Blog

The Ministry of Energy of Poland has presented a revised version of the Polish Energy Policy to 2040. The draft document was originally published in November 2018. The text is open for public consultation until the end of November 2019.

The revised Polish Energy Policy to 2040 ambitions to cut the share of coal in the power mix from 80% to 56-60% in 2030 and to increase the share of renewable to 21-23% (against 27% in the first draft). It promotes onshore wind and offshore wind. The Ministry of Energy has developed a draft regulation to foster the expansion of offshore wind capacity, which will be presented to the Council of Minister and is expected to be adopted in 2020. It would enable the development of the first offshore wind project by 2025.

The other 2030 objectives, which include a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions in comparison to 1990, a 23% rise in energy efficiency compared with 2007 and the construction of Poland’s first nuclear reactor by 2033, remained the same. 

The Ministry of Oil of India will invite foreign companies to invest in its oil and gas sector, as India plans to invest US$100bn in its oil and gas infrastructure (refineries, oil and gas pipelines and LNG terminals) by 2024.

Saudi Arabia’s national oil company Saudi Aramco has released its prospectus ahead of its initial public offering (IPO) on the Saudi Tadawul stock exchange, which will open the subscription period on 17 November 2019. The size of the stake to be sold were not disclosed. Up to 0.5% of the company’s shares will be sold to individual investors that will have to subscribe by 28 November.

The government of the Canadian province of Alberta has allowed all producers to drill new conventional oil wells without being restricted by production limits; production caps will remain in effect for existing producing wells.

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of Indonesia has signed a 20-year production sharing contract (PSC) with ConocoPhillips, Repsol and national oil company Pertamina for the Corridor natural gas blocks, since the current contract – that was already signed with the same companies – will expire in the end of 2023. …

Australian oil and gas producer Woodside has made a final investment decision on the Pluto-North West Shelf (NWS) Interconnector, a 3-km-long gas pipeline project connecting Woodside’s 4.9 Mt/year Pluto LNG export terminal and the NWS Project’s 16.3 Mt/year Karratha Gas Plant (KGP) in Western Australia.

Algeria’s national oil company Sonatrach has awarded an EPC contract to a consortium of Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain) and Samsung (South Korea) for the construction of a new 100,000 bbl/d (5 Mt/year) refinery in Haoud El Hamra, in the region of Hassi Messaoud in eastern Algeria. The amount of the EPC contract has been disclosed but the project is estimated at DZD440bn (US$3.7bn).

Uruguay state-owned power company UTE has inaugurated the 540 MW Punta del Tigre B CCGT power plant. Located in the department of San José, it has been built by the South Korean company Hyundai Engineering & Construction (HDEC) for a total investment of US$500m.

Russia’s Rosatom subsidiary ASE started building a second unit at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant. The 1,057-MW Bushehr units 2 is expected to be completed by 2024. Around 30% of the reactor is already developed. A third 1,057-MW reactor is to be achieved in 2026. …