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Kuwait is modernising its al-Ahmadi and Abdul- would cost somewhere in the region of €27-
lah refineries and constructing a new one in the 64bn ($31-73bn). But the operators estimate
southern port of al-Zour. Its goal is to double its that hydrogen could be delivered across Europe
throughput capacity to 1.6mn bpd by 2025. efficiently, at a levelised transport cost of only
Meanwhile in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, €0.09-0.17 per kg per 1,000 km.
the UAE’s Target Engineering has landed a con- Over in the Netherlands, Norwegian engi-
tract worth $53.3mn to replace naphtha and slop neering consultancy DNV GL has teamed up
oil storage tanks at Saudi Aramco’s 550,000 bpd with Dutch glass maker Celsian to create a Dutch
Ras Tanura oil refinery. consortium to develop a burner technology ena-
While Middle Eastern operators continue to bling energy-intensive industries to move from
dish out contracts, many downstream projects gas to hydrogen.
in the region are now running behind schedule These announcements follow the European
because of travel restrictions put in place to slow Commission’s long-awaited unveiling of a new
the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. EU hydrogen strategy, calling for 10mn tonnes
Over in Nigeria, African asset manager FBN- per year (tpy) of the fuel to be produced using
Quest sees downstream prospects improving electrolysis by 2030.
thanks to recent reforms to fuel pricing. Earlier Over in Norway, state-owned Equinor has
this year the government introduced a more posted its fourth quarterly loss in a row, on
market-based template for gasoline pricing, impairments and upstream losses as a result of
and the central bank is working to unify foreign low prices and production cuts.
exchange rates. FBNQuest believes these steps The company booked a net loss of $251mn
could lead to full market deregulation, which in the second quarter, versus a $1.48bn gain a
would encourage investment in refining and year earlier. Its pre-tax earnings also collapsed to
fuel supply. $354mn, from $3.15bn a year before. All three of
Nigeria’s fuel retail segment is already seeing its upstream units – E&P Norway, E&P Interna-
increased competition, with players Ardova and tional and E&P USA, suffered adjusted earnings
11 Plc replacing France’s Total as the top suppli- losses. But a strong trading performance pro-
ers. Competition should intensify further if lib- vided some relief for the company.
eralised prices are here to stay..
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping Europe’s oil and gas sector then please click here for
the downstream sector of Africa and the Middle East, NewsBase’s EurOil Monitor.
then please click here for NewsBase’s DMEA Monitor.
FSU: Russia goes local
Europe prepares for the revolution Europe is Russia has watched with keen interest as gov-
preparing for a potential hydrogen rev-olution, ernments and businesses in Europe, the main
with governments and businesses both looking market for its oil and gas, have drawn up plans
at the fuel’s role as a future energy source more to develop hydrogen as an energy source. It is
seriously than ever before. understood that the Russian energy ministry has
The UK has established a new hydrogen submitted a draft five-year plan to put Russia on
council, whereas in Italy, the gas grid opera- the road to becoming a hydrogen exporter. It is
tor Snam has finished testing a hybrid hydro- hoped that a finalised national strategy will be
gen-blend turbine designed by Baker Hughes. ready by the end of the year.
Its plan is to feed up to 7 bcm per year into the The key players in this drive will be Gazprom
Italian gas grid – enough to cover the gas needs and Rosatom, the ministry expects. Gazprom
of 3mn families. wants to produce so-called turquoise hydrogen
Snam and 10 other European grid opera- using methane pyrolysis, where gas is passed
tors have also published a plan for developing a through molten metal, producing solid carbon
6,800-km hydrogen grid by 2030, mainly con- as a useful by-product.
sisting of repurposed gas pipelines, reaching So far, pyrolysis is only used on a very small
23,000 km in size a decade later. This initiative scale globally.

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 30 30•July•2020