Page 12 - EurOil Week 01 2021

EurOil NEWS IN BRIEF EurOil

Croatia’s Janaf signs crude decrease the risks associated with other suspended following the threat of sanctions by
“Success in Gjegnalunden will further
the U.S. administration of Donald Trump and
oil storage deals with BP, prospects in PL867/B and the adjacent the subsequent withdrawal of the Swiss-Dutch
PL818/B,” Rex said.
company Allseas from pipe-laying.
Lukoil Lime, said, “We are pleased to partner with Russia had to complete it with its own fleet.
Lars Hübert, Chief Executive Officer of
Putin said on Wednesday the second
Croatian state oil pipeline operator Janaf said Aker BP in PL867 and PL867B. We look stretch of the twin pipeline has been filled
on December 29 it has extended its agreement forward to drilling the Gjegnalunden prospect with gas.
for crude oil storage with BP Oil International later in 2022. Farming-in to these licenses “I’d like to congratulate Gazprom and your
and inked a new contract with Lukoil Croatia. follows Lime’s strategy of infrastructure-led partners in Nord Stream 2 on the completion
With BP, Janaf signed an annex to the exploration. Given the proximity to the Ivar of work and the creation of this additional
contract for crude oil storage, extending its Aasen field, a discovery at Gjegnalunden large trunk-route and that it is ready for
term from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023, would constitute high-value barrels.” work,” Putin told a government meeting,
the company said in a statement on the In a separate statement, Rex has also attended by the head of Gazprom Alexei
website of the Zagreb Stoch Exchange. informed that Lime had completed the Miller.
Janaf also inked a deal with Lukoil Croatia acquisition of 33.8434% interests in the The $11 billion pipeline has been built by
on the storage of petroleum products from Wintershall Dea Norge AS-operated Brage the Kremlin-controlled gas giant Gazprom
January 1, 2022 to end-December 2023. Field and five licenses on the Norwegian and half of the cost has been paid by European
Croatia’s Ministry of State Assets holds a Continental Shelf over which the Brage Field energy companies, namely Germany’s Uniper
stake of around 52% in Janaf, followed by the straddles, for a post-tax consideration of and BASF’s Wintershall Dea , international
state centre for enterprise restructuring and US$42.6 million from Repsol. oil major Shell, Austria’s OMV and France’s
privatisation, CERP, with 26%, and energy Brage is Wintershall Dea’s first operated Engie.
firm INA with 12%. manned platform in Norway. Located in the The certification of the link along the bed
Janaf operates 622 kilometres of pipelines northern North Sea, 125 kilometers west of the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany is
and has crude oil and oil products terminals of Bergen, it is one of the oldest producing not expected before the end of the first half of
on the island of Krk, as well as in Sisak, Virje, platforms in Norway. 2022.
Slavonski Brod and Zitnjak. First discovered in 1980, the field came into
production in 1993 and has been in operation Europe has seen natural gas prices hit
ever since. When Wintershall Dea (then record highs as economic recovery and robust
Rex’s Lime farms into Wintershall) took over operatorship from energy demand has strained supplies.
Some politicians and experts have blamed
Statoil (now Equinor) in 2013, the platform
Norwegian blocks owned by was granted a lifetime extension until 2030. In Russia for restraining its gas exports as the
2020, about 1.38 mmboe or 3,800 boepd were
wait continues for regulatory approval and a
Aker BP, Wintershall produced from the Brage Field, net to Repsol’s broader standoff with the West plays out over
33.8434 percent working interest.
Ukraine, which fears Moscow will launch a
Rex International’s subsidiary Lime Petroleum military invasion. Russia has denied plans to
has completed its 20 percent farm-in to each attack Ukraine.
of the respective licenses PL867 and PL867B Putin says Nord Stream 2 Putin said the launch of Nord Stream
Gjegnalunden in the Norwegian part of the will reduce gas prices in Europe as well as in
North Sea from operator Aker BP. link ready to calm prices Ukraine by increasing gas supplies.
Lime now holds a 20 percent stake in “This, for sure, will have an immediate
each of the two licences. The PL867/B Russian President Vladimir Putin said on impact on price on the market, on the spot.
Gjegnalunden licenses are located in a prolific Wednesday the Nord Stream 2 undersea And all the countries, the consumers in those
part of the North Sea in the Utsira High area, gas pipeline would help to calm a surge in countries that consume the Russian gas, of
in which Lime has significant experience. European gas prices and was ready to start course, will feel it themselves,” Putin said.
The licenses are adjacent to PL818/B Orkja, exports now a second stretch of the pipeline Upward pressure on Europe’s gas prices has
in which Lime has a 30 percent interest. Also, has been filled. increased following the flow reversal in the
the offshore licenses are located 12 km west of Nord Stream 2, completed in September Yamal - Europe pipeline, another major route
the Ivar Aasen field, also operated by Aker BP. but awaiting regulatory approval from for the Russian gas to Europe, to eastward
According to Rex, the licenses contain Germany and the European Union, faces earlier this month.
several prospects, with the Gjegnalunden resistance from the United States and several The gas flowed from Germany to Poland
prospect having the highest priority. countries including Poland and Ukraine, via the pipeline for a ninth straight day on
Exploration drilling of the Gjegnalunden which say it will increase Russia’s leverage over Wednesday, data from German network
prospect, targeting a reservoir in the Jurassic Europe. operator Gascade showed.
section, is likely to be in the second half of The pipeline had been scheduled to be
2022. completed in 2019, but construction was

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 01 06•January•2022