Page 15 - FSUOGM Week 23
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FSUOGM POLICY FSUOGM
Polish watchdog threatens
Gazprom with fine
POLAND POLISH regulator UOKiK may fine Russia’s the pending investigation. According to the law,
Gazprom €50mn ($56mn) for failing to cooper- the company is liable to a financial penalty of
Poland’s regulator has ate in a case relating to the financing of the Nord €50mn.”
been seeking to thwart Stream 2 gas pipeline. UOKiK also fined Engie last year for refusing
the project for years. The watchdog brought charges against Gaz- to cooperate with the agency.
prom and its six European partners, France’s Poland is one of the biggest opponents of
Engie, Germany’s Uniper and Wintershall, Aus- Nord Stream 2, which is expected to start pump-
tria’s OMV and Shell, in 2018, for financing Nord ing up to 55bn cubic metres (bcm) per year of gas
Stream 2 without its permission. The agency from Russia to Germany in early 2021. Its gov-
argued that as Nord Stream 2 will affect the Pol- ernment has denounced the project as a threat
ish gas market, the pipeline’s financing required to EU energy security and a tool for Moscow to
its approval under EU law. assert political influence in Europe.
UOKiK said it had requested that Gazprom Gazprom and its European partners had
provide it with documents relating to the case, hoped to form a consortium to build and finance
including the Russian firm’s contracts with its Nord Stream 2, but UOKiK helped blocked this
European partners. Gazprom has not done so, move. Instead, Gazprom has overseen construc-
however. tion on its own while its partners have provided
“Law is clear and applies equally to all of us, loans to cover half of the project’s €9.5bn cost.
however, Gazprom refused to provide docu- Nord Stream 2 faces challenges on all fronts.
ments relevant to our investigation on several The EU has applied its energy legislation to the
occasions,” UOKiK’s president Tomasz Chrostny pipeline, which may mean Gazprom has to par-
said in a statement. “Gazprom cannot operate tially divest it and offer third-party access to its
above the law and, for that reason, I have initi- capacity. Meanwhile, US lawmakers reportedly
ated proceedings against the company to impose plan to introduce additional sanctions on the
a fine for failure to provide information during project.
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
Gazprom orders platform for first
offshore Arctic gas project
RUSSIA RUSSIA’S Gazprom has ordered an ice-resist- Kamennomysskoye-more is situated very
ant, stationary platform for developing its first close to shore in waters only 11-17 metres deep.
Gazprom has placed offshore Arctic gas field. It would also be able to share infrastructure with
the order at two The order was placed with the Sevmash the adjacent Kamennomysskoye field onshore,
domestic shipyards. and Zvezdochka shipyards, their state-con- lowering development costs. The field contains
trolled owner United Shipbuilding Corp. (USC) 550bn cubic metres of gas, according to Gaz-
reported on June 4. The rig will be 135 metres in prom, and will produce 14.5 bcm per year at
length and 69 metres in width and its base will be peak capacity.
wedge-shaped to make it resistant to ice. It will be In an investor presentation in February, Gaz-
positioned at the Kamennomysskoye-more gas prom said Kamennomysskoye-more was due
field in the Gulf of Ob, off the coast of the Yamal to come on stream by 2025. According to USC,
Peninsula. pre-installation of the platform is due to take
Russia has so far managed to bring only one place in 2023 and the first production wells will
field on its Arctic shelf into production, the Gaz- be sunk the following year.
prom Neft-operated Prizazlomnoye deposit that Gazprom chalked up another success in the
began flowing oil in 2013. There is currently no Arctic in May, announcing the discovery of a
offshore gas production in the region. 200 bcm field in the Kara Sea. Last year it also
Market conditions over the past six years reported two new Kara Sea finds, Dinkov and
have made the launch of offshore Arctic fields Nyarmeiskoye, containing more than 510 bcm
unfeasible. However, Gazprom has continued to of gas combined. The company’s other major
explore the area, confirming a number of large- deposits include Leningradskoye and Rusano-
sized deposits. vskoye.
Week 23 10•June•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P15
