Europe NEWS

Oil prices slid in the international market on Friday over a warning of the weak global economy from the European Central Bank (ECB). Benchmark Brent crude futures slipped 0.8% to $65.78 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures lowered 0.7% to $56.25 per barrel. Official data released today indicated a 21% drop in China’s February dollar-denominated exports.

US Department expressed its disagreement on Russia’s Yamal LNG transfers in Norwegian waters. In a statement, US said "At a time when Russian gas comprises a growing proportion of Europe's energy imports, additional volumes of Russian gas will undercut Europe's energy diversification efforts.” The ship-to-ship transfers in Norwegian waters from Yamal, one of the world’s largest LNG terminals will create a dent in energy diversification efforts of Europe, believes US.

Europe’s Prosafe has been awarded a £14.3million contract by BP. Prosafe will grant the charter of the Safe Zephyrus accommodation vessel at the Clair Ridge platform. The contract is of five-month and will start from May next year. The contract has an extension option of one month. CEO of Prosafe said “The Safe Zephyrus’ track record of gangway connected operations is second to none since her delivery in 2016,”

Tendeka is an international global completion service company of Europe. The company has launched a collection of applications, known as MajiFrac Solution. This new technology is designed to specifically reduce usage of water and pumping time in shale plays during completion operations in the US. The various technologies and product ranges under MajiFrac can be used individually or collectively.

Europe’s leading E&P Company, Lundin Petroleum has informed about the completion of Alta appraisal well 7220/11-5’s extended production testing. The testing and drilling part was performed by Leiv Eiriksson drilling rig. The flowing rate of first period was 4,500 bps and that of second period was 18,000 bpd. The total outcome was of 675,000 barrels. The main aim of this project was to establish sustainable production rates.

Cyprus-based Prosafe SE secured a $12 million contract for the semi-submersible accommodation vessel, Safe Caledonia. Prosafe signed the contract with a major oil and gas operator. The vessel will provide accommodation support in the UK sector of the North Sea. The four month duration contract commences in April 2019, with up to two months of options.

Sound Energy bagged the production concession for the Tendrara gas discovery in Morocco. Sound Energy will carry out drilling operations for 5 new horizontal development wells and redevelop the existing TE-6 and TE-7 wells. The project also includes construction of a gas treatment plant and compression station. A 120 kilometre gas export pipeline will also be laid to link the station with Gazoduc Maghred Europe pipeline.

According to the source, Algeria has decided to enhance the output of Europe, for which it will invest $280 million to build a gas pipeline. The capacity of the pipeline will be 4.5 bcm per year and is expected to be online by 2020. The plan is to connect this 197 km pipeline with two others that will further link it to Spain.

Europe’s leading energy company, Carin Energy has reported £400 million loss in half-year. Admitting its mistakes, the company commented that regardless of its progress in North Sea this year, it has experienced heavy losses on “derecognition of financial assets”. Carin experienced pre-tax losses worth £383m in the first six month of 2018. CEO of the company has said that “Cairn has made strong progress across its balanced portfolio.”

The merger of PKN Orlen and Grupa Lotos, two largest refineries of Poland, is a matter of concern for BP. According to the London’s oil major, this merger can halt the market competition in the east European country. If the sources were to be believed, BP can choose from its options and can file a complaint with European or Polish authorities regarding this matter.

After 13 LNG carriers stopped at the Montoir LNG import and trans-shipment terminal, it has set new LNG transshipment records in August. The terminal is located in the French Atlantic port of St Nazaire. Also, the first three transhipments were finished in one week which began on 15 August. This year, Montoir has completed 10 LNG transhipments, which is the best in numbers than any other European terminals.

European ship-owner, Celsius Tankers has awarded Samsung Heavy Industries with the contract for two 180, 000 cubic meters LNG carriers. The Celsius LNG carriers will be the first carriers in the world to possess Samsung’s air lubrication system, SAVER Air. The SAVER Air reduces friction by spraying air at the bottom of the ship to form a layer of air between the hull surface and seawater, saving loads of energy.

In an attempt to expand its capacity and increase the possibility of two-way flow, Bulgaria has opened a new 20-km looping section of its transit gas pipeline to Turkey. Bulgaria will transport Russian gas from the TurkStream pipeline to Europe. According to officials, the looping link will enhance the Transbalkan pipeline's capacity to 15.7bcm and will increase the security of gas supplies.

At a White House meeting with Donald Trump on Wednesday, European Union President Junker agreed to put efforts towards increasing natural gas trade with the US. Additionally, he informed that more terminals will be built to boost the import of LNG. Europe has already started buying more natural gas from the US in response to this strategic cooperation.

Oil companies, Wintershall and OMV said that they were closely observing the debate in US Senate on the planned Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project. A bill in the Senate is under discussion that would impose sanctions on entities involved with Nord Stream 2. The bill has been supported by the argument that it would aim to "improve energy security" for NATO members.

Vladimir Putin is strengthening ties with Europe, taking advantage of the economic conflicts of Donald Trump’s trade policy with the European Union. The relations on the gas front appear to be warming between Russia and Europe with Putin marking 50 years of gas exports to Europe at an event in Vienna. Russia supplies more than 1/3rd of the Europe gas and increasing the export would make it the biggest single supplier of the fuel.

SDX Energy Inc. announced natural gas discovery at its LNB-1 exploration well, drilled to a total depth of 1,861m. The well is now being completed as a conventional gas producer in the Upper Dlalha and the drilling rig will now move to the LMS-1 exploration well. Paul Welch, President and CEO of SDX, commented, “We are very excited about the results of this exploration well.”

Oil Plus, the oil and gas water injection specialist, has considerably expanded its footprint in the Middle East after securing contracts worth more than $1.5 million in the last three months. The firm will deliver reservoir souring modelling, production chemistry and iron sulphide studies for several international oil companies in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Brazil, Thailand and Europe.