“The company has the highest environmental standards. At the same time, the Albanian government is working to solve the inherent infrastructural problems”, said Gjinkuri to local media.

Additional EUR 150 million will be invested before completion, which is expected in the course of 2018. The plant will have an installed capacity of 183 MW and an annual electricity production of 455 GWh.

The 150 meter dam will be one of the highest in the world, connected to the production center with an 11 kilometer long tunnel. There are 1,243 workers and technicians involved in its construction.

In late September 2016. Statkraft started electricity production in the Banja hydropower plant, the first facility constructed within Devoll hydropower project. With capacity of 73 MW and annual production of 174 GWh, Banja is producing five percent of total energy generated in Albania. The plant has an 80 meter tall dam and a reservoir capable of holding 391 billion liters of water, covering an area of 14 square kilometers.

The two plants should jointly produce 629 GWh per year, equivalent to 17 percent of current electricity production in Albania. The Norwegian company is investing a total of EUR 535 million for the realization of this project.

soure: balkangreenenergynews.com

The post Albania: Statkraft invested EUR 150 million to construct HPP Moglice appeared first on Environment Energy Mining Watch SEE.

“Today, we received great news from the European Commission. For the purposes of construction of an LNG terminal on the island of Krk, the European Union has granted us 102 million euros in EU funds. This is one of the most important energy projects not only at the national, but also at regional and European levels, which has been further proven by today’s decision on co-financing. This project will definitely give impetus to the development of Croatian economy and Croatian industry, which will have the opportunity to develop new services, new knowledge and new technologies in the field of LNG”, said Croatia’s Minister of Environmental Protection and Energy Slaven Dobrović

“Also, the security of gas supply will not be in doubt after this project is implemented. We sincerely believe that the new supply route will result in a reduction of the price of gas for end users in Croatia”, added Dobrović on Friday, commenting on the decision of the European Union to finance the project of LNG terminal on the island of Krk.

The LNG terminal project would be financed from the Connecting Europe Facility, and the decision about it was made at today’s meeting of the CEF Coordination Committee. CEF is dedicated to investing in infrastructure priorities of the European Union in the fields of transport, energy and digital technology.

The LNG terminal project on Krk is one of major infrastructure projects in Croatia which has been planned for a long time. The plans have been changed repeatedly, so it is still not sure what kind of terminal would be built. Although initially a large land terminal was planned, in recent months there was more talk about a floating terminal, which would be much cheaper to build and operate.

Given all the ambiguities about the capabilities of the terminal, it is still not known how much it would cost to be build, since that dependents on numerous variables. However, it is certain that the grant approved by the European Commission would cover just a part of the costs and that the rest would be financed by the state budget or private investors. Given the uncertainties in gas market in Europe, it is not clear whether the terminal would be economically profitable.

In addition, the Committee approved 40.5 million euros to co-finance the project of improving the electric power transmission system Sincro.Grid, which is being realized in cooperation between Croatian and Slovenian electricity transmission system operators – HOPS, HEP ODS and ELES.

source: total-croatia-news.com

The post EU Approves 102 Million Euros for LNG Terminal in Croatia appeared first on Environment Energy Mining Watch SEE.

He said that the project would produce approximately 10% of the gas consumption of Romania for five years.

“The total investment by now is 200 million US dollars. It is difficult to estimate the total amount before the start of production, because there could be discoveries that could come up afterwards. The total amount of investment could be, perhaps, 500 million US dollars”, the CEO added.

He also said that the production could begin in 2019, but it depends on some actions that the Government should take to settle the fiscal regime.

Black Sea Oil & Gas SRL, wholly owned by Carlyle International Energy Partners, is a Romanian based independent oil and gas company, targeting exploration and development of conventional oil & gas resources, according to a press statement released by the company in November 2016.

source: energyworldmag.com

The post Romania: New gas discovery in the Black Sea, Production starts 2019 appeared first on Environment Energy Mining Watch SEE.

If all goes as planned, the €12m will be spent on hiring a revision committee, expert supervision, engineers for the project implementation, equipment 0procurement and installation and preparing supporting documentation.

