NEFTE Compass articles from April 2004

NEFTE Compass archives from April 2004

Expulsion: Surgutneftegas Falls From Grace.
April 5, 2004... Surgutneftegas was only recently named one of the oil companies expected to benefit most from President Vladimir Putin's more assertive state policy in the energy sector. Now, though, the company is learning the bitter taste of falling out of...

Pilgrimage: Lukoil Eyes Bigger Mideast Presence.
April 5, 2004... Russian oil major Lukoil is aiming to build a substantial presence in the Middle East and North Africa over the next decade, with a view to having a quarter of its international projects there by 2013, according to Andrei Kuzyaev, president of...

Berth Announcements: Summer River Navigation Season Kicks Off.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... Seaborne products exports from the Former Soviet Union have climbed out of their winter slump in March, and export volumes are set to jump even further in the coming months as Russia kicks off its river navigation season. After a...

Under Pressure: Sakhalin Projects Subject To Costs Probe.
April 5, 2004... The international supermajors operating the giant offshore Sakhalin oil and gas projects are coming under increasing criticism for not keeping costs under control. Royal Dutch/Shell could review the cost estimates for its Sakhalin-2...

Greased Lightning: Gazprom To Set Up Oil Company.(Gazpromneft)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... Gazprom is planning to set up its own oil producing unit with ambitions to nearly quadruple the gas monopoly's crude and condensate output to rival Russia's major oil companies. Production is slated to hit 30 million-40 million tons/yr...

Teaser: Moscow To Revise Crude Export Tariffs.
April 5, 2004... Russian oil companies are set to take their first lumps as the Kremlin prepares to intensify their tax burden. The Finance Ministry submitted draft legislation to the government to raise export duties on crude, taking effect in the second...

Fire Sale: Yukos Sells Siberian Producer To Surgut.(Lenaneftegas)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... Yukos has agreed to sell its East Siberian producer Lenaneftegas to Surgutneftegas. Located in the Russian East Siberian republic of Sakha/Yakutia, Lenaneftegas owns the production equipment and other assets at the giant Talakanskoye oil...

Local Brew: Rosneft Under Attack From Local Authorities.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... In stark contrast to private Russian oil companies actively demonstrating their civic responsibility by financing various social programs, state-owned Rosneft is coming under fire from the local authorities in the north of Russia for its...

Doctor No: Minister Says No PSA For Sakhalin-3.(Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev, production sharing agreement)
April 5, 2004... Newly appointed Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev has declared that the Sakhalin-3 acreage on Russia's Pacific shelf has strategic importance and should not be developed under production sharing agreement (PSA) terms. "My personal...

Modern Talking: Gazprom Approves Modernization Program.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... Natural gas monopoly Gazprom plans to invest 7.95 billion rubles ($279 million) into maintaining and upgrading its gas production and transport facilities until 2008. Gazprom executives approved a five-year program last week to invest $144...

Denver Broncos: US Teton Gets Oil Field Stake.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... US Teton Petroleum has announced that it signed a deal to purchase a majority interest in a producing field in Russia. The Denver-based company will jointly operate the acreage with a major Western European partner, once it closes the deal....

Correction.(Correction Notice)
April 5, 2004... Correction: Nefte Compass on Apr. 1, 2004 should have said that Yukos' crude production declined by 4,000 b/d from January to February, not by 40,000 b/d as reported.

Azerbaijan: LukAgip Sale To Be Announced.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... Russia's Lukoil and Italian Agip will reveal in two or three weeks the results of a tender to sell their LukAgip joint venture in Azerbaijan, announced Lukoil Overseas president Andrei Kuzyaev in Cairo last week. Four international...

Poland: Warsaw Gets Cold Feet Over Mol Merger.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... Warsaw is showing increasing opposition to a proposed tie-up between Poland's largest revenue earner, PKN Orlen, and Hungary's Mol, as the deal looks increasingly more like a takeover by Mol rather than a joint venture on equal terms. ...

