NEFTE Compass articles from April 2006

NEFTE Compass archives from April 2006

Guiding Star: Russia Targets More Downstream Capacity Overseas.
April 4, 2006... Moscow is adopting a new guiding principle when dealing with foreign companies eager to get their hands on Russian oil and gas reserves: In exchange, foreign investors will be obliged to share their downstream assets with their Russian partners...

Green Light: Kazakhs Claim CPC Expansion Is Back On Track.(Caspian Pipeline Consortium)
April 4, 2006... Although Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced after his meeting in the Kremlin this week that Russia and Kazakhstan had agreed to expand the capacity of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), the absence of any comment from President...

Yamal LNG Moves Into Focus.
April 4, 2006... As the global LNG boom continues and the pockets of easily accessible stranded gas are snatched up, all eyes are turning to Russia, which has the world's largest gas reserves and yet, with its heavy emphasis on pipeline sales, remains well...

O'Brien Becomes Rosneft VP Ahead Of IPO.
April 4, 2006... Pushing ahead with its goal of raising $20 billion in an initial public offering (IPO) this year, state-owned Rosneft last week officially named Peter O'Brien, co-head of Morgan Stanley in Russia, as its vice president for strategic investment...

Boom Time: High Prices Spark Big Rise In Fuel Oil Exports.
April 4, 2006... Total seaborne oil products exports from the former Soviet Union grew in March, led by large increases in fuel oil shipments as warmer weather and record high prices resulted in greater volumes of production and exports. Baltic Sea ports...

D-Day: Gazprom Shuffles Shtokman Cards.
April 4, 2006... Gazprom plans this month to unveil partners for its high-profile Shtokman field in the Barents Sea, where reserves have just been revised to 3.68 Tcm from 3.2 Tcm. According to Gazprom Deputy Chief Executive Alexander Medvedev, the company...

Trouble Spot: Total Runs Into More Flak Over Kharyaga.(TOTAL S.A.)(Kharyaga project )(Brief article)
April 4, 2006... France's Total is coming under fire from the Ministry of Natural Resources over violations of the agreement for the Kharyaga project in the northern Timan-Pechora oil province. The ministry early this week accused Total of failing to meet...

New Look: Sibneft To Change Name To Gazpromneft.
April 4, 2006... Gazprom is to rename Sibneft as "Gazpromneft" and relocate its tax registration to President Vladimir Putin's hometown of St. Petersburg. Sibneft, which was acquired by Gazprom for $13.1 billion last year, will move from its previous tax...

On The Up: Exports, Production Rise In March.
April 4, 2006... Total Russian crude oil exports averaged 4.99 million b/d in March, including 4.17 million b/d shipped to "far abroad" Western markets and 818,000 b/d delivered to neighboring Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Exports to the far abroad rose...

Rising Tide: Sakhalin Spending Forced Higher.
April 4, 2006... Exxon Mobil is facing cost overruns at its Sakhalin-1 project. The authorized state body for Sakhalin-1, comprising representatives of Russian federal and local governments and investors, approved the 2006 budget at $1.644 billion, but said...

First Move: Tax Changes Deemed Necessary For Investment.
April 4, 2006... The newly created government commission to guide energy policy chaired by Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov concluded at its first meeting last week that tax changes are required to encourage investments to prevent future risks of oil supply and...

Taking Shape: Schroder Assumes Lead Of North Europe Gasline.
April 4, 2006... Russia and Germany are pushing ahead with their ambitious plan to build the North European Gas Pipeline (NEGP) beneath the Baltic Sea -- the first pipeline to supply Russian gas to Germany directly without crossing transit countries. The...

Payday: Bashkir Capital Raises Dividends, Restructures.
April 4, 2006... Minority shareholder Sistema's plan to create a consolidated and vertically integrated Bashkir Capital for resale has begun to show progress. Bashkir's board of directors has announced it would recommend a significant increase in dividends in...

