NEFTE Compass articles from March 2009

NEFTE Compass archives from March 2009

Russia Heads To Opec Empty-Handed.
March 4, 2009... Even though its economy is in free fall, Russia is unlikely to have much to offer Opec when the producer group meets in Vienna on Mar. 15 to discuss strategies to shore up oil prices. Echoing previous experience, Russian crude oil exports...

Gas Prospects Lure Total Back To Caspian Block.
March 4, 2009... Rising demand for natural gas from the Caspian seems to have prompted France's Total to take a second look at an exploration block in Azerbaijan that it and operator Chevron abandoned in 2003. When they pulled out of the offshore Absheron...

Fire Halts Flows To Black Sea Ports.
March 4, 2009... Russia has halted deliveries to the Black Sea ports of Novorossiysk and Tuapse for an indefinite amount of time after a serious blast hit a Transneft oil pipeline in the Saratov region, potentially disrupting flows to the outlets for a month....

Rosneft Output Falls For The First Time In Years.
March 4, 2009... Rosneft's reputation for consistent production growth, largely on the back of the assets of now-defunct Yukos, was dented in February, when output from Russia's largest oil producer fell for the first time in years. According to...

Russia, Spain Enhance Energy Cooperation.
March 4, 2009... Russia and Spain have signed a wide-ranging energy cooperation deal during a two-day visit to Madrid by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, while leading power and LNG players from the two countries inked separate cooperation agreements. ...

State Nominates Surgut Head To Rosneft Board.
March 4, 2009... Vladimir Bogdanov, the head of Surgutneftegas, has been nominated as an independent representative on the board of state-controlled oil major Rosneft. The move revives suspicions that Moscow plans to merge the Kremlin-friendly private producer...

Russian Companies' Oil Reserves Shrink.
March 4, 2009... Low oil prices have clearly impacted Russian oil companies' reserves, according to the latest audits. Top producer Rosneft revealed this week that its oil and gas reserves fell 0.3% last year to 14.448 billion boe under US Securities and...

BP, Rosneft Withdraw From Sakhalin-4.
March 4, 2009... Disappointed with the exploration results of the Sakhalin-4 contract area on the Russian Pacific shelf, Rosneft and BP have decided to abandon the project. The five-year exploration license for the acreage expired in November 2008 and the...

Sino-Russian JV Inches Along.
March 4, 2009... The provincial government of Tianjin in northern China has listed a refining-petrochemical joint venture between China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) and Russia's state-controlled Rosneft as a key project for this year. CNPC and Rosneft...

Rosneft To Get Control Of Caucasus Producer.
March 4, 2009... Rosneft will get a stake in the local Ingushneftegazprom producer in the Russian republic of Ingushetia as part of its efforts to consolidate production activities in the Caucasus region. The government of Ingushetia will transfer 51% in...

Gazprom Hires Nord Stream Contractor.
March 4, 2009... Gazprom has hired Italian engineer Siirtec Nigi to build a dehydration plant at the Portovaya gas compression station near Vyborg as part of the Gazprom-led Nord Stream pipeline to Germany. Siirtec Nigi will be responsible for project...

Khodorkovsky Embezzlement Trial Begins.
March 4, 2009... A Moscow court has started hearing a new case against former Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky on charges of embezzling tens of billions of dollars from the company. The trial has sparked a fresh round of criticism over the state's role in the...

BP Appoints New Moscow Head.
March 4, 2009... Jeremy Huck on Mar. 1 took over from Richard Spies as president of BP in Russia. According to BP's spokesman in Moscow, Huck will have more responsibility than Spies, as he will also be in charge of BP's interests in TNK-BP, its Russian...

BP Squeezes Suppliers In Azerbaijan.
March 4, 2009... As the major player in Azerbaijan, BP is flexing its muscles to press for big cuts in costs from its service and equipment suppliers in the region. The UK supermajor's local subsidiary called all of its suppliers to a meeting in Baku...

Gazprom Quits Uzbek Fields.
March 4, 2009... The global economic slowdown looks to have claimed another victim, as it emerged this week that Russian gas giant Gazprom is to quit three fields in Uzbekistan. Zarubezhneftegas, Gazprom's overseas subsidiary, will return to the state the...

Croatia Opens Door To New European Gas Link.
March 4, 2009... In a move that could reduce Central Europe's reliance on Russian gas and eventually provide the region with access to LNG, Croatia is lining up its first new gas supply route in over 30 years as a result of a joint development agreement signed...

