NEFTE Compass articles from April 2009

NEFTE Compass archives from April 2009

Kazakhstan Faces Revolt Over Tax Changes.
April 7, 2009... Oil and gas companies in Kazakhstan are up in arms over proposed legislative changes that they claim could damage the country's economy and reputation. In a letter written to Prime Minister Karim Massimov and Energy and Mineral Resources...

Credit Crunch Tightens Squeeze On Russian Independents.
April 7, 2009... The casualty count of the global credit crisis is starting to mount in the middle ranks of Russia's oil producers. In another high-profile case, UK-listed Sibir Energy, a joint-venture partner of Royal Dutch Shell, has opened court...

TNK-BP Urges Moscow To Review Quality Bank Plans.
April 7, 2009... Russian-UK joint venture TNK-BP is calling on Russia's energy ministry to abandon its current plans for establishing a quality bank for Russian crude oil and to revert to a previous proposal drafted several years ago by Russian pipeline...

Gazprom Buys Oil Arm Stake From Eni.
April 7, 2009... In a move fostering further strategic cooperation, Russia and Italy this week signed a series of agreements at a joint economic forum in Moscow chaired by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. State gas giant Gazprom signed a $4.1 billion deal to...

Mol Puts Up Resistance To Surgut Purchase.
April 7, 2009... Mol is organizing a strong defense against Surgutneftegas' purchase of a 21% stake in the Hungarian company, which the Russian major is buying from Austria's OMV. Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom expressed his concerns over the...

EU-Ukraine Deal Prompts Gazprom LNG Review.
April 7, 2009... Gazprom has announced plans to boost its output of LNG in preference to sending more gas to Europe via pipeline, in apparent retaliation to European Union proposals to help upgrade Ukraine's gas network (see p8). "Amid the increasing...

Russian Exports Dip Following Black Sea Problems.(Brief article)(Statistical data)
April 7, 2009... Russian crude oil exports to destinations outside of the former Soviet Union dipped by nearly 100,000 b/d in March from February following disruptions to shipments from the Black Sea and a modest rise in Russia's export duties for the first...

Russian Crude Production Rises In March.
April 7, 2009... Russian crude and condensate production rose in March for the first time in months, further undermining officials' claims that Moscow would do its bit to help Opec boost oil prices through natural field declines. Output averaged 9.798 million...

Stroitransgas Changes Hands.
April 7, 2009... The ownership of Russia's biggest oil and gas construction firm, Stroitransgas, has changed hands, with control passing from Gazprombank to firms associated with Gennady Timchenko, industry sources claim. The change of ownership explains...

Sakhalin-1 Work Set To Restart.(Brief article)
April 7, 2009... Russia's Authorized State Body (ASB) has finally approved the expenditure plans for the Exxon-led Sakhalin-1 project on Russia's Pacific shelf, opening the way for the company to renew work at the Odoptu and Arkutun-Dagi fields, where...

Lukoil Slows Down Gas Projects In Russia.
April 7, 2009... Lukoil has announced it is slowing down its natural gas projects in Russia due to declining demand amid global financial crunch, instead giving priority to gas projects overseas. Gazprom has been exporting less to Europe, where prices have...

Russia-Japan JV To Start Drilling In East Siberia.
April 7, 2009... INK-Sever, a joint venture between Russia's Irkutsk Oil (INK) and Japan's state Jogmec, has announced plans to start drilling test wells in East Siberia this year. INK-Sever was set up last year to explore and develop an oil and gas field...

Tatneft Abandons Refinery Contracts.
April 7, 2009... Russian regional producer Tatneft has canceled its deals with foreign contractors to supply equipment for its planned 140,000 b/d Nizhnekamsk refinery in Tatarstan, sparking suggestions it may hope to negotiate new contracts to take advantage...

Kuibyshev Refinery Launches Euro-3.
April 7, 2009... Rosneft's Kuibyshev refinery has launched production of gasoline meeting Euro-3 quality standards as part of plans to make cleaner products. Rosneft said last week that it intends to produce around 54,000 tons of the higher-quality fuel this...