Oil And Gas Production Warms Up.
April 4, 2006... Oil and gas production in Kazakhstan continued to pick up in March after suffering sharp downturns during the exceptionally cold weather in the first two months of the year. Crude oil and condensate production rose to nearly 1.27 million...

China Inks 30-Year Gas Supply Deal.
April 4, 2006... China extended its quest for new energy supplies this week when it signed agreements with Turkmenistan to buy natural gas from the Central Asian producer and to build a pipeline linking the two countries. Chinese President Hu Jintao signed...

South Koreans Plant Deeper Roots.
April 4, 2006... South Korea looks set to gain a stronger foothold in Uzbekistan's upstream sector following the signing of several agreements by companies from the two countries. The deals were inked during a three-day Korea visit by a delegation led by Uzbek...

Gazprom Steps Up Gas Prices.
April 4, 2006... Gazprom has turned its attention to Belarus, the last former Soviet Union state still paying subsidized prices for Russian natural gas, as part of the company's campaign to hike gas prices for neighbors to international market levels. The...

Russian Crude Exports To Non-CIS Markets, March 2006 ('000 metric tons).
April 4, 2006...  

State Firms Come Under Investor Scrutiny.
April 4, 2006... While state-owned Transneft, with the world's largest pipeline network, and state-controlled Gazprom, the world's biggest gas producer, generate enough attention on their own, Rosneft's pending initial public offering (IPO) has brought further...

Equities and Currencies.
April 4, 2006... Share Prices Closing On April 4, 2006

Futures Strong, Differentials Dubious.
April 4, 2006... Brent crude oil futures traded a $3.24 range between a $64.69 low on Mar. 29 and a $67.93 high on Apr. 3 with the high reached as Brent caught up with a New York rally triggered by yet another influx of investment fund capital. Prices then...

Gas Oil Tracks Higher.
April 4, 2006... Gas oil prices tracking crude futures hit their highest mark -- at $593 a metric ton -- since October on continuing concerns about potential supply disruptions from Iran, Iraq and Nigeria and a further burst of investment fund buying in...

Emergency Exit: Top Oil Export Officials Get Their Marching Orders.
April 11, 2006... Russia's oil trading community has been rocked by the departure of the two key people in charge of Russia's crude export flows. The abrupt removal last week of the deputy head of the Federal Energy Agency, Oleg Gordeyev, and the vice...

Open Fire: Putin Ready For Challenge Over East Siberian Pipeline.
April 11, 2006... The planned East Siberian oil pipeline to the Pacific coast to supply China and other Asian markets is coming under fire in Russia. But President Vladimir Putin seems ready to do all in his power to ensure the project goes ahead as planned and...

Happy Families: Nonmajors Look To Make Their Peace With The Kremlin.
April 11, 2006... While Rosneft, Gazprom and Lukoil all play their role in realizing Russia's energy policy, the nation's other big oil and gas holdings -- Surgutneftegas, Bashneft, Slavneft and Tatneft -- must find their own peace with the Kremlin if they wish...

Attack: Gazprom Undermines TNK-BP Kovykta Plans.
April 11, 2006... Russia's Gazprom has again slammed plans by Russian-UK venture TNK-BP to develop the huge Kovykta gas and condensate field in East Siberia. Gazprom Deputy Chief Executive Alexander Ananenkov said late last week that large-scale gas and...

Prison Blues: Yukos Manager Jailed, MN Talks Continue.
April 11, 2006... Only days after being named Yukos' second-in-command, Vasily Aleksanyan, former head of the fallen company's legal department, has been jailed on charges of embezzlement and money laundering. Aleksanyan was set to take over as Yukos' main...

African Dream: Sintez To Explore Offshore Namibia.
April 11, 2006... Tired of waiting for the Russian government to issue more Barents and Artic Sea exploration licenses, Russia's Sintez Group said its surveying and drilling arm Sintezneftegas would lead a group prospecting for oil and gas in Africa offshore...