Gunvor Moves Into Ventspils.
March 4, 2009... International trading firm Gunvor has locked up all of the storage facilities for clean refined products at the Ventbunkers terminal in the Latvian port of Ventspils, effectively cutting out the ability of smaller traders to continue operating...

Baltic Terminal Ramps Up Shipments.(Brief article)(Statistical data)
March 4, 2009... Oil traffic is increasing at Lithuania's Baltic Sea oil export terminal of Klaipeda, mainly due to higher product shipments from the country's oil refinery, Mazeikiu Nafta (MN), the only refinery in the Baltic states. Klaipedos Nafta (KN),...

Rosneft Profits Surge Despite Poor Final Quarter.(Financial report)
March 4, 2009... Russia's biggest oil company, state-controlled Rosneft, said its net profit reached a record $11.12 billion in 2008 under US GAAP accounting standards, a 71.5% jump from 2007, despite a year-on-year decline of 64.4% in the fourth quarter. ...

Gazprom Profits Rise On Higher Prices.(Financial report)
March 4, 2009... Gazprom's consolidated net profit in the first nine months of 2008 jumped over 65% year-on-year, backed by higher European export prices and sales. The state gas giant's net profit, calculated according to international accounting...

Equities and Currencies.
March 4, 2009... Share Prices Closing March 3, 2009

Futures Bounce On Bullish US Inventory.
March 4, 2009... Front-month ICE Brent futures took a hike down the mountain and then right back up again, trading a $5.04/bbl range over the seven-day reporting period. The contract started out in high ground at $46.63 on Feb. 26 on the back of resurgent US...

Gas Oil Drops Despite Refinery Turnarounds.
March 4, 2009... Front-month ICE gas oil futures fell to its lowest level in more than four years this week, with intraday trading plunging to $358.75/ton. Its high was $406/ton on Feb. 26. At press time, it was trading at $377. Europe's refinery...

Turkmenistan Proves A Tough Nut To Crack.
March 10, 2009... Turkmenistan is proving a harder place to do business than many oil companies thought would be the case after President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov took power three years ago and pledged to open up to outside investment. BP and Chevron have...

Gazprom Balances Falling Sales And Political Necessities.
March 10, 2009... Russia's Gazprom pushed ahead this week on its proposed South Stream pipeline to Europe despite signs of a thinning demand for natural gas. The state gas giant, which has been gearing back output since the year began, is considering...

Gazprom Neft Steps Up Serbian Investment.
March 10, 2009... Gazprom oil arm Gazprom Neft is pushing ahead with the modernization of Serbian oil firm Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) after recently taking over as majority shareholder. NIS last week invited bids to supply key equipment for the Pancevo...

Tensions Build With Ukraine Over Gas Dispute.
March 10, 2009... Tensions in Ukraine and Russia continue to boil over the fate of some 11 Bcm of natural gas whose ownership has become the focal point of Ukraine's long-running domestic political dispute. A state Naftogaz Ukrainy representative said this...

Nord Stream Discussions Start In Denmark.
March 10, 2009... The Gazprom-led consortium developing the Nord Stream gas pipeline from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea has finally published a report on the environmental impact of the pipeline on Danish territorial waters, launching public...

Pipeline Flows Resume To Black Sea Ports.
March 10, 2009... Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft has completed repairs to the Kuibyshev-Lisichansk pipeline in the central Saratov region that suffered a significant leak and fire last week, halting flows to the Black Sea ports of Novorossiysk and Tuapse....

Refineries Keep Runs Flat In January.
March 10, 2009... Russian refineries kept their crude processing almost flat at 19.252 million tons (4.552 million b/d) in January, compared with 4.596 million b/d in the previous month, as more crude was exported. Compared with a year earlier, runs were about...

Stroitransgas Starts UAE Pipeline.
March 10, 2009... Russian oil and gas construction firm Stroitransgas last week launched the construction of a new gas pipeline linking Abu Dhabi to the eastern emirate of Fujairah -- its first project in the United Arab Emirates. The 244 km pipe will link...

Uzbek Oil Field Changes Hands.
March 10, 2009... Toronto-listed Tethys Petroleum has signed a deal to acquire the stake held by the UK's Rosehill Energy in the North Urtabalak oil field in Uzbekistan. The price tag of the deal is 15 million Tethys shares, valued at about US$6.5 million....

UK Firm Faces New Legal Challenge In Ukraine.(Poltavanaftogazgeologiya)(Cadogan Petroleum)(Brief article)
March 10, 2009... London-listed independent Cadogan Petroleum has run into a potential new setback in Ukraine after a court raised questions over the ownership of a field license. Cadogan said this week that Ukraine's Higher Administrative Court had found...

