NEFTE Compass articles from March 2008

NEFTE Compass archives from March 2008

Russia Takes Softer Line With Ukraine After Medvedev Victory.
March 5, 2008... Russia turned back from the brink of a gas crisis with Ukraine this week that once again served to highlight Europe's need for alternative transportation routes to guarantee its energy security. Analysts also detected signals of a milder...

Middlemen Targeted As Russia Remodels Oil Export System.
March 5, 2008... Russia's Industry and Energy Ministry has given its backing to a campaign led by oil major Lukoil for far-reaching changes to the country's oil export system. In a move that will hit traders controlling sales along the Druzhba crude oil...

TNK-BP Says Secret Is To Move Into The First Quartile.(Interview)
March 5, 2008... One of the secrets for a company that wants to protect itself from regulatory changes in the business environment is to have its assets in a leading market position -- "in the first quartile," Tony Considine, TNK-BP's executive vice president...

Rosneft Mulls Aviation Business.
March 5, 2008... State-run Rosneft is eyeing expansion into the aviation business, in a move that would strengthen its position in the Khabarovsk region in the Russian Far East. The oil major, in partnership with Russian flagship airline Aeroflot, is...

Transneft Maps Out Stage Two Of Pacific Pipeline.
March 5, 2008... The East Siberian Pacific Ocean (Espo) oil pipeline's second phase will be completed by 2015, but will reach the ultimate capacity of 1.6 million b/d only by 2025, under the latest plan of Russian national pipeline operator Transneft. The...

Crude Production And Exports Head South.
March 5, 2008... Russian crude and condensate production continued to decline in Feburary, dropping 0.9% from a year ago. The fall in output is combining with the attractive refining margins inside the country to reduce the amount of crude available for...

Shell, Chevron And Gunvor Win Rosneft Tender.
March 5, 2008... Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron and Geneva-based trading firm Gunvor have emerged as winners of Rosneft's huge oil tender to lift the state-controlled major's crude in the next six months. With official results still pending, bids by Shell and...

Total Looks To Stay In Shtokman.
March 5, 2008... Total Chief Executive Christophe de Margerie has said that the French company would consider handing over technology used in developing the first phase of the massive Shtokman gas field offshore the Barents Sea to Russian state Gazprom after...

Rosneft, Surgut Snap Up Siberian Acreage.
March 5, 2008... Russian state-owned Rosneft has outbid Kremlin-friendly Surgutneftegas for rights to East Siberia's Umotinsky oil field as both companies try to grab acreage in the area. Rosneft offered 1.2 billion rubles ($50 million) after bidding...

Gazprom, E.On To Build Power Plant.
March 5, 2008... Russia's Gazprom and German power giant E.On have signed a memorandum of understanding on the joint construction and operation of a combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant at Lubmin, near the German Baltic Sea landfall of the future Nord...

Gazprom Suspends Free Gas Trading.
March 5, 2008... Russia's pilot project for trading gas on the country's first-ever electronic gas exchange is likely to face problems after gas giant Gazprom halted trading its volumes twice in February, citing the absence of supplementary feedstock. ...

St. Petersburg Bourse Starts Products Trading.(Brief article)
March 5, 2008... The St. Petersburg Bourse has begun domestic physical trading of oil products with minimal activity, as the exchange still has plenty of kinks to work out and awaits the Kremlin-ordered participation of state-subsidized companies to increase...

Finns Buy Into Siberian Power Firm.(Brief article)
March 5, 2008... Finnish power company Fortum has expanded in Russia by acquiring a controlling stake in regional generation company TGK-10. Fortum is set to buy the 29% stake from former state electricity monopoly UES for 800 million ($1.2 billion) under...

Ukrainian Refinery To Tap Iraqi Crude.
March 5, 2008... Ukraine's biggest refinery, the Kremenchug plant, plans to import more Iraqi crude to compensate for shortages of Russian oil supplies, according to the plant's owner, Ukrtatnafta. The company plans to receive a total of 480,000 metric...

Vanco Outlines Ukrainian Offshore Spending.(Vanco Energy )(Brief article)
March 5, 2008... US independent Vanco Energy is to invest $87.5 million in the exploration of a Black Sea deepwater area off Ukraine in 2008. Vanco International, a joint venture of the US independent and financial backer JNR EIL, is to launch the...

Mittal Unlikely To Transfer Kazakh Oil Assets.
March 5, 2008... Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal is unlikely to transfer the Kazakh oil and gas assets he bought from Russia's Lukoil to his joint venture with Indian state Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) because of new Kazakh energy legislation. ...

UK Independent Buys Kazakh Fields.
March 5, 2008... UK-listed Roxi Petroleum has finalized a deal to buy 59% of the UK's Eragon Petroleum, the holding company for three exploration and development assets in western Kazakhstan, for $190 million. Shares of the bigger combo will trade on...

Chevron To Double Kazakh Production.
March 5, 2008... The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil joint venture in Kazakhstan plans to nearly double its oil production this year. "We will have the capacity to produce 540,000 b/d mid-2008," Linsi Crain, a Tengizchevroil spokeswoman, said in a written...

Sakhalin-2 Changes Tack In Financing Plan.
March 5, 2008... Sakhalin Energy, the Russian state Gazprom-led consortium developing the Sakhalin-2 project -- has switched gears in its attempts to gain financing for the project's second phase, abandoning attempts to attract funds from US Export-Import Bank...

Sibur Mulls Ruble Bonds To Fund Expansion.
March 5, 2008... Russian petrochemicals company Sibur, a subsidiary of state-controlled Gazprom, could raise up to 120 billion rubles ($5 billion) to support the company's investment plan and potential acquisitions and mergers, according to Sibur and Russia's...

Integra Results Get Mixed Reviews.(Financial report)(Brief article)
March 5, 2008... Russian oil-field services company Integra has published its long-awaited order backlog for 2008 and operating results for 2007 to mixed reviews from banking analysts. The company's order book value as of Feb. 19 for 2008 stood at just...

Equities and Currencies.
March 5, 2008... Share Prices Closing On March 4, 2008

Another Day, Another Record.
March 5, 2008... The front-month April Brent futures contract reached higher once more, trading a $5.37 range to a new record intraday high of $102.29 on the coattails of a broad-based rally in commodities triggered by further weakness in the US dollar....

Gas Oil Goes From Strength To Strength.
March 5, 2008... Reports of refinery maintenance in Russia into next month are adding fuel to the middle distillate fire in Europe. While warmer weather is undermining heating oil demand, diesel demand has been surging, and with no incentive to build or hold...