Since the end of September, when the contract on the detailed design implementation and work contract were signed, the Czech company has not found the lenders, but it has managed to found partners in this business. It is General Electric, which is supposed to help it to find a bank willing to issue a loan for a coal power station, which is less built in Europe and the world. Therefore the CEZ Group, the owner of Skoda Praha, plans to sell a part or even full share in the company. An additional problem in finding lenders represents the fact that Skoda Praha operated unprofitably in 2014 and 2015.

As EPCG stated, the largest share of public procurement, amounting to €10.7m, refers to hiring a revision committee, expert supervision and engineers for the project implementation for a planned period of design and construction works.

“These procurements represent EPCG’s legal and contractual duty, as well as adequate planning and implementation of the project by an EPCG’s expert team. According to the agreements, Skoda Praha, as a so-called EPC contractor, is to design project, equipment and implement the very construction works on the second block,” EPCG told Dan.

Under this agreement, as pointed out, it is envisaged that the project must be fully implemented in accordance with current legislation of Montenegro, as well as the strictest European standards in the field of environmental protection.

“Under the current law on Spatial Planning and Construction, the main project itself needs to be revised pursuant to Article 86 of the law by a revision committee which the investor, ie EPCG is obliged to appoint. A similar concept is related to performing the works – in accordance with Article 114 of the law, during construction the investor is obliged to appoint the expert supervision,” EPCG said.

As EPCG stated, it is clear that the above mentioned activities are not Skoda Praha’s obligations, but EPCG’s.

“According to international practice, total costs of those activities… amount to three to five percent of the total project value,” the energy company said.

The rest of the procurements to the amount of €12m refer to supporting activities related to connecting the new TE block to the power transmission system that will be implemented in cooperation with the national power grid operator CGES, then the purchase and installation of equipment and the preparation of supporting documentation.

“As for the time of implementation of the project, Skoda Praha is expected to submit final offer related to the financial model of the project at the end of February. It will be implemented in cooperation with the General Electric Company. It is certainly possible to expect the works on the second block to begin during this year, immediately after the conclusion of the financing negotiations,” EPCG said.

The Czech company has trouble finding lenders because there are less and less support for financing coal power plants. If the Czechs fail to find lenders, the government announced the possibility that EPCG itself finances and implements the project.

source: cdm.me

The post Montenegro: EPCG to spend €12m for TE Pljevlja second block appeared first on Environment Energy Mining Watch SEE.

The cable was installed from the Skarerak ship owned by the Norwegian Nexans company, which is specialised for cable laying. The total length of cable between Pescara and the Jaz cape is 455km. Out of that the submarine cable part is 433km long.

At the beginning of 2015, Terna laid 136km from the Italian coast and installing 157km of the cable from the Montenegrin side, from the Jaz cape to Italy was completed in early December last year.

The cable laying was performed at the bottom of the Adriatic Sea at up to 1.200 meters depth, with a nominal capacity of direct current transmission of 1,000 megawatts.

The entire project of the power connection between Montenegro and Italy should be completed by the end of next year.

Earlier it was announced that optical telecommunication cable will be installed at the same time with the power one.

At the beginning of October last year, the onshore cable installation from the Montenegrin side began. The cable is about six kilometres long and runs from the Jaz cape to the Lastva transmission substation.

Within this project, Montenegrin Power Transmission System is building the Lastva substation and 400kV transmission line Lastva-Cevo-Pljevlja.

For the construction of the Lastva substation as part of the main project, €38.5m will be invested, whereas the investment for transmission lines from Lastva to Cevo and Cevo to Pljevlja will amount to €28.5m and €39m respectively.

The Ministry of Sustainable Development issued a building permit to the Terna Montenegro company at the beginning of the year to construct the substation in Lastva Grbaljska.

This converter station worth €80m will be located in the immediate vicinity of the Lastva Grbaljska substation, which CGES is building within the same project. The same converter station is being built on the Italian side near Pescara.

The agreement on connecting Italy and Montenegro via the power cable was signed in mid-November 2010. The total value of the project amounts to about €1bn.

source: cdm.me

The post Montenegro: Submarine power cable fully installed appeared first on Environment Energy Mining Watch SEE.

