Norwegian energy major Equinor has further distanced itself from Russian energy in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while opening additional production from North Sea fields to European customers, reports Rivera.
The official statement
Two weeks after disentangling its 30-year ties, estimated at US$1.2Bn in non-current assets, with Russia, Equinor said it will stop trading in Russian oil and will not enter into new trading agreements or transport Russian oil or oil products.
A statement from Equinor clarified the company’s position with regard to existing agreements.
“Equinor has certain contractual commitments arising out of contracts entered into prior to the invasion. This includes contracts signed in January this year, under which Equinor will receive four oil cargoes in March. Two of these are sold on to customers in Asia. The third is a naphtha cargo that will be delivered to an Equinor contracted storage facility. The fourth is a feedstock cargo to be delivered at the Mongstad refinery in Norway,” the Equinor statement said.
Increasing the supplies
Additionally, Equinor announced it would increase supplies of gas from North Sea fields for use in EU countries. The EU has laid out its intent to move away from Russian natural gas supplies it relies heavily upon, ’well before 2030’.
The adjusted production permits from Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy allow Equinor’s Oseberg field to increase gas exports by around 1Bn m3 in the period up to 30 September 2022. Similar increases at the Heidrun field will see gas exports increase by 0.4Bn m3 for the calendar year 2022. The increase will supply around 1.4M European homes per year with gas needs.
Equinor said it has also taken the decision to postpone turnarounds on the Oseberg field from May to September 2022 to facilitate the company’s wider accelerated production goals.
“Should needs for necessary maintenance still arise, this will be done during short turnarounds,” Equinor said. “The postponement results in a corresponding postponement of the Sture terminal turnaround. In addition to increased exports, the adjustment of the permits also increases the robustness of the production on the fields exporting via the Kollsnes processing plant, as the Troll production can be increased by up to 1Bn m3 of gas in the event of loss of production on other fields in the area.”
LNG processing terminal to become online
Equinor said its Hammerfest LNG processing terminal is also scheduled to come online from mid-May 2022. The facility is expected to provide more than 6Bn m3 of gas per year from the Barents Sea.
At the end of February, Equinor’s board said it would stop new investments into Russia, and start the process of exiting Equinor’s Russian joint ventures.
At the time, Equinor president and chief executive Anders Opedal said, “In the current situation, we regard our position as untenable. We will now stop new investments into our Russian business, and we will start the process of exiting our joint ventures in a manner that is consistent with our values. Our top priority in this difficult situation is the safety and security of our people,” said Mr Opedal.
Equinor has been in Russia for over 30 years and entered a co-operation agreement with Rosneft in 2012.
At the end of 2021, Equinor had US$1.2Bn in non-current assets in Russia.
Did you subscribe to our daily Newsletter?
It’s Free! Click here to Subscribe
Source: Rivera
