Saffron Energy expects third Italian field permission next year
Saffron energy is aiming to bring its third gas-producing field in northern Italy online in the first quarter of next year.
The London-listed firm had initially expected an agreement from the Emilia Romagna regional government, then permission from the Ministry of Economic Development in Rome to begin production by the end of June this year.
But Saffron now expect the approval to be received in or around the first quarter of 2018.
The facility would add to the company’s two other producing gas fields near Milan and Bologna in the north of the country.
France okays over 1b Euros for Nigeria oil industry
France is to invest about one billion Euros in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, its Ambassador to Nigeria, Denys Gauer, has said.
Gauer, who made this known when the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Ndu Ughamadu, led a delegation to his office in Abuja, yesterday, said Nigeria remains its first economic trading partner in Africa.
The envoy said the French Development Agency has put in place about one billion Euros to encourage French investors to invest in the oil and gas sector, adding that France is also cooperating with the Federal Government in the fight against Boko Haram insurgency.
He praised the Federal Government for addressing the Niger Delta situation, stating that Total, a French multinational oil major, has significant investment in the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) and Egina projects.
In a statement, Ughamadu said Gauer however expressed concern that some other French firms were having challenges with Nigeria’s unclear fiscal policies in the oil and gas sector.
He said some French investors were currently developing wind energy and solar energy in Katsina State.
Ughamadu, said the NNPC under the current management led by the Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, was well positioned and open to investment opportunities from the French government and investors.
He noted that with the significant scale down in pipeline vandalism and insecurity which has boosted oil production, global investors such as the French government can now invest in renewable energy, gas and power infrastructural development, pipeline construction, storage facility and the direct sales and direct purchase of Nigeria crude oil grades.
He said the NNPC, as the state owned oil and gas firm, had global operations and called for closer collaboration between the French government and the oil firm especially in the area of consular services in order to enable NNPC top executives and workers meet their global engagements.
France to ban oil exploration
New environment minister unveils plans
FRANCE plans to pass a law later this year to stop granting licences for oil and gas exploration at home and in its overseas territories.
France’s environment minister Nicolas Hulot tweeted on Friday: “There will be no new exploration licence for hydrocarbons, we will pass a law this Autumn”.
Hulot, who has previously worked as an environmental activist and TV presenter, was made minister of ecological and solidarity transition by France’s new President Emmanuel Macron in May.
The law would reportedly kill development of shale oil and gas in France and its overseas territories, but would have no effect on existing conventional exploration and extraction projects.
Hulot said that banning existing projects would see oil and gas firms bring costly lawsuits against the government, noting “France’s budget can do without that”.
France 24 reports that environmentalists are disappointed by the proposals and want Hulot to adopt a harder line.
Juliette Renaud of Friends of the Earth said: “There are at least 55 exploration licences that were previously approved and will likely be extended, and 132 extraction permits awaiting approval.”
In reference to the Paris Climate Agreement, she noted: “If we continue to exploit conventional hydrocarbons, it will be impossible to keep global temperatures from rising above 2°C”.
France is a relatively small producer of crude oil, relying chiefly on imports for its supplies. France produced 16,000 bbl/d in 2015 compared to 1.1m bbl/d of imports, according to figures from the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
UK oilfield service company to open purpose built facility in Baku
EXPRO international oilfield service company, headquartered in the UK, plans to complete the construction of a new purpose built facility within Shah Deniz 2 project in Baku in October 2017, said the company's manager for Azerbaijan Andy Sadler.
He made the remarks during the 4th Caspian forum "Offshore Integrated Project Management & Methods of Production Enhancement of Oil & Gas" in Baku June 23.
"The new facility will be capable to handle both existing and future projects and is designed to accommodate all EXPRO services lines," said Sadler.
EXPRO has had a presence in the Caspian region since 2007, when it was awarded a contract to supply completion landing strings for Azerbaijan's Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli block of fields.
In 2014, EXPRO was awarded the contract to build landing strings for Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz Stage 2.
