Page 5 - EurOil Week 11 2021

EurOil COMMENTARY EurOil

up to 5.4mn tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG under power grid, while complementing intermittent
its initial phase. renewables and alternative resources,” Excelerate
The Albanian and Italian governments CEO Steven Kobos added.
signed a permit agreement for the LNG project
in 2008, and construction had been scheduled Political support?
to begin in 2010, with completion scheduled for US LNG expansion was a cornerstone of the
2014-2016. But progress stalled and the project Trump administration’s foreign policy. US
was eventually scuppered. energy and diplomatic officials toured Europe
Albania does have other options for gas sup- during the course of last year, seeking to carve
ply, but those too present challenges. It could out a space for US gas in a market dominated by
obtain gas from Azerbaijan via TAP, but the US adversary Russia. New LNG import projects
pipeline’s capacity is already fully booked by to handle these supplies were proposed in Mon-
customers in other European countries. It is set tenegro, Belarus, Portugal and other countries
to undergo an expansion, bringing its capacity lacking regasification capacity.
to 20 bcm per year, but market tests are yet to These overtures culminated in a promise in
confirm sufficient interest in the project. February 2020 of $1bn in financing to help Cen-
“While we’re at the early stages of exploring tral and Eastern European countries wean them-
this opportunity, ExxonMobil’s global resources selves off Russian gas and import more US LNG
and reliable LNG supply chain can help Albania instead, by developing the region’s infrastruc-
meet its fast-growing demand for natural gas and ture. The funds were to come from the Three
ensure long-term supply security,” the US firm’s Seas Initiative, a fund involving 12 EU member
LNG strategic and portfolio manager, Ed Austin, states in Central and Eastern Europe that was set
commented. up in 2016 largely to counter the countries’ eco-
ExxonMobil is developing an LNG supply nomic reliance on Russia.
portfolio of some 12mn tpy in size at projects in Whether or not this funding will come
Papua New Guinea, Mozambique and the US. through now that there is a different adminis-
Excelerate, meanwhile, is a leading operator of tration in Washington is unclear. President Joe
floating storage and regasification units (FSRU). Biden has adopted a decidedly different energy
Its units have been deployed at multiple locations policy to his predecessor, and is less likely to be
in the Americas, Asia and Europe. so supportive of US LNG overseas. And such
“As Albania looks to improve energy security support will be key for projects like the Albania
and resiliency, we are confident that an LNG LNG terminal to be realised, especially consid-
solution would provide reliability to the country’s ering the EU’s waning support for fossil fuels. ™

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