Azeri Exports Hold Steady At Ceyhan.(Brief article)(Statistical data)
March 10, 2009... Shipments of Azeri Light crude oil from the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan are set to hold steady in April at around 700,000 b/d, according to the latest loading schedule. But pumping via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline is still...

Melrose Farms Into Black Sea Blocks.(Melrose Resources)(Brief article)
March 10, 2009... London-listed Melrose Resources has signed an agreement to farm in to two Romanian offshore blocks held by Calgary-based Sterling Resources. Melrose will earn a 32.5% interest in the Pelican XIII and Midia XV Blocks in the Black Sea in...

Belarus Increases Output In Venezuela.(Petrolera BeloVenesolana )(Brief article)
March 10, 2009... Belarus-Venezuela joint venture Petrolera BeloVenesolana plans to increase oil output in Venezuela by almost 60% in 2009 to 1.1 million tons (22,000 b/d), according to an official at state firm Belarusneft. The increase will come from three new...

Iran Threatens To Sue Turkmenistan.
March 10, 2009... After an apparently successful trip to Iran last month by Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov, Tehran has potentially soured ties by announcing that it might sue Ashkhabad for a shortfall in gas deliveries a year ago. Iranian...

Turkmen Producer Probes Internal Irregularities.(Brief article)
March 10, 2009... Dubai independent Dragon Oil said that it has launched an investigation into possible irregularities in its procurement procedures by former senior managers in its marketing and contract departments. "This matter is completely unacceptable,"...

Ceyhan Crude Loading Program, April 2009.
March 10, 2009...  

Kazakh Crude Oil And Gas Condensate Production, February 2009.
March 10, 2009...  

Kazakh Gas Production, February 2009.
March 10, 2009...  

Russia Revamps Oil Funds To Boost Liquidity.
March 10, 2009... Russia's finance ministry has cut the list of investments open to the country's oil-fueled sovereign wealth funds to guarantee the state's ability to access cash amid the ongoing economic turbulence, limiting investment to only the most liquid...

Sberbank Poised To See Oil Holdings Grow.
March 10, 2009... Sberbank's holdings in the oil industry may continue to grow, as the main Russian shareholders of UK-listed independent Sibir Energy, Shalva Chigirinsky and business partner Igor Kesaev, reportedly may have trouble repaying their loans to the...

Equities and Currencies.
March 10, 2009... Share Prices Closing March 10, 2009

Urals Falls Sharply In Northwest Europe.(Statistical data)
March 10, 2009... Front-month ICE April Brent futures have spent the past seven days rattling around in a relatively narrow $4.20/bbl range, between a Mar. 5 high of $46.42 and a Mar. 11 low of $42.22, the latter courtesy of a slightly bearish US inventory...

Gas Oil Fares Better Than Crude.(Brief article)(Statistical data)
March 10, 2009... ICE gas oil futures fared better than crude this week, supported by the change from winter to summer specifications. The front-month March contract traded a $39.55/ton range, hitting a $394.50 intraday high on Mar. 10 on the back of...

India Could Trump Chinese Bid For Kazakh Producer.
March 17, 2009... India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) has emerged as a potential late-runner in the race to buy a stake in Kazakhstan's last big independent oil and gas producer, Mangistaumunaigas (MMG), Kazakh industry sources say. The Indian state...

Russia's Opec Flirtations Fall Short.
March 17, 2009... Russia's influential deputy prime minister overseeing the energy sector, Igor Sechin, traveled to Opec's weekend meeting in Vienna bearing a new barrage of offers for increased cooperation between the producer group and the world's largest...

Smaller Gas Transportation Ventures Take Shape.
March 17, 2009... While Russia charges ahead on the C10 billion South Stream pipeline and the OMV-led Nabucco project continues to flounder, a series of much smaller ventures aimed at transporting non-Russian gas into Europe is taking shape -- gas supply...

Nabucco Faces New Obstacles.
March 17, 2009... The Nabucco pipeline has been dropped from a proposed list of energy projects that would benefit from C3.75 billion ($4.9 billion) in European Union grants, local reports quoted unidentified officials attending the Mar. 16 EU foreign ministers'...

Polish Crude Supply Patterns See Changes.
March 17, 2009... Data on Russian crude offtakers show the disappearance last month of trading firm KD Petrotrade from the supply chain to Poland, which threatens its long-term contract with PKN Orlen, not to mention its own future. KD Petrotrade agreed to...

Russneft Debts Mount As Deripaska Pulls Out.
March 17, 2009... Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska seems to have pulled out of a deal to buy Russneft after the company, Russia's biggest independent oil producer, took over the $2.8 billion loan the embattled tycoon raised from state Sberbank to pay...

