Page 15 - EurOil Week 38

EurOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT EurOil

US banks on LNG to hit

Turkey trade target

TURKEY LNG exports to Turkey from the US could from $75bn to $100bn.
play a key role in the countries’ reaching their “Despite the economic challenges faced by
Turkey;’s US LNG bilateral trade target of $100bn, US Secretary of both nations during the COV-19 pandemic, the
imports have already Commerce Wilbur Ross said on September 22 US is committed to pursuing more commer-
soared. during the 38th American-Turkish Conference, cial opportunities with Turkey,” Ross told the
held virtually. conference.
Turkey’s spot LNG imports from the US grew However, he added: “It is of great concern that
by 144% y/y to reach 2.16bcm in the first half of US exports to Turkey have fallen from $11.7bn to
the year, as Turkey—nearly entirely dependent on $10bn between 2014 and 2019.”
imports to meet its oil and gas needs—reduced its The number of US companies operating in
intake of Russian and Iranian piped gas supplies, Turkey stood at around 1,700, Ross noted, add-
but considerably upped its purchase of Azerbai- ing that 60 have regional headquarters in the
jani piped gas and US LNG gas. “The US suddenly country.
became the second largest [LNG] supplier to the Ross also invited Turkish businesses to par-
Turkish market [behind Algeria] in the first half of ticipate in an investment summit set for next
2020. The main reason was that they were compet- June in Washington, saying: “We look forward to
itive,” an official said after the data on the changing deepening both our economic and commercial
supply relationships were released. relationship in the years to come.”
Trade between Turkey and the US last year The annual American-Turkish Conference
reached a volume of $20.6bn, with the US in defi- is co-organised by the Turkey-US Business
cit by $600mn. In June last year, Turkish Presi- Council (TAIK) of Turkey’s Foreign Economic
dent Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US counterpart Relations Board (DEIK) and the US Chamber
Donald Trump raised the bilateral trade goal of Commerce. ™

INVESTMENT

PGNiG acquires more Norwegian field stakes

POLAND POLAND’S PGNiG has continued its Norwe- Valemon, which lies just west of Kvitebjorn,
gian buying spree, announcing a deal this week was brought on stream in 2015 and uses a fixed
PGNiG has struck a to acquire small stakes in two producing fields platform operated remotely from land. Its gas
deal with Shell for field from Royal Dutch Shell for an undisclosed sum. and condensate is pumped through a pipeline to
acquisitions. PGNiG has been building up its position Kvitebjorn.
on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) Equinor has a 39.6% stake in Kvitebjorn,
in recent years, obtaining resources to fill its while Petoro has 30%, Spirit Energy 19% and
10bn cubic metre per year Baltic Pipe project to Total 5%. At Valemon, Equinor has a 66.8% posi-
Poland. The pipeline is due to start flowing gas tion, while Petoro has 30%.
in October 2022. Production at both fields is in decline. Kviteb-
In a statement on September 21, PGNiG jorn flowed some 4.52 bcm of gas along with
said it had agreed to take a 6.45% interest in the some liquids in 2019, down from 5.23 bcm in
Kvitebjorn field and a 3.225% interest in the adja- the previous year, while Valemon produced 1.55
cent Valemon field. It will also gain interests in bcm of gas, down from 2.37 bcm.
the infrastructure used to transport the fields’ Even so, PGNiG says the transaction will
output. enable it to boost its output in Norway by 45%
The aim behind the transaction is “to diver- to 0.9 bcm in 2021 versus the level last year. It
sify gas supplies and improve Poland’s energy expects to net 0.2 bcm in annual gas supply from
security in reliance on our own reserves,” PGNiG the fields between 2023 and 2028.
President Jerzy Kwiecinski said. The latest acquisition comes after PGNiG
The fields, both operated by Norway’s closed a deal in May to purchase shares in Nor-
Equinor, are situated in the northern North Sea. way’s Gina Krog and Alve Nord fields from Aker
Kvitebjorn started production in 2004 using BP.
a fixed platform with fully integrated drilling Poland is developing Baltic Pipe as a means
modules. Its gas is delivered to the Kollnes ter- of reducing its reliance on Russian gas once
minal, while its oil is transported via pipeline to PGNiG’s long-term supply contract with Gaz-
the Mongstad terminal. prom expires at the end of 2022. ™

Week 38 24•September•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P15