Page 19 - EurOil Week 02 2021

EurOil NEWS IN BRIEF EurOil

Utilisation of TurkStream a flexible approach to consider amendments from Norway, was transported to Klaipeda
by the vessel named Kairos. Previous
to licence timelines.
up more than 2-fold in one operators and licensees on specific licence deliveries took place in June, August and
As a result, the OGA engaged with many
November 2020.
year says Gazprom requests, offering flexibility where possible. LNG terminals, has entered into a five-year
Klaipėdos Nafta, the operator of oil and
The Authority also deprioritised stewardship
Russian energy major Gazprom has increased reviews, only holding such reviews with strategic partnership agreement with PGNiG
the utilisation of the TurkStream gas operators concerning regulatory or in November 2019.
pipeline since its commissioning by 2.2- materially significant matters. Paweł Majewski, president of the PGNiG
fold, particularly for European consumers The OGA stated that it “committed to management board commented: “For
at 2.5-fold, according to Aleksei Miller, the reviewing this approach to ensure continued PGNiG, the use of the Klaipeda station is
company’s CEO. fitness for the purpose given the dynamic an opportunity to expand into new markets
The pipeline transports Russian gas via a nature of COVID-19’s impact on the oil & in the small-scale LNG segment. Our
Black Sea route for consumers in Turkey and gas industry, and the wider economy”. cooperation with Lithuanian partners is
six European states: Bulgaria, Greece, North In light of the industry developing excellent. So far, we have already received
Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Bosnia and practices and procedures to manage four loads there, and loaded over 250 tank
Herzegovina. Covid-19, stabilisation of commodity prices, trucks with with a total of over 4,000 tons of
The project to deliver the pipeline was and resulting stabilisation of operators’ liquefied natural gas”.
spearheaded by Russia from December business plans, the OGA undertook a review Darius Šilenskis, CEO of KN added: “KN-
2014 when Russian leader Vladimir Putin of its approach in late 2020. This review was operated Klaipėda LNG reloading station
announced the project launch. concluded at the end of the year. has reached a new level of utilization since
The energy ministers of Russia and Turkey “In the interests of ensuring that vital, PGNiG became a user. This cooperation
signed an intergovernmental agreement for time-critical, activity is maintained in the contributes to KN‘s goal to create value
the project in October 2016. UKCS to safeguard both the energy supply for the fast growing small-scale regional
Commercial gas supplies through the gas we know is needed for the foreseeable LNG market. There is much of potential
pipeline started on January 1, 2020. Turkish future and the thousands of jobs which in the small-scale LNG activities on both
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Putin help deliver it, the OGA will now adopt a national and regional scale, therefore we
presided over the launch ceremony on blended approach to licence management are looking forward to increasing a volume
January 8, 2019 in Istanbul. by incorporating what the OGA has learned of commercial operations in a response to
TurkStream consists of two during 2020 with the pre-COVID-19 OGA market demand”..
930-kilometre-long offshore lines stretching business as usual approach”, the Authority
from Russia to Turkey across the Black Sea, stated.
and two separate onshore lines with lengths OGA said on January 13 that, where Spirit Energy hires Maersk
of 142 and 70 kilometres, respectively. supported with clear evidence, flexibility
The project has a total annual capacity might still be available to licence timelines rig for North Sea well
of 31.5 bcm. The first line, with a capacity that were affected by the ongoing Covid-19
of 15.75 bcm, is designated for supplies to crisis as the UK has only recently entered a Offshore drilling contractor Maersk Drilling
Turkey’s domestic customers, and the second new lockdown period. has been awarded a contract from Spirit
line, with the same capacity, carries Russian It further stated that it would continue Energy for the harsh-environment jack-up rig
gas further afield to Bulgaria and beyond in to keep its approach to considering Maersk Resolve to drill one development well
Europe. amendments to licence timelines under at Grove North East in the UK North Sea.
review and would remind operators and The contract is expected to start in
licensees to approach the Authority early March 2021, with an estimated duration of
OGA to have ‘blended about any request to amend a licence 131 days.
The firm contract value is
timeline, and in compliance with the
approach’ for licence timelines specified in the licence.. approximately $11.3mn, including
additional services, mobilisation and

change requests demobilisation.
The contract includes an option to add
The UK Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has PGNiG received its fourth plugging and abandonment of one well.
decided to take “a blended approach” to LNG delivery in Klaipeda Maersk Resolve is a 350ft, Gusto-
licence management which should dampen engineered MSC CJ50 high-efficiency
the effects of the global Covid-19 pandemic. Polish oil and gas company Polskie Gornictwo jack-up rig which was delivered in 2009.
The coronavirus pandemic first affected Naftowe i Gazownictwo came in for a load The rig completed a campaign offshore
the UK in early 2020 and is still having a of approx. 3000 cubic meteres of LNG at the the Netherlands in October 2020 and
significant impact. The OGA said in late Klaipėdos Nafta reloading station. is currently warm-stacked in Esbjerg,
March 2020 that it would seek to ease the PGNiG has been the sole user of the Denmark.
pressures on the oil and gas industry by facility in Klaipėda as of April 2020. Since
taking a pragmatic approach to compliance then, more than 4,000 tonnes of LNG have
where it could. been loaded into tank trucks for delivery to
To ensure fairness and consistency, the customers.
OGA signalled at the time that it would take The fourth LNG shipment, which came

Week 02 14•January•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P19