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Over in Ireland, Providence Resources hopes to RUB71.3bn.
finally to attract a farm-in partner at the Barry- In more upbeat news, Novatek has begun
roe field, Ireland’s largest offshore oil discovery. pilot production at gas condensate-bearing lay-
It continues to hold talks with SpotOn Energy, ers of the North-Russkoye and East-Tazovskoye
which is leading a consortium that also com- fields.
prises a number of major oilfield services firms. The pair have a combined annual produc-
These firms will gain equity stakes in the project tion capacity of 7.7 bcm of gas and 1mn tonnes
in lieu of payment for their services, helping to of condensate. The company intends to sell the
keep development costs down. gas to local industrial customers but will export
Providence has struggled to find a farm-in most of the condensate.
partner for the field, with two deals collapsing Meanwhile, Ukraine’s biggest gas producer,
in 2015 and 2018. Ireland’s investment climate Ukrgasvydobuvannya (UGV), has secured a
is hardly conducive to its efforts, with the new €51.9mn ($60.9mn) loan from the European US LNG exports
coalition government looking to ban the issue Bank for Reconstruction and Development are being
of new oil and gas licences on environmental (EBRD). The funds will be used to procure more
grounds. workover rigs to boost output at UGV’s older forecast to rise
fields and to increase waste-heat recovery at a
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping key deposit in Ukraine’s north-west. in August
Europe’s oil and gas sector then please click here for UGV will need all the help it can get to deliver
NewsBase’s EurOil Monitor. on ambitious growth targets. It was already
apparent long before the COVID-19 crisis began
FSU production setbacks that the company would fall far short of its goal
Russian gas producer Novatek saw its interna- of producing 20 bcm of gas this year. The col-
tional sales of natural gas plunge 32% year on lapse in European gas prices this year means its
year in the second quarter, underscoring the production is now on track for a sharp decline.
impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global
demand. The company’s overseas shipments If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
came to only 2.5bn cubic metres in the three- the former Soviet Union’s oil and gas sector then
month period, down from 3.65 bcm a year ear- please click here for NewsBase’s FSU Monitor .
lier. Its domestic sales were also down, though
much less significantly, dropping to 14.4 bcm Searching for LNG demand growth
from 15.1 bcm. US LNG exports are being forecast to rise in
The slump in international sales stemmed August, which would mark a rebound after
chiefly from a fall in the amount of LNG that several months of declines amid cargo cancella-
Novatek was able to buy from its Yamal LNG tions spurred by the impact of the COVID-19
joint venture with France’s Total and China’s pandemic on demand. Over 100 US LNG car-
CNPC and Silk Road Fund. In the mean- goes are estimated to have been cancelled so far
time, net profits were also down 40% y/y at this year, and further cancellations are expected,
RUB41.6bn ($573mn), while EBITDA fell 38.5% albeit coming at a slower pace.

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 31 05•August•2020