Page 14 - EurOil Week 10 2021

EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil

Equinor, partners approve

Asgard investment

NORWAY EQUINOR and its partners at the Asgard gas Total 7.7%. It has already delivered more than
field in the Norwegian Sea have signed off on 2.8bn boe with a value grossing over NOK1
Equinor is hoping the a NOK1.4bn ($164mn) investment, to help trillion.
project can deliver a recover an extra 400-500mn barrels of oil equiv- The project consists of the Asgard A and
further NOK150-200bn alent (boe) from the project. Asgard B platforms and hosts complex sub-
of value creation. The Asgard field started flowing oil and gas in sea facilities, including 23 templates hosting
1999 and output has been in steady decline since 70 wells. The installations also handle oil and
2013, extracting 6.61bn cubic metres of gas and gas from the Midgard, Smorbukk, Smorbukk
66,500 barrels per day (bpd) last year. The Asgard South, Mikkel, Morvin, Smorbukk Northeast
B low-pressure project aims to increase the field’s and Trestakk fields.
recovery rate from under 50% at present to 60%, Gas from Asgard is delivered via the Asgard
by increasing output at the current Smorbukk Transport to the processing plant at Karsto,
wells. The Asgard B platform will be modified to north of Stavanger.
reduce inlet pressure by replacing the reinjection The Asgard partners have also handed out
compressors and rebuilding parts of the process- an engineering, procurement, construction and
ing facility. installation (EPCI) valued at NOK800mn for
The hope is that the project can yield a fur- modification work at Asgard B. The deal follows
ther NOK150-200bn of value creation, Equinor a front-end engineering and design (FEED) con-
said. tract awarded to Aker in December 2019.
Equinor operates Asgard with a 34.6% stake, The start-up of the low-pressure project is
while Petoro has 35.7%, Var Energi 22% and scheduled for 2023. ™

Neste closes takeover of

Dutch oilseeds refinery

FINLAND FINNISH oil refiner Neste has closed the acqui- of waste and residues to 100% of total renew-
sition of Dutch firm Bunge Loders Croklaan’s able raw material inputs by 2025 at the latest,
Neste is expanding its oilseeds refinery in Rotterdam for €258mn Vanacker said. It wants to expand its renewables
green fuel business. ($311mn), following clearance from regulators. production capacity to 4.5mn tonnes per year by
The facility is situated next to Neste’s existing the first quarter of 2023, from 3.2mn tpy at pres-
bio-refinery at the Dutch port, and includes a ent, as part of efforts to help its customers reduce
pre-treatment facility, a tank farm, jetties and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 20mn tpy
a pipeline to the Neste site. Operations and by 2030.
staff will be transferred to the Finnish group in In May last year Neste also bought the Count
phases, and the refinery’s pre-treatment capacity Terminal in Rotterdam, which stores, refines and
is expected to become fully available for Neste’s blends renewable waste and residue-based raw
feedstock by the end of 2024. materials. The company is already the world’s
“The completion of this acquisition is an leading producer of renewable diesel and sus-
important step forward in delivering on Neste’s tainable aviation fuel from waste and residues.
global growth strategy in renewables,” CEO At the same time, Neste has been scaling back
Peter Vanacker said in a statement. “It allows its conventional refining business. In September
us to accelerate the scaling up of our renewa- last year it sold its near 50% stake in struggling
ble raw material pre-treatment capacity, which specialist Swedish oil refinery Nynas to Dubai-
is an important driver for expanding the use of based Bitumina. Two months later it shut down
waste and residue feedstocks and increasing our its 58,000 barrel per day oil refinery in Naantali,
feedstock.” Finland, citing the impact of the coronavirus
Neste is committed to increasing the share (COVID-19) pandemic on fuel demand.™

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 10 11•March•2021