Page 11 - bne monthly magazine October 2022

bne October 2022 Companies & Markets I 11
Plans to restart the works to landlocked Czechia were announced already in May following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The project was shelved by the previous cabinet of Andrej Babis (ANO). Czech ex-premier Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats) has recently accused his successor Babis of deliberately derail- ing the Stork II project in concert with Czech president Milos Zeman, known to be a long-term Russia supporter, to maintain Czechia’s high dependency on Russian imports.
Fiala also announced this week that he is to attend Thursday’s opening of a new floating LNG terminal in the Netherlands which could provide up to 30% of annual gas consumption in Czechia.
Earlier this year Czechia’s majority-state-owned energy utility CEZ rented out capacity in the Dutch LNG terminals. Accord- ing to the current gas reserves and the new LNG links, Czechia can probably last until March without imports of Russian gas.
Czechia has pipeline connections to Germany providing infrastructure from the west and south but no infrastructure to the north.
Some 90% of gas has been coming from Russia, making Czechia
Romania’s government to speed up major natural gas projects
Iulian Ernst in Bucharest
Romania’s Minister of Energy Virgil Popescu has signalled that the government will do its best to speed up the two largest natural gas projects – one onshore and the other offshore – which are fully (the onshore project) or partially (offshore) managed by the state-owned company Romgaz.
Both the Neptun Deep project and the onshore deep Caragele field, which would cover Romania’s gas consumption for a combined period of up to ten years, have been delayed for years while the deadlines have been repeatedly postponed.
Firstly, Popescu expressed hopes that OMV Petrom and Romgaz would announce this year the investment decision related to the extraction phase of Neptun Deep natural gas deposit in the Black Sea, “considering the current context on the gas market”.
one of the most energy dependent countries on Putin’s regime.
The Czech energy market has been for years dominated by the majority-state-owned utility CEZ and private conglomerates producing and distributing energy: EPH of billionaires Daniel Kretinsky and Patrik Tkac, and Sev.En of controversial coal tycoon Pavel Tykac.
As the energy crisis deepens, calls have mounted for a greater increase of renewable resources in the energy mix, the intro- duction of an energy windfall tax, or nationalisation of CEZ, all ideas that the three big energy companies have been resisting.
Mirek Motejlek, editor and manager of the Motejlekskocdo- pole.cz business insider website, referred to EPH and Sev.En as masters of the energy crisis. “PT (Pavel Tykac) and DK (Daniel Kretinsky) did it”, he wrote on Facebook on Tuesday, and added they “obtained cheap loans, got no windfall tax and enough room in [the Czech price] cap to be no. 1 and no. 2 in Forbes [personal wealth index for the Czech Republic]”.
On Sunday Czech Minister of Industry and Trade Jozef Sikela (STAN) confirmed that EPH and Sev.En will receive state loans to cover their energy trading deposits.
OMV Petrom and Romgaz are developing the Neptun Deep natural gas deposit in the Black Sea. / OMV Petrom
Popescu, spoke on September 21 at the Romanian Interna- tional Gas Conference, organised by the Romanian Oil and Gas Employers' Federation (FPPG).
“I expect and I wish the decision of Romgaz and Petrom to be taken as soon as possible ... including by the end of this year. I wish this because there is a special situation in the market. [More] natural gas is needed in the market and Romania can play a role. I think the Offshore Law is clear enough. I believe a decision will be made by the end of this year," said the government official.
Romania sweetened the Offshore Law earlier this year and Romgaz took over Exxon Mobile’s 50% stake in the Neptun Deep project, with an estimated reserve of 48bn-84bn cubic meters of natural gas.
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