NEFTE Compass articles from July 2008

NEFTE Compass archives from July 2008

Kazakhs Give Kashagan Group Last Chance With New Deadline.
July 2, 2008... Oil production from Kazakhstan's giant offshore Kashagan field will not come on stream before October 2013, eight years later than initially envisaged, as the Central Asian nation gives an international consortium a final chance to deliver the...

Rebirth Of Energy Ministry Could Be Short-lived.
July 2, 2008... A month and a half after the Russian Energy Ministry was recreated in the last government reshuffle, its role in the country's oil and gas industry remains unclear. Its main function, as determined by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, is to manage...

Ease In US-Russia Tension Takes Tempered Pace.
July 2, 2008... In his first two months at the helm, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has dropped regular hints that the often tense relations between Moscow and Washington could and should ease, regardless of lingering disputes between the countries....

Russia, EU Launch Cooperation Negotiations.(European Union)(Brief article)
July 2, 2008... Russia and the European Union have finally launched negotiations on a new strategic cooperation agreement after years of delays and worsening relations. The pact, a framework governing the bilateral exchange of goods, services and people,...

TNK-BP Hails 'First Positive Step' In Visa Wrangle.
July 2, 2008... In a last-minute reprieve, Russia has agreed to expedite approvals for work permits for 49 of TNK-BP's senior international managers, damping concerns that all the company's expatriate staff would have to leave the country this month. "We...

Lukoil Seeks Arctic Offshore Role.
July 2, 2008... Lukoil believes Russian companies could independently explore and develop oil and gas reserves on the country's Arctic shelf by setting up national consortiums for the work. Lukoil President Vagit Alekperov said the company would be able to...

Gazprom Unveils Far East Gas Plans.
July 2, 2008... Gazprom plans to produce 3.5 Bcm-4 Bcm/yr of gas from the Kirinskoye field in Russia's Far East. Output from the field, where reserves are estimated at 75 Bcm, will start in 2013, according to Gazprom Deputy Chief Executive Alexander Ananenkov....

Gazprom Revives Investment Plans.
July 2, 2008... Gazprom plans to boost its 2008 investment program by 100 billion rubles ($4.2 billion) from an initial level of 710.13 billion rubles, Chief Financial Officer Andrei Kruglov said last week. The "correction" is a result of changes to the US...

UES Bows Out As Dubai Wins Crown Jewel.(Brief article)
July 2, 2008... The state-run Dubai World investment fund has agreed to pay a stunning $5.34 billion for Russian power generator OGK-1, the crown jewel of Russia's power sector and the last asset to be sold off under the massive restructuring of former state...

Oil Firms Confident Of Production Growth.
July 2, 2008... The optimism of Russian oil companies about the country's crude production is growing by the day. They believe the decline in output this year is temporary and could be reversed with the help of tax initiatives. The president of...

Venezuelan Problems Stall Lukoil's Cuba Plans.
July 2, 2008... Lukoil's plans to acquire a refinery in Cuba have been put off because of the Russian major's failure to secure production rights in Venezuela, where talks have stalled. According to Lukoil President Vagit Alekperov, the signing of...

Khodorkovsky Faces New Charges.
July 2, 2008... Russian prosecutors have filed new charges against former Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner, Platon Lebedev, that could add more than 20 years to their eight-year sentences. Khodorkovsky and Lebedev are accused of...

E.On Names New Russia Chief.
July 2, 2008... German power giant E.On on Tuesday named Sergei Tazin as the new chief executive of its E.On Russia Power division. He studied power engineering in the US and began his career at GE Power Systems. Tazin headed EuroSibEnergo from 2005 until...

New Gazprom Exec Joins Wingas Board.
July 2, 2008... Gazprom has taken equal footing on the executive board of German gas marketer Wingas with the appointment of Gennady Ryndin and the expansion of the board from three seats to four. Ryndin, who will cover finance, has worked for Gazprom since...

