Page 15 - Euroil Week 11 2020

EurOil
NEWS IN BRIEF
EurOil
Montenegro extends
exploration term for Eni-
Novatek
Montenegro’s government has decided to approve an extension of the deadline for offshore oil and gas exploration for Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek.
The consortium was awarded a concession deal in 2016.
“Considering that the requirements
of the concessionaire have been assessed
as justified and could be accepted as technical problems that could not have been foreseen, avoided or eliminated, or which were beyond the reasonable and foreseeable control of the concessionaire, the government approved an extension of the first exploration period by one year,” the government said in a statement.
It provided no further details.
In November 2018, the consortium started seismic tests as part of the exploration programme.
Podgorica has decided to award concession contracts for the production of hydrocarbons at 13 offshore blocks with
a total area of 3,191 square kilometres. So far, it has signed two contracts – with a consortium between Eni and Novatek for the exploration of four blocks and with Energean Oil & Gas for the exploration of two blocks.
March 15 2020
German oil output down 9.5%, gas down 3.2% in 2019
Germany extracted 1.9mn tonnes of domestic oil and 6.1 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas in 2019, down 9.5% and 3.2% respectively, industry association BVEG said on March 16, according to Reuters.
Producers of hydrocarbons that are active in Germany include Neptune Energy, Vermilion Energy, Wintershall-DEA and BEB, a joint venture of ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell.
The companies grouped by BVEG are mostly also active abroad where their activities are far larger.
Production of oil in Germany peaked in the 1960s and of gas in the 1990s. Reserves and staff numbers have been falling continuously and the country is overwhelmingly dependent on imports.
The year-on-year increase in BVEG members’ foreign production volumes was 13.6% in gas and 3.7% in oil, the Hanover- based association showed in its annual report.
The companies achieved a turnover of EUR1.8bn ($2.00bn), up from 1.7bn a year
earlier.
BVEG Managing Director Ludwig
Moehring said that gas and oil were still playing a central role in heat and transport, sectors which were transitioning to greater reliance on electric power and hydrogen in the long-term.
However, hydrocarbons would continue to play a back-up role while green technologies were under development.
Germany could not quickly become fully supplied with hydrogen from green sources.
Hoped-for import sources, for example Northern African solar power, were only theoretical options for now.
Also, with coal-burning being phased out under climate legislation, more gas would be needed for power generation.
Germany has 23.9 bcm of underground gas storage capacity, just under a quarter of total demand in the market, which was 100.52 bcm last year.
March 16 2020
AP1 divests from fossil fuels
Swedish pension fund Forsta AP-fonden, has decided to no longer invest in fossil fuels. The decision is a result of the funds work to identify and analyse climate- related financial risks in the economy, and in the fund’s investment portfolio. The fund’s assessment concluded that the transition towards a low-carbon economy, less dependent on fossil fuels, represents
a substantial uncertainty for companies involved in coal, oil and natural gas activities, and continued investments related to these activities can increase the financial risk exposure of the fund. The decision to divest from fossil fuels is one measure in order to manage the fund’s climate risk exposure. In addition, the fund has also decided to develop measurable targets and a roadmap towards achieving a carbon neutral portfolio by 2050.
Forsta AP Fonden (Sweden) March 16 2020
Jersey to lead Greater Buchan Area study
UK-based Jersey Oil & Gas (JOG) has established and will lead the Greater Buchan Area joint integrated studies agreement between neighboring field operators in the North Sea.
JOG said on March 16 that the study would undertake and complete technical and commercial evaluation studies for collaborative development of the wider Greater Buchan Area, which contains discovered oil and gas resources in excess of 200mn barrels of oil equivalent. According to the company, a key objective
of the studies under the agreement is
to establish whether a collaborative development would lead to a reduction in development costs and an increase
in value for all participants in a new production hub in the area, potentially including electrification in line with the OGA’s Maximising Economic Recovery strategy for the UKCS and reducing CO2 emissions.
The fields, discoveries, and participants in the studies will be the Buchan, J2,
and Glenn – operated by JOG, Verbier
– operated by Equinor (pending JOG’s completion of the stake acquisition announced in January) alongside its partners Jersey Petroleum and CIECO, Avalon – operated by Ping Petroleum alongside its partner Summit Exploration and Production, and Leverett – operated by Zennor.
Andrew Benitz, CEO of Jersey Oil
& Gas, said: “We are delighted to be progressing this important study to evaluate the technical and commercial benefits of working together with neighboring operators to potentially develop over 200mn boe of discovered oil and gas within the wider Greater Buchan Area.”
Scott Robertson, director of operations at OGA, added: “I am delighted with
this collaboration agreement in the Greater Buchan Area, particularly given collaboration was a key component of the OGA’s vision for the Greater Buchan Area through the 31st Supplementary Licensing Round award in 2019.
“Oil and gas will remain an important part of the UK’s energy mix for the foreseeable future as we transition to
net zero. The OGA is encouraged by the collaborative and energy-efficient example Jersey Oil & Gas is setting.”
March 16 2020
Equinor gets consent to use
facilities linking Dvalin to
Heidrun field
Norwegian oil company Equinor has received consent from the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) for the use of facilities to link the Dvalin field to the Heidrun field, both located offshore Norway.
The PSA said on March 16 that the development solution for Dvalin would connect the well stream to the Equinor- operated Heidrun tension leg platform (TLP) for processing. The start-up of the facilities is expected in the second quarter of 2020.
According to the offshore safety regulator, the condensate will go to
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