Energy News / Press Release Summary 31 Mar. 2022
National Grid plc announced that it has agreed to sell a 60% equity interest in its UK gas transmission and metering business (‘NGG’) to a consortium (the ‘Consortium’) of long-term infrastructure investors (the ‘Transaction’).
The Consortium is comprised of Macquarie Asset Management, a global asset manager and the world’s largest infrastructure manager, and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI), one of Canada’s largest institutional investors. As announced in March 2021, the Transaction forms part of National Grid’s strategic pivot towards electricity and follows last year’s acquisition of Western Power Distribution (WPD), the UK’s largest electricity distribution business, and announced sale of The Narragansett Electric Company (NECO) in the US.
The terms of the Transaction imply an enterprise value for NGG of approximately £9.6 billion[1]. On completion, National Grid will receive approximately £2.2 billion in cash consideration (subject to customary completion adjustments)[2]. Following the Transaction, National Grid will own a 40% minority equity interest in NGG via a new holding company called ‘GasT TopCo’. In addition, National Grid will also receive approximately £2.0 billion from additional debt financing at completion. As at March 2022, NGG’s regulated asset value is estimated to be approximately £6.6 billion and its net debt is estimated to be approximately £3.8 billion.
National Grid has also entered into an option agreement with the Consortium for the potential sale of the remaining 40% of equity in GasT TopCo (the ‘Further Interest’). The option may be exercised by the Consortium between 1 January 2023 and 30 June 2023 (subject to change depending on the timing of the closing of the Transaction). If the option is exercised, the consideration for the Further Interest is expected to be paid in cash to National Grid on broadly similar terms to the Transaction, subject to adjustment for dividends paid in the business at the time of exercise. Further details will be announced if the option is exercised. Read More
National Grid’s IFA2 interconnector to France has paid off its carbon cost in less than a year.
The 1-gigawatt (GW) electricity cable, which stretches 120 miles across the seabed of the English Channel from Lee-on-Solent near Portsmouth and Caen in northwest France, was commissioned in January 2021.
The link enables the UK to import enough clean electricity to power 1 million UK homes. In its first 12 months of operation, it has saved 300,000 tonnes of carbon by importing zero carbon nuclear power from France.
The saving is 10,000 tonnes more than the entire amount of carbon emitted during its four-year build and any carbon that will be used in the daily running of the asset over its lifetime.
IFA2, a partnership with French system operator RTE, is the UK’s second link to France. IFA, the UK’s first interconnector to France, started operating in 1986.
IFA and IFA2 are part of a portfolio of interconnectors owned and operated by National Grid and its European partners. The company also operates BritNed to The Netherlands, Nemo Link to Belgium and North Sea Link to Norway, which was commissioned in October last year. Read More
National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) welcomes Ofgem’s recognition of the “clear case” and “consumer benefit” of the Scotland to England Green Links in their consultation on the ‘Final Needs case’ of the project.
The two subsea links, which will have a capacity of up to 4GW, will transport enough electricity to power four million homes. They are the largest electricity transmission investment projects in Britain’s recent history and will support hundreds of green jobs throughout construction and operation.
The first 2GW link is a partnership between NGET and SP Energy Networks and will run from Torness, Scotland to the Hawthorn Pit Substation in Durham County, England with approximately 176km of offshore cable. The second 2GW link, a partnership between NGET and SSEN Transmission, will originate from Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and terminate at Drax in North Yorkshire, England with 440km of cable running undersea.
These projects are part of National Grid’s work upgrading the electricity transmission system to deliver the UK government’s target of 40GW of offshore wind generation by 2030. In addition to the Eastern Links, it is developing 14 major projects across its network to facilitate the target representing a £10 billion investment. This includes two further Scotland to England high voltage links (also in partnership with the Scottish transmission network owners) and proposals in the Humber, Lincolnshire, East Midlands, North of England, Yorkshire, North Kent, as well as four in East Anglia (one of which is a proposed offshore link between Suffolk and Kent). Read More
National Grid is celebrating the planting of the 2000th tree on the Hinkley Connection Project, the new high-voltage line that will connect 6 million UK homes to low-carbon energy from Hinkley Point C and other energy sources.
As part of National Grid’s commitment to reduce the visual impact of construction works and the permanent structures being built along the route, 1,257 trees, 39,527 m2 of woodland and 9,960 linear metres of hedges were planted in the 2021/22 winter planting season.
The planting season runs from November to March each year and National Grid has committed to planting a total of 5,959 trees, 33,995 linear metres of hedgerow and 277,060 square metres of woodland planting by March 2025.
This is an additional 5,306 trees, 93,446 square metres of woodland (the equivalent of more than 13 full size football pitches) and 23,540 linear metres (14.5 miles) of hedgerow over and above what was removed to enable construction on the Hinkley Connection Project.
