Page 16 - EurOil Week 44 2021

EurOil NEWS IN BRIEF EurOil

Bulgartransgaz resumes and the relevant corporate bodies of Exxon PKN Orlen, quoted by Bankier.pl.
According to the Austrian daily Kurier,
approve the deal.
natural gas deliveries to Romgaz will have the obligation to pay a Romanian source said that PKN Orlen
Upon signing the sale-purchase contract,
made an offer for the majority stake held
Serbia, Hungary Exxon an amount of $106mn representing an by OMV in Petrom.
advance payment/deposit. .
KPN Orlen has already submitted a bid
Bulgartransgaz, Bulgaria’s gas network After the suspensive conditions necessary for the purchase of OMV gas stations in
operator, said on November 3 it has resumed to complete the transaction, as specified Germany, and earlier this year announced
delivery of natural gas to Serbia and Hungary in the sale-purchase contract, are fulfilled, that it is considering the takeover of 120
after repairing a pipeline rupture. Romgaz will pay the rest of the money. gas stations in Slovenia, put up for sale by
The deliveries were put on halt on OMV.
November 1 due to rupture of the pipeline OMV owns 51% in OMV Petrom,
near the village of Vetrino. OMV Petrom’s doubles which owns assets in upstream as well as in
The delivery to Romania, which was downstream segments.
reduced due to the rupture, was also profit in January-September “I was very surprised to read today’s
restored. article. Romania has always been
As of October 1, the main transit of as prices pick up interesting to us from a geographic
Russian gas to Hungary goes via the perspective and for its market potential,
extension of Turkish Stream dubbed Balkan OMV Petrom, the largest Romanian energy so we look at it in terms of potential
Stream - that runs from Russia under the group, announced that its net profit doubled opportunities, but the upstream assets
Black Sea to Turkey. It has a capacity of in January-September compared to the there are not interesting for us. We are not
31.5bn cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year, same period in 2020 (+103% y/y), while having any discussions with OMV on the
part of which is earmarked for several calculations show that it still lagged by 37% topic of asset purchases,” Sleszynski said
Southeast European countries. behind the pre-crisis performance of the first during an October 28 teleconference with
The route links in many of the countries nine months of 2019. analysts.
that would have been served by the aborted The results were visibly driven by higher Last year, KPN Orlen announced that
South Stream project that would have energy prices this year and the record it was analysing expansion opportunities
delivered Russian gas to Bulgaria then on refinery utilisation rate (in the context of in Romania. The company’s officials met
to other countries in the region, but was rival refinery Petromidia being shut down with representatives of the Romanian
scrapped when it was found not to comply after a July accident), as the group’s output government to identify potential business
with EU legislation. As pointed out by Russia decreased with the notable exception of the opportunities on the local market.
hawks, the two pipelines are suspiciously power generation segment.
similar and questions have been raised about In absolute terms, the RON1.68bn
the financing for various legs of Balkan (€340mn) net income resulted in a net Slovenian parliament
Stream. margin of nearly 10%.
The group’s sales revenues edged rejects motion to ban
up by only 13% y/y to RON17.1bn on a
Romgaz to pay Exxon up to combination of higher prices and lower hydraulic fracking for fourth
output.
$1.07bn for 50% in Neptun the three quarters of 2021 fell by 11% y/y to time
The group’s natural gas production in
Deep offshore perimeter 2.83bn cubic metres, and the crude oil output The Slovenian parliament rejected an
opposition-sponsored motion to ban
by 9% y/y to 17.55mn barrels.
The board of directors of Romgaz “The group’s production decreased by hydraulic fracking in Slovenia on October
endorsed on November 2 the purchase of 10%, mainly due to the sale of production 26, news agency STA reported.
ExxonMobil’s 50% stake in the Black Sea assets in Kazakhstan in Q2 of 2021, the sharp The motion to amend the mining act
natural gas project for a price of $1.06bn natural decline in the main fields, as well was filed in September by the opposition
that can be adjusted upwards by maximum as operational maintenance activities,” the Left party, the List of Marjan Sarec (LMS)
of $10mn, according to a note to investors company said. and Social Democrats (SD).
submitted to the Bucharest Stock Exchange. On the upside, the refinery utilisation This was the fourth attempt to ban
Currently, ExxonMobil and OMV rate rose to 95% compared to 90% in the fracking, which would automatically
Petrom are equal partners in the deep- same period last year, significantly above the prevent drilling plans of the British oil and
sea Neptun Deep project, where exploration European average. gas company Ascent Resources in Petisovci
has revealed deposits estimated at 42bn-84bn The power segment also performed well, field, according to the article.
cubic metres. with the net electricity production standing Ascent Resources has already initiated
Last month, Romanian state- at 3.24 TWh, 9% higher, providing 7% of international arbitration proceedings
controlled natural gas company Romania’s electricity production. against Slovenia over a fracking dispute.
Romgaz announced that it reached an The dispute relates to the refusal of the
agreement with ExxonMobil on the terms Slovenian authorities to grant a permit for
and conditions for the acquisition of 100% PKN Orlen not in talks on hydraulic fracturing at the Petisovci gas
of ExxonMobil Exploration and Production field, after the state failed to put forward a
Romania Limited, the vehicle that holds 50% OMV Romanian assets damages proposal.
of the offshore perimeter XIX Neptun Deep As part of direct pre-arbitration
Block. Polish oil group PKN Orlen is not in settlement discussions Ascent
Romgaz shareholders are invited to clear talks with Austrian OMV regarding the Resources had submitted a damages
the deal on December 9. The contract will purchase of the latter’s assets in Romania, calculation to the Slovenian government
be signed after the shareholders of Romgaz said Robert Sleszynski, M&A director at totalling over €100mn.

P16 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 44 04•November•2021