Page 16 - GLNG Week 13 2021

GLNG EUROPE GLNG

North Macedonia signs memorandums

on Alexandroupolis gas project

PROJECTS & NORTH Macedonia signed three memoran-
COMPANIES dums of co-operation with Greece on its the
participation of the Alexandroupolis gas plant
project and LNG terminal in Alexandroupolis,
near the plant, the government announced on
March 31.
The country’s goal is to become a transit
route for natural gas in the region. The govern-
ment intends to implement the “green” scenario
by providing natural gas as an energy source for
companies and households that will lead to lower
energy costs and reduced pollution.
A memorandum of co-operation was signed
between North Macedonia’s National Energy investment is over €380mn,” North Macedonian
Resources (NER), the company in charge of con- Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said.
struction of the gas pipelines in the country, and North Macedonia also plans to have 10%
Greece’s Kopelozu Group. share in the LNG gas terminal, an investment
Two other memorandums were signed estimated at €370mn, supported by the EU.
between state-run power producer ESM and The plant and the LNG terminal are expected
Greece’s Gastrade on the lease of capacity in to be opened by 2023.
the LNG terminal, as well as between ESM and “Our participation in these projects will cre-
Greek Damco Energy on acquiring a 25% stake ate an opportunity for permanent and stable
in Alexandroupolis Electricity Production. supply of natural gas to the country, from where
“We will participate with 25% in the 800 MW the gas will be distributed in the wider region,”
Alexandroupolis gas power plant. The estimated Zaev said.™

Novatek bags new Arctic block

INVESTMENT RUSSIAN gas independent Novatek has secured were able to take part in the contest, and the
rights to another gas block in the Arctic, as it extracted gas must be used for LNG production.
continues gathering resources to underpin its This made it very likely that Novatek would be
planned series of liquefaction projects. the winner.
The operator of the 17mn tonne per Novatek has no immediate need for extra
year (tpy) Yamal LNG plant said it had paid resources, as it already has sufficient gas on hand
RUB775mn ($10.2mn) for a 30-year licence for its upcoming 19.8m tpy Arctic LNG-2 and
for the Severo-Gydansky (North-Gydansky) 5-6mn tpy Obsk LNG projects. Arctic LNG-2
block. The block is situated partly on the shore is on track for launch between 2023 and 2025,
of the Gydan Peninsula and partly in the shallow while Obsk LNG should come online after 2024,
waters of Gydan Bay. Russian authorities place although Novatek is yet to take a final investment
its resources at 9.8bn barrels of oil equivalent decision (FID).
(boe), including some 270bn cubic metres of The company has other projects in the pipe-
gas. line, however. The Severo-Gydansky block was
“The new licence area borders Novatek’s issued to a Novatek subsidiary called Arctic
existing assets on the Gydan Peninsula and LNG-1. This is also the name of another 19.8mn
expands the company’s resource base for imple- tpy project the company is hoping to develop.
menting new LNG projects,” the company said Arctic LNG-1 is expected to use the 358 bcm of
in a statement on March 24. C1+C2 resources at Novatek’s Soletsko-Khan-
Novatek has been waiting for some time to vaiskoye, Geofizicheskoye and Trekhbugor-
obtain rights to Severo-Gydansky, having orig- noye fields. But Novatek has not said yet when it
inally requested that an auction be held for the intends to sanction the development, although
area in 2019. Only companies that already had Russia’s government has said it expects the facil-
licences on either the Gydan or Yamal peninsulas ity to be up and running after 2027.™

P16 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 13 01•April•2021