Page 11 - EurOil Week 23 2021

EurOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT EurOil

German LNG project near to finalising

contractor, customer deals

GERMANY THE developers behind what is expected to be German LNG Terminal is ready to take this step
Germany’s first LNG regasification terminal too.”
The project looks close have said they are “extremely confident” they GLT shortlisted a consortium of Spanish
to a final investment will “soon” finalise deals with customers and companies Cobra Instalaciones y Servicios and
decision. contractors ahead of taking a final investment Sener Ingenieria y sistemas and Germany’s TGE
decision (FID). Gas Engineering for the EPC contract in 2019. It
German LNG Terminal (GLT), a joint ven- is also hoping to finalise a contract with German
ture between Dutch gas transmission system power company RWE on booking a “substantial”
operator (TSO) Gasunie, Dutch chemical stor- part of the terminal’s capacity.
age firm Vopak and German logistics com- “The terminal will contribute to the securing
pany Oiltanking, plan to build a terminal in and diversification of the natural gas supply at
Brunsbuettel capable of bringing ashore 8bn the time of the energy transformation in Ger-
cubic metres per year of gas. In a statement on many,” GLT said. “With the possibility of han-
June 4, GLT said the project had obtained an dling green gases at the terminal, the terminal
exemption on tariff and network access regula- will play an important role in the energy supply
tions from the European Commission. of the future.”
“The commercial framework conditions for Germany currently lacks any LNG import
the LNG terminal have now been determined,” capacity, relying mostly on piped supplies from
GLT’s managing director, Rolf Brouwer, com- Russia and the North Sea. But there are several
mented in a statement. “We are extremely con- regasification projects in the pipeline, of which
fident that we will now soon be able to conclude GLT is the most advanced.
binding contracts with our potential customers, GLT asked for regulatory exemptions for
and commission the EPC (engineering, procure- the project in 2018 and the request was granted
ment and construction) contractor. We hope by German regulators in December last year,
that the planning permission procedures can although that decision had to be vetted by the
take a decisive step forward in the near future. EC. ™

POLICY

Norway kicks off latest APA round

NORWAY NORWAY has kicked off bidding in its latest Norway is also working on its next numbered
awards in predefined areas (APA) round, invit- round. Whereas APA rounds offer acreage in
Rights to some 70 ing companies to submit offers for 84 blocks more developed areas, numbered rounds offer
blocks will be offered in mostly in the Barents Sea. it in frontier areas where infrastructure is more
the Barents Sea alone. The deadline for submissions is September limited. The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate
8 and licences should be awarded in early 2022. (NPD) said in February that seven companies
Authorities started a consultation on the plan in had filed bids in that round.
February. Norway has continued its current licensing
Rights to some 70 blocks will be offered in the policy despite growing calls for the country to
Barents Sea. There were a string of exploration abandon oil and gas exploration, following sim-
failures in the frontier region last year, but for- ilar moves by Ireland and Denmark. Yet while in
tunes turned in March this year, when Equinor many countries oil and gas production is unpop-
struck oil between 31 and 50mn barrels of oil ular, recent polls show a 60-70% majority of Nor-
near the Johan Castberg field. wegians want it to continue.
An additional 10 blocks are on offer in the In contrast, a recent survey held in the UK
Norwegian Sea and four in the North Sea. found that 61% wanted the government to draw
Allocating more licences is “important to up a plan for phasing out oil and gas production,
maintain the level of activity on the Norwegian while 63% thought spending should be directed
shelf,” Norwegian Petroleum Minister Tina in low-carbon energies. The survey, commis-
Bru said in a statement. “It contributes to good sioned by environmental organisation Uplift,
resource management, creates great value for the also showed that only 27% were in support of
community and secures jobs across the country.” the further issue of licences. ™

Week 23 10•June•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P11