Ukraine, Russia Edge Toward Gas Price Accord.
July 2, 2008... Moscow and Kiev appear to have moved at least one step closer to signing a strategic gas cooperation agreement after Russia agreed, in principle, to raise gas prices for Ukraine to "European levels" gradually over the next three or four years....

Lukoil Faces Another Caspian Setback.
July 2, 2008... Lukoil's first exploration well in the Atash area in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea has failed to discover oil or gas. The well, which was spudded at the end of April, is Lukoil's second dry hole on the Kazakh shelf. The first was...

RosUkrEnergo Sees Profits Rise.(Financial report)
July 2, 2008... RosUkrEnergo (RUE), whose controversial role as the middleman trader in Russian gas supplies to Ukraine has fueled tensions between Moscow and Kiev, recorded a net profit of $795 million in 2007 via sales on the domestic Ukrainian market and in...

TNK-BP Board Election Sparks New Row.
July 2, 2008... The Russian shareholders in TNK-BP -- Alfa and Access Renova (AAR) -- claim the election of the joint venture's new board at the annual general meeting (AGM) on Jun. 26 was illegal and could be disputed in court. TNK-BP Holding (TBH)...

Gazprom Profits Rise On Higher Prices.(Financial report)
July 2, 2008... Gazprom said its consolidated net profit in 2007 increased 7.3% on the year, backed by strong gas demand and soaring oil prices, beating analysts' forecasts. The Russian state-controlled gas giant's net profit, attributable for equity...

Equities and Currencies.
July 2, 2008... Share Prices Closing On July 1, 2008

Futures Break Out To The Upside.
July 2, 2008... August Brent ICE crude oil futures broke out to the upside, trading a volatile $10.39 range between a $133.52 low on Jun. 26 and a new record $143.91 high on Jun. 30. A weakening US dollar was widely regarded as one of the prime reasons for...

Prices Rise But Gas Oil Margins Dip.
July 2, 2008... The energy complex has propelled products prices upward once again, but refiners' profits on gas oil are increasingly narrow. ICE gas oil has risen close to record levels again, and diesel prices from those refineries with access to the clean...

TNK-BP Being Ground Down As State Waits In The Wings.
July 7, 2008... A torrid few weeks or months are in store for TNK-BP as the Russian shareholders represented by Alfa and Access Renova (AAR) continue to make life difficult for their British partner. Although the eventual outcome will most likely involve some...

Russia Spars With China In New 'Great Game' For Central Asia.
July 7, 2008... Russia ratcheted up the competition for Caspian and Central Asian energy resources as President Dmitry Medvedev embarked last week on a tour of three oil- and gas-rich former Soviet states -- Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. But...

Russia Sets Targets To Cut Out Transit Countries.
July 7, 2008... Moscow hopes to stop all exports of refined products through the Baltic states in the next seven years, providing the first firm goal for the government's drive to extract a bigger take from Russia's natural resources by cutting out transit...

Transneft Crude Exports Plummet In June.
July 7, 2008... Total crude oil exports through the pipeline network of Russian state monopoly Transneft to destinations outside the former Soviet Union fell sharply to 4.196 million b/d in June from 4.458 million b/d in May, as Russia's domestic market...

Repsol Eyes Stake In Rosneft Sakhalin-3 Block.
July 7, 2008... Spain's Repsol YPF is in talks with Russian state Rosneft about taking a minority stake in the Veninsky Block of the Sakhalin-3 fields on Russia's Pacific shelf. Repsol said in filings it is negotiating to take a stake of "close to 24%" in the...

PSA Problems Impact Russian Oil Production.
July 7, 2008... Problems at Russia's production sharing agreement (PSA) projects combined to drive the country's oil output down in June to 9.73 million b/d, a drop of 1.4% from the same month last year, according to preliminary data from the Russian Energy...

