Page 13 - EurOil Week 34

EurOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT EurOil

Bulgaria takes 20% stake in

Greek LNG terminal

BULGARIA BULGARIA’S state-owned gas network oper- Bulgaria will have access,” Bulgartransgaz said in
ator Bulgartransgaz said on August 24 it has a statement.
The terminal is due on completed the acquisition of a 20% interest in The LNG terminal in Alexandroupolis
stream in 2023. Gastrade, the company developing a floating should become operational at the beginning of
liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal off Greece’s 2023.
northern coastal city of Alexandroupolis. Bulgaria currently serves as a transit route for
The move is part of Bulgaria’s long-term Russian gas, but it has the potential to become a
energy strategy to diversify its gas supply sources major trading centre thanks to a raft of new gas
and routes and will also support the develop- transport projects. A pipeline from Greece is due
ment of the Balkan gas hub project. to start operations next year, allowing Bulgaria
“The participation in the project for the con- to receive gas from Greek LNG terminals. It
struction of a liquefied natural gas near Alex- will also be able to tap supplies from Azerbaijan
androupolis is of strategic importance for the once the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) running
diversification and security of the energy deliv- through Greece and Albania to Italy is finished.
eries in Bulgaria and in the region. The terminal Bulgaria is also helping Russia extend the Turk-
will be the second LNG facility in the region, Stream pipeline through its territory and on to
along with the one in Revitusa, Greece, to which Central Europe. ™

POLICY

Greenpeace boards Danish

oil platform

DENMARK GREENPEACE activists boarded an unmanned said at the time that the interest generated
oil platform operated by Total in the Danish demonstrated the Danish North Sea’s status “as
There are growing calls North Sea last week, forcing the French major to a stable, attractive oil and gas investment area.”
for Denmark to end its halt production. However, the current government formed by
search for oil and gas. The activists climbed onto the Dan Bravo the Social Democratic Party and its left-leaning
platform some 210 km west of Denmark to pro- allies has put the process on hold. Amid growing
test against oil and gas exploration in Danish antipathy to fossil fuels across Europe, the longer
waters, the environmentalist group said. the awards are delayed, it seems the less likely
“We are peacefully occupying the Dan Bravo they will take place at all.
oil rig today to tell leaders that unless they are Current plans by operators do not envisage
brave enough to ban the search for new oil and any oil production after 2050, when the country
gas in Denmark, they will never be the green aims to become carbon neutral. But were more
frontrunners they claim to be,” one activist said licences awarded and discoveries made, extrac-
in a statement. tion could continue after this point.
Denmark has one of the most ambitious Denmark and other North Sea oil produc-
climate targets in the world, with its parlia- ers are investing in carbon, capture and storage
ment having adopted a new law on December (CCS) projects that could potentially allow oil
pledging to cut emissions by 70% by 2030. But production to continue without jeopardising
the government is still debating whether to pro- decarbonisation efforts.
ceed with a new tender for North Sea oil and gas Around 5,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day
acreage. (boepd) of production was taken offline at Dan
Authorities kicked off the tender back in Bravo as a safety precaution after Greenpeace
2018, attracting offers from Total as well as Swe- boarded the installation, Total told Reuters. The
den’s Lundin Petroleum, Hungary’s MOL and French major acquired the field and 14 others
the UK’s Ardent Oil. The Danish Energy Agency from Denmark’s Maersk in 2018. ™

Week 34 27•August•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P13