Page 14 - EurOil Week 39 2021

EurOil INVESTMENT EurOil

Norway clears PGNiG purchase

NORWAY NORWAY has cleared Polish gas company Hansteen, among other fields.
PGNiG’s planned purchase of UK player Ineos’ The company will expand its reserves by
PGNiG said the terms North Sea assets, but the price has been lowered. 331mn barrels of oil equivalent through the deal.
were favourable. PGNiG cut a deal to buy Ineos’ assets, which It noted that its output in Norway was on track to
yield around 33,000 barrels of oil equivalent reach 2.5bn cubic metres (bcm) next year.
per day of supply, in March for $615mn. In a PGNiG plans to pump this supply via the
statement on September 27, PGNiG said it had Baltic Pipe to Poland once the pipeline is opera-
secured approval from Norwegian regulators. tional. Baltic Pipe’s launch is officially set for late
But the price has been lowered to $323mn, to 2022, but there have been setbacks in obtaining
take into account weaker-than-expected income construction approvals in Denmark.
generated by Ineos over the first nine months of This marks PGNiG’s ninth acquisition in
this year. Norway since 2017 and once closed, the deal will
PGNiG said the terms were favourable, establish the company as just outside the top 10
“demonstrating [its] competence in E&P sector producers on the Norwegian Continental Shelf
deals.” (NCS). ™
“The purchase of Ineos’ licences will allow us
to achieve one of our strategic objectives related
to security and diversification of gas supplies,
while being an investment in promising and
highly profitable assets,” PGNiG said.
The Polish company will obtain a 14% interest
in Ormen Lange, a 30% interest in Marulk and a
15% interest in the Alve field. Ormen Lange is
the main draw of the deal, as the second largest
gas field on the Norwegian shelf.
PGNiG will also pick up a 8.2% stake in the
Nyhamna gas processing plant, which han-
dles gas supply from Ormen Lange an Aasta
ENERGY TRANSITION

Ineos pledges net-zero emissions by 2045

UK UK oil refiner Ineos pledged on September 22 to its natural gas intake at the site to increase by 10%.
invest some GBP1bn ($1.36bn) in achieving net- “Our roadmap builds on the significant
Ineos is looking zero emissions at its Grangemouth oil refining reductions we’ve already made at Grangem-
seriously at hydrogen, and petrochemical complex in Scotland by 2045, outh. When Ineos bought the site in 2005, it was
in line with the Scottish government’s national emitting around 5mn tpy of CO2,” company
target. chairman Andrew Gardner said in a statement.
The plan will involve the construction of a “Our next step, to use hydrogen combined with
new plant capable of producing up to 190,000 carbon capture via the Acorn project, will reduce
tonnes per year (tpy) of blue hydrogen, as well this to below 2mn. Our roadmap, which extends
as adding carbon capture facilities. Hydrogen beyond the Acorn project, has one goal, and that
is designated as blue when it is produced from is to safely and efficiently reduce CO2 emissions
natural gas but the CO2 released during the pro- to zero by 2045.”
cess is captured and safely stored. The refinery The Acorn carbon capture and storage (CCS)
currently produces 40,000 tpy of grey hydrogen, project is a separate venture, led by Storegga, that
produced from natural gas but without CO2 aims to store up to 6mn tpy of CO2 off the coast
abatement. of Scotland starting in the mid-2020s, although
Ineos also intends to replace one of the two a final investment decision (FID) has not been
gas-fired power plants at Grangemouth with a reached yet. Storegga brought on board Royal
new facility that runs on hydrogen. The hydro- Dutch Shell and Harbour Energy as partners
gen it produces will also be used for local and in the project in April. Ineos and Petroineos,
regional demand, including in transport and for the company’s joint venture with PetroChina,
injection into the national gas grid. It will also recently signed a preliminary deal to connect
convert some of the Grangemouth complex’s Grangemouth with Acorn CCC.
small boilers and furnaces to run on hydrogen The Acorn consortium also hopes to establish
as well. blue hydrogen production, at St Fergus in Scot-
To produce the blue hydrogen, Ineos expects land. ™

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 39 30•September•2021