministers have
had received a lump sum engineering, pro- held urgent talks on the matter, with Turkey indi-
curement, construction and commission- cating a willingness to enter a dialogue with the
ing (EPCC) contract covering a 34,500 bpd bloc over the issue. However, there is no sign of
fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit, a 55,000 the tensions being scaled down as yet.
bpd vacuum distillation unit and a 40,000 Meanwhile, normal oil and gas operations
bpd diesel desulphurisation unit. – and decommissioning – continue in other
In South Sudan, NOC Nile Petroleum European waters. This week, offshore contrac-
Corp. (Nilepet) announced that it is nearing tor Allseas announced that it had completed the
completion on work to rehabilitate the 5,000 removal of processing and accommodation top-
barrel per day Bentiu oil refinery in the coun- sides and flare jackets as part of the Tyra redevel-
try. Director general of Nilepet’s Downstream opment project for Total in Danish waters. The
Directorate, James Loteka Yugusuk, said on structures will be transported to specialist yards
August 14 that completion of the work would in Denmark and the Netherlands for recycling.
allow South Sudan to reduce fuel imports. A new platform will be installed at Tyra, which
produces around 90% of Denmark’s gas output,
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping by 2022.
the downstream sector of Africa and the Middle East, Allseas is now preparing to remove the Nin-
then please click here for NewsBase’s DMEA Monitor. ian Northern platform, which is located east of
Shetland in the UK North Sea. This will be the
Tensions escalate in East Med final job of the year for Allseas’ Pioneering Spirit
Tensions have been escalating between Greece heavy-lift vessel, which also carried out the Tyra
and Turkey over drilling in contested waters in removals.
the Eastern Mediterranean, with the French gov-
ernment bolstering France’s military presence in If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
the region in recent days. Europe’s oil and gas sector then please click here for
This comes after Turkey sent a seismic NewsBase’s EurOil Monitor.
research vessel, escorted by warships, into waters
between the Greek island of Crete and Cyprus A better month for the LNG market
to explore for potential offshore gas and oil Things are looking up for the global LNG mar-
reserves, spurred by similar discoveries in other ket after several challenging months on both the
parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. Greece supply and demand fronts.
claims that part of the area falls within its own US LNG exports are picking up, with Reuters
continental shelf and has demanded that the reporting this week that they are on track to rise
ships withdraw, but Turkey insists that it is enti- for the first time in six months. This follows a
tled to conduct research in those waters. spate of cargo cancellations from US liquefaction
On August 17, Turkey’s state-owned TPAO terminals over the summer, which are continu-
extended the drilling schedule for its Yavuz ing, but at a slower pace.
drillship offshore Cyprus to mid-September in Meanwhile, Asian spot LNG prices have
a move that appears set to ramp up tensions in risen to more than a six-month high over the

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 33 19•August•2020