Page 12 - FSUOGM Week 45

FSUOGM PIPELINES & TRANSPORT FSUOGM

Gazprom and partners appeal against

Poland's Nord Stream 2 fines

EUROPE GAZPROM and its European partners at the appealed against it on November 5. The same
Nord Stream 2 project have filed appeals against day Shell also did the same.
UOKiK penalised the fines levied by Polish regulator UOKiK, saying According to ICIS, Wintershall is yet to
partners for financing the watchdog’s actions have no basis in law. appeal, but reserves the right to do so.
Nord Stream 2 without UOKiK imposed fines in early October on Nord Stream 2 will pump up to 55bn cubic
its permission. all six investors in Nord Stream 2 – Gazprom, metres per year of Russian gas directly to Ger-
France’s Engie, Austria’s OMV, Royal Dutch many at full capacity. Its launch was set to hap-
Shell, Germany’s Uniper and Wintershall Dea pen at the end of 2019 but is now at least a year
– for moving forward with the project without behind schedule, as a result of Danish permitting
its consent. Gazprom was fined the most – some delays and US sanctions.
PLN29bn ($7.6bn). Gazprom and its European partners origi-
The Russian company launched its appeal nally tried to form a consortium to develop Nord
on November 4, and now its partners have con- Stream 2, but needed UOKiK’s permission to do
firmed following suit. so because of the pipeline’s impact on the Polish
“OMV has appealed against the decision, gas market. The regulator denied the request.
thereby taking the position that the decision Gazprom’s European partners instead pro-
lacks any legal basis,” OMV was quoted as saying vided the Russian company with loans to finance
by Russia’s TASS news agency. the pipeline, but UOKiK argues that these fund-
“Yes, Uniper has appealed against the fine ing agreements effectively constituted a joint
from UOKiK,” that company said. Engie said it venture, and therefore its approval was still
“strongly disagrees” with the decision and had needed. ™

Novak to focus on LNG development

in new role

RUSSIA OUTGOING Russian Energy Minister Alexan- mean Russia occupying a 20% share of the world
der Novak has vowed to make the development market.
Russia wants to expand of Russia’s LNG industry one of his priorities if “At the same time, it is necessary to continue
the use of LNG and he is appointed as a deputy prime minister. develop the mainline infrastructure,” he said.
CNG in transport. The government revealed on November 9 Russia currently only has two large-scale
that Novak, Russia’s longest-serving energy min- LNG export terminals in operation. Gazprom’s
ister, had stepped down after eight years. Prime 10mn tpy Sakhalin LNG plant came on stream
Minister Mikhail Mishustin proposed that he in 2009, while Novatek’s 17mn tpy Yamal LNG
serve as one of his deputies, focusing on energy facility was launched in 2017. Novatek has a raft
policy. of new projects at various stages of development,
If his new appointment is approved by Rus- however. Its 19.8mn tpy Arctic LNG-2 plant is
sia’s State Duma, Novak has said he will focus on due online in 2023. ™
the early adoption of a bill to spur development
of small-scale LNG as a vehicle fuel.
Russia wants to expand the use of LNG and
compressed natural gas (CNG) in transport in
order to lower costs and reduce emissions. Its
government has already rolled out a number of
demand- and supply-side incentives over the last
year to achieve this.
Novak also noted that there was significant
scope for Russia to expand its LNG production,
noting that output could reach as high as 120-
140mn tonnes per year (tpy) by 2035. This would

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