Gazprom Seeks Allies To Oppose Ukraine-EU Deal.
April 7, 2009... Gazprom is trying to enlist more support from Europe's biggest consumers of Russian natural gas in its dispute with the European Commission over plans to upgrade the Ukrainian pipeline network. The Russian state gas giant says it is teaming...

Russian Services Firm Wins Kazakh Contract.
April 7, 2009... Russian services firm Integra said this week that it had signed a contract to conduct 3-D seismic surveys for Chevron-operated joint venture Tengizchevroil (TCO), Kazakhstan's biggest oil producer. Azimut Energy Services (AES), a subsidiary...

Russia Expands Balkan Presence.
April 7, 2009... Russian state Zarubezhneft has bolstered its position in the Balkans by opening its upgraded Rafinerija Ulja Modrica lubricants refinery in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Company boss Nikolai Brunich said the plant will produce 52,000 tons of lubricants...

Baltic Terminal Sees Shipments Fall.(Brief article)(Statistical data)
April 7, 2009... Klaipedos Nafta (KN), the state-controlled operator of Lithuania's Baltic oil export terminal, has seen traffic decrease due to lower product shipments from Russian and Belarusian refineries and a reduction in diesel loadings from Lithuania's...

Surgut Bucks The Trend As Profits Surge.(Financial report)
April 7, 2009... Russian oil major Surgutneftegas has announced fourth-quarter 2008 profits of 23.8 billion rubles ($700 million) under Russian accounting standards, down sharply from 31.9 billion rubles in the last quarter of 2007. While lower than analysts'...

Write-Downs Hit Lukoil Profits.(Financial report)
April 7, 2009... Lukoil's net profit dipped 3.9% to $9.144 billion in 2008 from $9.511 billion in 2007 after a scathing fourth quarter chopped away at the record gains that the company recorded in the first nine months of the year. Lukoil, Russia's top...

Prices Lifted By US Inventory Report.(Statistical data)
April 7, 2009... Oil futures have remained in thrall to stock and currency exchanges, with prices mostly following the ebb and flow of paper money rather than oil fundamentals. Front-month May ICE Brent traded up from an Apr. 2 low of $48.59 to an Apr. 6 high...

Gas Oil Weakens, Fuel Oil Holds Against Odds.
April 7, 2009... Refining margins in Europe remain under pressure, and gas oil cracks remain firmly in single digits, ticking off to around $6.90/bbl at press time. April ICE gas oil expired at $430/ton on Apr. 8, only slightly above its low of $426.50/ton...

Lukoil Given Fresh Hope Over Iraqi Field.
April 14, 2009... Lukoil was given fresh hope that it could win back the contract for Iraq's giant West Qurna oil field during the first visit to Moscow last week by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The revival of energy cooperation between the two...

Turkmenistan Turns Away From Russia After Pipeline Blast.
April 14, 2009... A gas pipeline blast has forced tensions between Turkmenistan and Russia into the open. The rupture could strengthen Turkmenistan's "multi-vector" policy of diversifying its markets, which is a key theme of a conference being held in...

Gazprom, Shell Sign Gas Swap Deal.
April 14, 2009... Gazprom has moved a step closer to becoming a global LNG player after signing a series of agreements with Royal Dutch Shell that will enable the Russian gas giant to start shipping from the Sakhalin-2 project to the US. Under a 20-year...

Lukoil To Produce In Saudi Arabia In 2012.
April 14, 2009... Lukoil will start commercial production of the gas and condensate reserves it has discovered in Saudi Arabia in 2012, Lukoil President Vagit Alekperov said. "We need another two-and-a-half years for the appraisal, then we will begin...

Stroitransgas Undergoes Restructuring.
April 14, 2009... In an effort to improve efficiency, the new management of oil and gas construction firm Stroitransgas is restructuring the company and plans to shed noncore businesses, according to new Chief Executive Alexander Ryazanov (NC Apr.9p5). ...

