Page 10 - EurOil Week 05 2021

EurOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT EurOil

Gazprom strikes €100mn settlement

deal with Bulgaria’s Overgas

BULGARIA RUSSIAN energy giant Gazprom said on Jan- with Bulgarian businessman Sasho Dontchev back
uary 29 that it has reached a final settlement of in 1995, and Russian gas was supplied to Bulgaria
The deal will see all claims and disputes with Bulgaria's Overgas through the venture until the end of 2015.
Gazprom withdraw Group, and has agreed to sell its stake in Overgas The Bulgarian authorities pushed at the time
from Overgas and Inc., expecting to receive €100mn as part of the for Gazprom to enter into a direct gas supply
draws a line under a settlement. contract with state company Bulgargaz and as
long-running dispute. “In Sofia, the Overgas Group and the Gazprom of 2016, Bulgargaz remained the sole Bulgarian
Group reached a mutually satisfactory final agree- recipient of Russian gas.
ment on the settlement of all existing disputes and Following the halt of supplies, Overgas Inc.
claims, as well as the sale of the Gazprom Group's challenged the ending of its contract with Gaz-
share in Overgas Inc. AD. As a result of the agree- prom in 2015, filing a lawsuit against the Rus-
ment, the Gazprom Group will receive over sian company with the International Court of
€100mn,” Gazprom said in the statement. Arbitration of the International Chamber of
Earlier in January, natural gas distribution Commerce, as well as a complaint to the Euro-
company Overgas Mrezhi, which is owned by pean Commission about possible violations of
Overgas, agreed a €117mn euro loan financing antitrust legislation.
from a syndicate of five banks - the Interna- At the end of 2015, Gazprom’s announcement
tional Bank for Economic Co-operation, and that it would not supply natural gas via Overgas
Sofia-based UniCredit Bulbank, Raiffeisenbank provoked a crisis as 200,000 people were at risk
Bulgaria, DSK Bank and Allianz Bank Bulgaria. of remaining without heating during the winter.
The funds will be used for the settlement with Overgas was at the time the largest private energy
Gazprom, investment and a €7mn multi-pur- company in Bulgaria. Its daily supplies to clients
pose credit line. amounted to 1.5mn cubic metres per day, which was
The process of separating the two companies equal to 10% of the gas consumption in Bulgaria.
began in 2015 when Gazprom halted natural gas Currently, Overgas maintains 2,100 km of the
supplies to its daughter company Overgas. country's gas distribution network and supplies
Gazprom formed the Overgas joint venture gas to 51 municipalities. ™

Croatia launches Krk LNG terminal

CROATIA CROATIA officially launched the floating LNG The LNG Croatia floating storage regasifica-
(FLNG) terminal off the island of Krk on January tion unit (FSRU) departed from Sagunto, Spain
The terminal has an 29, expecting that it will lead to a reduction of the on November 28 carrying the first quantities of
annual import capacity natural gas price in the country. LNG for a work trial.
of 2.6 bcm per year. The terminal, with annual import capacity The capacity of the terminal has been filled,
of 2.6bn cubic metres, is a strategic project for leased by foreign and domestic companies for
Croatia as it will improve security of supply for the next three years. 80% of its capacity has
Croatia and other countries in the region. been leased until 2027, and around 50% until
“This terminal in Croatia, combined with 2035. ™
those in Lithuania and Poland, makes a new
point on the north-south corridor for diversify-
ing gas supply and competition in Central and
Eastern Europe,” Prime Minister Andrej Plenk-
ovic said at the opening ceremony as quoted in
a statement.
The €234mn project is co-financed by EU
funds that have secured €101mn for the con-
struction of the terminal.
The terminal started commercial operation in
early January, when the first LNG vessel docked.
It connects to the national gas transport system
through the newly built Omisalj-Zlobin pipeline.

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 05 04•February•2021