Page 15 - EurOil Week 19 2021

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Law that all the oil companies involved in of energy, mining and industry, stated will create business opportunities for local
Romania’s Black Sea project expect to be that there would be no interruption in entrepreneurs and provide long-term revenue
amended. the supply of natural gas and that the flow for the country,” said Dmitry Pankin,
If a favourable investment decision remaining obligations would be paid on BSTDB president..
is adopted in the Neptun Deep project time.
is made, OMV will consider giving up Energoinvest had announced on May 5
the option to acquire a 24.9% stake in that it would suspend gas deliveries as of Equinor to hire more staff at
the Gazprom project intended for the 6am on May 7 because BH Gas Sarajevo
development of blocks 4 and 5 of the failed to pay the invoice for March. plants hit by fires
Achimov formation, part of the Uregoy gas Suspending the gas supply is another
field in Siberia, Seele said. step in the conflict between BH Gas and Fires that crippled two Equinor plants
Following the acquisition of Energoinvest. in Norway last year were caused by both
petrochemical company Borealis just The move seems to be linked to the technical and human errors, the energy
before the outbreak of the pandemic, OMV change in the transport route for the company said on May 12, promising to hire
has struggled to finance planned projects, Russian gas (as of the beginning of April), and train more staff.
particularly one such as Achimov 4/5 that from Ukraine to Hungary route to Turkish A blaze last September at Hammerfest
would cost $1bn.. Stream that, according to BH Gas, was LNG, Europe’s only large-scale liquefied
decided unilaterally by Energoinvest. natural gas plant, caused an outage expected
to last 18 months, while a fire in December
Bosnian Federation pays BSTDB extends €15mn for at the Tjeldbergodden methanol facility took
two months to repair.
gas bill to avoid supply most advanced Romanian engineering resources within electrical
“We are bolstering our recruitment of
interruption disciplines and up to 50 skilled workers are
bound for the onshore facilities,” the company
State-owned gas transport company BH offshore gas project said in a statement.
Gas Sarajevo announced that it settled The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank Labour unions representing oil workers
debts to Energoinvest, the only authorised (BSTDB) has provided a €15mn loan to the have repeatedly called on Equinor to increase
and registered gas importer in the Bosnian three companies that are developing the staffing and training at onshore plants.
Federation, Bosnia’s Muslim-Croat entity, most advanced of several offshore natural gas While the fire at Tjeldbergodden was
on the afternoon of May 6, thus avoiding projects in Romania’s Black Sea: Black Sea caused by a runaway steam turbine after its
an interruption to gas supplies. Oil & Gas (project operator), Petro Ventures shutdown valve malfunctioned, the self-
As BH Gas stated, this was done at Resources and Gas Plus Dacia. ignition of filters in an air intake at the LNG
the request of the Bosnian Federation The three, through their project company plant was the result of several “direct and
government, which ordered BH Gas to Midia Gas Development Project (MGD), are underlying factors”, Equinor said.
pay the invoice sent by Energoinvest d.d. developing the Ana and Doina gas offshore Equinor’s investigators disagreed however
Sarajevo by May 6 at 1 p.m. for delivered fields. As the first gas production facility in the with previous conclusions drawn by Norway’s
natural gas and VAT, such as to allow Romanian Black Sea offshore built after 1989, Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) that filter
Energoinvest to make the payment to the project will diversify the sources of gas maintenance at the LNG plant could have
Gazprom and the state budget (Indirect supply in the country. been a contributing factor.
Taxation Authority). BSOG is backed by the Carlyle Group and PSA said the filters had not been replaced
However, after inspecting the payment, the European Bank for Reconstruction and since 2015, while the company used to change
Energoinvest informed the relevant Development (EBRD). them every two years before.
ministry that BH Gas had only partially The BSTDB financing for the MGD “The investigation group does not believe
fulfilled the obligation, meaning that project is part of an existing financial package that the maintenance interval for exchanging
it had not paid the full amount from put together by international and domestic the filters that self-ignited is a contributing
the invoice. Notably, BH Gas made the banks, including the EBRD, Credit Agricole, cause,” Equinor said.
payment immediately after receiving from Societe Generale, Banca Comerciala Romana, The PSA has yet to publish its findings on
Energoinvest the original invoice issued by Raiffeisen Bank International, and BRD the methanol fire.
Gazprom Export — the Russian supplier Group Societe Generale.
of gas — meaning that possibly the “We are glad to be associated with this
payment covered the price of the gas and project helping Romania tap its offshore
the VAT alone and not the fee charged by reserves to promote more environmentally
Energoinvest. friendly solutions and enhance its competitive
Nermin Dzindic, the federal minister physical infrastructure. We hope our loan

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