Russia, Iran To Expand Energy Cooperation.
March 17, 2009... Russia and Iran, holders of the world's biggest natural gas reserves, have signed a new accord to broaden energy cooperation, especially in LNG projects on the Mideast Gulf. The memorandum of understanding (MOU) was inked Mar. 15 by Russian...

Sakhalin-1 Awaits April Meeting To Unlock Project.
March 17, 2009... The additional costs of the Exxon Mobil-operated Sakhalin-1 development in 2008 have been agreed upon in principle by the project's working group, but the project must wait for the Authorized State Body (ASB) to give final approval of the extra...

Trebs And Titov Fields Will Not Be Tendered.
March 17, 2009... Two of Russia's most prospective oil fields in the Timan-Pechora region, Trebs and Titov, will not be tendered and will remain in state hands, according to Igor Sechin, Russia's deputy prime minister in charge of the energy sector. Nefte...

Russia, Poland Agree To Renegotiate Gas Deal.
March 17, 2009... Russia and Poland have agreed to renegotiate the terms of a natural gas supply and transit contract signed in 1993 to resume normal gas supplies from Russia after January's disruption. Gazprom will be ready to provide extra amounts of gas...

Gunvor Leads In Rosneft Tenders.
March 17, 2009... Total, Gunvor and Itochu have emerged as winners in Rosneft's latest crude tender, which offers barrels of the state producer's oil for six months starting from April. Total and Gunvor split the volumes from the Baltic Sea port of...

TNK-BP Fills Key Management Positions.
March 17, 2009... TNK-BP this week announced two senior appointments, although the search still goes on for a new chief executive to head the Russian-UK joint venture. Jonathan Muir, who was formerly with Russian oil producer Sidanco and international...

Gazprom Eyes Japanese Power Assets.
March 17, 2009... Gazprom is reportedly considering buying into Japanese power assets in the long term with the aim of increasing its sales of LNG. Analysts consider Gazprom's move logical, as the value of Japan's utilities has decreased amid the global...

Tatneft Refinery Plans Hit By Financing Woes.
March 17, 2009... Regional producer Tatneft's planned 140,000 b/d Nizhnekamsk refinery in the Russian republic of Tatarstan appears to be experiencing financing problems, although the company denies this and says the project is still on track. Tatneft is...

Russia, Venezuela Set Up Exploration Venture.
March 17, 2009... Russia and Venezuela have set up a joint venture to explore the Junin-6 Block in Venezuela's Orinoco Belt -- the first concrete step taken under the 25-year energy cooperation agreement signed when Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited...

Rosneft Makes Advances In Algeria.
March 17, 2009... A venture between Algerian state Sonatrach (40%), Russian state-controlled Rosneft (30%) and pipeline contractor Stroitransgas (30%) has moved forward with plans to begin work on oil and gas finds in Algeria. The Algerian state Agency for...

Baltic Port Bids To Break Refinery Dominance.
March 17, 2009... The Lithuanian port of Klaipeda is preparing to handle imported cargoes of gasoline and other light refined products, in an apparent attempt to break the dominance over product sales in the region held by the Mazeikiu Nafta (MN) refinery. ...

Gazprom Refocuses In Uzbekistan.
March 17, 2009... Gazprom is set to carry out seismic work and exploration drilling at four blocks in Uzbekistan by the end of 2010. Under a program recently approved by the Central Asian republic's government, Zarubezhneftegas, the Russian gas giant's...

Lukoil, BP Extend Talks Over CPC Deal.
March 17, 2009... Talks between Russia's Lukoil and BP over a deal to buy the UK supermajor's stake in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) pipeline and a minor stake in the massive Tengiz oil field in Kazakhstan are taking longer than expected. The deal...

Kazakh Producer Hit By Banking Crisis.(KazMunaiGas to acquire PetroKazakhstan Inc.)
March 17, 2009... The banking crisis in Kazakhstan has hit the purchasing power of Kazmunaigas Exploration Production (KMG EP), but the company remains hopeful of closing a deal this year to buy a stake in PetroKazakhstan. In a recent trading statement, the...

Russia Mulls Further Budget Cuts.(Brief article)
March 17, 2009... President Dmitry Medvedev has signaled that if the price of oil continues to drop, Russia could cut its spending program to avoid running too large a budget deficit, which is already expected to top 8% of the country's GDP in 2009. The...