Nafta Moskva Affiliate Reappears On Oil Scene.(Nafta Moskva Joint Stock Co.)(Brief article)
July 7, 2008... Nafta Moskva has made an impressive reappearance as an exporter of Russian crude. Petroleum business successor Minco Enterprises was the offtaker for all of Bashneft's export volumes in May and June, totaling 787,000 metric tons (95,000 b/d)....

Lundin Makes Caspian Discovery.
July 7, 2008... Swedish independent Lundin Petroleum said it had struck oil at its first exploration well on the Lagansky Block in the Russian sector of the Caspian Sea. The Morskaya-1 well spudded in May was drilled to a depth of 2,082 meters and...

Shtokman Timetable May Slip.
July 7, 2008... Doubts are growing that gas from the huge Shtokman field in the Barents Sea will start flowing in 2014 as envisaged by Gazprom. At a meeting on Russia's Arctic shelf development in Murmansk last week, Russian geologists said production from...

Eni Scores Russian Gas First.(Eni Energhia )(Brief article)
July 7, 2008... Eni has become the first Western company to sign a contract to sell gas inside Russia. The Italian firm said this week that wholly owned subsidiary Eni Energhia had inked contracts starting on Jun. 1 for the sale of 350 MMcm (12.36 Bcf) of...

Gazprom Ordered To Open Up The Pipes.
July 7, 2008... In a boost for independent gas producers, including oil companies which produce gas, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin last week gave Gazprom and Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service one month to iron out a draft proposal to provide...

Belarus Steps Up Crude Exports Via Gdansk.
July 7, 2008... The Polish port of Gdansk on the Baltic Sea has recently seen its oil exports boosted by a new client using the outlet. Belarus state oil producer Belorusneft sent 59,500 metric tons (14,000 b/d) of its crude to Gdansk in May. Volumes...

Kazmunaigas Agrees To Buy Mangistaumunaigas.(Brief article)
July 7, 2008... Kazakh state oil and gas company Kazmunaigas (KMG) announced this week that it has agreed to buy a controlling stake in oil producer Mangistaumunaigas (MMG) from Indonesia's Central Asia Petroleum. At the beginning of the year, KMG was...

Ukraine Courts Gazprom For Black Sea Shelf.
July 7, 2008... Ukrainian state Naftogaz Ukrainy is interested in teaming up with Russian gas giant Gazprom to explore and develop Ukraine's Black Sea shelf, said Naftogaz head Oleg Dubina. Dubina suggested that Gazprom would take the oil produced from the...

RosUkrEnergo Seeks $2 Billion From Ukraine.
July 7, 2008... Middleman gas trader RosUkrEnergo (RUE) has accused Ukrainian state company Naftogaz Ukrainy of owing a stunning $2 billion for natural gas supplies in 2007 and 2008, further muddling the lingering dispute over Ukraine's gas debt to Russia. ...

Hungarian Mol To Boost Stake In Croatian Ina.(Brief article)
July 7, 2008... Hungary's Mol is in the final stages of negotiating a deal with Croatia to boost its stake in Croatian energy firm Ina, which is majority government-owned. "There are advanced discussions between Mol and the Croatian government, but no...

South Korea Eyes Turkmen Blocks.(Korean National Oil Corp.)(Brief article)
July 7, 2008... South Korea is setting up a special consortium of the country's largest companies to develop three Caspian Sea blocks it has been offered by Turkmenistan, the South Korean minister of economic knowledge, Lee Youn Ho, said during a meeting with...

Gazprombank Criticized Over Bonus Payments.
July 7, 2008... Heads have turned within Russia's banking community after gas giant Gazprom revealed that its banking arm, Gazprombank, paid out a stunning $408 million in bonuses to its management in 2008, significantly above expectations. Gazprombank is...

Transneft Mulls New Bond Issue.
July 7, 2008... Russian state crude oil pipeline monopoly Transneft is reportedly planning to offer a new eurobond to raise funds to upgrade and expand its pipeline network. Transneft is considering raising between $500 million and $2 billion through the...