Orange Future: Gazprom Deal Stalls Ukraine Coalition.
April 11, 2006... Kiev's shadowy deal with Russian behemoth Gazprom to restart gas flows in January continues to paralyze politics in Ukraine, stalling coalition talks between the former allies of the Orange Revolution. The parties of President Viktor...

In Credit: Russneft Signs Huge Credit Line.
April 11, 2006... In a further effort to reduce dependence on its financial partner Glencore, fast-growing Russian independent Russneft has signed an agreement with state-owned Sberbank on opening a credit line. Sources say the credit line could be up to...

Home Match: Abramovich To Invest In New Projects.
April 11, 2006... Billionaire and Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich has registered an investment bank in Russia as part of his plans to continue investing in Russia, industry sources say. Abramovich has plenty of resources for investments in new...

Moving In: Gazprom Eyes Angarsk Plant.
April 11, 2006... Gazprom is considering building a gas processing plant on the site of stricken major Yukos' Angarsk refinery, located in the Irkutsk region of East Siberia. Alexander Karasevich, general director of Gazprom subsidiary Promgas, said the gas...

Green Light: TNK-BP Looks To Up Stake In Verkhnechonsk.
April 11, 2006... Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service has cleared TNK-BP to acquire up to 100% in East Siberia's Verkhnechonskneftegas, opening the door for the Russian-UK joint venture to buy out the 11.29% stake held by East Siberian Gas Co. (ESGC). ...

Southward Bound: Russians Target Latin America.
April 11, 2006... Russia's Zarubezhneft plans to sign an agreement with private Brazilian company Oil M&S Brasilia on the cooperation and joint development of the Latin American country's onshore oil fields, the Russian company's head Nikolai Tokarev said. ...

Russian Refinery Activity, February 2006.
April 11, 2006... Notes: Table is based on the following factors for conversion to barrels: Crude - 7.33; Mazut - 6.64; Gas Oil - 7.46; Gasoline - 8.51; Jet Fuel - 8.00. Crude deliveries include deliveries via the Transneft pipeline system only. ...

Kazakhstan: Kiinov Gets His Job Back As Vice Energy Minister.
April 11, 2006... Lyazzat Kiinov, who lost his job as deputy minister of energy and mineral resources in a reshuffle earlier this year, has been reinstated by President Nursultan Nazarbayev after no other position was found for him, industry sources say. It...

Kazakhstan: Transneft May Join CPC.(Caspian Pipeline Consortium expands)(Transneft joins project)( Chevron invests)(Brief article)
April 11, 2006... Western company shareholders in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) would not oppose Russia's national pipeline operator Transneft joining the project, even though it has been seen as a direct competitor. According to insiders,...

Armenia: Gazprom Gets Its Hands On The Goods.
April 11, 2006... Russian gas giant Gazprom's policy of winning control over assets in countries that consume its gas is paying dividends in Armenia under a new 25-year cooperation deal signed by both sides last week. Under the accord, Armenia is to buy...

Busting Out: Gazprom Seeks US Approval For ADR Expansion.
April 11, 2006... Gazprom has applied to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for permission to expand its American Depositary Receipt (ADR) program, bringing the state-controlled company to the final step of the Russian government's long-running plan...

Swinging Low: Gazprombank Eyes Cheaper Financing.
April 11, 2006... Gazprom banking subsidiary Gazprombank has taken advantage of international banks' thirst for action in oil-rich Russia, snapping up cheap financing to replace older, more expensive credit. Gazprombank has signed a $500 million three-year...

Equities and Currencies.
April 11, 2006... Share Prices Closing On April 11, 2006

Crude Oil: Futures Set New Records, Urals Soften.
April 11, 2006... Expiring April Brent crude oil futures traded a volatile $4.24 range between a $65.73 low on Apr. 4 and a $69.97 all-time record high on Apr. 12. The high was reached on the back of Iran celebrating claims it had progressed with its nuclear...

Products: Gas Oil Pulled Up By Crude.
April 11, 2006... Gas oil prices in Northwest Europe remained high but retraced slightly after tracking May Brent crude futures which on Apr. 12 hit an all-time record high of $69.97/bbl in the wake of rising geopolitical temperatures. Pre-expiry position...

