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Policy & Regulatory

Indonesia offers more flexible terms for oil and gas production contracts

4 Aug 2020

The Indonesian government has revised its "gross split" production sharing contract model, introduced in 2017, to allow more flexibility for oil and gas investors when selecting their contract options for exploration. In a bid to foster investment, contractors can now choose between different contracts, including the “cost recovery” and the “gross split” model.

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Estonia and Latvia plan a 1 GW joint offshore wind project

3 Aug 2020

Estonia and Latvia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly develop a 1 GW offshore wind project in the Gulf of Riga, in the Baltic Sea. The two governments will jointly carry out studies to determine the best location for the construction of the project, followed by an auction to select investors. The project is expected to be commissioned in 2030 and should generate 3.5 TWh/year.

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Companies

Poland plans to merge power utilities PGE, Enea and Tauron

4 Aug 2020

The Polish government plans to merge three power utilities, namely PGE (57.4% state-owned), Enea (51.5% state-owned) and Tauron (30.1% state-owned) into two companies: one new company would consolidate their coal and coal-fired assets, while non-coal assets would be grouped together in a separate entity.

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Adani cleared to buy AES’s stake in 1.7 GW coal-fired power plant (India)

4 Aug 2020

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the proposed acquisition of 49% of the total equity share capital of Odisha Power Generation Corporation Limited (OPGC) by Adani Power Limited (APL). In June 2020, the US power group AES Corporation signed an agreement to sell its 49% stake in the 1,740 MW OPGC 1-2 coal-fired power plants in Odisha (eastern India) to Adani Power, an affiliate of the Indian conglomerate Adani Group.

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RWE will acquire a 2.7 GW European renewables porfolio from Nordex

4 Aug 2020

RWE will acquire from Nordex SE a 2.7 GW portfolio of onshore wind and solar projects in France, Spain and Poland for a total consideration of around €400m. More than 1.9 GW of projects are located in France and 15% of the whole pipeline is close to final investment decisions (FID) or in advanced development stages; 230 MW have secured Contracts for Difference (CfDs) or similar feed-in tariffs. The transaction is subject to employee consultation and foreign investment approval in France.

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Eni (Italy) plans to cut costs and investments by €7.8bn in 2020-2021

3 Aug 2020

Eni plans to reduce costs and investment to the tune of €7.8bn in 2020-2021, in a context of market volatility related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The group plans to reduce costs by €1.4bn and investments by €2.6bn in 2020 (vs. €600m already announced) and to cut costs by another €1.4bn and investments by €2.4bn in 2021 (vs. €2.5-3bn already announced); around 25%-30% of the cost reduction identified for 2020 and 2021 will be structural.

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Energy & Climate Markets

Marathon Petroleum mothballs two US refineries (186,000 bbl/d)

4 Aug 2020

The US downstream company Marathon Petroleum has announced the indefinite idling of the 26,000 bbl/d Gallup refinery in New Mexico and the 160,000 bbl/d Martinez refinery in California (United States). The company is evaluating the strategic repositioning of Martinez to a renewable diesel facility. Marathon Petroleum owns and operates 16 refineries with a total capacity of 3 mbl/d and is building a 12,000 bbl/d biorefinery project (Dickinson Renewable Diesel project), which will comply with the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard.

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Infrastructure & Investments

Brazilian power group Eletrobras plans to invest US$1bn/year through 2035

4 Aug 2020

According to its new long-term strategy, the Brazilian power utility Eletrobras plans to invest BRL6bn/year (US$1.1bn/year) until 2035 to expand its power generation and transmission capacity. If the company is privatised, Eletrobras investments could more than double to BRL12.6bn/year (US$2.4bn).

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SSEN appoints contractors for 600 MW Shetland HVDC line project (UK)

4 Aug 2020

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Transmission has appointed the main contractors – Siemens and BAM – for the construction of the 600 MW Shetland high voltage direct current (HVDC) power transmission line and all associated infrastructure, between Kergord on the Shetland Isles to Caithness on the Scottish mainland (United Kingdom). The construction of the power line is expected to start in August 2020 and it could be commissioned in 2024 at the earliest, at a total cost of £649m (€725m).

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ENEC achieves start up of Unit 1 of Barakah nuclear power project (UAE)

4 Aug 2020

Nawah Energy has successfully started up the first unit of the Barakah nuclear power plant, located in the Al Dhafrah Region of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The joint venture between Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) and Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) received the Operating License from the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulations (FANR) in February 2020 and completed fuel assembly loading in March 2020.

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