NEFTE Compass articles from June 2005

NEFTE Compass archives from June 2005

Rough Justice: Russia Jails Khodorkovsky But Yukos Legacy Will Live On.
June 1, 2005... The 11-month criminal trial of core Yukos shareholder Mikhail Khodorkovsky -- which has shaken Russia's investment climate, tarnished its international image and elicited the ire of human rights and democracy advocates -- ended with neither a...

Black Pearl: Western Majors Hold Out For Better Terms For Kazakhstan's Caspian Shelf.
June 1, 2005... With the obvious exception of the giant Kashagan structure in the north Caspian Sea, Kazakhstan's offshore oil riches remain as elusive as ever for Western majors on the prowl for new upstream opportunities. Despite the lack of progress,...

Stagnant Pond: Tax Hike Takes Its Toll On Crude Exports.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Stagnating crude production and a massive tax hike are taking their toll on Russia's exports as Moscow slashes shipments by 129,000 b/d in the June port loading programs, from May. Planned seaborne crude exports for June total 2.520 million b/d...

High Cost: TNK-BP Claims Northern Export Route Too Costly.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... TNK-BP believes that construction of the northern 500,000 b/d pipeline from Kharyaga in Timan-Pechora to Indiga on the Barents Sea would not be a cost-effective way to deliver Russian crude to world markets. The UK-Russian joint venture...

Early Bird: TNK-BP Agrees To Kovykta Compromise.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Under pressure from Russia's Natural Resources Ministry, Russian-UK joint venture TNK-BP has allocated $136 million for the design and construction of the "early gas" phase of the Kovykta project. TNK-BP has a 63% stake in Rusia Petroleum,...

Good Citizen: Abramovich Keeps On Good Terms With The Kremlin.
June 1, 2005... Roman Abramovich, a core shareholder in Russian oil company Sibneft and the owner of London's Chelsea soccer club, could stay on as governor of Russia's remote Chukotka Region for another term. President Vladimir Putin's representative in...

Streamline: License Amendments To Be Made Easier.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Russia's Natural Resources Ministry has moved to ease oil producers' concerns that they could be criminally liable for exceeding the output levels stipulated in their field licenses. The ministry's federal agency on subsoil usage is to...

Heads Up: Hiroshima Gas Signs Up For Sakhalin LNG.(liquefied natural gas)(Hiroshima Gas Co.)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Sakhalin Energy, the Royal Dutch/Shell-led operator of the Sakhalin-2 project, says it has signed a heads-of-agreement to supply Japan's Hiroshima Gas Co. with up to 210,000 metric tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) a year over 20 years from...

Octoberfest: India Invites FSU Producers To Meet Asian Consumers.(Former Soviet Union)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... India has invited Russia and other oil producers in the former Soviet Union to a meeting with Asian oil-importing nations in October. Indian Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar was quoted by Dow Jones as saying that the one-day meeting...

Debt Conversion: Syria To Open The Door To Russian Oil Contractors.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Russian oil companies could find more opportunities coming their way in Syria. The Russian government last week approved a draft agreement to write off 73% of Syria's debt to Moscow, which according to Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin totaled...

Oman Outlet: Tatneft Spreads Its Wings In The Middle East.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Russian heavy oil producer Tatneft is branching out further in the Middle East by registering a subsidiary in Oman in cooperation with Petroleum Development Oman (PDO). The company will specialize in marketing Tatneft's oil in Oman and the...

Shell Springboard: Shell Poised To Boost Salym Oil Production.
June 1, 2005... Russia's Salym Petroleum Development (SPD), a 50-50 joint venture of Royal/Dutch Shell and the local Evikhon, has been laying the groundwork to tap 1.1 billion barrels of reserves lying in three fields in West Siberia. After languishing...

Coming Back: Moscow Refinery Gets Back To Business After Power Outage.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The Moscow refinery, one of Russia's largest at 240,000 b/d, which was forced to suspend crude processing last week after a massive power outage swept Moscow and some neighboring regions, plans to resume normal operations this week. ...

High Stakes: Gazprom Goes For Highest Valuation.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The state is going to have to fork out up to $11.5 billion to buy a 10.74% stake in Gazprom and raise its overall stake to a controlling interest, according to the Russian gas giant. Of the valuations done of Gazprom, the company believes...