Equities and Currencies.
July 7, 2008... Share Prices Closing On July 8, 2008

Futures Down Sharply, Urals Mixed.
July 7, 2008... August Brent ICE crude oil futures traded a volatile $11.19 range between a $146.69/bbl record high on Jul. 3 and a $135.50/bbl low on Jul. 8. The high came courtesy of a weak US dollar and Mideast tensions, while the lows were blamed on...

Gas Oil Futures And Physicals Take A Beating.
July 7, 2008... ICE gas oil followed crude futures to plunge $60/ton on Jul. 8 -- the largest daily fall in a month. The front-month has lost more than $100/ton over the week, weighed down by slower demand in Northwest Europe. Domestic diesel prices...

Russia Wields Energy Weapon Again, Perhaps Unintentionally.
July 14, 2008... Even as Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin reaffirmed last week that Russia would fully meet its energy supply obligations to international markets, Russia was headed toward another controversy over the Kremlin's willingness to wield its...

Gazprom Makes Strides With International Ambitions.
July 14, 2008... In its increasingly fast-paced drive to become a global energy player, Russian gas monopoly Gazprom moved last week both to expand its presence in Iran and to buy any spare Libyan oil and gas output. The move raised questions about the actual...

Gazprom, Wintershall Launch Output.
July 14, 2008... Gazprom and BASF-owned Wintershall's landmark 50-50 Achimgas joint venture has begun testing gas and condensate production from the Achimovskoye deep layer of the giant Urengoi field in West Siberia. Achimgaz, set up in 2003, plans to...

Russians Want BP Out Of JV.
July 14, 2008... TNK-BP's Russian shareholders, Alfa and Access Renova (AAR), are interested in buying BP out of the joint venture as a final measure to resolve the ongoing corporate conflict, according to Stan Polovets, AAR's chief executive. TNK-BP...

Putin Outlines Oil And Gas Priorities.(Vladimir Putin)
July 14, 2008... Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has outlined his priorities for the Russian oil and gas business, including boosting oil production and flaring less associated gas. Foreign partners' interests will be honored, but Russian interests will be...

Imperial Bid Hails Open Season On Minnows.
July 14, 2008... Speculation that resource-hungry international majors could start snapping up Russia's remaining small producers was rife this week following UK-listed independent Imperial Energy's announcement that it has received a sizable buyout offer,...

Russian Refiners' May Volumes Flat.
July 14, 2008... Russian refineries kept their crude processing almost flat at 4.399 million b/d in May, compared with 4.404 million b/d in the previous month and 4.396 million b/d a year earlier. Processing, however, rose by 2.8% to over 95.942 million metric...

Vankor Output Could Be Delayed.(Brief article)
July 14, 2008... Doubts are growing about the likelihood of launching commercial production this year from the huge Vankor field in East Siberia, which was supposed to add 40,000 b/d to Russia's crude oil output in 2008. Operated by state-controlled...

Gazprom Plots Far East Rise.
July 14, 2008... Gazprom said last week it would be producing 57.5 Bcm/yr of gas by 2020 from East Siberia and Russia's Far East, including 30 Bcm/yr for export to the Asia-Pacific region. The gas will come mainly from the giant Chayandinskoye field in...

Second Well Spudded At Sakhalin-3.
July 14, 2008... Under Rosneft's 2008 exploration program, the second exploration well was spudded last week in Sakhalin-3's Veninsky Block, according to Sakhalin Projects, the state major's subsidiary overseeing offshore developments in the Far East. ...

Rosneft, TNK-BP Sign Major Swap Agreement.
July 14, 2008... State oil pipeline monopoly Transneft and producers Rosneft and TNK-BP have agreed to a major swap agreement that sets out significant supplies for the East Siberian-Pacific Ocean (Espo) pipeline. Rosneft has agreed to send 13 million...

Moscow Seeks To Stem Rising Jet Fuel.
July 14, 2008... The St. Petersburg commodity exchange is expected to pick up trading of jet fuel later this month in a bid to stem the soaring price for the high-quality product on Russia's domestic market. Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said at a...