The statement was made by Alexey Golovin, senior deputy president of KMGI, in an interview for Bloomberg.

The Kazakh state-owned KazMunayGas will keep the stake of 49% in the company, which has most of its business located in Romania. The deal is pending approval by local authorities and the EU, said Alexey Golovin.

The two companies signed an agreement on December 15, which will pave the way for the first major investment made by a state Chinese company in Eastern Europe. This transaction will allow KMG International to expand its operations in the Black Sea region and in Western Europe through acquisitions, partnerships, and greenfield investment projects.

The Kazakh group KazMunayGas took over the former Rompetrol Group in 2007 from late Romanian investor Dinu Patriciu for USD 2.7 billion. The group owns Romania’s biggest oil refinery – Petromidia and a fuel distribution network in Romania and the neighboring countries.

source: energyworldmag.com

The post Romania: Chinese group to take over former Rompetrol Group by end-June appeared first on Environment Energy Mining Watch SEE.

As a result MOL can start hydrocarbon exploration on nearly 1,621 square miles in the area of Bázakerettye, Bucsa, Jászárokszállás, Mezőtúr, Okány-West and Zala-West in addition to the area covered by mining authority decisions and concessions already acquired. MOL is targeting both proven exploration plays in Hungary as well as new plays.

Last month, the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy granted four licenses to MOL Norge on the Norwegian Continental Shelf at the 2016 APA licensing round, including one with operatorship.

“We are very happy that we have successfully competed in the latest bid rounds in two of our core countries doubling our exploration footprint in Hungary and adding exciting prospects in Norway with worldclass partners,” Berislav Gašo, MOL Group upstream executive vice president, said.

“I am confident that the expansion of our Central Eastern European and Norwegian exploration portfolio will support the delivery of organic reserve replacement for the Group,” he added.

source: rigzone.com

The post MOL Group Acquires New Licenses in Hungary appeared first on Environment Energy Mining Watch SEE.

The liberalisation process in the Croatian gas market began in the second half of the 2000s and it is still in progress. However, again, from a legal standpoint it remained closed in the subsequent years because of a number of factors: lack of secondary legislation, regulated prices and the presence of a single supplier of household and business customers.

This de-facto monopoly situation disappeared when two key requirements were achieved: the construction and commissioning of the second Croatian interconnector with Hungary and the further development of a regulatory framework which removed the existing problems of legal provisions in real situations.

It was our experience that the market deregulation in Croatia allowed competition in the open market, introduced new knowledge, created new jobs, contributed to further business growth, allowed Croatian companies to enter the European energy markets, lowered prices and improved the contractual conditions for customers.

Despite the improvements, the Croatian gas market still faces a series of challenges, such as a lack of daily consumption diagrams and low level of technical development in certain distribution systems, which present a barrier to full market liberalisation. These challenges point to the inevitable question — is the current number of suppliers/distributors sustainable when existing problems in the gas market are already resulting in potential bankruptcies which are leaving the stability of the gas supply vulnerable?

We can state that energy regulations in Croatia, and up to a certain point in the region, did manage to achieve the primary aim — compliance with the Third Energy Package. However, it is essential to appreciate realistic market conditions. The legislative framework should be planned in advance, and should take into account the impacts that the new regulations will have on all the market stakeholders.

It is necessary, now, to invest in distribution systems and natural gas transport (bi-directional flow) in order to develop gas markets in neighbouring countries. It is crucial to enable the sustainability of the market’s actors and to regulate and control the realisation of investments in the system.

Gas consumption is steadily decreasing which has led to falling revenues for all the market’s subjects. Poor economic conditions and the adverse financial situation of businesses inevitably lead to illiquidity. In addition, an unfavourable financial environment inhibits development making opening the market even harder.

The further development of gas markets, in the neighbouring countries of the Energy Community, will be enhanced when the national virtual trading points become operational and when balancing is established in the energy market.