Lithuania: Klaipeda Plans To Crank Up Oil Shipments.(Klaipedos Nafta)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... Baltic Sea terminal operator Klaipedos Nafta (KN) plans to operate at near full capacity this year, with plans to load 7 million metric tons of crude and oil products. The terminal operator cranked up shipments by nearly 24% in the first...

Lithuania: Gazprom And Wingas Mull Markets With EU.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... Russian gas monopoly Gazprom and German gas marketer Wingas met early this week with EU Energy Commissioner Loyola de Palacio in Strasbourg to discuss access to the European energy market. The parties discussed requirements regarding...

Slugfest: Yukos Boycotts Sibneft Meeting as Relations Worsen.
April 5, 2004... Russian oil giants Yukos and Sibneft continue to slug it out in what is turning into an increasingly messy divorce. Yukos derailed a Sibneft extraordinary shareholder meeting on Apr. 6 by boycotting it, depriving it of the necessary quorum...

Equities And Currencies.
April 5, 2004... Share Prices Closing On April 6, 2004

Crude: Crash And Recovery.
April 5, 2004... May Brent futures crashed $3.05/bbl between Mar. 31 and Apr. 2, triggered by three bearish factors: a surprise 5.7 million bbl US inventory build, tumbling gasoline prices on fears that price-supportive environmental restrictions in some states...

Products: Gas Oil Shows Temporary Strength.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... Russian gas oil differentials in Northwest Europe have jumped on the back of tight supply and strong buying interest from France and Germany. However, traders suggest differentials could start to slide again as supply tightness in the region...

Setback: Russians Rethink Presence In Iraq.
April 12, 2004... Russia's ambitious bid to grab a slice of the lucrative reconstruction of Iraq was torpedoed this week when the Foreign Ministry in Moscow urged all Russian citizens in Iraq to leave immediately in the wake of a spate of kidnappings. ...

Backlash: Shell Comes Under Fire Over Sakhalin-2.(Royal Dutch-Shell Group of Cos.)
April 12, 2004... Emboldened by the government's tougher stand on oil and gas issues, Russian industrialists have launched an attack against the Royal Dutch/Shell-led Sakhalin Energy consortium, claiming it has not given local companies their fair share of...

Prince Caspian: Lukoil Targets North Caspian Production In 2008.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Lukoil is pushing ahead with exploration in the northern Caspian Sea and on the Azov Sea shelf, targeting Russia's Southern Federal District as one of its main future production bases. Speaking at Rostov-on-Don in the south of Russia,...

Study Abroad: Former Energy Minister Pursues Projects Overseas.(Yuri Shafranik, Soyuzneftegas)
April 12, 2004... Former energy minister Yuri Shafranik is now focusing on overseas pursuits as president of Soyuzneftegas. The Russian investment group is engaged in oil and gas developments in Algeria and Colombia, while also eyeing projects in Iraq and...

Get On Up: Sibneft Boosts Output From Omsk Area Field.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Sibneft is shifting its focus on upstream growth to smaller fields, in a bid to keep production growing rapidly. The oil company plans to boost production from by 43% this year to 410,000 metric tons (8,200 b/d) from its Krapivinskoye...

Room Service: Service Companies Enter Trading Business.
April 12, 2004... Sparking a new trend, oil field service companies are getting into the crude oil trading business as a way to collect payment for services rendered. Two trading outfits representing oil field service companies have appeared on the list...

Pied Piper: Prime Minister Rejects Private Pipelines.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Russia's new Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov has ruled out the possibility of building private pipelines in the country. He emphasized that the trunk pipeline infrastructure should be carefully guarded by the state because it gives a...

Heavy Duty: Tatneft Wins Service Contract In Iran.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Russian heavy oil producer Tatneft has won a contract to carry out oil field services in Iran. The contract includes carrying out seismic studies and the pilot development of the Zaqeh field, which has heavy crude. The contract was signed...

Turkish Delight: Gazprom Buys Turkish Gas Utility.(Bosphorus Gaz Corp.)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Russian gas giant Gazprom is pressing ahead with efforts to strengthen its position overseas, this time in Turkey. Gazprom's Germany-based subsidiary ZMB is in talks to purchase a 40% stake in Turkish natural gas importer and distributor...