Gazprom Faces Problems In Serbia.
July 14, 2008... Russia's Gazprom appears to be facing problems buying a controlling stake in Serbia's Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS), with the Serbian government reportedly wanting to raise the price. Deputy Prime Minister Mladjan Dinkic, who will head the...

Russia, Kazakhs Eye CPC Stake.
July 14, 2008... Russia and Kazakhstan have both confirmed that they will claim their preemption rights to the 7% stake in Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) that state-owned Oman Oil Co. (OOC) plans to sell. "We have made our offer and now the issue is...

Gazprom Revises 2008 Spending Plan.
July 14, 2008... Gazprom has revised its 2008 investment program upward by 111.53 billion rubles to 821.66 billion rubles ($35.4 billion), according to the state gas firm. The program has yet to be approved by the state giant's board of directors. The...

Russneft Pays Half Of Outstanding Tax Bill.
July 14, 2008... Russian's biggest independent producer, Russneft, says it has paid more than half of the 20 billion ruble ($858 million) bill that tax authorities claimed it owed in back taxes for 2003-05. Insiders say it could still receive a new bill for...

Equities and Currencies.
July 14, 2008... Share Prices Closing On July 15, 2008

Futures Markets Hit By Extreme Volatility.
July 14, 2008... The August Brent ICE crude oil futures contract reached a new high of $147.50 on Jul. 11, 81o higher than last week's high, only to crash to a low of $132.50 on Jul. 16, $3 lower than last week's low and $15 off the recent high. The crash was...

Stronger US Imports Hit Middle Distillate Premiums.
July 14, 2008... While there was a wide trading range on crude markets, it was even more extreme for the ICE gas oil front-month -- August hit a high of $1,339.25 on Jul. 11, only to plunge to $1,219.25 on Jul. 16. Middle distillate premiums have been badly...

Dudley May Be Forced Out Of Russia In TNK-BP War.
July 22, 2008... Months of attrition by the Russian shareholders in TNK-BP will come to a head next week if the company's chief executive, Robert Dudley, fails to renew his work visa and is forced to leave Russia. BP has constantly resisted attempts by its...

Gazprom Gains An Edge In Tie-Up With Rosneft.
July 22, 2008... Gazprom's aggressive plans for the development of East Siberia and the Pacific shelf are rapidly taking shape. And as more details of the plans emerge, it is becoming increasingly apparent that former Gazprom Chairman Dmitry Medvedev's...

Crude Production Defies Fears, Holds Steady.
July 22, 2008... Russia's oil production crept upward by a modest 1,300 b/d from May to reach 9.75 million b/d in June, but was still down nearly 1.2% from June 2007, according to the latest information from Russia's energy agency. Although the rise itself...

Putin Orders Czech Oil Supplies Stabilized.(Vladimir Putin )(Brief article)
July 22, 2008... Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin this week ordered the government to guarantee full supplies of Russian crude oil to the Czech Republic, in an apparent attempt to discount suspicions that the sharp fall in flows could be Moscow's response...

Chavez Brings Deals To TNK-BP, Gazprom, Lukoil.
July 22, 2008... Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez traveled to Moscow for a one-day visit Jul. 22 with new Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and several top officials and businessmen. Despite expectations that the Venezuelan leader's visit would be relatively...

TNK-BP To Start Up Kazakh Rail Terminal.
July 22, 2008... TNK-BP will bring its Barabinsk rail terminal near the Russian border with Kazakhstan into operation in three weeks after more than three months' delay, according to the company's vice president for sales, trading and logistics, Jonathan...

Transneft Gets Independent Board Members.
July 22, 2008... The Russian government has appointed four independent directors to the board of oil pipeline monopoly Transneft in the first notable move in President Dmitry Medvedev's strategy of separating the state slightly from the operations of state-run...

Ukraine, Gazprom Make Progress On Gas Supplies.
July 22, 2008... Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has succeeded in tempering the pace of Russia's price hikes for natural gas supplies, easing the two countries away from a new supply crisis that has been looming in the background since the start of...

