Page 11 - Euroil Week 49 2019

EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil
Wintershall halts development at gas field after tremors
GERMANY
Lower Saxony is Germany’s main source of gas supply.
GERMAN gas firm Wintershall Dea has aban- doned development plans at the Volkersen and Volkersen-Nord gas fields in Lower Saxony, after causing tremors from its activities.
The quakes occurred on November 20 and led to the damage of buildings in the Verden district, Wintershall said in a statement on December 5. This damage will be “compensated for quickly and unbureaucratically”, it said.
Wintershall continued that the events meant it would no longer take steps to expand produc- tion from the fields, “meaning output there will fall successively in the coming years.”
No more wells will be drilled, while those cur- rently in operation will continue producing until the end of their life-cycle.
Wintershall has been flowing gas from the Volkersen and Volkersen-Nord fields since 1992. The company noted that gas production-related tremors were rare and were not anticipated when the fields were brought on stream, given the Volkersen reservoir’s 5,000-metre depth under a very large cap rock.
The quakes at the surface took place at 18:30 and 22:30 and measured 2.1 and 5.1 millime- tres per second in scale. Wintershall said it did not anticipate any further structural damage to buildings, though it will continue to expand its seismographic surveillance network and scien- tific monitoring. It did not specify whether it was using hydraulic fracturing when the trem- ors occurred.
Lower Saxony is Germany’s main source of gas supply, accounting for around 95% of the 5.5bn cubic metres of gas the country produced last year. Wintershall’s other main fields in the region include Weyhe, Hemsbunde and Boters.
German gas output has halved since 2010, while at the same time demand has stayed firm, buoyed by the closure of coal-fired power gener- ation capacity, among other factors. This in turn has led to higher imports.
The country’s main suppliers are Russia, Nor- way, the Netherlands, the UK and, until recently, Denmark, which shut down its largest fields in September for a redevelopment programme.™
PGNiG to develop gas in western Ukraine
UKRAINE
PGNiG already supplies gas to Ukraine.
POLISH gas firm PGNiG has penned a deal with Ukraine’s ERU Management Services on joint development of gas in western Ukraine.
The pair have agreed on joint exploration and production at an unspecified licence area in Ukraine’s Lviv region bordering Poland, accord- ing to a PGNiG statement on December 9. They plan to drill an exploration well with a depth of up to 2,500 metres and undertake geophysical surveys to determine additional drilling sites. Work will begin as soon as necessary approvals and permits are received.
Ukraine is looking to attract more foreign investment to its gas industry, in order to boost production and cut imports. The government has held a series of licensing rounds over the past year, inviting domestic and foreign operators to drill for gas across the country, with mixed success.
Ukraine’s largest gas fields are found in the east, but there are also some smaller deposits located in its western regions.
“We have good reasons to believe the region has strong production potential, similar to the Przemysl deposit, which is the biggest natural gas deposit in Poland,” PGNiG president Piotr Wozniak said, commenting on the deal. “Our
experience and know-how gained from operat- ing the field for over 60 years will certainly be of use in Ukraine.”
Przemysl is situated in south-eastern Poland, forming part of the Carpathian oil and gas basin which also extends into western Ukraine. It pro- duces around 0.5bn cubic metres of gas per year.
PGNiG already supplies gas to ERU Manage- ment Services’ parent group Energy Resources of Ukraine (ERU), a US-backed private firm focused on energy investment and trading in Ukraine.
“Since we established a business relationship with our Polish partner four years ago, we have noticed a positive shift in the investment climate in Ukraine and we are ready to take advantage of it to jointly invest in and expand upstream operations,” ERU director Dale Perry said. “We consider it the first of the many opportunities the Ukrainian energy sector has to offer in the coming years.”
In August PGNiG made headlines by resell- ing a first batch of US LNG to ERU, brought ashore at the Swinoujscie import terminal in northern Poland. The pair intend to ramp up shipments of LNG to Ukraine in the years ahead.™
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