Summer Days: TNK-BP To Sign Kovykta Gas Deals In July.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... TNK-BP-led Rusia Petroleum plans to sign preliminary gas export agreements with China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) and South Korea's Kogas in the middle of this year. Rusia holds the license to the East Siberian Kovykta field, home to...

Goloil Heights: US Teton Sells Out Of Goloil.(Teton Petroleum Co.)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... US Teton Petroleum has announced it is selling its 35% stake in Goloil, a 7,600 b/d producer in West Siberia. Teton refused to name the buyer, saying only that it's a private Russian independent. However, there is very little doubt that...

Main Squeeze: Moscow Raises Taxes On Oil Industry.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... The state is moving forward with plans to grab a bigger piece of the pie from Russian oil and gas companies' current windfall. The government has served up a package of draft legislation to parliament, which would significantly raise the...

Persian Cats: TNK-BP Settles Into Regular Iran Shipments.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... BP's Russian joint venture, TNK-BP, is settling into a regular pattern of shipping crude to Iran via two Swiss trading companies. The oil company sends some 80,000 metric tons/month (19,000 b/d) via the Caspian port of Makhachkala....

Beauty Shop: Sibneft Extolls Social Values.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... As Russian authorities exert more pressure on the country's oil companies not to ignore their social responsibilities, Sibneft has announced that it will release an annual report showing how much it spends on social development projects in...

Gas, Gas, Gas: Gazprom Plots Expansion In Central Asia.
April 12, 2004... Russia's Gazprom is pressing ahead with its campaign to direct currently bottled-up Central Asia gas flows into the Russian transportation system, and to expand its presence in upstream oil and gas projects in that region. A Gazprom...

Kazakhstan: Kazakhs Reduce Stake In PetroKazakhstan.(Central Asian Industrial Holdings)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Kazakh-owned Central Asian Industrial Holdings (CAIH) has reduced its stake in PetroKazakhstan to 7.8% from 19%. The sale was made in two blocks though broker BMO Nesbitt Burns, netting CAIH US$239 million. Both blocks have already been...

Azerbaijan: Socar Urals Cargo Goes To Trader Arcadia.
April 12, 2004... London-based trader Arcadia was announced the winner of a tender held by Azeri state Socar to buy a mid-May consignment. The 80,000 metric tona (586,000 bbl) cargo of Urals blend crude will load out of the Russian Black Sea port of...

Azerbaijan: Russia Refuses To Reverse Baku-Novo Line.
April 12, 2004... Russia has ruled out the possibility of reversing the pipeline from Baku in Azerbaijian to Novorossiysk on the Russian Black Sea coast to pump Russian crude into the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline that is due to start up next year,...

Turkmenistan: Dragon Extends Rig Contract For Cheleken.(Dragon Oil PLC)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Dragon Oil has extended its contract with Lukoil for the Astra jack-up rig to enable further drilling in the offshore Cheleken Block. Dragon, which is registered in Ireland and is majority owned by Dubai's Emirates National Oil Corp., said...

Not So Fast: Yukos CEO Calls For Support For Sibneft Takeover.(Simon Kukes writes an open letter to shareholders)
April 12, 2004... Yukos CEO Simon Kukes has published an open letter saying that unless any shareholders strongly object to the company's $14 billion dollar acquisition of Sibneft, then Yukos will continue its efforts to take over the smaller producer. The...

Equities And Currencies.
April 12, 2004... Share Prices Closing On April 13, 2004

Crude Oil: Iraqi Mayhem Supports Futures Prices.
April 12, 2004... May Brent futures calmed down a little over a short trading week, limited by the Easter holiday and supported by continuing mayhem in Iraq, booming demand from China and new record high US gasoline prices. A bearish US inventory report briefly...

Products: German Demand Props Gas Oil In NWE.(Northwest Europe)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Strong German demand is supporting gas oil in Northwest Europe. However, prices are under pressure as all arbitrages out of region reportedly have closed. Some traders speculate that the US arb may reopen because of falling freight prices. ...

