Page 14 - EurOil Week 45 2021

EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil

Shell to end oil processing at

German refinery

GERMANY ROYAL Dutch Shell announced on November 190,000 bpd.
4 it was ending oil processing at its Rheinland The Rheinland facilities currently employ
refinery in Wesseling in Germany as part of its around 3,000 people, of which half work for Shell
shift to lower-carbon energy. and the rest for contractor firms. Shell said it
Oil processing at the site will cease in would try to avoid redundancies, hoping instead
2025, and from then on it will produce low to switch workers to new roles or retrain them.
or zero-carbon products instead, Shell said. Some will also retire, it said.
The Rheinland site will be rebranded as the The transition plan comes after Shell com-
Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rheinland, missioned Europe’s biggest polymer electrolyte
focused on production of green hydrogen, sus- membrane (PEM) electrolyser for developing
tainable aviation fuels and renewable bio-LNG. green hydrogen in Rheinland in July. It has a
The complex currently handles 150,000 barrels current capacity of 10 MW but this is set to be
per day (bpd) of oil. expanded to 100 MW at a later stage, pending
Shell’s other refinery in Rheinland, in Godorf, a final investment decision (FID). It will use
will continue to handle crude oil. But it will dis- renewable energy to produce up to 1,300 tonnes
til it to form mineral oil products, Shell said, per year (tpy) of green hydrogen.
although a final decision on this investment has The project’s cost was €20mn ($24mn), of
not yet been taken. That refinery’s capacity is which half was covered by EU grants. ™

NEWS IN BRIEF
company Romgaz will have to pay over $1bn with the Liberals already seems unstable.
Bulgaria’s competition for 50% of the offshore perimeter Neptun The impact on the Offshore Law outlook
Deep, while the final investment decision
is still unclear, while state-owned Romgaz
watchdog probes local unit in the project is expected in the last quarter joining the consortium of investors should in
principle lead to a more favourable attitude
of 2022, and the project involves risks,
of Lukoil according to the documents sent by the from the Social Democrats.
management to company’s shareholders,
In terms of risks, from Romgaz’s
Bulgaria’s Competition Protection who are expected to clear the deal with perspective, the company referred directly to
Committee (CPC) said it has launched an ExxonMobil on December 9. the amendment of the Offshore Law.
investigation into possible monopoly or Romgaz has already reached an “An improved version of the Offshore Law
abuse of market position by the local arm of agreement with the US group to take over would lead to increased profitability of the
Russian giant Lukoil following a complaint its 50% stake in Neptun Deep for $1.06bn investment in the Neptun Deep project. If the
by OMV Bulgaria. ($1.07bn maximum). OMV Petrom owns the amendment of the Offshore Law is delayed,
This is yet another probe into Lukoil other half of the project and will become the there is a risk of postponing the adoption of
Bulgaria, which runs the country’s sole oil operator after ExxonMobil pulls out. the final investment decision and the start
refinery and has the largest network of fuel Out of the total sum to be paid for of investments in the development of the
retail stations across the country. It is also the ExxonMobil’s stake in the project, Neptun Deep perimeter and, implicitly, the
main distributor of fuels to the other players Romgaz plans to borrow $375mn from start of exploitation of the deposit is delayed,”
on the market. banks. Romgaz said it sent a call for offers according to the document sent by Romgaz
In 2012, CPC first established a cartel to eight banking companies, four of which management to shareholders.
between Lukoil and four other fuel retailers, submitted bids in line with the company’s
only to deny its revelations a few months requirements and were invited to resubmit
later. Five years later, in 2017, CPC again a final, revised and improved binding Largest Turkish refiner
failed to find evidence of a cartel among fuel offer. Romgaz is ready to repay the loan
retailers. within five years, in quarterly instalments. Tupras swings to 3Q net
In 2019, CPC ended another probe, At the top of the list of risks is the
concluding that there was no evidence of Offshore Law, which must be amended by profit of 988mn lira
violation on the fuel retail market by Lukoil. the parliament in order to make the Neptun
Deep project acceptable to investors. The Largest Turkish refiner Tupras recorded
Liberal government avoided promoting a net profit of Turkish lira (TRY) 988mn
Romgaz informs shareholders a revised version of the Offshore Law in ($101.8mn) in the third quarter, the
2020 and deferred it until 2021 when it
company has announced in a press release.
of risks involved in Neptun expected to enjoy a more robust majority in of TRY420mn recorded in the same quarter
The bottom line compares with a net loss
parliament.
Deep offshore project December’s elections has already split up and of last year.
However, the majority formed after last
Sales revenues moved up 141% y/y to
Romanian state-controlled natural gas the emerging coalition of Social Democrats TRY40.99bn.

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 45 11•November•2021