Page 15 - GLNG Week 01 2021

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Rosneft beats Novatek in

Arctic licence contest

INVESTMENT RUSSIA’S Rosneft has outbid private rival According to Russian subsoil licensing agency
Novatek in a contest for rights to a block in Rus- Rosnedra, the starting price for bids for the
sia’s far north. Zapadno-Minkhovsky licence was RUB124mn
The state oil major has won a 30-year licence ($1.7mn). The agency did not say how much
to explore and develop the 1,480-square km Rosneft paid, but it did say that the company
Zapadno-Minkhovsky block straddling the beat a rival offer from Novatek, Russia’s biggest
south-west shore of the Gydan Peninsula. The LNG producer.
exploration phase runs for 10 years. Novatek wants to accumulate more gas
Zapadno-Minkhovsky has some 329.5bn reserves on the Gydan Peninsula to underpin
cubic metres in DL+D1+D2 gas resources, as future LNG export projects, namely the 5mn
well as 11.8mn tonnes (1.06bn barrels) of con- tpy Obsky LNG and 20mn tpy Arctic LNG-1
densate. But it is scarcely explored. Only 1,068 developments. It is yet to take a final investment
km of 2D seismic data has been collected at the decision (FID) on either plan.
site and no drilling has taken place. Novatek’s aim is to produce 70mn tpy of LNG
The block is also remote, with the nearest gas by 2030.
pipeline located some 150 km to the south-east,
while the nearest oil pipeline is situated 240 km 2021 contest
to the south-east. However, its access to the Taz Russia’s government also announced in late
Bay could enable the export of oil and gas via sea December it would offer up rights to another
in the event of a discovery. Gydan block, Severo-Gydansky. The area con-
Rosneft is looking to establish LNG produc- tains over 1.2 trillion cubic metres in D-category
tion in the Russian Arctic, although its main resources.
focus is its Vostok Oil fields located hundreds Novatek CEO Leonid Mikhelson requested
of kilometres east of Zapadno-Minkhovsky in last year that the auction be held. Only com-
the Krasnoyarsk region. Company CEO Igor panies that already have licences on either
Sechin recently said these fields could produce the Gydan or Yamal peninsulas will be able
as much as 50mn tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG, to take part in the contest, the government
in addition to over 2mn barrels per day (bpd) said, and the extracted gas must be used for
of oil. LNG production.™

MIDDLE EAST

Qatar hires McDermott for LNG FEED work

PROJECTS & QATARGAS has handed a front-end engineer- (NFE) project, which will ramp up the coun-
COMPANIES ing design (FEED) contract to McDermott Inter- try’s liquefaction capacity from 77mn to 110mn
national for the North Field South (NFS) project, tonnes per year (tpy). This first expansion stage is
which represents the second stage in Qatar’s plan expected to begin flowing gas by 2025.
to expand its LNG production capacity over the NFS will raise output further to 126mn tpy
next decade. by the late 2020s. The contract with McDermott
The contract covers the replication of five off- marks the first major award by Qatar for this
shore wellhead platforms, McDermott said on stage. The US company did not disclose its value.
January 6, noting that work at its office in Doha For NFE, Qatar Petroleum hired Air Products
would begin immediately. last August to supply gas liquefaction technology
“For more than 30 years, McDermott has and equipment, and Baker Hughes two months
executed projects in Qatar’s North Field, and we later for multiple refrigerant compressors. Last
will leverage our experience and local resources year it also reserved LNG shipbuilding capacity
to successfully deliver this project,” McDermott with three South Korean shipbuilders in an order
said. “As oil and gas field development con- worth $19bn, to build a fleet to deliver its extra
tinues in the region, we are poised to build on production to markets.
this initial work to further support Qatargas as As oil and gas producers face increasing scru-
they progress the subsequent phases of the NFS tiny over emissions from their operations, Qatar
project.” aims to capture and store some 7mn tpy of CO2
Qatar Petroleum started development drill- from its LNG facilities by 2027, its energy minis-
ing in March last year at the North Field East ter, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, said in December.™

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