Green Light: Lukoil Claims US Approval For Middle East Expansion.
April 19, 2004... Lukoil appears to have won tacit approval from the US to expand in Iran, and is tackling the issue of Iraq with a newfound confidence that suggests that the recovery of the West Qurna field is almost in the bag. Crude from Lukoil's projects...

Grim Reaper: Investors Spooked As Yukos Is Pushed To The Brink.
April 19, 2004... Investor confidence in Russia has been rattled further as the Kremlin steps up its onslaught against Yukos, pushing the company to the brink of bankruptcy. In a double whammy the government slapped the company with a massive $3.5 billion...

Home Grown: Exports Ouflow Sparks Domestic Rally.(Russian oil markets)
April 19, 2004... Rising torrents of crude exports have left the domestic market bereft of oil, kicking off a rally on local products markets. Fuel oil prices have soared by 20% on the domestic market over the past month, as the market roused from its winter...

Piping Hot: Transneft Backs New Northern Pipe Route.(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... National pipeline operator Transneft is throwing its weight behind a proposed new pipeline route from West Siberia to the Arctic Barents Sea. Transneft president Semyon Vainshtok said the end of the proposed northern pipeline should be...

Slow Waltz: Lukoil Uncertain About Kharyaga.(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... Lukoil president Vagit Alekperov says that Lukoil has hit some delays in joining the Total-led Kharyaga project in the northern Timan-Pechora oil province. Lukoil is dissatisfied with the "economics of the project being offered by the...

May Day: Lukoil To Start Vysotsk Shipments In May.(new Vysotsk oil terminal)(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... Lukoil will start test shipments from its newly built Vysotsk oil terminal on the Baltic Sea in May, said company president Vagit Alekperov. The official launching ceremony will take place in the middle of June to coincide with the St....

Run Down: Vietsovpetro Faces Output Decline In Vietnam.
April 19, 2004... Crude oil production from Vietnam's two biggest oil fields is expected to decline by 7.7% this year, according to Vietnamese state media. Vietsovpetro, the Russian-Vietnamese joint venture oil company that operates the fields, will produce...

Face Off: Rosneft Chief Faces Old Foes In Energy Agency.
April 19, 2004... More opponents of Rosneft president Sergei Bogdanchikov have found employment in the new Energy Agency, where the head, Sergei Oganesian, has taken on four deputies. Former deputy energy minister Oleg Gordeyev will overview the oil sector,...

No Man's Land: Sibneft Strikes Oil In Chukotka.(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... Sibneft has announced it struck oil in Chukotka, the remote stretch of tundra near the Bering Straits where Sibneft's former principal shareholder, Roman Abramovich, holds the position of governor. The new field, called Verkhne-Telekaiskoye,...

On Top: Lukoil Comes Top Of Russian Reserves Table.
April 19, 2004... Russian major Lukoil increased its oil and gas reserves by 4% last year, to 20.06 billion boe, remaining at the top of Russian rankings, even though its main domestic competitor Yukos showed a bigger jump in reserves. On Jan. 1, 2004,...

In Reserve: BP Sees Huge Reserve Growth From TNK Venture.
April 19, 2004... Seven months after setting up the TNK-BP joint venture in Russia, good progress is being made toward increasing reserves and boosting production, BP Chief Executive John Browne told a conference in London this week. "We've invested over $8...

Kazakhstan: China Steps Up Pressure Over Export Pipeline.
April 19, 2004... After years of talk and not much action, construction has finally started on an oil pipeline that will stretch over 1,300 km from Kazakhstan to China and in its initial phase be able to pump some 200,000 b/d of Kazakh and Russian crude to the...

Romania: Three Bidders Come In For Petrom.(Petrom R.A.)(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... Austria's OMV, US Occidental and Hungary's Mol have submitted binding offers to acquire 51% of state-owned Petrom, Romania's largest oil company, valued at around $1 billion. Romania aims to have the deal closed by June. OMV, thought to be...