All stakeholders must invest in software development in order to meet the new standards in service provisioning. New solutions IT systems in these new business conditions is a prerequisite of market development. Additionally, we must engage in planned education and training for all the stakeholders.

Besides these real operative challenges, the Croatian market also suffers from the absence of a strategic national energy framework. Such a framework should manage the shortage of a key infrastructure, as well as the lack of ability to reach the desirable level of a stable gas supply. The necessary stability will be guaranteed and a platform for propulsive development of the energy sector enabled through stronger regional cooperation and the alignment of strategic national energy objectives with regional strategic objectives in all countries and throughout the EU’s energy market. The state must undertake a consistent implementation of the Third Energy Package via a timely and balanced regulatory framework and through infrastructure development.

Such an approach in Croatia and its neighbouring countries will create opportunities for intensive development in the private sector and will ultimately provide a stable and economic energy supply for consumers and the business community alike. Croatia can use its experiences as a reliable regional leader, but above all as a partner in the development of a single energy market in the Western Balkans region.

source: emergin-europe.com

The post Croatian gas market facing challangesafter some liberalisation appeared first on Environment Energy Mining Watch SEE.

The storage type HPP Boskov Most was supposed to be built on Mala Reka River near city of Debar, in western part of Macedonia. The power output of HPP should be 68 MW, while annual production should reach 118 GWh.

In November 2011, EBRD has allocated 65 million euros loan to ELEM for construction of HPP Boskov Most. The EBRD loan is complemented by 340 000 euros in grant financing from the EBRD Shareholder Special Fund for technical and environmental due diligence. By initial estimations, cost of the project would be 84 million euros and ELEM would provide 19 million euros from its own funds. However, recent studies showed that due to increased cost of raw materials final cost of the project would be 90-100 million euros.

The post Macedonia: EBRD cancelled 65 million euros loan for HPP Boskov Most appeared first on Environment Energy Mining Watch SEE.

The British company Mineco Limited is satisfied with the results achieved in Serbia and in the Western Balkans in 2016, given that the production plans in the lead and zinc mines have been completely fulfilled in which it operates independently or with partners, and the preparations for the opening of Bosil-Metal Mine near Bosilegrad and Olovo lead Mine, near Olovo in Bosnia and Herzegovina are in the final stages.

In 2016, Mineco achieved growth and improvement in all segments of operation, especially in the development of new projects. Owing to successful operation of existing active mines, the capacities of Mineco Group were largely focused on achievement of development goals of the system.

In addition to regular investments in improvement and maintenance of production in mining shafts and facilities, million funds were also invested in the preparation of test production commissioning in Bosilegrad and Olovo, and the geological-exploration works were initiated near Foca in the Republika Srpska for the certification of lead and zinc ore reserves.

In parallel, the entire project for the construction of small hydropower plant on the river Drinjaca in Republika Srpska was successfully completed and the construction works will start at the beginning of 2017, when climate conditions become more favorable.
The value of the project SHPP “Medos One” with installed capacity of 4.71 MW and an annual production of 18 million kWh is close to EUR 10 million, and grid connection is planned for the first half of 2018. Thereby, the corporate activity of Mineco Group expands to the field of electricity production from renewable energy sources.
The preparation of the pilot facility within production technology testing in lead, zinc and copper mine – Metal Bosil near Bosilegrad is being finalized. The final approval of the competent authorities is expected soon, which means that the mine will be officially opened in few months. Acquired technological experiences will be used for designing the plant for commercial ore processing.

70 workers have been employed until now, and it is expected that 300 people will work in the mine at its full production. Most of the employees at this mine near Bosilegrad include residents of nearby settlements, and Mineco continuously invests in their training and professional development.