Main Man: More Power To The Kremlin If Sechin Has His Way.
April 18, 2006... The Kremlin could tighten its grip on the oil and gas sector -- the powerhouse of the Russian economy -- by setting up a special fuel and energy division within the presidential administration, industry sources tell Nefte Compass. The idea for...

Rosy Future: Rosneft IPO Gets Back On Track As Yukos Crumbles.
April 18, 2006... With Yukos rapidly heading toward oblivion, Russian state Rosneft took a big step forward this week with its ambitious plans to launch the world's largest initial public offering (IPO) by releasing its long-delayed consolidation plans. But...

Well Done: Rosneft Advances Caspian, Sakhalin Wells.
April 18, 2006... Stepping up its efforts to become a serious offshore player, Rosneft has launched an exploration program at the Kurmangazy prospect in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea, and is gearing up for the drilling season off Sakhalin Island. The...

Gazprom Entry Into Sakhalin-2 Could Be Delayed.
April 18, 2006... Gazprom is unlikely to join up this year with the Sakhalin-2 project on the Russian Pacific shelf led by Royal Dutch Shell. According to Sakhalin Governor Ivan Malakhov, the agreement on Gazprom's entry won't be signed before the budget for...

Miller Time: Gazprom Confident Supplies Can Meet Demand.
April 18, 2006... Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller took to the airwaves over the weekend in an attempt to dispel spreading doubts about the Russian company's credentials as a reliable supplier now and for the future. However, it's unclear that the...

Petroleum Executive Of The Year.
April 18, 2006... Shokri Ghanem, chairman of Libya National Oil Corp., will be honored as Petroleum Executive of the Year at the 27th annual Oil and Money Conference. This premier industry gathering, convened by Energy Intelligence and the International Herald...

Free Way: Law Tweaked To Let Siberian Pipeline Proceed.
April 18, 2006... In a rare move, the Russian state Duma, or lower house of parliament, returned to a hearing of the already approved Water Code regulating the use of the country's water resources and removed from the document a clause forbidding industrial...

Tax Relax: Tax Breaks Proposed To Boost Exploration.
April 18, 2006... Looking to reverse the slowdown in the growth of oil and gas exploration and production and to extend the lives of Russia's existing fields, the Russian Ministry of Economic Development and Trade has submitted to the government a proposal...

Rong Note: Vietsovpetro Srikes Oil Offshore Vietnam.
April 18, 2006... Vietsovpetro, a joint venture of state Petrovietnam and Russia's Zarubezhneft, has made a new oil discovery offshore Vietnam. The consortium, the country's biggest producer, said it struck oil off the southern coast near the producing Rong...

Quit Smoking: Salym To Stop Flaring By 2008.
April 18, 2006... Dutch-registered Salym Petroleum Development (SPD), a joint venture of Royal Dutch Shell and Russian Sibir, said it plans to use associated gas from its West Siberian fields to fuel an onsite power plant and end gas flaring by 2008. ...

Purchasing Power: Urals Energy Buys East Siberian Producer.
April 18, 2006... Urals Energy has announced that it will buy East Siberian Dulisma's oil and gas fields and transportation and treating facilities for $148 million as it continues to build its portfolio purchasing small-scale oil producers (NC Nov.17,p4). ...

Road Block: UK Considers How To Stop Gazprom Entry.
April 18, 2006... The UK government has discussed introducing legislation that would block Russian natural gas giant Gazprom from taking over gas company Centrica, Britain's largest energy supplier, according to information released by the UK's Freedom of...

Eastern Allure: Gazprom Starts Investment Study For China Pipe.
April 18, 2006... Gazprom said it would carry out an investment study for a gas pipeline from western Russia to China, as part of its plan to expand in Asian energy markets. The statement followed Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller's meeting with...