Lithuania: Refinery Strives To Meet EU Specs.(Mazeikiu Nafta )(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... On the eve of joining the European Union in May, Lithuanian oil company Mazeikiu Nafta (MN) is pressing ahead with the modernization of its Mazeikiu refinery to meet EU standards for oil products. The company said it would shut down the...

Armenia: Yerevan Looks To Iran For Gas Supplies.(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... Armenia and Iran have agreed to start construction of a natural gas pipeline between the two countries in 2005, Armenia's President Robert Kocharyan said late last week. A package of final documents for the project -- which aims to...

Azerbaijan: Arcadia Wins Socar Tender For Azeri Light.(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... London-based Arcadia has won a tender from Azeri state oil company Socar to buy Azeri Light crude, to be pumped through the Baku-Supsa pipeline. The 1 million bbl cargo will load out of the Georgian Black Sea port of Supsa on May 6-7. The...

Azerbaijan: BP Set To Approve Final ACG Expansion.(Azeri, Chirag and Guneshlia )(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... The partners in Azerbaijan International Operating Co. are expected in September of this year to sanction the third and final development stage of the Azeri, Chirag and Guneshlia (ACG) field in the Caspian Sea. Phase 3, drawing on the 1.1...

No U-Turn: Privatization Watchdog Will Not Turn The Clock Back.
April 19, 2004... The chairman of Russia's parliamentary watchdog, the Audit Chamber, has confirmed that a review of the country's privatization process will not result in property being taken away from its owners in the majority of cases, but said the results...

Small Fries: Lukoil Unveils Asset Sale, Proposes Dividend.(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... Lukoil plans to sell marginal oil and gas assets in the north of Russia, which hold about 100 million bbl of recoverable reserves, representing a fraction of the company's total reserves. Of the reserves up for sale, according to Russian...

Equities And Currencies.
April 19, 2004... Share Prices Closing On April 20, 2004

Crude Oil: Down But Not Out.
April 19, 2004... June Brent futures have taken a hammering with the price falling from a post Iraq-war high on Apr. 19 of $34.20 to an Apr. 21 low of $32.64 before attempting a recovery. The weakness was largely attributed to expectations that the US Department...

Products: Gas Oil Holds Up.(Russian gas oil exports)(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... Northwest Europe's market for Russian gas oil is well supplied with most out of region arbitrages closed. Differentials have held up though, amid losses on crude and products futures over the last couple of days. In the run-up to the Apr....

Sole Bidder: Czechs Open The Door To Poland, But Exclude Russia.
April 28, 2004... On the eve of joining the European Union, the Czech Republic has demonstrated its commitment to opening its doors to foreign investors by accepting a bid for downstream giant Unipetrol from Poland's PKN Orlen. But that commitment clearly...

Twin Trouble: Sakhalin Projects Head In Different Directions.
April 28, 2004... They're practically joined at the hip in terms of location, but the two mammoth projects led by Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch/Shell on Russia's remote Sakhalin island are facing quite different predicaments. While Shell's Sakhalin-2 venture...

Night Fright: Bankers Worry Over Potential $1 Billion Yukos Default.
April 28, 2004... The Kremlin's escalating assault against Yukos has alarmed the Russian oil company's foreign partners, prompting its bankers to issue warnings of a massive default as shareholders threaten lawsuits. Tax authorities raided Yukos' Moscow...

No Comment: Sibneft Stays Tight-Lipped On Possible Sale.
April 28, 2004... Sibneft has declined to comment on reports that the Kremlin has given France's Total the nod to buy a 25% stake in the 660,000 b/d producer. The Financial Times reported that Total was seeking the stake in Sibneft, which is trying to...

Free Rein: Moscow Not Trying To Rein In Oil Boom, Lukoil Says.
April 28, 2004... The Russian government is not showing any signs of trying to moderate the country's oil output boom, Lukoil president Vagit Alekperov believes. National pipeline operator Transneft's recent calls to curb oil exports and impose quotas on...

