Page 7 - EurOil Week 50 2022

EurOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT EurOil

Equinor brings more gas to

Hammerfest LNG

NORWAY NORWAY’S Equinor has commissioned the reliable gas supplier,” Equinor said in a state-
first phase of the Askeladd natural gas field, the ment. “Askeladd and other projects in the region
Askeladd will company said on December 12, with flows now will ensure further value creation and produc-
complement supply heading to the Hammerfest LNG facility on tion from HLNG for decades.”
from the Snohvit field. Melkoya Island. The Askeladd field was developed with three
Askeladd is a satellite of the giant Snohvit wells linked to a pipeline and umbilical that con-
gas field in the Barents Sea – the main source of nects with the existing Snohvit facility. Equinor
supply for Hammerfest LNG. It will provide an operates the project with a 36.8% stake, while
extra 18bn cubic metres of gas for the liquefac- Petoro has 30%, TotalEnergies has 18.4%, Nep-
tion plant – enough to keep it running at its full tune Energy has 12% and Wintershall Dea has
6.5 bcm per year capacity for an extra three years. 2.8%.
The field had been scheduled to start up “Just over 1.5mn person-hours of work have
in 2020, but its launch was put on hold after gone into the project, most of them performed by
the Melkoya plant caught fire late that year. It our suppliers. During the project period, Aske-
finally resumed operations in spring 2022, after ladd generated 250-300 person-years of work
lengthy repairs. Askeladd was developed at a in Northern Norway, mainly in Hammerfest,”
cost that was NOK650mn below the NOK5.2bn Equinor said. “In addition, many employees and
(€496mn) budget. suppliers have helped restart Hammerfest LNG,
Hammerfest LNG sells its gas to Europe, and which makes it possible to phase in both Askel-
its downtime after the fire further exacerbated add and future projects.”
the energy crisis that began on the continent in Equinor plans to develop several more fields
the autumn of 2021. in the vicinity of Snohvit. The next one will be
“HLNG delivers significant volumes to cus- Askeladd West, which will comprise two wells
tomers in Europe, and the gas from the Barents tied back to existing infrastructure, followed by
Sea reinforces our position as a predictable and further investments in onshore compression

Hungary signs deal paving way

for Qatari gas purchases

HUNGARY HUNGARY has signed a political agreement LNG terminal as it has promised, there will be
clearing the way for the start of talks between a realistic possibility for Hungary to receive gas
The political agreement energy group MVM and QatarEnergy on the from Qatar within about three years, according
clears the way for talks purchase of Qatari gas, Minister of Foreign to Hungary’s top diplomat.
between Hungary’s Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said in Doha on Before the pandemic, Budapest revealed its
MVM and QatarEnergy. December 14. interest in acquiring a 25% stake in the capital of
Qatar is the world’s second-biggest exporter state-owned LNG Croatia, the developer of the
of LNG and is upgrading production and deliv- LNG terminal project. Hungary is still aspiring
ery capacities, Szijjarto said, adding that Hun- to gain minority ownership, but it appears this
gary could “realistically” start taking deliveries does not enjoy political support in Croatia.
of Qatari gas within three years if Croatia scales In 2020, Hungary’s state-owned MVM
up capacity of its LNG terminal on the Adriatic group had booked 1 bcm capacity annually at
coast. the Krk terminal for the next seven years, mak-
He also highlighted the role of the European ing Hungary the terminal’s largest client. The 1
Union, saying infrastructure developments bcm capacity is roughly a tenth of the country’s
will be needed in order to bring large volumes annual consumption
of natural gas to Hungary via the southern and Under a 15-year deal signed last year with
south-eastern European LNG terminals. Gazprom, Hungary currently receives 4.5 bcm
If Croatia expands the capacity of the Krk of gas per year via Bulgaria and Serbia. ™

Week 50 16•December•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P7