Hooliganism: Yugansk Executive Survives Shooting.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Yuganskneftegas deputy general director Sergei Burov was shot and wounded last week. He was getting out of a company car when a gunman shot him in the stomach several times at close range. Burov managed to walk to a hospital. ...

Russian Crude Loading Program For June 2005.
June 1, 2005... Primorsk Crude Loading Program For June 2005

Lithuania: TNK-BP Starts Talks To Buy Yukos Out Of MN.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Russia's TNK-BP has officially kicked off negotiations to buy Lithuanian oil company Mazeikiu Nafta (MN) from Yukos. TNK-BP chief executive, Robert Dudley, and executive director, German Khan, met Lithuania's Prime Minister Algirdas...

Kazakhstan: PetroKazakhstan JV Fined Over Contract Shortcomings.(joint venture)(Kazgermunai)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Kazgermunai, an oil production joint venture between Canada's PetroKazakhstan and two German firms, has been fined 4 billion tenge ($30 million) for failing to honor contractual undertakings to fund social programs and infrastructure...

Ukraine: Kiev Tries To Diversify Fuel Supplies.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... As Ukraine emerges from its latest fuel crisis, Kiev is taking steps to try to diversify its fuel supplies to lessen its 75% dependence on Russian oil. Ukraine took its first deliveries late last week of oil products under the new program,...

Romania: Rompetrol Chief Detained.(Rompetrol Group)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Romania's largest privately owned oil and gas company, Rompetrol, issued a statement on May 27 denouncing what it termed "the abusive decision taken last night [May 26] by Romania's General Prosecutor's office temporarily to detain Mr. Dinu...

Azerbaijan: Lukoil Draws A Blank With Yalama Well.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Lukoil has not found any hydrocarbons in commercial quantities in its first well on the Yalama (D-222) Block in the Azeri sector of the Caspian Sea, a source close to the company tells Nefte Compass. The well has been drilled to 4,400...

Local Heroes: Local Firms Win The Day In Eastern Europe As Outsiders Stay Out.
June 1, 2005... Dire predictions that Western and Russian energy giants would march into Eastern and Central Europe and snap up undervalued state assets, sweeping aside weaker local firms, have proved to be wide of the mark. The theme to date has been...

Events.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Caspian Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition, Baku, Jun. 7-10, ITE, tel: +44 (0) 20 7596 5233, www.ite-exhibitions.com MIOGE -- Russian Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition, Moscow, Jun. 21-24, ITE, tel: +44 (0) 20 7596 5233,...

Solid Growth: Lukoil Boosts Net Profit By Over 50%.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Lukoil made a net profit of $4.248 billion in 2004, up 56% from 2003, in results according to US GAAP accounting standards. "The net profit rose mainly due to favorable market conditions and improvements in expense control," Lukoil said....

First Blood: IFC Makes Its Debut In Russian Gas Sector.(International Finance Corp)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The World Bank's International Finance Corp. (IFC) has signed an agreement to buy 1% of Russian independent Novatek, as its first investment in the country's natural gas sector. Rashad Kaldany, the IFC's oil and gas director, said that the...

Equities and Currencies.
June 1, 2005... Share Prices Closing On May 31, 2005

Crude Oil: Urals Gains On Futures, Supply Cuts.
June 1, 2005... Russian Urals blend prices climbed on the back of a futures rally and expectations of a supply reduction in the June port loading schedules for the Baltic and Black Sea ports. July Brent crude oil futures shot up to a high of $52.38 on Jun. 1,...

Products: Products Boosted By Rise in Futures.
June 1, 2005... Russian gas oil has seen a mild rebound over the past few days, as products futures have risen to a three-week high. Also, there has been an upsurge in buy-side interest in both the Mediterranean and the Northwest Europe, traders said. ...

Stalled Out: Sibneft In Limbo As Fate Hangs In The Balance.
June 8, 2005... The fate of Sibneft is again in the spotlight. Once Russia's fastest-growing oil company, it now seems to be drifting while its fate is decided inside Kremlin walls. Speaking at the CIS Oil and Gas Summit in Paris last week, Sibneft's...

