NEFTE Compass articles from March 2007

NEFTE Compass archives from March 2007

Minority Status Starts To Pay For Conoco.
March 7, 2007... ConocoPhillips could be a good model for foreign investors in Russia. At a time when BP, Total and Royal Dutch Shell have been feeling the heat over their Russian equity holdings of around 50%, which Moscow views as excessive, Conoco's decision...

Struggle For Ventspils Heats Up.
March 7, 2007... A recent intensification of the Latvian government's corruption probe into the murky businesses surrounding the Baltic port of Ventspils appears to have inflamed the struggle for control over the substantial crude oil and product flows through...

Yukos Gas Assets To Be Sold In One Lot.
March 7, 2007... The Yukos receivership is to auction the company's 20% equity stake in Gazprom oil subsidiary Gazprom Neft, as well as Yukos gas assets Arcticgas and Urengoil and some smaller assets including Volgotanker, in one combined lot on Apr. 4. This...

Surgutneftegas Buys Into Kremlin Friendly Bank.
March 7, 2007... Kremlin-friendly Surgutneftegas has agreed to buy an economic interest in Kremlin-linked Rossiya Bank for $42 million in what analysts have called an investment into administrative resources, as takeover rumors swirl around Russia's...

TNK-BP, Lukoil Replaced Reserves In 2006.
March 7, 2007... Top oil major Lukoil and Russian-UK venture TNK-BP reported 2006 reserve replacement ratios of 104.1% and 156%, respectively, according to independent audits conducted under criteria from the US Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE). TNK-BP...

Druzhba Leads Russian Crude Export Rebound.
March 7, 2007... Exports of Russian crude oil rose slightly in February from the previous month, helped by the return of the Druzhba pipeline to full capacity. Total exports of Russian crude to countries outside the CIS rose to 3.948 million b/d (25.081 million...

CPC Consortium Could Face New Tax Claims.
March 7, 2007... The Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) could face new tax demands, according to Sergei Oganesyan, head of Russia's Energy Agency. He told reporters this week that Russian tax bodies are actively looking into CPC's operations and didn't rule out...

Lukoil Plans Gas-Chemicals Complex In Russia.
March 7, 2007... Lukoil is planning a $3 billion natural gas and chemicals complex in the south of Russia to process output from fields in the Caspian Sea. According to Lukoil President Vagit Alekperov the decision has been taken that the gas-chemicals...

Gazprom, BP Heads Discuss Joint Ventures.
March 7, 2007... Gazprom and BP discussed setting up an international LNG joint venture at a meeting between the heads of the two companies in Moscow last week. But most observers focused on whether the two companies had already, or would, discuss the TNK-BP...

TNK-BP Comes Under Fire Over Oil Spill.
March 7, 2007... Russian-UK joint venture TNK-BP has again come under fire from Russian authorities after an oil pipeline leak last week at its Orenburgneft subsidiary in West Siberia's Urals region. Rosprirodnadzor, the environmental oversight board of...

Sibir Buys West Siberian Licenses.(Sibir Energy PLC)(Brief article)
March 7, 2007... London-listed Sibir Energy has struck a deal to buy exploration licenses for eight areas in West Siberia's Khanty-Mansiysk region, in a private corporate transaction valued at $50 million. The acreage, known as the Koltogorsky Blocks,...

Belgium and Gazprom Talk Gas Storage.
March 7, 2007... Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt and Gazprom President Alexei Miller discussed on Mar. 2 the potential joint construction of an underground gas storage facility in Belgium. At a later meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and...

Gazprom, ConocoPhillips In Shtokman Talks.
March 7, 2007... Gazprom has resumed talks with companies it previously short-listed -- but rejected -- for a role in developing the giant Shtokman gas field in the Barents Sea. The Russian gas giant's chief executive, Alexei Miller, met his counterpart...

UES Outlines Twin-Track Strategy To Raise Investment.
March 7, 2007... Following the Russian government's approval of its restructuring program, power giant RAO UES is preparing the ground for the sale of stakes in the new generation companies that it is due to spin off (see box below). The company is...

Moscow Approves UES Restructuring.(Unified Energy Systems of Russia)(Brief article)
March 7, 2007... Russia's economy ministry on Mar. 2 finally approved the restructuring plan for the country's electricity behemoth, RAO UES. The state's stakes in wholesale and regional power generation companies that are to be spun off from UES will be...

Ukraine Pushes Russia For Direct Gas Supplies.
March 7, 2007... Ukraine's government is again seeking talks with Russian gas monopoly Gazprom on buying its gas direct from the state giant, thereby eliminating intermediary companies, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Klyuev was quoted as saying last...

