Page 13 - Euroil Week 05 2020

EurOil
NEWS IN BRIEF
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Turkish gas demand forecast at just above 52 bcm
Turkey’s natural gas consumption will amount to 52.02 billion standard cubic meters (bcm) this year, the country’s energy market regulator, EPDK, has estimated.
e watchdog’s gas consumption forecast for 2019 was 52.13 bcm. However, the
nal outcome for last year has not yet been released.
Turkey consumed around 49.32 bcm of natural gas in 2018.
e EPDK also announced that natural gas imports plunged as much as 17% on an annual basis to 3.9 bcm in November. Total gas consumption declined nearly 16% to 3.44 bcm in the month, from around 4.09 bcm a year earlier.
e decline in both consumption and imports is partly related to unusually warm weather.
Data also showed that 2.81 bcm of natural gas was imported via pipeline, while 1.87 bcm was purchased as LNG in November.
bne IntelliNews, January 29 2020
Zagreb court overturns
detention order against MOL
chief
The Zagreb County Court overturned a detention order against Zsolt Hernadi, the chairman-CEO of Hungarian oil and gas company MOL, on January 29.
e decision, which Croatia’s chief prosecutor may still appeal before the country’s supreme court, could result in the cancellation of a European arrest warrant for the Hungarian businessman and the removal of his name from an Interpol wanted list.
Hernadi was sentenced late in December in absentia by the Zagreb County Court
to two years in prison for gra . e case, that has dragged on for nearly ten years, concerns the privatisation of Croatian energy company INA.
e court found that Hernadi had given former Croatian prime minister Ivo Sanader a €10mn bribe in exchange for allowing MOL to take a dominant position in INA
in 2008-2009. Sanader received a six-year prison sentence.
MOL’s chief was earlier acquitted of the charge by the Hungarian judiciary.
e Hungarian oil giant holds just under half of INA’s shares, 49% but exercises management rights in the company. MOL
Week 05 06•February•2020
has long been at odds with the Croatian government, the other big stakeholder in INA, over investments at the company.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor
Orban suggested back in 2017 that
Budapest is ready to strike a “fair deal to end the poisonous dispute” e Croatian government has said it is interested in buying out MOL from INA, but apparently Zagreb lacks funding for the buy-out. e value of the Croatian subsidiary is estimated at $2.3bn-2.5bn.
bne IntelliNews, January 29 2020
Lithuania’s Klaipedos Nafta
contracted to operate LNG
import terminal in Brazil
Lithuanian oil and gas company Klaipedos Na a has been contracted to operate an LNG gas terminal in Açu, Brazil, the company said on February 3.
e contract utilises Klaipedos Na a’s experience gained from operating an LNG terminal in the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda that became a key element of the Baltic state’s reduction of its dependence on politically charged supplies of Russian gas.
e terminal in Açu is an LNG-to-power project, the largest of its kind in South America, Klaipdeos Na a said. e project includes two natural gas- red power plants with a combined capacity of 3 GW and the LNG import terminal with a regasi cation capacity of 21,000 cubic metres a day.
e project also features a oating storage regasi cation unit (FSRU) with a storage capacity of 170,000 cubic metres.
Supplies of LNG to the terminal will be the responsibility of BP, which is one of the shareholders of Gas Natural Açu (GNA), the terminal’s investor. Other companies with stakes in GNA are Prumo Logistica and Siemens.
e initial term of the agreement is for
a 13-year operational period following the completion of the terminal and this can
be extended upon mutual agreement. e terminal in Açu is due to start operations later this year.
e Brazilian contract is not Klaipedos Na a’s rst in South America. e company supported the construction and commissioning of an LNG terminal in the port of Cartagena, Colombia, in 2015-2016. A Klaipedos Na a team provided advisory services concerning technical conditions of the port and terminal operations, risk and security management, as well as training of key specialists.
bne IntelliNews, February 4 2020
BP announces rst oil from Alligin eld, west of Shetland
BP, as operator and on behalf of co-venturer Shell, today announced encouraging early production from the Alligin eld in the west of Shetland region, o shore UK.
Alligin forms part of the Greater Schiehallion Area and has been developed as a two-well subsea tieback into the existing Schiehallion and Loyal subsea infrastructure and the Glen Lyon oating, production, storage, o oad (FPSO) vessel.
It is a 20 million barrels of oil equivalent eld, which was originally forecast to produce 12,000 barrels gross of oil equivalent a day at peak.
e project’s performance has been better than expected, however, reaching 15,000 barrels gross of oil equivalent a day at peak since start-up in late December.
e development has included new subsea infrastructure, consisting of gas li and water injection pipeline systems, and a new controls umbilical.
BP North Sea Regional President Ariel Flores said: “Achieving rst oil from the Alligin eld safely, under budget and ahead of schedule is testament to the performance of the project team and their agile approach to planning and execution.
BP (UK), February 4 2020
RockEnergy buys 100% of Cotton field in North Sea
Speedwell Energy today announces
it has signed a sales and purchase agreement (SPA) to sell 100% of the equity of Speedwell Energy, the holder
of 100% interest in the Cotton gas Field Licence P2341 in the UK sector of the Southern North Sea to RockRose Energy. The transaction is subject to the usual regulatory approvals.
The field was discovered in 2009 by well 43/21b-5Z which encountered a gas column of up to 1,260 feet over six gas bearing sandstone units. Cotton contains recoverable gas resources of 16.7mn boe and has the potential to produce at a peak rate of up to 12,000 boepd from two horizontal development wells.
Speedwell has prepared a draft Field Development Plan (FDP) for submission to the OGA. Speedwell has been working with its key contractors on the development solution for Cotton and engagement with both them and the owners of the export
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