Spud Start: Gazprom, Wintershall Begin Drilling At Urengoi.
April 18, 2006... Gazprom and Germany's Wintershall are pushing ahead with plans to develop the Achimovsk reservoir of the Urengoi gas field in West Siberia. Achimgas, a joint venture between Gazprom's subsidiary Urengoigazprom and Wintershall -- the oil...

Q1 Offtakers Of Seaborne Crude Exports.
April 18, 2006... Q1 Offtakers Of Seaborne Crude Exports ('000 metric tons)

Latvia: Ventspils Faces Loss Of Products Shipments.
April 18, 2006... The Latvian port of Ventspils may be in danger of losing its pipeline supplies of oil products in the second half of 2006, as Russia reroutes volumes to domestic ports such as Primorsk, which plans to launch products exports in the second half...

Lithuania: Mazeikiu Talks Frozen By New York Court Ruling.
April 18, 2006... The Kremlin has scored a minor success as it looks to gain some leverage over the sale of Lithuania's valuable export complex Mazeikiu Nafta (MN). A US bankruptcy court issued an order at the end of last week temporarily restraining Yukos from...

Azerbaijan: BTC Costs Spiralling Towards $5 Billion.(Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipelines costs)(Brief article)
April 18, 2006... BP has admitted that the cost of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline has risen sharply. It could ultimately hit the $5 billion mark. The UK major, which heads a consortium building the pipeline, said that the cost had increased to $3.9...

Turkmenistan: Ashkhabad Hikes Gas Price For Iran.
April 18, 2006... Turkmenistan has made another step toward it goal to raise prices for its natural gas exports for all its consumers, having signed a new gas purchase contract with Iran. Under the agreement signed last week, Iran will pay $65/Mcm of...

Mazeikiu Nafta Profit Soars.
April 18, 2006... Lithuania's Mazeikiu Nafta (MN), which is still controlled and operated by stricken Russian major Yukos, reported record earnings in 2005. MN reported net profits of 885.7 million litas ($318.7 million) for 2005 in consolidated accounts...

Late Again: Tatneft Misses NYSE Scheduled Filing Date.
April 18, 2006... Russia's only oil company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Tatneft, has failed to provide its audited 2004 GAAP financial results on schedule, putting itself in jeopardy of being delisted and causing international ratings agency...

Cold Cuts: Lukoil Sells Arctic Tankers.
April 18, 2006... Lukoil has sold 10 ice-class tankers to Turkish shipping company Palmali Shipping, reducing the top Russian producer's Arctic fleet despite its long-term plans to increase exports from the north. Palmali bought the 10 tankers for a total of...

Equities and Currencies.
April 18, 2006... Share Prices Closing On April 18, 2006

Crude Oil: Futures Set New Record, Differentials Soften.
April 18, 2006... June Brent crude oil futures traded another volatile $4.26 range between a $69.08 low on Apr. 13 and yet another $73.34 all-time record high on Apr. 19. The upward path was again sustained by increasing fears of possible sanctions against Iran...

Products: Gas Oil Piggybacks Crude Higher.(Brief article)
April 18, 2006... Despite weak demand, the market for gas oil in Northwest Europe became firmer on Apr. 19 as increased worries of military action in Iran, coupled with the continuing difficulties in Iraq and Nigeria again sent crude oil prices to record highs....

Two-Step: Lukoil Buyback Plan Clashes With Conoco Target.
April 26, 2006... The approval by Lukoil's board of directors this week of a share buyback plan may not be the best news for its strategic partner ConocoPhillips. The US major is also dipping into the open market to buy Lukoil stock in a bid to increase its...

Double-Edged: Gazprom To Work With Europe From Position Of Strength.
April 26, 2006... Energy security -- a key theme of the G-8 summit to be held in St. Petersburg in July -- is "a two-sided coin," a top Gazprom official told a London conference this week. Energy security is often taken to mean stability of supply for the...