TENDER-Surgutneftegaz awards 540,000t of Urals to BP, Glencore
* Russia's Surgutneftegaz awarded a tender to sell 540,000 tonnes of Urals crude for loading from Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Novorossiisk in July on Wednesday, traders said.
* Surgutneftegaz sold four Urals cargoes of 100,000 tonnes each for loading from Primorsk on July 12-13, 17-18, from Ust-Luga on July 14-15 and 140,000 tonnes of Urals for loading from Novorossiisk on July 12-13 to BP.
* Urals cargo from Primorsk on July 20-21 was awarded to Glencore in the interest of ExxonMobil, traders said.
* Surgutneftegaz's cargoes for loading from Baltic Sea ports were sold at a discount of some $0.90-$1.00 a barrel to dated BFOE, which was slightly lower than the latest market estimations.
* There was no information available on the price level for Urals cargo from Novorossiisk.
Contract for Combined-Cycle Power Plant in Warsaw signed
PGNiG TERMIKA S.A. and the consortium Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Europe GmbH, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Ltd.; Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Europe Ltd. and Polimex-Mostostal S.A. signed a contract for the delivery and assembly of a combined cycle power plant at the Żerań CHP Plant in Warsaw. Handover of the plant for operation is scheduled for 2020.
The new plant to be constructed in the Żerań CHP Plant will be the most modern combined cycle power plant (CCPP) in the country.
It will be equipped with a F-class gas turbine with a HRSG and a steam turbine. Following the construction, the exhausted coal-fired boilers will be taken out of service and the new generating unit will allow increasing the electricity generation in the CHP Plant by approximately 80 percent. The plant parameters will allow maintaining generation capacity at a level ensuring heat supply to the Warsaw district heat system while retaining heat prices competitiveness for the inhabitants of Warsaw.
The project is planned to be executed in the years 2017-2020. The construction will be carried out in the EPC formula – engineering, procurement, construction.
Construction of the new CCPP in the Żerań CHP Plant is an important investment in the Polish power sector, which is essential to improve the power safety of the Warsaw metropolitan area. Its high-performance and cutting-edge gas-fired technologies will allow the new CCPP to satisfy the most demanding European environmental protection criteria, i.e. the requirements under the Industrial Emissions Directive and BAT. The project will noticeably improve the quality of air in the capital city, increasing the living comfort of local communities – stated Wojciech Dąbrowski, the President of PGNiG TERMIKA SA.
“Being a technology leader, the MHPS Group of Companies is ideally equipped for tomorrow’s energy needs, especially when it comes to developing reliable and high-quality products”, stated Satoshi Uchida, Chief Executive Officer of MHPS Europe “This helps our clients to achieve the highest efficiency and lowest emissions when utilizing fossil fuels.”
Rainer Kiechl, Executive Vice President of MHPS Europe and Chief Executive Officer of the MHPS subsidiary in Duisburg, Germany, emphasized that “the success of this project is the joint achievement of the whole European and Japanese team”.
Moreover, he stressed the importance of the Polish market for MHPS in Europe: “Following the contracts for the hard coal-powered Power Unit Kozienice 11 and brown coal-powered Power Unit Turów 11, the Żerań CHP Plant is the third biggest project carried out in Poland in recent years”. In addition to being an example of great competences held by MHPS, it shows the trust of Polish clients placed in MHPS technologies. He also added: “We will expend every effort to repay this trust”.
“The experience gathered so far from the great cooperation of the consortium members guarantees that the project will be carried out in accordance with the assumed performance and time frames” – said Antoni Józwowicz, the President of Polimex – Mostostal S.A.
A long term service agreement (LTSA) for the turbine section is included in the overall contract. It is the first major order for MHPS of this kind in Poland.
Plant performance:
- net electric power output - 490 MWe
- maximum thermal power output - 326 MWt
BASF Plans Significant Investment In Ibuprofen Capacities In Germany And North America
BASF plans to build a new world-scale plant to produce ibuprofen in Ludwigshafen, Germany. Ibuprofen is an active pharmaceutical ingredient that is used for treating pain, fever, and inflammation. The new plant, is scheduled to come onstream in 2021. “It will be the first world-scale ibuprofen plant in Europe,” says Dr. Markus Kamieth, Member of the Board of Executive Directors, BASF SE. With this investment, BASF aims to ensure high supply security for its customers and meet growing global demand.
