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ENERGY NEWS
Europe
Energy Review By Tsvetana Paraskova
Oil & Gas UK and European gas and power prices hit record highs in September amid surging natural gas prices, still weather leading to less wind power generation, lower North Sea gas production, limited growth in gas supply from Russia, and surging gas demand in Asia. Total UK gas production for January-August 2021 fell by 28% compared to the same period last year, due to maintenance and delays in new projects, contributing to the gas price rally, Wood Mackenzie said in early September. Production is expected to recover through the rest of this year, but prices of gas and power in the UK and Europe are likely to remain high this winter due to tighter markets, WoodMac said. Amid the rallying prices, Russian giant Gazprom completed in early September construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, although gas flows on the controversial Russia-led pipeline cannot begin until Germany
www.ogv.energy I October 2021 2021
Record high gas and electricity prices in Europe and their impact on consumers and economies, as well as new oil and gas developments and a number of contracts in renewable energy marked this month’s European energy highlights.
grants an operating licence to the project. The German regulator is expected to take decision on the licence by early January 2022.
kg per barrel oil equivalent. The new wells are tied into the Troll A platform and Troll phase 3 will extend the platform’s life past 2050, Equinor said.
Gazprom dismisses speculation that it is withholding gas supply to Europe. Meanwhile, Norway, Europe’s second-largest gas supplier after Russia, said it would be boosting gas exports to Europe this winter.
Longboat Energy, the emerging full-cycle North Sea E&P company, said in mid-September that drilling had started at the Rødhette prospect in the Barents Sea offshore Norway. This is the first exploration well for drilled Longboat which has 20% in the prospect, a proven Jurassic play in the Hammerfest Basin with the potential for early monetisation through a 30-km tie-back to the Goliat Field.
Equinor and its partners have received permission to increase gas exports from the Oseberg and Troll fields to supply the tight European market, Norway’s major said on 20 September. “We believe that this is very timely as Europe is facing an unusually tight market for natural gas. At Equinor we are working on measures to increase exports from our fields on the NCS,” said Helge Haugane, senior vice president Gas & Power. Three weeks earlier, Equinor had started production from the Troll phase 3 project in the North Sea. The project has a break-even price below $10 and CO2 emissions of less than 0.1
Aker Solutions has been awarded a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract from Aker BP for the NOA Fulla field development on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The scope of the subsea production systems (SPS) FEED is planned to include 14 standardised vertical subsea trees, Vectus™ 6.0 based Control system modules, four six-slot manifolds, wellheads, and a large number of tie-in and connection systems, Aker Solutions says.
