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Europe: UK licensing awards now, after revelations that a Soviet-era nerve
The UK has offered for award some 113 licences agent known as Novichok was used in Navalny’s
to 65 companies in its latest offshore licensing attempted assassination, a number of German
round. The winners of the round included a politicians have called on Berlin to withdraw its
broad range of companies, ranging from majors support.
such as BP, Royal Dutch Shell and France’s Total, Some of these calls have come from Merkel’s
to mid-sized players such as Neptune Energy, own CDU party, including from Norbert Rott-
Chrysaor and Premier Oil and smaller inde- gen, chairman of the parliament’s foreign affairs
pendents like Deltic Energy, Independent Oil & committee and party leadership candidate. He
Gas (IOG) and Corallian Energy. has said Nord Stream 2 should be halted “as a
Meanwhile, OGA, the country’s upstream joint European response.”
regulator, says it is holding off on further rounds To say that the controversial pipeline project
for a while, while the government reviews its has suffered more than its fair share of challenges
licensing policy to ensure it aligns with climate over the years is an understatement. However,
goals – namely, the UK’s pledge to make its NewsBase does not expect Germany to shift its
economy net-zero in carbon emissions by 2050. position on Nord Stream 2 when the pipeline OGA, the UK’s
The British government does still expect oil and is so near completion, especially given the very
gas to play a key role in energy security over the clear benefits it will provide for the German upstream
coming decades, so it is trying to ensure that the economy. regulator, is
country produces enough fossil fuels to meet In other news, Russia has, as expected,
future demand, without compromising on its restored nearly 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) holding off on
climate goals. of oil supply last month, after OPEC+ cuts were
Over in Norway, state-owned Equinor has eased. It did so as 13 OPEC members brought further offshore
suffered setbacks at the Johan Castberg oilfield back a further 1mn bpd.
in the Barents Sea, one of its largest ongoing The rise in deliveries has occurred at a time licensing rounds
upstream projects. The company has encoun- when the recovery in global oil demand is for a while
tered problems with the hull of the floating pro- stalling. The summer driving season is ending,
duction, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit that while the economic fallout from the pandemic
has been installed at the field. There are issues continues and some countries are re-imposing
with the hull’s welding, and errors have been lockdowns. Meanwhile, global stocks of crude
found in the analysis programme used to test oil and refined products remain at a record high.
fatigue. While efforts by the OPEC+ group have
Corrective work could mean that the project, driven the market’s recovery so far, the easing
currently due on stream in 2023, falls behind of cuts now is bad news for other suppliers –
schedule. including Russia.

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 former Soviet Union’s oil and gas sector then please
NewsBase’s EurOil Monitor. click here for NewsBase’s FSU Monitor .

FSU: Navalny, Novichok, Nord Stream 2 GLNG: Restart troubles in Australia
The poisoning of Russian dissident Alexei Nav- Attempts to restart liquefaction capacity that has
alny has placed Germany in a difficult position. been offline in Australia – namely, the second
For years, the government of German Chan- production train at Gorgon LNG and the Prel-
cellor Angela Merkel has been a staunch sup- ude floating LNG (FLNG) facility – are running
porter of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline. But into obstacles.

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 36 09•September•2020