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ENERGY NEWS
Europe
Energy Review By Tsvetana Paraskova
Surging natural gas and power prices in Europe continued to be a hot topic in European energy this past month, along with new oil and developments offshore Norway, the UK net-zero strategy, and many company investments in low-carbon energy projects. Energy prices set records Natural gas and power prices continued to set records in early October, prompting the European Commission to present a toolbox of measures to tackle the exceptional situation and its impacts on consumers. The toolbox includes providing emergency income support for energy-poor consumers; temporary, targeted reductions in taxation rates for vulnerable households; aid to companies or industries in line with EU state aid rules; and investigating “possible anti-competitive behaviour in the energy market and ask the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) to further enhance monitoring of developments in the carbon market.”
Norway continues oil & gas development under new government The new government in Western Europe’s largest oil and gas producer, Norway, pledged to continue its support to the oil and gas industry. The new minority government will continue to grant permits for oil and gas exploration on the Norwegian shelf and will keep the current system of oil auctions. Over the next four years, most of the exploration activity will take place in mature areas of the shelf, the government says. Meanwhile, Neptune Energy announced that drilling had commenced on the Dugong Tail exploration well in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.
www.ogv.energy I November 2021 2021
More oil developments come on stream Lundin Energy AB said that first oil from the operated Solveig field was achieved on 30 September. Solveig is a subsea tie back development into the Edvard Grieg platform. Phase 1 has gross proved plus probable reserves of 57 million barrels of oil equivalent and with gross peak plateau production of 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, it will be a significant contributor to the extension of the plateau production period at Edvard Grieg, which has already been extended by five years to the end of 2023, Lundin said. Longboat Energy announced in early October a discovery at the Rødhette exploration well, the first well in its fully-funded, seven well exploration programme. The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway gave Equinor consent for extended operation of the Sygna field in the northern North Sea, just northeast of the Statfjord Nord field. Consent for operation of Sygna expired on 9 March 2024, and the authority has now given consent for extended operation of the Sygna field until 10 August 2026. Equinor said that due to the COVID crisis and related delays, cost estimates for the Njord Future and Johan Castberg developments have increased, with the start-up of Johan Castberg now scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2024. Despite cost increases and delays in timing, Johan Castberg still has a break-even price below $35 per barrel, Equinor said.
bp announced at end-September it had agreed to sell a 25-% participating interest in the Shallow Water Absheron Peninsula (SWAP) exploration project in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea to LUKOIL. After the transaction bp will continue to hold 25% in the project.
UK net-zero strategy The UK government unveiled on 19 October its net-zero Strategy, setting out how the UK would deliver on its commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. The strategy outlines measures to transition to a green and sustainable future, helping businesses and consumers to move to clean power, supporting hundreds of thousands of well-paid jobs, and unlock up to £90 billion of private investment by 2030, the government said. Reducing reliance on imported fossil fuels will protect consumers from global price spikes by boosting clean energy, according to the strategy, which the government expects would create 440,000 wellpaid jobs in green industries. “By moving first and taking bold action, we will build a defining competitive edge in electric vehicles, offshore wind, carbon capture technology and more, whilst supporting people and businesses along the way,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. The strategy also includes the commitment to decarbonise the UK’s electricity system by 2035 announced earlier in October. In this commitment, the UK will rely on home-grown, green technologies such as offshore wind and nuclear energy to support the transition away from reliance on fossil fuels.
The UK must scale up renewables faster to achieve the target of green electricity by 2035, RenewableUK said.
