Europe NEWS

The Israeli government on Sunday approved an agreement with European countries for the construction of a subsea pipeline that would supply Europe with natural gas from the eastern Mediterranean. The Eastmed pipeline, is meant to transport gas from offshore Israel and Cyprus to Greece and on to Italy. The pipeline is planned to initially carry 10 billion cubic meters of gas/year with the possibility of eventually doubling the capacity.

With the US natural gas prices topping the prices chart in Europe and Asia, the buyers have started cancelling the cargos. The buyers of the two continents have already cancelled the loading of around 20 cargoes from the United States in June. Henry Hub benchmark in Louisiana settled over both the Japan/Korea Marker (JKM) according to the most recent price data.

Lockdowns are easing in some of the European countries and US cities. This has rekindled hope of demand rise in the market and led to the rise in oil prices on Wednesday. WTI showed a significant increase of 8.8% and was traded at $13.43 a barrel. Brent was up by 1.8% and was traded at $20.82 a barrel. Meanwhile, deceiving the market fear, US storages are filling less rapidly.

Oil prices slipped on Tuesday over weak manufacturing data from Europe and Japan. The data shifted the focus of the market from Saudi crisis to the global demand concerns. Brent went down to $64.42 a barrel. WTI decreased to $58.36 a barrel. On the other side of the world, Britain, Germany and France came in support of the US and blamed Iran for the Saudi oil attack.

Poland has won a European Union court ruling That would reduce Russia's control on Opal pipeline in Germany. Poland challenged the European Commission's 2016 decision which allowed Gazprom to use major capacity on the Opal pipeline. “The ruling keeps Poland’s and Ukraine’s energy security at a high level”, said the Polish Energy Minister. The pipeline has the capacity to transport 36 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

Rosneft has decided to load an extra oil cargo from the Pacific port of Kozmino on May 30-31. This is apart from what was decided in the initial loading plan. This decision has come amidst the existing Russian oil export problems in Europe. The extra loading will increase the overall exports from Kozmino in May. It will reach an all-time high of 2.94 million tonnes.

In order to meet carbon emission targets, oil giant Shell has designed a range of Europe-wide plans worth £230m. The programme will start from this year as a part of Shell's three-year target in order to reduce its Net Carbon Footprint by 2% – 3%. The energy major will also invest in the creation of a 300-hectare forest project in Spain. "Shell will play its part", emphasized the firm's CEO.

The Danish Energy Agency has created a hurdle for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project by demanding an environmental assessment of its third route option. Nord Stream 2 is a 1,225 km under-construction pipeline which will increase the reliance of European Union on Russian gas. It is an 11 billion euro project which has been approved by Finland, Sweden, Germany and Russia, while Denmark has held out.

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.