Page 17 - EurOil Week 49 2021

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and TTPC. Under this agreement, it explained, At the same time, the company partners believed that NSMP’s St Fergus
Eni is slated to transfer all of its holdings in the cancelled a €615m revolving credit facility gas terminal (SFGT) is ideally positioned
two pipelines to NewCo, a newly incorporated it concluded on June 29, 2016. geographically to host the key Acorn
Italian firm. NewCo will then be split 50.1% to The transaction was coordinated by infrastructure. It also has existing facilities
Eni and 49.9% to Snam, it said. BNP Paribas and UniCredit, while OTP and operating and maintenance service
“Eni and Snam will exercise joint control Bank will act as facility agent. The new provision capability with the associated
over NewCo on the basis of equal governance five-year facility, with two, one-year power, utilities and support services
principles, and both companies will there- extension options, can be drawn in euros required for such a development.
fore consolidate NewCo through the equity or US dollars. MOL said conditions of the NSMP believes that SFGT can help
method,” it added. agreement, with an initial margin of 60bp, simplify and accelerate the development
The Italian major put the value of the deal were “highly competitive”. of Acorn by enabling all users to benefit
at €385mn ($436.23mn). It also said its new The agreement “further enhances from the synergistic opportunities that
partnership with Snam was designed to bolster the financial profile of MOL Group can be derived from a collaborative shared
the security of gas supplies to Italy while estab- via maturity profile optimisation”, the infrastructure and services business model.
lishing a foundation for export-oriented green company said. The NSMP-owned SFGT site is an
hydrogen projects in North Africa. This is in MOL also said a €555mn revolving integral part of the Acorn CCS hub in
line with the company’s wider efforts to focus credit facility agreement signed by MOL North East Scotland. Delivering the Acorn
on projects related to the energy transition and Group Finance SA Bertrange, Zurich CCS infrastructure in the 2020s is vital
to optimise its asset portfolio, it commented. Branch, the predecessor of MOL Group to enabling the United Kingdom to meet
Claudio Descalzi, Eni’s CEO, offered more Finance on July 9, 2018, was modified. its net-zero commitments by 2050, and
details on the agreement’s link to his compa- Following the changes,€35mn will for Scotland to meet legally binding 2030
ny’s energy transition strategy. “This transac- mature on July 9, 2023, €50mn a year emission reduction targets and the earlier
tion allows us to free up new resources to be later on the same day and the largest 2045 Net Zero path.
used on our energy transition path, while at the chunk, €470mn on July 9, 2025. With over one-third of the UK’s known
same time maintaining the management of a MOL’s net debt to Ebidta fell from 1.6 CO2 storage resource located within 50km
strategic infrastructure with Snam to ensure in 2020 to 1.3 in the first nine months of of the pipeline corridors from the St Fergus
the security of natural gas supply to the coun- 2021. gas terminal, and a demonstrated demand
try,” he said. “Gas will play a key role in the from both UK and international industries
transition of energy systems to zero-emission wanting to use the Acorn CO2 transport
models, and it is important to maintain the North Sea Midstream and storage system to permanently
availability and diversification of supply routes store their industrial emissions before
for this resource.” Partners joins Acorn Project 2030, this reinforces the urgent need for
Marco Alverà, the CEO of Snam, spoke the development of this infrastructure,
similarly. “This deal consolidates Snam’s cen- in UK according to Acorn partners.
tral role in Italy’s security of supply, as well as Nick Cooper, CEO Storegga, Lead
in energy transport from the Mediterranean The Acorn Partners – Storegga, Shell, Developer of the Acorn Project said: “We
region,” he stated. “Through this transaction, and Harbour Energy – have revealed that need to be developing as many UK CCS
Snam is bridging its infrastructure towards North Sea Midstream Partners (NSMP) has projects as possible now to support rapid
North Africa, which represents a key area for acquired a 10 per cent interest to become decarbonisation. The UK cannot reach its
gas supplies to Italy and forward-looking for a participant in the Acorn Carbon Capture Net Zero targets without the CCS capacity
hydrogen development. In the future, North and Storage (CCS) and Hydrogen Project of projects such as the Acorn Project,
Africa could also become a hub for producing in the UK. and it has to be a priority for accelerated
solar energy and green hydrogen.” Storegga, Shell, and Harbour Energy development. We do not have the luxury of
The TransMed pipeline system was built to became equal partners in the Acorn choice, the climate issue is urgent, there is
pump Algerian gas to Italy and is capable of Project in April 2021. Come June 2021 and no time to lose.”
handling around 30bn cubic metres per year. Shell took over as the technical developer Andy Heppel, CEO NSMP, said: “We
Its first phase was commissioned in 1983, with of the project but Storegga, through are delighted to become a partner and
an initial capacity of 15 bcm per year, and its Pale Blue Dot Energy, continued as the look forward to working alongside the
second phase, which doubled throughput lead project developer. As the technical other Acorn partners to rapidly develop
capacity to 30 bcm per year, came on stream developer, Shell assumed responsibility the Project in support of the UK Net Zero
in 1994. for the technical planning and execution targets.
of the project, utilising its capability “Together with our long-term
and experience in major infrastructure operating partner px Group, we are
300 UK offshore workers to developments. committed to playing a leadership role
in the achievement of a net-zero future
Now, as a result of NSMP’s entry,
go on strike Storegga, Shell, and Harbour each hold a and investing to ensure that we have the
operational capability, resources and
30 per cent interest in the Acorn Project,
Hungarian oil and gas company MOL the project members revealed on Tuesday. skillsets to deliver our energy transition
on Monday said its unit MOL Group NSMP is an independent midstream objectives for our shippers and wider
Finance signed a €575mn revolving credit company with large scale gas infrastructure stakeholders.” .
agreement on November 29. assets serving the North Sea. The project

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