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Total to to convert oil refinery for biofuels

FRANCE FRANCE’S Total has presented plans to convert to their output this year. According to CEO
its 93,000 barrel per day (bpd) Grandpuits oil Patrick Pouyanne, the La Mede biorefinery
The Grandpuits refinery refinery near Paris to a biofuel and bioplastics is Total’s only facility in France that turned a
has been struggling plant. profit in the second quarter.
because of long- The French major said it would invest “There is quite a strong willingness from the
standing problems with €500mn ($582mn) in the project between now policy makers to develop biofuels, renewable
a pipeline that supplies and 2024. In addition to biofuel and bioplastics fuels – biojet, biodiesel,” Pouyanne explained
its oil. production, the facility will also recycle plastics earlier this year. The company will follow “a more
and host two solar power plants. The biofuel it aggressive strategy to develop the bio-business,
produces will primarily be used for aviation. in particular by converting some European
Total similarly converted its former 160,000 refineries,” he said.
bpd refinery in La Mede to produce biofuels Conversion to biofuels offers European refin-
between 2015 and 2019. ers an alternative to simply closing or divesting
Grandpuits has been struggling because of their plants. The La Mede plant’s conversion cost
long-standing problems with a pipeline that sup- €275mn ($321mn). It now produces 500,000
plies around 90% of its oil feedstock. The corona- tonnes per year (tpy) of hydrotreated vegetable
virus (COVID-19) pandemic and the resulting oil, which can be processed into biodiesel and
decline in fuel demand in France has only made bio jet fuel.
matters worse. According to the European Commission,
Total also operates the 240,000 bpd Gon- there are over 800 bio-refineries of various sizes
freville and 105,000 bpd Feyzin refineries in in the EU. The highest concentration of them is
France, but they have suffered disruptions in Belgium and the Netherlands. ™

NEWS IN BRIEF

Gazprom asks for talks with offshore perimeter Midia. September 22 proposed a regional conference
with all Mediterranean coastal states—
Separately from the talks on the historic
Moldova on $6bn gas debt debt, Moldovagaz CEO Vasile Ceban came including the breakaway and internationally
out on his Facebook account — yet with
unrecognised Turkish Cypriots who control
Moldovan gas company Moldovagaz, de many technical details indicating more part of Cyprus—to address tensions over
facto controlled by Gazprom, has announced formal intentions — with the idea of building maritime boundaries and hydrocarbon
that talks will be held with the participation a gas-fired power plant in Moldova. The exploration in the region.
of Gazprom and Moldova’s public assets power plant would be built by Moldovagaz. Erdogan addressed the United Nations
management body, which represents Although Moldova promised to implement General Assembly with a video message.
the Moldovan state as a shareholder in the Third Energy package including by Turkey’s first preference, he said, was to
Moldovagaz, about the settlement of the the unbundling of the energy companies, resolve the boundary and exploration
historic gas debt that can be estimated at and Gazprom reportedly agreed with the disagreements “justly and in an appropriate
around $6bn. unbundling, it is highly unlikely that the way” through talks. “Futile” attempts to
Most of the debt is for the gas supplied plant would use Romanian natural gas. exclude Turkey from plans in the eastern
to Tiraspoltransgaz, the gas transport The intentions of Gazprom in Moldova Mediterranean could not succeed, he
system operator in the Moldovan separatist are not clear at this moment, but it controls cautioned.
republic of Transnistria. Tiraspoltransgaz is several elements that allow it to increase Nato members Turkey and Greece,
a shareholder of Moldovagas as well, but it volatility and it is possible that actually this as well as Cyprus, are in a standoff over
has transferred all the related rights resulting is the final purpose. Romanian exporters potential energy resources in the eastern
from its ownership to Gazprom. need certain predictability before entering Mediterranean. Ankara has protested that
The timing of the negotiations related the Moldovan market. In the absence of such the extent of the continental shelves claimed
to the settlement of the debt, which has conditions, the advantage gained by Moldova by Greece is unfairly distorted by tiny islands
been accumulated over the past decades, in its negotiations with Gazprom, provided located short distances from Turkey and the
is interesting. Romania’s Transgaz has just by the €150mn pipeline to Romania, Erdogan administration has determined that
completed the pipeline needed to deliver vanishes or at least diminishes. it will assert its right to the “Blue Homeland”
natural gas to the industrialised area around in the disputed waters.
the capital city Chisinau. At this moment, Tensions heated up last month when
the Russian gas is cheaper, Moldovagaz Erdogan proposes East Med Turkey sent a seismic survey vessel to waters
management said recently explaining why claimed by Greece and Cyprus. They eased
it is seeking a new three-year contract conference a little last week when Ankara recalled the
with Gazprom. But next year, US company ship. The move was welcomed by Greece and
BSOG will start production at its Romanian Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the European Union.

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