The investments continued to increase during 2016 thus the total investments in the Bosil-Metal Mine rose to USD 13.5 million. When it is ready, this will be the first mine with underground exploitation in the last 40 years in Serbia which is completely constructed and qualified to operate.
All aspects of operation of Bosil-metal Mine will be in accordance with the highest standards of safety at work, environmental protection, quality control and other. It is expected that the mine, as well as other mines operated by Mineco, will contribute to development of the economy in the municipality of Bosilegrad, which is currently at the lowest level of economic development in the Republic of Serbia.
Two active lead and zinc mines in Serbia, Rudnik near Gornji Milanovac and Veliki Majdan at Ljubovija, in which Mineco works with partners, also recorded excellent results this year.
Mine Veliki Majdan, which is declared by Serbia’s Privatization Agency as the example of a successful takeover from bankruptcy, has continued to operate successfully this year. In parallel with the mining and exploration activities for proving the new ore reserves, the largest economic entity in the municipality of Ljubovija has largely participated in all areas of development of Bosil-Metal Mine project within the business and technical cooperation.
The plan for next year includes geological exploration at two new sites and the support for the municipality regarding the construction of the local road. 300 residents of the municipality are employed in this mine, and it is planned to increase this number by 5-10 percent during 2017.
Rudnik Mine near Gornji Milanovac, declared by NALED and USAID study as one of the five best privatizations in Serbia has continued to receive the rewards for successful operation this year, as well as for the corporate social responsibility and investments in the local community.
The Commission of the Ministry of Labour decided this year that the mine will represent Serbia at the prestigious European competition of good practice in the field of health and safety at work, and the results will be known in the spring. Responsibility for about 420 employees is a continuous systematic process with defined objectives covering ongoing training and development of staff. A lot of attention is paid to safety at work with the aim of preventing injuries.
After four years of project development and preparation of underground facilities, Geomet mine near Olovo in Bosnia and Herzegovina will also be opened at the beginning 2017, where cerussite ore will be exploited.

This mine, in which Mineco invested more than one million dollars in the last 12 months, will employ up to 200 workers once it will operate in full capacity. This will be the first underground mine in Bosnia and Herzegovina after 30 years.
Mineco successfully operates in the Republika Srpska with its partners through Gross Mine near Srebrenica, which is the largest and the most successful corporate entity of that region. As the largest mine in Mineco Group, Gross Mine currently employees 527 workers.

Timely performance, additional training and professional retraining of nearly 300 workers, created a base of young qualified workers with a generation change given that in a short period of time more than 100 workers comprising the pillar of production met conditions for retirement
With a production of about 330,000 tons of ore in 2016 Gross has exceeded the record results of the previous year, which is an increase of more than 180 percent since 2007, when the concession agreement was signed. Although Gross was obliged with the concession agreement to invest EUR 14.3 million in the concession period of 30 years, the amount had been exceeded in 2015 due to ambitious plans for development and modernization of the mine.

More than EUR 1.5 million was invested in 2016, while the investment proposal in 2017 is around EUR 2.68 million. Since 2007 until today, Gross paid for the concession fee about EUR 4.98 million to the budget of the Republika Srpska, while in 2016 it paid additional amount of more than EUR 2.6 million for various taxes and contributions. The high level of social responsibility is reflected in its support to numerous institutions, clubs and local community with total donations amounting to EUR 270 985.

Mineco Group has crowned this year’s results by initiating and participating in scientific and technological program within Horizon 2020 activities of the European Commission, whose main goal is to connect science and economy. Mineco, as part of a consortium together with the University of Exeter will be working on finding the best technology and the best investment solutions for smaller deposits of mineral resources throughout Europe.

In addition, Mineco will also continue to invest in education of personnel for the mining sector, and it is planned to continue cooperation with the Foundation „Euro for the Knowledge“, with whom it will provide two scholarships for the most successful students at the Faculty of Mining and Geology in Serbia.

Expecting further successful business operation in the coming year, Mineco will continue the investment cycle in order to maintain status of the Group as the most important direct investor in the mining ector in the region of the Western Balkans from the private sector. This is supported by the fact that since 2004 the total investment of Mineco Group in the region exceeded USD 64 million. The interest of foreign investors for the development of mining projects in the region is increasing, and this trend will probably continue. Mineco will participate as well, respecting all the high standards of safety, environmental protection and general principles of socially responsible business operation.

source: mining.eu

The post UK-based Mineco invests $13.5 mln in Serbian lead, zinc mine appeared first on Environment Energy Mining Watch SEE.