Page 17 - MEOG Week 03 2021

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emissions were 39.1mn tonnes. The company per year project have been growing for years,
hopes to leverage its very low costs to invest in amid Irish authorities’ increasing aversion to the
CO2 without compensating too much on its use of fossil fuels.
cost-competitiveness. The Cork terminal is the second planned
In other news, Iraq has reported nearly dou- LNG import project in Ireland to be axed. The
bling the capacity of the Sumood oil refinery in country’s coalition government, established last
Baiji to 140,000 barrels per day (bpd) following summer and consisting of 12 Green Party mem-
rehabilitation work. Eventually the government bers, later withdrew the 5 bcm per year Shannon
wants to restore production to 310,000 bpd. This LNG import facility from a shortlist of projects
was the plant’s capacity before it was damaged eligible for EU grants. The fate of that project also
during the ISIS invasion and occupation begin- looks sealed, after the High Court in Ireland in
ning in 2014, and again when it was retaken by November ruled to annul all its development
Iraqi government troops in 2015. consents. Zurich Insurance
The UK’s Predator Oil & Gas is also advanc-
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping ing an FSRU project in Ireland but has insisted it is pulling out of
the downstream sector of Africa and the Middle East, will not take shale gas supply because of its envi- the Nord Stream
then please click here for NewsBase’s DMEA Monitor. ronmental impact.
2 pipeline as
Europe: TechnipFMC split back on track If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
Franco-American oil services group Technip- Europe’s oil and gas sector then please click here for Washington
FMC revealed earlier this month that it was NewsBase’s EurOil Monitor.
resuming plans to split itself into two independ- ramps up
ent companies. FSU: Swiss insurer takes head of Nord sanctions on the
TechnipFMC, formed four years ago through Stream 2 sanctions
the merger of Technip and FMC, launched plans Swiss-based Zurich Insurance Group will with- project.
to separate its engineering and construction draw from Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline,
activities from its oil services and technology sources told Reuters on January 16, as the US
business in August 2019. But it put the process prepares to slap stricter sanctions on the project.
on hold in March last year because of the market Washington is set to expand its sanctions
turmoil created by the coronavirus (COVID-19) regime against the near-complete project within
pandemic. weeks, after both houses of US Congress over-
Work on the separation is once again under- rode a Trump veto of a defence bill containing
way and should be completed in the first quarter the measures. Current sanctions only target
of this year, TechnipFMC said in a statement on those companies providing pipelaying vessels for
January 7. Technology and services will remain Nord Stream 2, but the US wants to punish those
under the TechnipFMC name, while the new- providing technical certification and insurance,
ly-formed Technip Energies will handle engi- as well as other construction activities such as
neering and construction. surveying, trenching and rock replacement.
Existing shareholders will receive 50.1% of The US State Department earlier this month
stock in Technip Energies on a pro-rate basis. warned European companies suspected of
TechnipFMC will retain the rest, which it intends assisting the project to pull out before it was too
to divest “over time.” BpiFrance, already a major late. Zurich has extensive operations in the US,
investor in TechnipFMC, will become a signif- meaning that it is greatly exposed to asset sei-
icant shareholder in Technip Energies through zures and other potential sanctions measures. It
a $200mn investment. The new business will be is one of around 20 insurers that is supporting
listed on the Euronext Paris bourse in France. Nord Stream 2, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile in Ireland, prospects for LNG Over in Ukraine, the government is planning
imports have dimmed further after a prelimi- to cap gas prices for households in a move that
nary deal between US exporter NextDecade and may further jeopardise the country’s co-op-
the port of Cork for a floating storage and regas- eration with the IMF, Bloomberg reported on
ification unit (FSRU) expired at the end of last January 13. Kyiv is taking the step to protect
year. Doubts about the 4bn cubic metre (bcm) household finances at a time when the economy

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