Page 12 - EurOil Week 03 2022

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Turkey registers record has been delayed, but Nikolov claims that to sell quickly 3-5% of OMV
Bulgargaz still was able to import the full
budget deficit in December amount agreed with AGSC. Petrom
“As a consequence of all the actions carried
on huge gas import bill out by Bulgargaz, including the concluded Franklin Templeton, in its capacity of
alternative investment fund manager of
annexes to the original supply contract, the
Turkey’s budget registered a record deficit situation is such that the delivery of the full Romania’s largest investment fund Fondul
of Turkish lira (TRY) 145.7bn ($10.8bn) in quantities of natural gas currently requires the Proprietatea (FP), on January 19 announced
December with all-time high gas prices and express consent of AGSC,” Nikolov said. the launch of an accelerated bookbuild
the collapse of the lira forcing the government However, Bulgargaz denied that the offering of up to 1.7bn ordinary shares
to spend a huge amount on gas for the annexes to the contract are blocking the (representing a 3% stake) in OMV Petrom.
hydrocarbon energy import-dependent supply of the full agreed quantities. The Book building will commence
country. The budget gap more than tripled company claimed that it has made the annexes immediately.
year on year. in order to be able to receive at least some Petrom will not receive any proceeds from
Botas, the national gas import company of the agreed quantities until the Greece- the transaction.,
that is trying to raise money to pay import Bulgaria gas link is completed. The Fund, depending on the investors’
bills due later this year, received government The interconnector was supposed to interest, may decide to add another 1.15bn
funds amounting to Turkish lira (TRY) 59bn become operational at the end of 2021, but (2% of total) shares, resulting in a total of up
($4.4bn) in loans and transfers in the closing the construction has been delayed due to the to 5% stake in OMV Petrom potentially for
month of 2021. There were no such transfers coronavirus pandemic until end-June 2022. sale.
from the budget to Botas in 2020. The interconnector is part of the Vertical The latest data show that FP owns 7% of
In October, the central bank restarted hard Gas Corridor (Greece – Bulgaria – Romania Petrom after making several such accelerated
currency sales to Botas after a three-month – Hungary), providing access to natural gas sales recently.
gap. from the Southern Gas Corridor and LNG Usually, such sales are immediately
The government said the total budget to Southeast and Central Europe as well as reflected in the share price of the target
deficit for 2021 was recorded at TRY192.2bn. Ukraine. company (OMV Petrom in this case) in
a negative sense, given the fact that the
Fund sells at prices below the market price
Bulgaria’s police raid Energean seeks partner prevailing at the time of the accelerated
bookbuild offering.
Bulgargaz’ offices over for Montenegro oil drilling Pillar II pension funds. The most recent such
The main buyers of such offers are the
alleged speculative natural project sale of Petrom dates from the autumn of 2020,
when FP sold a 3% stake for RON560mn
gas sales Greece’s Energean Oil & Gas is looking for a (€120mn). The offer was completed within
partnership with other oil and gas company
one day at that time..
Bulgaria’s police and the national security in order to enter in the second phase of its
agency, DANS, raided the offices of state- exploration for oil and gas in Montenegro,
owned gas supplier Bulgargaz on January 14 public broadcaster RTCG reported on January Institutional Investors Group
in a probe into suspected speculative sales of 14.
natural gas, the company said in a statement. Energean got a concession contract for on Climate Change urges
The raids followed claims by Finance offshore oil and gas exploration of two blocs
Minister Assen Vassilev that Bulgargaz had in March 2017. In 2019, Energean launched EU to keep gas out of green
been using natural gas from the Chiren gas seismic tests.
storage facility, which was bought at a lower “The company has fulfilled all obligations taxonomy
price during the summer, and is re-selling it at related to the first stage of research under the
higher price abroad instead of using it for the concession agreement for blocks 26 and 30 A group of sustainable investors has urged
local market. However, Bulgargaz has denied in the offshore of Montenegro. In this regard, the EU to exclude gas from the new EU
these allegations. the most technologically modern collection of Taxonomy green investment classification
According to Bulgargaz’s statement, the 3D seismic data has been conducted, and the system.
raid was part of regular audits carried out at data collected has been fully processed and The Institutional Investors Group on
the company, which has strategic importance interpreted,” the company said in a statement Climate Change (IIGCC) said in an open
for the local gas market. The company claims as quoted by RTCG. letter to the EU that it opposed the inclusion
it is cooperating with the authorities. Energean is obliged to sign a farm-out of gas in the Taxonomy.
Meanwhile, Bulgaria’s Energy Minister contract with another company no later The group stressed that including gas
Aleksandar Nikolov accused Bulgargaz on than March 15 in order to continue with the would make it difficult for investors to
January 14 of failing to import 1bn cubic next stage – test drilling, according to the channel capital towards environmentally
metres of natural gas from Azerbaijan at a exploration contract. sustainable activities and to pursue net-zero
lower price. Speaking to parliament, Nikolov However, the company said it cannot be investment goals.
even suggested that, by amending contracts sure that will succeed in striking such an Put simply, the IIGCC said that investing
with Azerbaijan Gas Supply Company agreement with a partner within the deadline in new gas projects would put the EU’s target
(AGSC), Bulgargaz made imports from due to the market insecurity caused by the of reaching net zero by 2050 in danger, and
Azerbaijan impossible. coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. that it would be impossible to meet the EU’s
According to the contract between 55% target for emissions reductions by 2030.
Bulgargaz and AGSC, the Greece-Bulgaria “The fundamental purpose of the
gas link is one of the ways to deliver gas from Fondul Proprietatea wants Taxonomy is to enable capital to be channelled
Azerbaijan. The completion of the gas link towards economic activities that are fully

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