Gazprom To Ax Moscow Staff.
July 22, 2008... Russia's Gazprom plans to lay off up to one in 10 of its staff at its Moscow headquarters as part of a cost-cutting program, Russian media reports quoted unidentified industry sources as saying last week. Chief Executive Alexei Miller...

Stroitransgas Wins UAE Tender.
July 22, 2008... Russian oil and gas construction firm Stroitransgas has reportedly won a $418 million contract, announced by Abu Dhabi-based Dolphin Energy, to build a new gas pipeline linking Abu Dhabi to the eastern emirate of Fujairah. The proposed...

E.On Starts $1.2 Bn Plant Expansion.
July 22, 2008... German utility giant E.On has begun work to build two new combined-cycle gas turbine units at its Surgutskaya GRES-2 power plant in the Tyumen area of West Siberia, which will add 800 MW to the existing power plant at a cost of C800 million...

Gazprom Inks Spanish LNG Deal.
July 22, 2008... Spanish marketer Gas Natural (GN), a leading LNG trader in the Atlantic Basin, has signed an LNG master sales and purchase agreement with Gazprom. Such deals allow both sides to trade without first having to hold detailed contractual...

Gazprom Loses Out In German Bid.
July 22, 2008... Russian state Gazprom has lost out to a French EDF-affiliated company, ENBW, in bidding to become the strategic investor in German utility EWE, which happens to also be key gas marketer VNG's largest shareholder (NC May1,p5). Germany's...

Ceyhan Crude Liftings To Climb In August.
July 22, 2008... Liftings of Azeri Light crude oil out of the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan are set to increase sharply in August to 28 million metric tons (900,000 b/d) from 24 million tons in July, as production from the BP-operated...

Abu Dhabi Sets Up Energy Fund In Kazakhstan.
July 22, 2008... Abu Dhabi's state-owned International Petroleum Investment Co. (Ipic) says it has agreed with the government of Kazakhstan to set up a $1 billion fund to invest in energy and other sectors. The Al-Falah Fund, which will be funded equally by...

Dragon Steps Up Turkmen Investment.
July 22, 2008... UAE-based Dragon Oil has awarded a $170 million contract to build a 39.4 km pipeline to transport of all the oil and gas produced from its offshore Cheleken Block in the Caspian Sea to its new processing facility in Turkmenistan. Dragon...

Ukraine Moves To Reverse Odessa-Brody Line.
July 22, 2008... Ukraine is taking steps to start operating the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline in the direction the government originally intended. Ukrainian pipeline operator Ukrtransnafta has warned TNK-BP -- which now sends Russian crude down the line in...

Gazprom Neft Eyes Mangistaumunaigas Stake.
July 22, 2008... Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian gas giant Gazprom, says it is interested in buying a 49% stake in Kazakh oil and gas producer Mangistaumunaigas (MMG). Gazprom Neft head Alexander Dyukov expressed his interest at a meeting last week with...

Vanco Takes Ukraine To Arbitration Over PSA.(production sharing agreement)(Vanco Energy)(Brief article)
July 22, 2008... US independent Vanco Energy has filed for international arbitration in Sweden after the Ukrainian government canceled its production sharing agreement (PSA) for a vast chunk of Ukraine's Black Sea shelf. "We remain open to dialogue with the...

Gazprom Neft Profits Jump On Higher Prices.(Financial report)
July 22, 2008... Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian state gas giant Gazprom, saw net profits more than double to $1.41 billion in the first three months of 2008 from $672 million in the first quarter of 2007, thanks to soaring crude oil prices at home and...

Rosneft Closes Door On Huge Short-Term Debt.
July 22, 2008... Russian state oil major Rosneft has arranged a $2.85 billion syndicated loan to refinance the final tranche of the $22 billion short-term loan the company attracted in 2007 to fund its buying spree at the Yukos bankruptcy auctions. Rosneft...