Page 14 - Euroil Week 07 2020

EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil
Wintershall launches new UK-Dutch gas field
NETHERLANDS
The eld’s platform features a topside that has been used two times before.
A joint venture between Germany’s Wintershall Dea and Russia’s Gazprom has achieved rst gas at the Sillimanite gas eld, straddling the bound- ary between the UK and Dutch sectors of the North Sea.
Sillimanite lies 200 km o the coast of Den Helder in the southern North Sea and was dis- covered in 2015. Its launch comes 16 months after a final investment decision (FID) was taken.
“With rst gas from Sillimanite we once more underline our ability to successfully explore for hydrocarbons and transfer development projects successfully into production,” Wintershall CTO Hugo Dijkgraaf said in a statement. “As Silliman- ite will increase the amount of gas produced in Europe, it underlines Wintershall Dea’s capabil- ities as Europe’s leading independent gas and oil producer.”
e project will give a “third life” to a topside previously used at the P14-A and E18-A plat- forms, Wintershall said, and will be operated remotely from the mainland, making it “even leaner and more cost-e cient.”
“As part of our sustainability programme, we pay [the] highest attention to the re-use of
offshore platforms where the production has ceased,” Dijkgraaf said. “In this way, we can fur- ther improve our company’s environmental foot- print and at the same time keep our operations cost-e cient.”
e re-use of the topside makes Sillimanite a “best-case example for our industry,” he said.
e eld’s operator, Wintershall Noordzee, a 50:50 partnership between Wintershall and Gaz- prom has “a diverse project pipeline” ahead in the southern North Sea, the executive continued. It aims to take a nal investment decision (FID) on the Rembrandt/ Vermeer oil projects o the coast of the Netherlands in late 2020, and is also evaluating the potential of Denmark’s Greater Ravn Area.
e Vermeer project is expected to include an integrated wellhead, process, utility and living quarters platform, on top of a subsea storage tank and an o oading unit to export oil. Rembrandt will use an unmanned platform.
Wintershall Dea was formed last year a er German rms Wintershall and Dea merged. e company’s target is to produce 750,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2023, up from 590,000 boepd in 2018. ™
Lithuania opens key railway shortcut to Latvia
e rst train carrying cargo from Lithuania to neighbouring Latvia via a 19-km shortcut, which Vilnius had closed over a decade ago to an EU-wide uproar, completed its journey last weekend, local media reported.
e shortcut connects the Lithuanian town of Mazeikai – the home of Polish oil re ner PKN Orlen’s local operation – to Latvia’s Renge and further to Riga.
e Lithuanian state-owned railway operator Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (LG) dismantled the link in 2008, leading to protests from Poland and Latvia that took the issue all the way up to the European Commission.
e Commission imposed a ne of €28mn on LG in late 2017, ruling that the dismantling of the track was an attempt
by LG to push PKN Orlen’s Lithuanian operation, Orlen Lietuva, to use LG to haul
P14
NEWS IN BRIEF
production from the Mazeikai re nery
to Latvia along a much longer route. e Commission said that the closure of the link had hindered competition on the rail freight market.
e issue has long been a contentious one between Warsaw and Vilnius. PKN Orlen also questioned LG’s pricing of access to its infrastructure in a long- running dispute that at one point became a ashpoint between the two countries.
Lack of access to the shortcut also had negative impact on the results of Orlen Lietuva. e Polish company took over the Mazeikai re nery from Russia’s Yukos in 2006.
Orlen Lietuva posted a net pro t of PLN356mn (€83.37mn) last year, a huge increase versus the PLN97mn net result the preceding year.
bne IntelliNews, February 18 2020
Lundin cleared for Barents Sea well
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has granted Lundin Norway a drilling permit for a well in the Barents Sea offshore Norway.
e well 7221/4-1 will be drilled from Northern Drilling’s West Bollsta semi- submersible drilling rig.
e drilling program for well 7221/4-1 relates to the drilling of a wildcat well in production license 609.
Lundin Norway is the operator with an ownership interest of 40%. Other licensees are Idemitsu Petroleum Norge with 30% and Wintershall Dea Norge with 30% interest.
e area in this license consists of parts of blocks 7220/11, 7220/12, 7220/9, 7221/4 and 7220/6. e well will be drilled 12 km east of the 7220/6-2 discovery.
Production license 609 was awarded on
w w w. N E W S B A S E . c o m
Week 07 20•February•2020