Speeding Up: Baku Pushes For BTC Loading To Boost Election Hopes.
June 8, 2005... Azerbaijan is pushing for a late-October date for loading the first cargo of crude from the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which analysts say is aimed at winning the government favorable press coverage ahead of Nov. 6 parliamentary...

May Day Parade: Russia Boosts Output And Exports In May.
June 8, 2005... Russia's crude production and exports both rose in May. Crude output edged up by 31,200 b/d to reach 9.33 million b/d (39.47 million metric tons) compared to the previous month, according to preliminary data from Russia's Ministry of Industry...

Persian Cats: Iran Grumbles At Russian Oil Companies.(Brief Article)
June 8, 2005... Tehran is dissatisfied with Russian oil companies for failing so far to adapt themselves to Iran's conditions, according to a representative of Iran's oil ministry. "Russian companies may play a major role in cooperation with Iran. The...

May Showers: Fuel Oil Shipments Fall In May.(Brief Article)
June 8, 2005... Seaborne fuel oil exports from both Baltic and Black Sea ports fell in May due to refinery turnarounds and the winding down of the spring sowing season. Overall fuel oil seaborne exports fell 525,000 tons, or 13%, on the month in May,...

Blast Off: Russneft Launches Own Crude Export Terminal.(Brief Article)
June 8, 2005... In a bid to expand its crude export opportunities, Mikhail Gutseriev's rapidly growing Russneft has launched a new terminal in Russia's Bryansk region. The new facility has an initial transshipment capacity of 5 million metric tons/yr (100,000...

French Toast: Total's Novatek Deal Could Fall Through.(Total)(Brief Article)
June 8, 2005... France's Total's attempt to buy a 25% stake in independent gas producer Novatek could fall through. Christophe de Margerie, president of Total's exploration and production group, couldn't hide his irritation with Novatek's initial public...

Liquid Courage: Gazprom Partners BP For Trial LNG Sales To US.(British Petroleum)(Liquefied natural gas)(Brief Article)
June 8, 2005... Gazprom is targeting trial LNG shipments to North America in a swap deal with BP, as part of the Russian gas giant's broader strategy of entering that market. Gazprom plans to deliver LNG to the US under pipeline gas-for-LNG swaps with BP,...

Hungry Appetite: Conoco Finalizes Lukoil JV, Wants More Deals.
June 8, 2005... The Kremlin-sponsored crackdown against Yukos has not spooked ConocoPhillips, which says it is ready for more deals in Russia. "We are where the reserves are. We cannot be driven by what has happened today but look for opportunities,...

Island Romance: Sakhalin-2 Signs More LNG Sales Deals.
June 8, 2005... Sakhalin Energy, the Royal Dutch/Shell-led operator of the Sakhalin-2 project, has signed a full, long-term gas sales and purchase agreement for LNG supplies to Japan's Toho Gas. Toho Gas is raising its requirement by 200,000 metric tons/yr to...

Kazakhstan: CPC Expansion To Get Green Light In Two Months.(Caspian Pipeline Consortium)(Brief Article)
June 8, 2005... The Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC)'s shareholders seem to have reached a compromise on the thorny issue of who gets to manage the project. CPC's general director Ian MacDonald has confirmed that the shareholders have agreed to split...

Poland: PKN Orlen Plans New Direct Supply Deals.(Petraco)(Brief Article)
June 8, 2005... Poland's biggest refiner, PKN Orlen, is ready to sign a long-term crude supply contract with trader Petraco to replace an earlier deal the refiner had with Yukos' trading affiliate Petroval. The contract with Petraco will be for volumes a...

Kazakhstan: More Export Routes Needed For Crude Potential.
June 8, 2005... Kazakhstan's oil potential is big and could reach output levels of 3 million-5 million b/d in the next 10-15 years, according to Guy Hollingsworth, managing director of Chevron Eurasia. Construction of export infrastructure to move those...

Turkmenistan: Turkmenbashi Shuns Lukoil's Dragon Deal.(Brief Article)
June 8, 2005... Lukoil has admitted it was eyeing a share in Dragon Oil's offshore Cheleken Block, but was refused political support by Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov. Following Lukoil President Vagit Alekperov's visit to Ashgabat this week, the oil...

