European Update

By Tsvetana Paraskova

Europe

Energy Review

Europe’s energy news at the end of 2020 and the start of 2021 featured oil and gas discoveries and developments, major milestones in renewable energy in the UK, and plans for accelerating the deployment of green hydrogen and other forms of clean energy.

Oil & Gas

Last year was the year with the world’s fewest concluded licensing rounds of the 21st century, Rystad Energy said in an analysis in December. Awarded acreage was the lowest since 2002 at just over 324,000 square kilometres, while Norway was global leader in total licensed area in 2020, according to Rystad Energy.

In 2021, the number of licensing rounds is not expected to increase by much either, while total awarded acreage awarded will likely remain below 500,000 square kilometres.

ConocoPhillips announced at the end of 2020 a significant oil discovery in the Norwegian Sea. Preliminary estimates peg the size of the discovery at between 75 million and 200 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent.

“This discovery marks our fourth successful exploration well on the Norwegian Continental Shelf in the last 16 months,” said Matt Fox, executive vice president and chief operating officer. Also offshore Norway, Equinor and its partners decided to invest 3 billion Norwegian crowns

Statfjord Øst oil field - Source: Equinor

(£258 million/US$350 million) in the North Sea Statfjord Øst field to improve recovery by 23 million barrels of oil equivalent. Under the project, four new wells will be drilled from existing subsea templates and modifications on Statfjord C will be made. The plan also includes a new pipeline for gas lift. The decision will boost the recovery factor on Statfjord Øst to 62% from 56%, and will help extend the life of the Statfjord C platform and the Statfjord Øst field towards 2040, Equinor said. Offshore Norway, Aker BP and the Skarv partners – Equinor, Wintershall Dea, and PGNiG – decided in December to develop the Gråsel discovery in 2021. Gråsel holds a total of around 13 million barrels of oil equivalent. The oil and gas production will utilise available capacity on the existing production vessel (FPSO) on the Skarv field. Total investment costs for the Gråsel project are around 1.2 billion Norwegian crowns (£103 million/US$140 million).

The Shah Deniz consortium, in which bp is the operator with a 28.8-% interest, said on 31 December it started commercial gas deliveries to Europe from the Shah Deniz gas field in the Caspian Sea offshore Azerbaijan via the final section of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).

Renewables

The Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (REA) and a coalition of industry groups urged the UK Government at the end of December to create a level playing field for home energy storage. The home energy storage industry calls for the Government to reverse the rise in VAT on home energy storage from December 2019. The coalition asks that VAT rates on home energy storage be lowered to 5%, in line with domestically used electricity and heating from fossil fuels. It also calls for a temporary incentive to encourage householders to install home energy storage, such as inclusion in the Green Homes Grant or a scheme equivalent to grants available for EV ownership, or EV charging equipment.

Christmas Day 2020 was the first ever coal-free Christmas Day for Great Britain’s electricity, National Grid ESO said at the end of December. Last year as a whole was the greenest year on record for Britain’s electricity system, with all-time highs for wind and solar generation and the longest-ever coal-free run of nearly 68 days between April and June 2020.

Scotland published at the end of December a Hydrogen Policy Statement aimed at building a new energy sector. Scotland will give the low-carbon hydrogen sector £100 million over the next five years as part of the support for recovery and Scotland’s just transition to net zero.

Scotland is set to become a leading hydrogen nation, with an ambition to generate 5 GW of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen by 2030 – enough to power the equivalent of 1.8 million homes, the Scottish Government said.

The green hydrogen industry has the potential to be worth up to £25 billion a year to the Scottish economy by 2045, according to economic impact estimates from the government.

The leading UK oil and gas industry body OGUK welcomed Scotland’s Hydrogen Policy Statement, saying that this commitment emphasises the need for a sector deal.