Sakhalin-1 Budget Lighter Than Requested.(Brief article)
April 14, 2009... The recently approved budget for the Exxon-led Sakhalin-1 project on Russia's Pacific shelf in 2009 will total $1.978 billion, less than the project's consortium requested, Sakhalin Governor Alexander Khoroshavin said (NC Apr.9,p5). "There...

Russian Firms' Mozyr Bid Falls Short.
April 14, 2009... TNK-BP and Gazprom Neft appear to have fallen short in efforts to purchase a greater stake in Slavneft's Mozyr refinery, as the government of Belarus has reportedly rejected their offer to purchase more shares. The oil firms proposed...

Yukos Investors Gain New Opening Against Russia.
April 14, 2009... Spanish investors have won a groundbreaking ruling in the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, opening Russia to potentially dozens of lawsuits from investors over the destruction of former top oil producer Yukos. ...

Crisis Hits Gazprom Development Plans.
April 14, 2009... Gazprom may be forced to revise the development schedule for some key projects because of the economic crisis, Deputy Chief Executive Valery Golubev told an energy conference in Moscow. Among affected projects is the 4.9 Tcm Bovanenkovskoye...

Russia, Italy To Team Up In South America.
April 14, 2009... The memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed last week by Italian Eni and Russian firms Rosneft, Zarubezhneft, Transneft, Stroitransgas and Inter RAO UES targets future cooperation in South America, a source tells Nefte Compass. The...

Rosneft Asks For New Tax Regime.
April 14, 2009... Russia's current tax legislation has been made outdated by the global economic crisis, which is threatening the future of the Russian oil industry, Sergei Bogdanchikov, the head of state-controlled Rosneft, said at an energy conference in...

Transneft Seeks Further Tariff Hike.
April 14, 2009... Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft has asked the Federal Tariffs Service (FTS) to approve a 4% hike in its transportation tariffs to help the company pay rising the rising interest rates on loans. A FTS representative told Nefte Compass...

Azeri Crude Exports Creep Back At Ceyhan.
April 14, 2009... Shipments of Azeri Light crude oil from Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan are set to increase to around 900,000 b/d in May, as production from the BP-operated Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field in the Caspian Sea off Azerbaijan creeps back up. The...

Russian Company Makes Inroads In Turkmenistan.
April 14, 2009... Russian natural gas company Itera is negotiating for two exploration blocks in the Caspian Sea off Turkmenistan and plans to team up with Russian contractor Krasnodarstroitransgas to bid for a contract to build an East-West gas pipeline (see...

Russia Rekindles Interest In Baltic Refinery.
April 14, 2009... Russia seems to have revived its interest in Lithuania's Mazeikiu Nafta refinery, which is controlled by Poland's PKN Orlen. Russian state pipeline monopoly Transneft signaled its interest in the plant, the only refinery in the Baltics,...

Russneft Turns Around Loss, Shows Profit.
April 14, 2009... Independent Russian oil firm Russneft recorded a net profit of 10.6 billion rubles ($314 million) in 2008, rebounding from a loss of 12.2 billion rubles in 2007, when the company was struggling with huge bills from Russian tax authorities. ...

Rosneft Repays Debt To VEB.
April 14, 2009... Rosneft has already repaid a $577 million loan received from Russian state Vnesheconombank (VEB) in the fourth quarter of last year, closing the debt significantly ahead of schedule. The money was borrowed at a rate of Libor plus 5% to...

Equities and Currencies.
April 14, 2009... Share Prices Closing April 14, 2009

Improving Margins Firm Urals Differentials.(Statistical data)
April 14, 2009... Oil futures continued to trade on the coattails of equity and currency markets, with scant regard for the realities of fundamental oversupply. Even a US inventory report that was more bearish than expected was ignored, at least for now. During...

Gas Oil Overload To Continue.
April 14, 2009... Europe's gas oil supply overload is likely to continue. Gas oil cracks were supported through the week as crude weakened, but with refining margins in the US relatively healthy, diesel and gas oil volumes are still crossing the Atlantic in...