BASF is also expanding its ibuprofen capacities at its production site in Bishop, Texas, to fill current supply gaps for ibuprofen in the market. The expansion will come onstream in early 2018. The company will invest approximately €200 million in both projects.
“BASF will be the only supplier with two ibuprofen assets worldwide. This makes us a highly reliable partner for our customers,” says Kamieth.
“Both investments show our strong commitment to the pharmaceutical industry and our pharma solutions business,” says Dr. Melanie Maas-Brunner, President of BASF’s Nutrition & Health business. “They enable us to close supply gaps and efficiently support our customers’ growth plans.”
BASF has been manufacturing ibuprofen at its FDA-audited, cGMP-certified production site in Bishop for over 20 years. BASF operates an award-winning, eco-efficient production process that ensures the highest product quality levels.
Rosneft expects faster growth of global demand for petrochemical products - CEO
Russia’s oil major Rosneft plans to reach production costs at the level of Saudi Aramco in the long term, Igor Sechin said
Russia’s oil major Rosneft expects that global demand for petrochemical products will grow faster than the consumption, therefore petrochemicals have a special role to the developed strategy of Rosneft-2022, according to the company’s CEO Igor Sechin article published in Izvestia.
"The new strategy of the company should help making our asset portfolio sustainable in any scenario with oil prices and under any tax regulation. Petrochemicals have a special role. We expect that global demand for petrochemical products will grow faster than GDP growth and consumption of oil products. This would create additional prospects for this area of ··our business," Sechin said.
Russia’s oil major Rosneft plans to reach production costs at the level of Saudi Aramco in the long term.
"We expect that implementation of the Rosneft 2022 strategy will increase capitalization by 25-30%, and. And, as I have already mentioned, 500 mln tonnes of additional production over 20 years against our current plans. However, the most important thing is a significant increase in efficiency. We set the company's goal to achieve long-term production cost at the level of Saudi Aramco," Sechin said.
SOCAR foreign investments near $4.5B
As of January 1, 2017, Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR invested almost $4.49 billion in projects abroad, a source in the company told Trend June 16.
The greatest share of the company’s investments - $3.334 billion - accounted for projects in Turkey, according to the source.
"As much as $414.5 million were invested in projects in Switzerland," said the source. "Investments worth $386.9 million accounted for projects in Georgia, $281.7 million were invested in projects in Ukraine, and $71.3 million were invested in projects in Romania."
SOCAR includes such production associations as Azneft (the enterprises producing oil and gas onshore and offshore), Azerikimya (the chemical enterprises) and Azerigas (distributor of gas produced in the country), as well as oil and gas processing plants, service companies, and the facilities involved in geophysical and drilling operations.
SOCAR is the sole producer of oil products in Azerbaijan. It has filling stations in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Romania and Switzerland.
Egypt to Become Regional Hub by November
A specialized alliance is set to complete a strategy to transform Egypt into a regional energy trading hub by November 2017, reported Noozz.
Sources at the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources said that Egypt’s transformation into a regional center for energy trading and trading not only covers a part of the needs of the local market but also serves to meet the needs of the regional market, adding value to the Egyptian economy and attracting foreign investment, according to Tekmor monitor.
The sources noted that Egypt has many qualifications to enable it to play this role, including the important discoveries in the field of oil and gas, especially in the Mediterranean region.
The sources further noted that the Suez Canal, the SUMED project (which is being developed to store more petroleum), along with the large refining capacity in the factories located in Suez, Alexandria, and Assiut, are major infrastructure projects that serve the purpose.
This is an addition to the ports overlooking the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, considering that they have the facilities to receive crude oil and petroleum products, supported by networks of pipelines to transport petroleum products and gas extended throughout Egypt.