Azerbaijan: Mercuria Wins Socar Urals Tender.(Brief Article)
June 8, 2005... Azeri state Socar has awarded its latest tender for a June Urals cargo to Swiss-based trader Mercuria, a Socar official announced. The 600,000 bbl (82,000 metric ton) cargo will be Socar's second cargo shipping out of Russia's Black Sea port...

Kazakhstan: Court Rules Against PetroKazakhstan.(Brief Article)
June 8, 2005... A court in Kazakhstan has ordered PetroKazakhstan to return 3 million bbl of "misappropriated" oil to its joint venture with Russian oil giant Lukoil, the venture said. PetroKazakhstan Kumkol Resources (PKKR) and Lukoil Overseas Kumkol are...

Gloves Off: Gazprom Enters Fray Over Mazeikiu Nafta.
June 8, 2005... The battle for Yukos' 53.7% in Lithuania's Mazeikiu Nafta (MN) is heating up as Gazprom enters the fray. Gazprom chief executive, Alexei Miller, met with Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus in Vilnius last week, and a delegation from...

Get Bent: Novatek Sells Geoilbent to Lukoil.(Brief Article)
June 8, 2005... Novatek is bringing to fruition its long-awaited corporate restructuring plan, which will help the company maximize its value in an upcoming initial public offering (IPO) set for September. Novatek has sold its 66% stake in Geoilbent -- a joint...

Equities and Currencies.
June 8, 2005... Share Prices Closing On June 7, 2005

Crude Oil: Urals Differentials Drop On Sours Glut.
June 8, 2005... Russian Urals differentials have taken a pummeling, as it competes with other sour grades for oversupplied markets in Europe. Prices received support from a rally in futures prices on Jun. 8 following the release of surprisingly bullish US...

Products: Russian Gas Oil Premiums Lag as Futures Rise.(Brief Article)
June 8, 2005... The market for Russian gas oil was propped up by a rise in futures earlier this week, though gains have receded slightly over the past two days. In general, demand for gas oil is looking good, as gas oil spreads versus Brent crude rose to a...

Wildcat: BP Raises Hopes Of New Caspian Oil Find.
June 15, 2005... Next year could see a bright spot in Azerbaijan's dismal exploration program. BP reckons it has a "reasonable chance" of discovering a 1 billion barrel oil field when it drills a new exploration well in the offshore Inam Block in the second...

Tapping In: India Seeks To Tap Into Caspian Energy Sources.
June 15, 2005... India is targeting oil and gas producers in the former Soviet Union as it steps up its drive to diversify its energy sources away from a heavy dependence on the Middle East. India's much-traveled Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Mani...

Third Down: Russia Cuts Third Quarter Exports.
June 15, 2005... Moscow is planning to slash crude exports by 126,000 b/d in the third quarter, confirming market fears that Russian output growth cannot keep pace with rising global oil demand. Most of the cuts are slated for the Black Sea port of...

No Mercy: Another Yukos Exec Faces Probe.
June 15, 2005... Although Yukos' core shareholder Mikhail Khodorkovsky was sentenced to nine years in prison earlier this month, the crackdown on him and his company shows no signs of abating. In the most recent development, Antonio Valdes Garcia, who was...

Bashful: Bashkir Refineries Seen Returning To State.(Bashkir Capital)(Brief Article)
June 15, 2005... The fate of four refineries in Russia's Bashkortostan region is in doubt after a regional court postponed a decision on whether they should be renationalized, the Vedomosti daily newspaper reported. The court was expected earlier this year...

Summer Holiday: Shell Kicks Off Production Season At Sakhalin-2.
June 15, 2005... Royal/Dutch Shell has restarted the summer crude production season at its Sakhalin-2 project on the Pacific Shelf. The supermajor announced it had resumed crude production from its Vityaz platform on the offshore Piltun-Astokhskoye acreage....

Chinese Takeout: Rosneft Signs Deal With China's Sinopec.(Brief Article)
June 15, 2005... Russian state Rosneft has signed a memorandum of understanding with China's Sinopec on joint cooperation, although the two sides gave little further details. Sinopec Vice President Mou Shuling said the document identified four oil fields,...

Lowdown: Lower Rail Tariffs For Rosneft Shipments To China.(Brief Article)
June 15, 2005... State-run Russian Railways and oil major Rosneft have agreed on lower tariffs for crude rail shipments to China. According to Russian Railways chief executive, Gennady Fadeyev, the tariff will come down gradually once rail crude deliveries...

