Norwegian oil and gas company Equinor announced on Monday that it would ramp up production at two of its fields in a bid to increase gas exports to the European market by additional 2 billion cubic meters annually starting October
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th September, 2021) Norwegian oil and gas company Equinor announced on Monday that it would ramp up production at two of its fields in a bid to increase gas exports to the European market by additional 2 billion cubic meters annually starting October.
Norway exported about 112 bcm gas in 2020, mainly to other European countries, covering about 25% of the EU's gas needs. The largest gas supplier to Europe remains Gazprom with about 175 bcm per year.
"Equinor and its partners have received permission to increase gas exports from two fields on the the Norwegian continental shelf to supply the tight European market. Production permits for the Oseberg and Troll fields have each been increased by 1 billion cubic meters (bcm) for the gas year starting 1 October," the company said.
As such, the production at the Oseberg field will grow from 5 bcm to 6 bcm per year while it will grow from 36 bcm to 37 bcm per year at the Troll field, according to Equinor.
European natural gas prices continue to soar amid growing demand, hitting the record $963.9 per 1,000 cubic meters at some point last week four times higher than the level seen at the same time last year.
On Monday, gas futures prices in Europe skyrocketed following auctions for October transit capacities, once again exceeding $900 per 1,000 cubic meters, the Dutch TTF index showed. The spike was brought about by the news that Gazprom did not book additional capacities for Ukrainian gas transit in October, booking only 31.3 million cubic meters of gas transit through Poland out of the 89.1 million on offer.