Lukoil To Boost Bulgarian Plant To Supply Turkey.
March 7, 2007... Lukoil has decided to expand the capacity of its Bourgas refinery in Bulgaria instead of building a plant in Turkey, according to the Russian company's president Vagit Alekperov. Lukoil will boost the capacity of the Bourgas refinery to 10...

Chevron Signals Interest In Bosporus Bypass.
March 7, 2007... Chevron officials have told Bulgaria that the US major is interested in taking a stake in the proposed Bourgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline that will link the Black Sea to Greek seaports, bypassing the congested Turkish straits, according to...

Poland Gets A Foothold In Norwegian Upstream.
March 7, 2007... In a bid to ease its dependence on Russia, Poland's state-controlled gas company PGNiG has purchased a 15% stake in exploration licenses for two Norwegian offshore gas fields from US major Exxon Mobil for $360 million. PGNiG plans to spend...

Koreans Pick Uzbekistan For Petchem Debut.
March 7, 2007... South Korea's state-owned Korea Gas (Kogas) has picked Uzbekistan as the base for its first foray into the international petrochemical business, inviting other South Korean companies to form a consortium to invest in a gas development project...

Kazmunaigas E&P Buys Into Kazgermunai.
March 7, 2007... Kazakhstan's Kazmunaigas Exploration & Production (KMG E&P) said it is paying its parent company, state-owned Kazmunaigas, $1.07 billion for a 50% stake in Kazakh oil producer Kazgermunai. The deal to buy the stake in the 60,000 b/d...

Mazeikiu Nafta Reports Steep Fall In Profits.(Financial report)
March 7, 2007... Lithuanian refiner Mazeikiu Nafta (MN) reported a steep fall in 2006 net profits, mainly due to a damaging fire at its refinery in October, as well as higher crude costs and lower refining margins (NC Nov.2,p1). MN, which has been majority...

Gazprom Issues Bonds, Looks For Sakhalin-2 Loans.
March 7, 2007... Gazprom last week placed a C500 million ($665 million) 10-year euro-denominated bond and a 15-year $1.3 billion US dollar-denominated bond, according to a company statement. The euro-denominated notes have an annual coupon yield of 5.44%,...

Equities and Currencies.
March 7, 2007... Share Prices Closing On March 6, 2007

Pushed And Pulled By Outside Factors.
March 7, 2007... The turmoil in global financial and equities markets pushed April Brent futures down from a $62.74 intraday high on Mar. 1 to a $60 low on Mar. 5 before a spluttering financial recovery, a cold snap in the US Northeast and news of yet another...

Gas Oil Struggles To Post Modest Gains.
March 7, 2007... Russia continues to export large quantities of products to Europe, according to traders, keeping Europe well stocked despite volumes of fuel oil traveling to the Far East and the beginning of a season of refinery turnarounds. March ICE gas...

BP Supports Rosneft In Yukos Auction Success.
March 27, 2007... The imminent exit of BP Chief Executive John Browne shouldn't diminish the UK-based supermajor's close relationship with the Kremlin, with Browne flying to Moscow last week to personally introduce his successor, Tony Hayward, to Russian...

PKN Orlen Eyes Lithuania's Klaipeda Oil Terminal.
March 27, 2007... In a bid to strengthen its position in the Baltic states, Poland's PKN Orlen, which already controls Lithuanian oil complex Mazeikiu Nafta (MN), is considering buying into Klaipedos Nafta (KN), the state-controlled operator of Lithuania's...

Russia Revives Pipeline Merger Plans.
March 27, 2007... Moscow has revived plans to merge Russia's state-owned refined products pipeline monopoly Transnefteproduct with state crude oil pipeline monopoly Transneft, months after resistance from company officials appeared to have killed off the plan....

Russian Output Climbs Despite Onshore Dip.
March 27, 2007... Led by a further boost from the Exxon Mobil-led Sakhalin-1 project on the Pacific Shelf, Russia's output of crude oil and condensate rose by 28,700 b/d in February from the previous month to top 9.877 million b/d, according to the latest...

Russia Leans On Primorsk To Boost April Loadings.(Brief article)
March 27, 2007... Moscow is ready to cash in on an early spring, and plans to boost crude loadings by 54,000 b/d in April in spite of a sharp drop in Black Sea shipments due to maintenance closures. Leaning heavily on the Baltic port of Primorsk, Russia's crude...

