Page 16 - EurOil Week 03 2023

EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil

Germany's Wintershall Dea departs Russia

GERMANY GERMANY’S Wintershall Dea has and Achim Development.
announced it will exit Russia, noting that con- The company’s exit will mean it booked a one-
Wintershall Dea says tinued operations in the country had become off non-cash charge of €5.3bn ($5.8bn) in the
working in Russia is no impossible. fourth quarter of 2022. This write-off includes
longer possible. Owned by German chemicals giant BASF other Russian-related impairments, including
and Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman’s Let- the one relating to its interest in the now-inoper-
terOne business, Wintershall Dea has become able Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
the latest international oil company to decide to In spite of the setback, Wintershall Dea said
leave Russia amid fallout from Moscow’s inva- it was still financially flexible. Thanks to soaring
sion of Ukraine. high gas prices, the company saw its EBITDAX
“Wintershall Dea will end its Russian activi- climb 162% year on year in the third quarter of
ties. Continuing to operate in Russia is not ten- last year, to €2.6bn, while its adjusted net income
able,” CEO Mario Mehren said in a statement rose 264% to €851mn. It also had €6.2bn of cash
on January 18. “Russia’s war of aggression in and cash equivalents at the end of three-month
Ukraine is incompatible with our values and period, although excluding its Russian business,
has destroyed cooperation between Russia and this came to only €4.2bn.
Europe.” “Having built significant flexibility during the
He went on to explain that Russian restric- year 2022, the company will take actions in line
tions had made it impossible for Wintershall Dea with its financial policy to maintain a strong bal-
to operate its joint ventures in the country as it ance sheet consistent with its investment grade
previously did. He pointed to Russian presiden- rating commitment and in parallel profitably
tial decrees issued in December that forced its grow and diversify its business outside of Russia,”
joint ventures to cut the price of gas they charge Wintershall Dea said.
Gazprom. BASF, which owns 72.7% of Wintershall Dea,
Wintershall Dea’s Russian operation includes will also book a €7.3bn impairment as a result of
a 35% stake in the Gazprom-operated Yuzh- the company’s Russia-related troubles, including
no-Russkoye field in Siberia, and interests in two €5.4bn in the fourth quarter. BASF consequently
of Gazprom’s Achimov layer projects, Achimgaz suffered a €1.38bn net loss for last year. ™

Equinor hails Norway’s first hydrocarbon

discovery of the year

NORWAY NORWAY’S Equinor has hailed the country’s president for exploration and production north,
first oil and gas discovery of the year, noting Grete Haaland, commented. “We will together
The partners are looking it can be tied to another nearby field set for with our partners consider a tie-back of this dis-
to tie the discovery development. covery to Irpa.”
back to another field Equinor and its partners Wintershall Dea The companies submitted a plan for develop-
being developed. and Petoro made the commercial gas discovery ment and operation of Irpa in November 2022.
at production licence 1128 in the Norwegian Sea, In Norway, this step is effectively seen as a final
assessing its size at somewhere between 12.6 and investment decision (FID). The project is slated
69.2mn barrels of oil equivalent (boe). Named to cost NOK14.8bn ($1.5bn).
Obelix Upflank, the find is only 23 km south of Irpa was proven in 2009 and contains
the Irpa gas field, which is due to be tied back 19.3bn cubci metres of gas and additional vol-
to the Aasta Hansteen platform, extending the umes of condensate in recoverable reserves.
facility’s lifespan by seven years. Equinor operates the project with a 51%
“Discoveries near existing infrastructure stake, while Wintershall Dea has 19%, Petoro
require less volume in order to be commercially has 20% and Shell 10%. It will be developed
developed, and can be quickly put on stream through three wells and a 80-km pipeline to
with low CO2 emissions,” Equinor’s senior vice Aasta Hansteen. ™

P16 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 03 20•January•2023