Mister Big: Lukoil Makes Ambitious Gas Plans, Despite Pipeline Row.
June 15, 2005... It is not easy for outsiders to break into Russia's natural gas industry, by far the largest in the world. Even Lukoil is having trouble getting its fingers in -- but this has not stopped it from harboring ambitious plans to ramp up gas...

Monopoly: Gazprom Tightens Its Grip On Gas Reserves.
June 15, 2005... Gazprom's drive to tighten its grip over Russian gas reserves and export projects continues, both east and west. The company last week outlined plans for securing long-coveted access to reserves in Russia's far eastern Sakhalin Island, through...

Tank Attack: Sovkomflot Venture Wins LNG Tankers Deal.
June 15, 2005... Russia's largest shipping company, state-owned Sovkomflot, in partnership with Japanese giant Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK), has won a transportation tender for BP's Tangguh LNG project in Indonesia, the Russian company said last week. ...

Georgia: Batumi Makes A Comeback As Caspian Crude Outlet.
June 15, 2005... The Georgian Black Sea oil terminal at Batumi, one of the key export outlets for Caspian crude, has staged a remarkable turnaround from last year's lows, shipping 1 million metric tons of crude and products in May for the first time in a single...

Kazakhstan: Lukoil Turns Up The Heat On PetroKazakhstan.(Brief Article)
June 15, 2005... Lukoil is turning up the heat in its dispute with Canada's PetroKazakhstan by launching a claim for $220 million at an international arbitration court in Paris. In a further blow for PetroKazakhstan, a regional court in Kazakhstan has...

Macedonia: Lukoil To Build Gasoline Retail Network.(OAO Lukoil)(Brief Article)
June 15, 2005... Russia's Lukoil has agreed to invest some $50 million in the retail gasoline market of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Lukoil chief executive, Vagit Alekperov, and Macedonian Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski signed a memorandum...

European Expansion: OMV Treads Carefully On Road To Expansion.(OMV (Austria) AG)(Brief Article)
June 15, 2005... Austrian OMV is looking to expand its reserves by significantly increasing its activities in Kazakhstan and West Siberia, though it remains cautious about Russia. OMV inherited exploration and production assets in Kazakhstan, Bulgaria and...

Battle of Moscow: Moscow Oil Refinery In Power Struggle.(Moscow Oil and Gas Co.)(Brief Article)
June 15, 2005... A dispute for control over the Moscow refinery intensified when representatives from the Moscow Oil and Gas Company (MOCG) boycotted a shareholder meeting. The refinery's board meeting, which was scheduled to take place Jun. 10, was...

Sitting Pretty: No Threat To ConocoPhillips Venture, Lukoil Says.(Brief Article)
June 15, 2005... Lukoil is trying to dispel concerns that a criminal tax probe into its producer in the northern Timan-Pechora region could threaten its planned joint venture with US major ConocoPhillips. The authorities of the Nenets autonomous district...

Equities and Currencies.
June 15, 2005... Share Prices Closing On June 14, 2005

Crude Oil: Prices Firm Along With Sentiment.
June 15, 2005... Russian Urals differentials recovered a little of the ground lost during the previous reporting period and Brent futures gained more than $3 a barrel as traders ignored Opec's decision to increase production quotas by 500,000 b/d to 28 million...

Products: Demand Slow, But Futures Firm.(Brief Article)
June 15, 2005... Gas oil futures saw a large rise on Jun. 14, which propped up most products prices but curbed interest in Russian gas oil as traders waited for prices to come back down. Although futures receded somewhat during Jun. 15, demand for gas oil was...

Grey Area: Transneft Suspends Work On Northern Export Pipeline.
June 22, 2005... Evidence is mounting that Russia's stagnating crude production is taking the urgency out of its drive to expand its export capacity. In a major setback, Russia's national pipeline operator Transneft has suspended all works on the planned...

Silver Lining: TNK-BP Opens Creative New Export Routes.
June 22, 2005... As other Russian oil companies decry Moscow's hefty export tax regime, TNK-BP is taking the opposite view and arguing that it is actually improving trading margins. The key, according to the Russian-UK joint venture, is to develop creative...