Novatek Enters Fray For Yukos Gas Assets.
March 27, 2007... Russia's top independent gas producer Novatek is reportedly considering participating in the Apr. 4 auction of Yukos' 20% stake in Gazprom oil subsidiary Gazprom Neft and also for the sales of Yukos' main gas assets, which have already...

Gazprom Signs PSA With Libya For Block 19.
March 27, 2007... Gazprom has signed a production sharing agreement (PSA) with Libya's National Oil Corp. (NOC) for the development of four blocks in Libya's offshore exploration area 19, according to the Russian gas monopoly. Gazprom, one of the last of...

US Hess Doubles Oil Production In Russia.
March 27, 2007... US independent Hess has more than doubled production in Russia to 24,000 b/d, equivalent to roughly 7% of the company's total global hydrocarbons production of 359,000 boe/d, according to a Hess spokesman. In 2005 Hess acquired...

Gazprom Favors Pipeline Exports Over LNG.
March 27, 2007... Gazprom has likely reverted to form and is focusing on pipeline gas rather than LNG sales in the Atlantic Basin. Even as the Nord Stream pipeline that would run under the Baltic direct to Germany is progressing, Gazprom's earlier, ambitious...

Moscow At Odds On East Siberian Gas Projects.
March 27, 2007... The Russian government remains unable to agree a long-term program to develop the country's huge East Siberian gas reserves, mainly because of the continuing lack of clarity on the future of the giant Kovykta gas condensate field which is...

Chinese Leader's Visit To Moscow Yields Little.
March 27, 2007... Despite warm welcomes and already warm relations, Chinese President Hu Jintao's three-day trip to Moscow this week to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin has failed to produce the kind of headline oil and gas deals between the growing...

Turkmenistan Approves Energy Program.
March 27, 2007... Turkmenistan's newly elected president, Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov, has approved an aggressive development plan for the country's gas and oil sector that targets sizable growth in both production and exports this year. Under the program,...

Nord Stream Pipeline Progresses.
March 27, 2007... The consortium developing the Nord Stream gas pipeline from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea has finalized the first stage of international talks over the line's potential environmental impact. The Russian-German consortium, led by...

Kazmunaigas Eyes Joining Turkish Refinery Plans.
March 27, 2007... Kazakh state Kazmunaigas is set to join a consortium of companies planning to build a 300,000 b/d refinery near the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, which Turkey is pushing as a global energy hub. Kazmunaigas plans to sign an agreement as...

Hungary Lends Support To Blue Stream Pipeline.
March 27, 2007... Hungarian oil and gas firm Mol seems to be leaning towards supporting an extension of Gazprom's partially built Blue Stream pipeline to deliver gas supplies from Turkey to Europe. Hungary is in a delicate position, as it seeks to strengthen...

Mol Eyes Gas Storage With Gazprom.
March 27, 2007... Hungarian oil and gas firm Mol is teaming up with Russian state gas monopoly Gazprom to study the feasibility of building a massive gas storage facility in southern Hungary that would be a part of the proposed extension of the Russian giant's...

Romania Plans IPO For Gas Grid Operator.
March 27, 2007... Romanian national gas transmission Transgaz has secured an investment grade credit-rating from Standard & Poor's of "BB+" with a positive outlook. It hopes the new credit rating will encourage investors to consider its initial public offering...

Receiver To Pay Yukos Creditors Immediately.
March 27, 2007... The Yukos receivership said it may begin paying the bankrupt Russian oil company's creditors immediately after receiving funds from the asset sales which began Mar. 27 with Russian state-run Rosneft's $7.6 billion winning bid for a lot...

Lukoil Arranges Loan To Restructure Debt.
March 27, 2007... Lukoil has mandated ABN Amro and Calyon to arrange an unsecured loan worth $250 million. The funds will be used to restructure part of its debts, replacing a relatively expensive secured facility with this cheaper unsecured one, the Russian oil...

Equities and Currencies.
March 27, 2007... Share Prices Closing On Mar. 27, 2007

Political Froth Fuels Price Spike.
March 27, 2007... The price recovery in crude futures that started from a Mar. 21 low for new front-month May Brent at $60.35 pushed prices up steadily to just under $65 until the markets exploded in a one-hour frenzy of after-hours trading on Mar. 27. Rumors of...

Politics, Strikes And Accidents Support Prices.
March 27, 2007... European middle distillate prices spiked week-on-week, as troubles in the Middle East translated into a jump in products futures, while logistical difficulties in the Mediterranean and an open fuel oil arbitrage to Asia-Pacific also contributed...