Still Guessing: Hermitage Chief Seeks Answer To Revoked Visa.
April 26, 2006... The risks and rewards of doing business in Russia were highlighted at a conference in London this week. Bill Browder, chief executive of Hermitage Capital Management, which has $4.1 billion of funds under management in Russia, said he was...

Domestic Scene: Lukoil Raises The Bar On Fuel Standards.
April 26, 2006... Lukoil is offering a new blend of gasoline in Russia as part of its drive to raise the quality of its oil products to international standards on the domestic market. The new gasoline, which the company started to sell last week, will be...

Silver Service: Oil Services Market Set For Major Growth.
April 26, 2006... Looking to take advantage of rapid growth in the Russian oil services market, Russian independent Integra said that it would continue to purchase small- to medium-sized oil service independents or assets that come available as Russian oil...

Baikal Hopes: Putin Calls For Study On Rerouting Pipeline.
April 26, 2006... Under pressure from environmentalists, President Vladimir Putin has ordered national pipeline operator Transneft to look into the possibility of rerouting the East Siberian-Pacific Ocean oil pipeline more than 40 km further north from Lake...

Chips In: Rosneft, Surgutneftegas Win Oil Field Auctions.
April 26, 2006... Rosneft and Surgutneftegas have each won Russian government tenders for the development of East Siberian oil fields strategically located near future export routes to Asia. Rosneft's success in picking up the licenses for two large fields...

Cash Flow: Total To Start Kharyaga Payments To State.(crude production )(Brief article)
April 26, 2006... France's Total says it will transfer $14.5 million to the Russian government in mid-May as profits from crude production from the Kharyaga project, which the international major has been developing in the northern Timan-Pechora oil province...

Rising Sum: Sakhalin-2 Inks Hiroshima LNG Deal.
April 26, 2006... Sakhalin Energy, operator of the Royal Dutch Shell-led Sakhalin-2 consortium on the Russian Pacific Shelf, said last week that it had signed a full sales and purchase agreement to supply 210,000 metric tons per year of LNG to Japan's Hiroshima...

Going Underground: UK Approves Gazprom Storage Scheme.
April 26, 2006... The European Commission this week approved the creation of a joint venture between German gas marketer Wingas and ZMB Gasspeicher Holding, a subsidiary of Russia's Gazprom, which is planning an underground gas storage facility in the UK. ...

Kazakhstan: Crude To Start Flowing To China.
April 26, 2006... Crude oil from a 980 km pipeline linking Kazakhstan with China will start flowing to end-users by the end of April, according to an official from China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC). About 4.5 million metric tons (33 million bbl) of crude...

Ukraine: US Probes RosUkrEnergo Ownership Controversy.
April 26, 2006... The US Department of Justice has reportedly opened an investigation into RosUkrEnergo (RUE), the shadowy company that earlier this year became the sole handler of Ukrainian natural gas imports. The role was secured through a deal to end the...

Moving In: Moscow Man Takes Helm At CPC.(Caspian Pipeline Consortium)(Brief article)
April 26, 2006... The shareholders in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) have appointed a Moscow man to head the consortium in an attempt to break the deadlock over plans to double the pipeline's capacity. The deputy head of Russian state Zarubezhneft,...

Turkmenistan: Ashkhabad Fences Off Onshore Acreage.
April 26, 2006... Turkmenistan's onshore oil and gas fields will be off limits to foreign companies, according to President Saparmurat Niyazov. Niyazov said foreign investors would be allowed to work in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea. "Take it as...

Kazakhstan: Lukoil Seeks To Grow Production By Two-Thirds.
April 26, 2006... As part of its strategic goal of expanding in the Caspian region, Lukoil is planning to increase its output of hydrocarbons in Kazakhstan up to 10 million metric tons (73 million bbl) of oil equivalent by 2010, from 6 million tons (44 million...

Kazakhstan: Minors Step Up Exploration Drilling.
April 26, 2006... UK-listed independent Max Petroleum has signed a rig contract with Nabors Drilling International of the US to drill three wells in its license areas in western Kazakhstan. The first well will be spudded in the East Alibek area in the...