On The Fence: Investors Leery Of Gazprom's Prospects For Reform.(government investments)
June 22, 2005... After years of corruption and abuse that saw the company's asset-base chipped away and its strategic position weakened, Gazprom is on the threshold of becoming the most valuable company on any emerging market stock index in the world. The...

Halvsies: TNK-BP And Sibneft To Split Slavneft Crude.
June 22, 2005... Russian producers TNK-BP and Sibneft have finally reached an agreement on how to carve up Slavneft, which the two companies own on an equal basis, by agreeing to split its crude output 50-50. TNK-BP will start marketing 50% of Slavneft's...

High Resolution: TNK-BP Believes Tax Issue Will Be Resolved.(Brief Article)
June 22, 2005... TNK-BP is confident of a positive resolution of the situation with tax claims the company received earlier this year, according to the joint venture's chief executive Robert Dudley. Speaking at an investment conference in Moscow this week,...

Third Strike: Moscow Cuts Q3 Exports To Ukraine, Kazakhstan.(Brief Article)
June 22, 2005... Russia is slashing crude exports by 116,000 b/d to refineries in the former Soviet Union, in line with a general drop in planned shipments abroad in the third quarter, compared to the previous three months' program (see p11). Not...

Siberian Romance: Russneft Confirmed As Mol's New Partner.(Brief Article)
June 22, 2005... Russian independent oil company Russneft has emerged as Hungarian oil and gas company Mol's new partner in the West Siberian venture, Zapadno-Malobalykskoye, according to official Russian government data. The 53,000 b/d producer was...

Five Alive: Rosneft Plans Sakhalin-5 Well, Yugansk Investment.(Brief Article)
June 22, 2005... Rosneft has announced it will drill a second exploration well on the Sakhalin-5 acreage by the end of this year. It will be drilled on the southern part of the acreage on the Kaigansky-Vasukansky license area. Vice President Stepan Zemlyuk...

Cold Water: Court Deals Blow To Novatek IPO Hopes.
June 22, 2005... The bright prospects for Novatek's planned September initial public offering (IPO) seem to be dimming somewhat as the independent gas producer struggles to divest its 66% stake in crude producer Geoilbent, located in Russia's far north. A...

Beauty Contest: Total And Sumitomo Join Shtokman Suitors.(Brief Article)
June 22, 2005... Foreign companies are lining up as Gazprom prepares to pick partners to develop the giant Shtokmanovskoye gas field in the Arctic Barents Sea. The Russian gas giant plans to choose several companies with whom it will form a consortium to sign a...

Fourth Base: Lukoil Upgrades Diesel Quality.(Brief Article)
June 22, 2005... In a bid to raise the quality of its oil products to international standards, Lukoil has started producing Euro-4 standard diesel. The Russian oil major is planning output of 240,000-390,000 metric tons/month (58,000-94,000 b/d). Of...

Fox Hunt: Putin Offers To Ship Sakhalin LNG To Mexico.(Vladimir Putin)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2005... Russia plans to supply Mexico with LNG from its Sakhalin Island reserves, with excess volumes expected to be marketed in the US, said Russian President Vladimir Putin. "LNG from Sakhalin will be delivered to the Mexican coast and partially...

Going Strong: Surgut To Decide On Primorsk Refinery.(Surgutneftegaz Industrial Association)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2005... Surgutneftegas will take a final decision in the middle of next year on its plan to construct a refinery near the Baltic Sea port of Primorsk. Surgut President Vladimir Bogdanov says the oil producer is preparing a feasibility study, but...

Azerbaijan: Exxon To Pay Compensation For Nakhichevan.(Exxon Mobil )(Brief Article)
June 22, 2005... Exxon Mobil will pay Azerbaijan around $30 million in compensation for terminating its production sharing contract for the Nakhichevan Block in the Caspian Sea. "We have concluded our discussions with Exxon Mobil on Nakhichevan," Natik...

Azerbaijan: EBRD Approves $180 Million Loan For Lukoil.(European Bank for Reconstruction and Development)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2005... The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has approved a $180 million loan package for Russian oil giant Lukoil. Of this amount, $110 million will go to finance Lukoil's share in developing the Shah Deniz gas field in Azerbaijan. ...