Page 12 - EurOil Week 02 2022

EurOil NEWS IN BRIEF EurOil

Poland’s PKN Orlen denies Siemens signs 5-year pilot well 25/10-U-8, located in the North Sea
production license 028B.
rumours of MOL deal contract with Socar Turkey meters, will take three days to drill.
The well, located in a water depth of 116
Poland’s state-controlled oil refiner PKN for energy distribution The primary objective of the operation is to
Orlen denied on January 10 rumours in the verify that the planned drill sites for the Hanz
Polish media of an upcoming sale of petrol infrastructure development wells 25/10-A-1 AH and 25/10-
stations belonging to peer Lotos to the B-1 H are free of shallow gas/water hazards.
Hungarian oil and gas giant MOL. Siemens Turkey, a unit of Siemens (Frankfurt/ Aker BP sanctioned the development of
The transaction, reported by private Radio SIE), has signed a 5-year contract with Socar the Hanz oil and gas discovery in December.
Zet, would be a condition for a merger of Turkey to develop and renovate energy Discovered in 1997, Hanz will be tied
PKN Orlen with Lotos, which is expected distribution infrastructure and SCADA into the Ivar Aasen platform about twelve
to go through by the middle of the year. The (Supervisory control and data acquisition) kilometers to the south. Total reserves are
European Commission cleared the takeover systems of Star Refinery, Socar Depolama around 20 million barrels of oil equivalent
last year pending PKN Orlen’s meeting a list of (Socar Storage) and Petkim (PETKM), the (mmboe).
conditions, such as divesting a 30% stake in a parties said on January 6. Total investments are estimated at
Lotos refinery in Gdansk and the sale of 80% Socar Turkey was launched in 2006 by the NOK3.3bn ($363mn). The expected start-up
of its fuel stations. State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic is in the first half of 2024.
“We would like to inform that negotiations (Socar). It has a 51% stake in Petkim. Aker BP is the operator with a 35% stake,
with partners for remedial measures in Siemens has been active in Turkey since with partners being Equinor (50%), Spirit
connection with the takeover of Grupa Lotos 1856. Energy (15%).
by PKN Orlen have not been finalised,”
PKN Orlen said in a statement published on
Twitter. Turkey’s Botas ‘seeking Norwegian oil and gas
“Media reports on the selection of potential
partners are only speculation,” the statement $2bn loan’ output to rise 9% by 2024
also read.
The Lotos network comprises around 700- Turkey’s government-run natural gas Norway’s total petroleum output is expected
800 petrol stations, with an average price of importer Botas has been seeking a $2bn to grow over the next three years as oil and
the units ranging between $1.5-2mn per unit. loan to pay upcoming debts to suppliers, gas output expand, the Norwegian Petroleum
MOL last confirmed its interest in the Polish including Russia’s Gazprom (Moscow/GAZP), Directorate said on January 13.
retail market in August last year. anonymous sources told Bloomberg on The combined volume is expected to rise
PKN Orlen, the CEE’s largest oil and gas January 6. to 4.33 million barrels of oil equivalent in
company, has nearly 2,000 service stations in Botas was said to have so far only managed 2024, a rise of 9.1% from the preliminary 2021
eight other countries in Central and Eastern to obtain Turkish lira (TRY) 5bn ($365mn) reading of 3.97 million barrels, NPD forecasts
Europe, including Croatia, Slovakia, Bosnia, from local banks. showed.
the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovenia, Serbia Amid booming gas prices and the Norway expects oil companies to submit
and Montenegro. collapsing lira, Botas’ subsidies on the local “dozens” of new investment plans this year, up
Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest company market have soared although gas prices in from eight in 2021, in order to take advantage
in terms of daily oil production, is slated to Turkey have also been booming in lira terms. of tax incentives introduced by parliament,
take over the minority stake in Lotos refinery In November, the central bank sold leading to a jump in investment in the coming
in Gdansk. $2.23bn to Botas, a record figure. years.
The merger of Lotos, oil and gas On January 7, the central bank is to release “The investments contribute to continued
exploration and production company PGNiG the December figure. high and profitable production towards 2030,
and PKN Orlen will create a state-controlled Meanwhile, the central bank has a very at which point the current plans show that
energy giant, the Polish government hopes. limited amount of usable reserves and is again production will decline,” the NPD said.
The PiS-led government plans for Orlen to burning through its reserves to support the “The extent and speed of this decline will
be able to move closer to giants like BP, Total, lira. depend, among other things, on how much
Shell, or Repsol, which are investing in their additional oil and gas the companies will
value chains and in prospective branches such discover in the years to come,” it added.
as renewables or hydrogen. Aker BP drills well at Hanz
The rumours of the MOL deal attracted
criticism from Poland’s opposition, which field US senate to vote on Cruz
said that the next step would be MOL selling
the petrol stations to Russia’s Lukoil or Norwegian oil company Aker BP has received Nord Stream 2 sanctions
Rosneft. MOL and Lukoil have a history of consent from the Petroleum Safety Authority
cooperation, the Polish opposition points out. Norway to drill a pilot well in the North Sea, The US Senate will vote on January 13 on a bill
off Norway. being pushed by Republican Ted Cruz to slap
Using Odfjell Drilling’s Deepsea Nordkapp sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 natural gas
semi-submersible drilling rig, Aker BP will the pipeline in Europe, although it is not expected

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 02 13•January•2022