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ENERGY NEWS
By Tsvetana Paraskova
Europe
Energy Review
Oil & Gas Ireland’s Government said in early February it would introduce legislation to ban new oil and natural gas exploration and extraction. “The decision we have made today to legislate for a ban on new oil exploration and extraction will send a powerful message, within Ireland and internationally, that Ireland is moving away from fossil fuels towards a renewable future,” said Eamon Ryan, Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications. Western Europe’s biggest oil and gas producer, Norway, awarded 61 offshore exploration licenses to 30 companies in the latest annual licensing round for oil and gas exploration in mature areas on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Equinor, Lundin, Aker BP, and Vår Energi were awarded the highest number of licenses either as operators or partners. “This year’s award of 61 new production licences to as many as 30 companies shows that the petroleum industry still has significant expectations of making profitable discoveries on the Norwegian Shelf,” said Kalmar Ildstad, director license management at the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. Norway’s Equinor said at the end of January that its giant Johan Sverdrup oil field is expected to increase its daily production capacity up to 535,000 barrels of oil by mid-2021. This is around
Oil and gas exploration policies, updates from oil majors about their strategies in the energy transition, renewables power generation milestones, and many deals in the renewables industry in the UK and the rest of Europe were the highlights of the European energy themes at the start of 2021.
100,000 barrels per day more than the original basis at start-up in October 2019.
Renewables
Equinor also announced its first discovery for 2021, made near the Troll field in the North Sea. The Røver North discovery adds to a number of discoveries in the Troll/Fram area in recent years.
Renewables overtook fossil fuels for the first time to become the UK’s largest source of electricity over the whole year in 2020, Drax said in its latest Electric Insights quarterly report.
Shell confirmed that its oil production peaked in 2019, as it accelerates its net-zero emissions strategy. The supermajor expects its oil production to gradually decline by around 1-2% each year, including divestments and natural decline. In the upstream, Shell will focus on value over volume, which is set to continue to provide material cash flow into the 2030s.
Together wind, solar, hydro, and biomass provided 104 TWh of electricity, or 39% of all power consumed in Britain. Renewable output has increased tenfold since 2010, while fossil-fuelled output has fallen by 60%. In 2020, supply from coal, gas, and oil fell to below 100 TWh for the first time since 1960, the report noted.
France’s Total also reiterated its transformation toward a broader energy company and plans to change its name to TotalEnergies to reflect the two pillars of its strategy, LNG and electricity from renewable energy sources.
In the European Union, renewables also overtook fossil fuels to become the EU’s main source of electricity for the first time in 2020, according to the annual report of Ember and Agora Energiewende. Renewables rose to generate 38% of Europe’s electricity in 2020, up from 34.6% in 2019, for the first time overtaking fossil-fired generation, which fell to 37%, the report showed.
Aker BP, however, will remain a pure-play oil and gas company and will contribute to the energy transition through maximising value creation, minimising emissions, and by sharing of data and competence to other industries. “The operational performance has never been stronger, the financial position has never been more robust, and our investment opportunities have never been more attractive to pursue,” CEO Karl Johnny Hersvik said on the capital markets update in early February.
Floating offshore wind in the UK could reach “subsidy-free” levels by the early 2030s, a study completed by the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult’s Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence (FOW CoE) showed. The study suggests large floating offshore wind projects could secure Contracts for Difference (CfD) strike prices below current wholesale electricity price forecasts as early as 2029, depending on the deployment scenario pursued by the UK. Globally, offshore wind capacity installations are set to jump by 37% this year, following 15% growth in 2020, Rystad Energy has estimated. Last year, China was the main contributor to offshore wind installations growth, accounting for 39% of additions, followed by the Netherlands with 18% and the UK with 17%.
Johan Sverdrup oil field
www.ogv.energy I March 2021
Global installed offshore wind capacity is set to increase by 11.8 gigawatts (GW) in 2021, adding to the 31.9 GW of installed capacity at end-2020, Rystad Energy reckons.