Since Ground Control Ltd began planting on behalf of National Grid in January 2020, more than 16,940 linear metres (16.9km) of hedges, 93,545 m2 (93.5 hectares) of woodland, and 2,656 trees have been planted along the route of the Hinkley Connection Project. Read More
Claudio Descalzi, Chief Executive Officer of Eni, met with the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, today, to discuss Eni’s activities in the country and the areas of common interest and collaboration. The Minister of Petroleum & Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla was also present at the meeting. The main issues addressed were the production of natural gas and LNG exports, areas in which Egypt has acquired a central role in the Mediterranean since Eni’s discovery of Zohr.
The parties discussed Egypt’s vision of becoming a regional gas hub, leveraging existing LNG plants. Eni currently produces about 80% of gas destined for the domestic market for electricity generation. The company is also committed to supporting local production through an ambitious exploration and development campaign. This will also contribute to exports through the Damietta liquefaction plant, which was successfully restarted in 2021, and helping Egypt become a net LNG exporter.
Mr Descalzi also explained Eni’s commitment to accelerating the decarbonisation of its activities, and to develop CO2 capture and storage (CCS) and hydrogen production projects already defined in 2021. Specifically, in Damietta, following the MoU signed in July 2021, Eni is engaged in the development of decarbonized hydrogen coupled with a CCS project aimed at the production of blue ammonia. This project can be further expanded to decarbonize the industrial area of Damietta, with a total of 5 million tons of CO2 captured in the first phase. Furthermore, besides the existing initiatives to substitute gas with renewable energy sources, the parties discussed a wide solar power project for civilian use, with a range of several gigawatts. More
Baker Hughes , has been awarded a contract by TERNA, the construction arm of GEK TERNA Group, to supply gas turbines and compressors that can run on a blend of natural gas and hydrogen for a new compression station of the Greek Natural Gas Transmission System. The compression station will serve domestic gas supply in Greece. Baker Hughes will provide three compression trains for a total of three NovaLT12 hydrogen-ready gas turbines and three PCL compressors. For this project, the technology has been designed to support the compression station with the capability to transport up to 10% hydrogen. The station is expected to enter operation in 2024 and directly supports the EU’s Hydrogen Strategy goals to accelerate the development of clean hydrogen and ensure its role as a cornerstone of a climate-neutral energy system by 2050. This latest order builds on Baker Hughes’ extensive experience in developing and supplying turbomachinery equipment to compress, transport and utilize hydrogen. In 2020, the company collaborated with energy infrastructure network provider Snam to introduce the NovaLT12 gas turbine for transporting hydrogen-gas blends within its pipeline network in Italy, marking the first time a hybrid hydrogen turbine was integrated into a natural gas pipeline system. Read More
bp have published our 2021 sustainability report today, sharing detail on work to further embed sustainability across bp, and the action taken across three focus areas – getting to net zero, improving people’s lives and caring for our planet. The report sets out bp performance and progress against bp sustainability aims and objectives. Read More
BYD and Shell have signed a strategic cooperation agreement to help accelerate the energy transition and improve charging experience for BYD’s battery electric vehicle (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) customers, enlarging customer value. The partnership will start in China and Europe and will extend to other regions across the globe. Based on the agreement, BYD and Shell will collaborate in the areas below: · For private and commercial customers of BYD’s BEVs and PHEVs, BYD and Shell will form a pan-European Mobility Service Provider (MSP) partnership, offering them membership access to 275,000 charging points through Shell roaming network. Both BYD and Shell will also jointly develop Fleet Solutions and Depot Charging services for BYD customers in Europe. · Both companies will seek to provide integrated home energy solutions such as dynamic tariff scheduling, solar integration, home batteries, Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) charging in different regions across the world. · Both parties will explore opportunities to build BYD-Shell EV hubs in key European markets, providing customers with the experience of BYD premium designs and advanced new energy vehicle technologies, as well as seamless charging and digital services jointly developed by both parties for greater user experience. Read More
BYD, the world’s leading NEV manufacturer, has fulfilled another substantial delivery of its zero-emission pure-electric buses to Denmark. A total of 21 new generation 13-metre BYD low-entry eBuses were recently handed over to the Danish bus operator, Anchersen A/S in Copenhagen. It is the second sizeable delivery of BYD eBuses to Anchersen A/S. BYD has already supplied 28 12-metre pure-electric buses to Denmark and the relationship has continued to evolve. Anchersen A/S is firmly committed to providing green travel alternatives to reduce pollution for a better quality of life, while offering passengers using its services a higher level of service. Read More
Eco Wave Power Global AB announced its intent to relocate the energy conversion unit from Gibraltar, after full overhaul, to AltaSea’s premises in the Port of Los Angeles (“AltaSea”), in accordance with the agreement entered between the parties in January, 2022.
A range of factors led to the decision to move the energy conservation unit. The primary reason is Eco Wave Power’s increasing interest in the US market, emphasized by the company’s recent listing on Nasdaq Capital Market. Additional considerations include the condition of the Ammunition Jetty, and that Eco Wave Power has accumulated almost six years of operational experience with over 49,632 grid connection hours, in its Gibraltar pilot site, and is therefore ready to continue with its plan to expand to larger scales and new regions with its pioneering technology.