Sistema To Finalize Bashkir Acquisitions.(AFK Sistema OAO to acquire Bashneft)(Brief article)
March 17, 2009... The Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has removed all obstacles for investment holding firm AFK Sistema to take over several major oil assets in the autonomous republic of Bashkortostan. An FAS spokesman said officials have given a...

TNK-BP Eyes $150 Million Loan.
March 17, 2009... Russia's third-largest producer, TNK-BP, is negotiating a $150 million loan with a syndicate of foreign banks headed by Deutsche Bank, banking sources say. At the end of last year, the syndicate provided a $150 million, three-year loan to...

Equities and Currencies.
March 17, 2009... Share Prices Closing March 17, 2009

Cash Values Rise With Futures, Differentials Drop.
March 17, 2009... New front-month ICE May Brent futures traded a $7.42 range over the past seven days, from a Mar. 12 low of $42.58 and a Mar. 17 high of $50 -- the level long regarded as the price ceiling for the prevailing $10 trading range. The rally was...

French Refinery Strike Lends Little Support.
March 17, 2009... The April ICE gas oil futures contract traded a $60.50/ton range during the reporting period, from a Mar. 12 low of $351.50 to a $412 high on Mar. 18. The contract tracked a buoyant crude futures market that in turn reflected a distinct, if...

Russia Rings The Changes For Q2 Crude Oil Exports.
March 24, 2009... Moscow has made substantial changes to Russia's export flows for the next three months, with a major upheaval across the huge Druzhba pipeline serving consumers throughout Europe. The changes could cause significant troubles for Russia's...

Moscow Warns EU-Ukraine Pact May Harm Energy Security.
March 24, 2009... Steps by the European Union to help upgrade Ukraine's gas network have been criticized by Russia, which is angry that it was not even consulted despite being the sole supplier for the route. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said it was...

Lukoil Revises Caspian Strategy.
March 24, 2009... Undeterred by the global economic slowdown and low energy prices, Lukoil, Russia's biggest private oil firm, aims to launch commercial production from the northern sector of the Caspian Sea this year. But the scope of the company's overall...

Gas Utilization Plan Under Threat.
March 24, 2009... Russia's oil companies have warned they will be unable to reduce gas flaring by 2012 if legislation on the priority access of associated gas to the Gazprom pipeline infrastructure is not passed. The draft document was supposed to be ready...

Bogdanchikov Loses Allies On Rosneft Board.
March 24, 2009... Changes to Rosneft's management board earlier this month have left company President Sergei Bogdanchikov without any representatives from the oil team Bogdanchikov brought with him from Sakhalin 10 years ago. The last holdovers from...

Gazprom To Complete Oil Arm Acquisition.
March 24, 2009... State giant Gazprom is preparing to purchase the remaining 20% stake in oil arm Gazprom Neft from Italian firm Eni, dashing Eni chief Paolo Scaroni's hopes of adding some 200,000 boe/d of production and reserves of 3 billion boe. The...

Arctic Port Changes Hands.
March 24, 2009... Trading company Rusneftekhim has taken control of Russia's White Sea Vitino oil terminal, traders say. They add that a shake-up in Vitino's shipping patterns is unlikely, although Rusneftekhim reportedly hopes to bring in new suppliers to the...

TNK-BP Increases Shipments Via Barabinsk.
March 24, 2009... Rising oil prices have allowed TNK-BP to start using nearly the full capacity of the Barabinsk rail export terminal near Kazakhstan, which the company launched at the end of last year to take advantage of the premium for higher-quality oil. ...

Russia Starts LNG Exports.
March 24, 2009... Russia's first LNG cargo from the Sakhalin-2 project on the Pacific shelf is to ship to world markets on Mar. 28-29. The 145,000 cubic meter LNG tanker has already arrived at the port of Prigorodnoye and is to start loading on Mar. 25. The...

Transneft Talks Espo, Issues Bonds.
March 24, 2009... Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft plans to raise 35 billion rubles ($1.02 billion) through a ruble bond issue to help finance the construction of the massive East Siberian Pacific Ocean (Espo) pipeline while the company awaits a $10 billion...

Kharyaga Budget Delayed.(Total)(Brief article)
March 24, 2009... Russian officials have held off approving the 2009 budget for Total's Kharyaga project in Timan-Pechora oil province because it did not give sufficient details. The decision was made after a meeting at the energy ministry attended by...

Stroitransgas Shuffles Management.
March 24, 2009... Russia's biggest oil and gas construction firm, Stroitransgas, is shuffling its management in a bid to improve efficiency. Two senior Stroitransgas officials -- Chief Executive Vyacheslav Makhonin and the head of the board of directors,...