Eni strikes again and, via a subsidiary in Norway, announces a turning point which, if confirmed in practice, would be comparable in terms of energy policy to that of the Zohr Maxi field in the eastern Mediterranean and the market entry for liquefied natural gas in Qatar.
in the Barents Sea, 85 km north-west of Hammerfest and about 27 km north-east of the Goliat field, one of the largest offshore Norway, Vår Energi, a company 63% controlled by Eni and listed on the stock exchange in February, made the discovery of a maxi field on a joint property with Aker, a subsidiary of British Petroleum, 50%.
According to Eni, the discovery was provisionally evaluated between 9 and 21 billion cubic meters of recoverable gas resources. This is just a first step and a much smaller proportion of gas than, for example, at Zohr, which could reach hundreds of billions of cubic meters. But research will continue and it shows that in Europe’s Arctic gas can be found a short distance from the heart of the fields in which Russia is working, from which Europe began to detach itself after the invasion of Ukraine. And above all, the discovery has political value because it puts Eni at the center of the market largest energy supplier The European Union.
Oslo is growing into a global-sized energy giant thanks to national company Equinor and the race for fields from foreign majors. “In 2022, Norway’s share of EU gas imports increased from around 20% to 25%, overtaking Russia for first place,” writes High North News, continuing: “Europe’s largest gas consumer, of course, Germany receives over 30% of its gas needs from Norway. For the UK, Norway’s share is even higher and is expected to increase from 41% to 50% in 2022.” Norway will supply a total of 90 billion cubic meters of gas to the European Union and 36 to the UK by the end of the year. According to the latest estimates, Italy will have imported a total of 440 million cubic meters per month on average, over 5 billion per year.
Equinor’s investment in Hammerfest LNG terminal opens at one strategic scenario which Central Norway can consider as the first reliable gas supplier for the EU. In a lower price environment, the relationship can be win-to-win. So far, as we have studied at Inside Over, Oslo has been the big winner of the gas war: The Financial Times estimated Oslo’s gas and oil export earnings this year at 100 billion euros.
For Eni, entering this market with steadfast legs would be a significant result: the discovery anticipates the entry into force of many projects: in the fields of Johan Castberg (Eni’s share 20.96%) and Breidablikk, work will start in the year Calculated in 2024 Balder X (Eni share 62.87%) will start in 2023. The growth of the six-legged dog knows no end: and for Italy too, it means anticipating the turning point that will make Norway the most strategic country in Europe.