Scapegoat: Moscow Questions UN Probe Into Iraqi Deals.
April 28, 2004... Moscow believes that bringing stability to Iraq should be a higher priority for the UN and the world community than looking into past wrongdoings by Russian trading companies. Commenting on the UN Security Council's resolution to launch a...

Take A Hike: Duma Approves Tax Grab.(Brief Article)
April 28, 2004... Both houses of Russian parliament have backed the government's plan to grab a bigger chunk of the oil sector's windfall profits from high world crude prices. The Federation Council upper house of parliament has approved a new, higher oil...

Oil Kegs: Three Traders Line Up Black Sea Floating Storage.(Yukos, Vitol, Navitank)(Brief Article)
April 28, 2004... A preliminary line-up for floating storage at the Black Sea ports of Kerch and Kavkaz has emerged. The situation in the Baltic Sea is becoming clearer as well, with Swiss-based trader Vitol added to the list of floating storage players there....

In Storage: Gazprom Probes Storage Capacity In Poland.(Brief Article)
April 28, 2004... Russian gas monopoly Gazprom has launched a feasibility study for the use of existing underground gas storage in Poland to avoid disruptions in gas supplies along the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline. The study, which includes the Mogilno and...

Tense Climate: Sides Collide Over Kyoto Pact.(Brief Article)
April 28, 2004... Two influential Russian ministries have clashed with the state Duma lower house of parliament over the ratification of the Kyoto Climate Change Treaty. The Economic Development and Trade Ministry and the Industry and Energy Ministry have...

Crack On: TNK-BP Keeps Kovykta On Track.(Brief Article)
April 28, 2004... UK-Russian venture TNK-BP plans to finalize talks on the $18 billion project to export natural gas from Russia's huge Kovykta gas field in Eastern Siberia to China and South Korea in three or four months, TNK-BP president Robert Dudley was...

Azerbaijan: Total On The Lookout For Caspian Assets.
April 28, 2004... Total is scouting for new business opportunities in the Caspian, but the French major declines to comment on local press reports that it is considering farming into Azerbaijan's Lukoil-operated Yalama (D-222) Block or is eyeing the assets of...

Estonia: Vopak Expands Tallinn Storage Capacity.(Brief Article)
April 28, 2004... Dutch independent storage and logistics firm Vopak is expanding its oil and product tank capacity at Estonia's port of Tallinn by just over one-fifth. The company announced that it had bought from Estonia's Transoil three storage tanks...

Turkmenistan: Petronas Invited To Join Gas Pipeline Project.(Petroliam Nasional Bhd.)(Brief Article)
April 28, 2004... Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov has invited Malaysian state oil company Petronas to help build a gas pipeline along the Caspian Sea coast to Russia. Speaking on Turkmen television after meeting Niyazov, Petronas chief executive Hassan...

Eager Beavers: Foreign Funds Set Up To Buy Gazprom Stock.(Brief Article)
April 28, 2004... International investors are lining up for the opportunity to buy into Russia's Gazprom, as Moscow looks increasingly ready to lift restrictions on foreigners buying stock in the world's biggest natural gas producer. The fall of the...

Euro Record: Gazprom Raises Record Long-Term Eurobond.(Brief Article)
April 28, 2004... Gazprom raised $1.2 billion on capital markets at the end of last week, as part of its quest to garner funds for its investment program and ease its heavy debt repayment schedule. The Russian gas monopoly has placed the 30-year eurobonds in...

Equities And Currencies.
April 28, 2004... Share Prices Closing On April 27, 2004

Crude Oil: Urals Propped Up By High Sour Refining Margins.
April 28, 2004... Sky-high sour crude refining margins and a wide open arbitrage to the Far East are supporting Russian Urals' differentials despite predictions of a mammoth Russian export program in May. Traders warn that the bulk of early-month loaders...

Products: Gas Oil Comes Under Pressure In The North.(Brief Article)
April 28, 2004... Gas oil differentials held steady in the Mediterranean but began to slip in Northwest Europe. Traders say Russian grades could come under even greater pressure when European refiners come back from maintenance and start making their own gas...