According to the agreement between Eco Wave Power and the Government of Gibraltar, the pilot was built and originally supposed to operate only for two years, with the purpose of proving that wave energy can safely connect to the grid and withstand the Gibraltar storms, using its storm-protection mechanism. However, the company decided to keep the pilot station operational for a longer time, as it was used as a real conditions research and development facility for the company. Read More
Under the patronage of His Excellency Eng. Abdulrahman Abdulmohsen AlFadley, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, ACWA Power, a leading developer, investor and operator of power generation, desalinated water and green hydrogen plants, celebrated Rabigh 3 IWP, the world’s largest desalination plant.
Located in Saudi Arabia, the project was feted in a ceremony which included senior officials from the Ministry, government officials from the Rabigh governorate and executives from the Saudi Brothers Commercial Company and Saudi Water Partnerships Company. Read More
TotalEnergies and Sempra are expanding their North American strategic alliance with the signing of two Memorandums of Understanding (MoU): one for the Vista Pacífico LNG export project in Mexico and the other for the co-development of several onshore and offshore renewables projects. The Vista Pacífico LNG project is planned to be a mid-scale facility on Mexico’s west coast, well-situated for exporting to high-demand markets such as Asia and South America. Sempra signed a non-binding agreement with Comisión Federal de Electricidad, Mexico’s state-owned electric company, for the potential joint development of this project. The MoU signed with Sempra provides for TotalEnergies to offtake one-third of its future LNG production, and to become a shareholder in the project with a minimum stake of 16.6%. Read More
President Joe Biden is preparing to order the release of up to 1 million barrels of oil per day from the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve, according to two people familiar with the decision, in a bid to control energy prices that have spiked as the U.S. and allies have imposed steep sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Read More–>
Volkswagen Group and SEAT declared plans to apply to the PERTE program after the Spanish government announced to open the call for applications on April 1st, 2022. The ‘Future Fast Forward’ program would include a total investment of more than 7 billion euros together with external suppliers along the entire value chain of e-mobility. Furthermore, Volkswagen announced Valencia as the dedicated location for a new battery cell factory in Spain. All plans are still subject to final approvals, foremost the PERTE submission. Volkswagen Group aims to transform Spain into European E-Mobility Hub Read More
Shell plc and the German LNG Terminal joint venture signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the import of liquified natural gas (LNG) through the planned terminal in Brunsbuttel near Hamburg in Germany. As part of the deal, Shell committed to booking a significant portion of the landing terminal, which is not yet built, as firms attempt to lower their reliance on pipeline gas from Russia.
A joint declaration stated that the two entities signed the agreement on Shell’s import and distribution via the Gasunie-operated terminal, which would have a yearly volume of 8 billion cubic meters (bcm) and should start operations at the earliest in 2026. Read More
North America recorded a total decrease of 29 rigs this week.
| Region | Period | Rig Count | Change from Prior |
| U.S.A | 25th March 2022 | 670 | +7 |
| Canada | 25th March 2022 | 140 | -36 |
| International | February 2022 | 813 | — |
RWE is further refining its commitment to biodiversity and has joined a global initiative by the Science Based Target Network (SBTN). Around 100 companies, associations and experts are working on developing scientific criteria to measure the effects on biodiversity as part of the SBTN’s “Corporate Engagement Program”. RWE’s target for 2030 is for new assets to have a positive contribution to biodiversity in their vicinity overall. Sustainability is an integral part of RWE’s corporate strategy, with a particular focus on biodiversity.
Third-party evaluations confirm RWE’s enhanced efforts to boost sustainability. The independent rating agency EcoVadis recently elevated the company’s standing by awarding it gold status, which means RWE is now in the top five per cent of all assessed companies. Having achieved the strongest improvement in its sector worldwide, the S&P Global credit rating agency named the company “Industry Mover 2022”. Read More
The Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (the “AGM”) of Lundin Energy AB held today in Stockholm, approved the combination of the Company’s E&P business with Aker BP, as well as other proposals in accordance with the Board of Directors’ and the Nomination Committee’s recommendations, including a quarterly cash dividend of USD 0.5625 per share. The record date for the first quarterly dividend will be 4 April 2022.
The combination with Aker BP
The AGM resolved to approve the combination of the Company’s E&P business with Aker BP, in accordance with the terms and conditions set out in the joint merger plan prepared by Aker BP and Lundin Energy MergerCo AB (publ) dated 14 February 2022 (the “Combination”). This includes the distribution of all shares in Lundin Energy MergerCo AB (publ) to the shareholders of the Company prior to the completion of the Combination through a so-called Lex Asea distribution. The Board of Directors was authorised to determine the record date for the right to receive shares in Lundin Energy MergerCo AB (publ). Read More
OilandGasPress Energy Newsbites and Analysis Roundup |Compiled by: OGP Staff, Segun Cole @oilandgaspress.
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