Page 15 - EurOil Week 03 2021

EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil

OMV to expand German petchem hub

GERMANY OMV has announced plans to invest €40mn downstream operations officer, Thomas Gangl,
($48mn) in expanding and modernising its said. “This goes hand in hand with the growth in
OMV is going down refining and petrochemicals hub in Burghausen, the chemical industry and serves as a response to
the petrochemicals Germany. increasing customer demand.”
route while many of While other European oil and gas companies The extra products will help meeting grow-
its European peers are moving into renewables to diversify, OMV ing demand in the neighbouring Bavarian
are moving into wants to expand its presence in petrochemicals, chemical triangle and in international mar-
renewables. motivated by a strong long-term demand out- kets, said OMV. The Burghausen refinery cur-
look. It closed a $4.7bn deal to buy an extra 39% rently produces 450,000 tonnes of ethylene and
stake in petrochemicals group Borealis from 650,000 tonnes of propylene per year (tpy). Its
Abu Dhabi state investor Mubadala in October, oil throughput capacity is 3.8mn tpy (76,000
demonstrating this focus. barrels per day).
OMV is looking to ramp up annual ethylene OMV recently agreed its network of 285 filling
and propylene production by 50,000 tonnes at stations in Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg to
Burghausen by expanding and modernising its UK operator EG Group for €485mn ($588mn).
steam cracker units and petrochemical cold sec- But it has stressed that the Burghausen complex
tion. The new units are due online in the third will remain a core asset. Besides ethylene and
quarter of 2022, after a planned turnaround propylene, the refinery also produces butadiene
at the refinery. Initial groundwork is already and middle distillates such as kerosene, diesel
underway. and heating oil.
“By expanding the cracker, OMV is consist- The company has two other refining and
ently delivering on its petrochemical strategy petrochemical sites in Schwechat in Austria and
for a future-proof refinery,” the company’s chief Petrobrazi in Romania. ™

UK Catcher, Kraken fields enter decline

UK UK oil and gas operator Cairn has warned that Kraken’s western flank.
its Catcher and Kraken oilfields in the North Sea Premier has a 50% operating stake in Catcher,
The two North Sea are due to “enter their natural decline phase” this while other shareholders include Mol Group
fields came on stream year. with 20% and Dyas with 10%. Catcher is oper-
in 2017. In a statement on January 20, the company ated by EnQuest with 70%.
also revealed it was planning to take part in the Cairn also noted that it had “engaged” with
Shell-operated Jaws exploration well at licence Indian authorities on adherence with a $1.2bn
P2380, in which it has a 50% interest. arbitration award in its favour in December,
Catcher and Kraken have past their peak relating to a tax dispute. The company is “tak-
less than four years after they were brought on ing all necessary steps” to ensure it receives the
stream. Cairn has a 20% interest in Catcher and a funds, it said.
29.5% stake in Kraken, netting it just over 21,000 Cairn also closed the sale of its interests in
barrels per day (bpd) of supply in 2020, in line Senegal to Australia’s Woodside last month,
with forecasts. It expects to produce only 16,000- raising $300mn plus $225mn in reimbursements
19,000 boepd in 2021. for expenses since the start of 2020. The compa-
The London-listed firm’s focus is on working ny’s exploration and appraisal budget for 2021
with its partners to prevent further production is $75mn, covering work at Jaws and in Mexico,
decline and extending the fields’ life, it said. The where it has a 15% position in Eni’s Saasken
company aims to do this by improving the effi- discovery.
ciency of their floating production storage and “Cairn enters 2021 with balance sheet
offloading (FPSO) vessels, and maturing further strength and financial flexibility. The sale of
drilling opportunities. the company’s interests in Senegal and return
A new 4D seismic programme is planned at of capital to shareholders demonstrates con-
Catcher to better define reservoir targets, ahead tinued strategic delivery and differentiation,”
of a potential infill and satellite drilling pro- CEO Simon Thomson said. “The company is
gramme, Cairn said. This programme would well-positioned to be opportunistic in the cur-
include some work that was deferred from 2020. rent market as it seeks to diversify and grow its
Work also continues to realise the potential of production base.” ™

Week 03 21•January•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P15