NEFTE Compass articles from October 2004

NEFTE Compass archives from October 2004

Tough Love: Uncertainty Clouds Kashagan Project.
October 6, 2004... Uncertainty surrounds the $29 billion project to develop Kazakhstan's supergiant Kashagan structure which, with recoverable reserves of up to 13 billion barrels, will make up at least 25% of the republic's projected long-term oil output of 3.5...

Gentle Persuasion: Kazakhstan Urged to Ease Investment Terms To Unlock Potential.
October 6, 2004... International oil companies are urging Kazakhstan to improve its terms for investors to unlock the full potential of its Caspian Sea deposits and achieve its ambitious production target of 3.6 million barrels per day by 2015. "Studies have...

Pacific Time: Putin Supports Pacific Pipeline.(Vladimir Putin)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2004... President Vladimir Putin has called the construction of a new pipeline to the Pacific port of Nakhodka a priority, but also pointed out that China must not be forgotten, industry insiders claim. The issue was on the agenda of an Oct. 5 meeting...

Stretcher: Surgutneftegas Expands Trading Patterns.(Surgutneftegaz Industrial Association)
October 6, 2004... Surgutneftegas is branching out in its trading operations, as deepening Urals discounts put pressure on achieving better margins. Surgut has signed a term contract to sell crude to Norway's Statoil, the latter's first-ever deal to buy and...

Treasure Island: BP And Rosneft Strike Oil At Sakhalin-5.
October 6, 2004... BP and Rosneft have completed drilling the first exploration well on their Sakhalin-5 acreage, announced the two company's joint venture, Elvary Neftegas. The partners announced that they found "significant volumes of oil and gas in a...

Going Steady: TNK-BP Head Sees Steady Russian Growth.
October 6, 2004... Despite Russia's weak transportation infrastructure, both the country's oil production and exports should grow at 6% per year over the next few years, according to the chief executive of the country's third largest oil producer, TNK-BP's Robert...

The Clash: Gazprom, Rosneft Clash Over Merger Plan.(Gazprom Russian Joint Stock Co.)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2004... Gazprom's proposed takeover of state-owned oil concern Rosneft has hit a potential obstacle, amid conflicting proposals by the two companies' management teams on how it should proceed. Any slowdown of the deal could frustrate investors...

French Polish: Total Eyes More Russia Deals.(Novatek)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2004... French major Total says its desire to gain a greater presence in the Russian upstream and Novatek's transparency were two main factors in its decision to buy a blocking stake in Russia's biggest independent gas producer. "We bought into...

Tree Huggers: Moscow To Ratify Kyoto Protocol.(Brief Article)
October 6, 2004... Facing increasing diplomatic pressure to ratify the Kyoto treaty on climate change, Russia has made a major step toward allowing the international agreement to go into effect. The Russian government decided last week to ratify the treaty...

Russia: Gazprom Pencils Out LNG Schemes.(Liquefied natural gas)(Gazprom Russian Joint Stock Co.)
October 6, 2004... Although Russia's Gazprom still appears to be in the early stages of devising a global LNG strategy, some aspects of its thinking are becoming clearer as a result of statements last weekend by Chief Executive Alexei Miller and hints from its...

Kazakhstan: Kazakh-China Pipe On The Fast Track.
October 6, 2004... Plans to build an oil pipeline transporting Kazakh and Russian crude oil to western China are beginning to take shape, with the 980 kilometer line now due to be completed at the end of next year and to start pumping in early 2006 at an initial...

Azerbaijan: Veteran Oilman Says Caspian Oil Search Is Question Of Location, Location, Location.
October 6, 2004... At the ripe old age of 74, when most people's careers are becoming a distant memory, Khoshbakht Yusufzadeh has just been promoted to the number two job in Socar, the state oil company of Azerbaijan. The veteran oil man, who once showed...

Rainy Day: State Approves Rules For Stabilization Fund.(Brief Article)
October 6, 2004... The Russian government has approved a set of measures to determine how the country should manage its stabilization fund. The fund was set up at the end of last year to receive the state's windfall tax revenues from record-high oil prices...

Up For Grabs: Yugansk Gets High Valuation As Sale Nears.(Brief Article)
October 6, 2004... Investors' alarm bells started ringing on press reports that the state could seize Yukos' main production unit Yuganskneftegas without trying to sell it. Russian daily Vedomosti reported that Yuganskneftegas could become state property as...

Equities And Currencies.
October 6, 2004... Share Prices Closing On October 5, 2004

Warm Welcome: Russia Wins Sakhalin-2 Role As Shell Farms In Gazprom.
October 13, 2004... In a new sign that Moscow is not going to put up with foreign companies having control over the development of Russia's natural resources, state-dominated gas giant Gazprom looks set to join the Royal Dutch/Shell-led Sakhalin-2 project on the...

Forced Entry: Kazakhs Change Pre-emption Law To Step Up Pressure On Kashagan.
October 13, 2004... Kazakhstan has adopted new legislation giving the state pre-emptive buying rights in a move that could have an immediate impact on the saga of BG selling out of the consortium developing the giant Kashagan oil and gas field in the Caspian Sea....

Ciao Baby: Russia Confirmed As Top Lifter Of Saddam Oil Contracts.
October 13, 2004... A 450-page report compiled by the Iraq Survey Group headed by CIA analyst Charles Duelfer has exposed in lurid detail the extent to which the UN oil-for-food deal, which ran for seven years until November 2003, was manipulated by the former...

On The Block: Justice Ministry Proceeds With Yugansk Sale.
October 13, 2004... The Justice Ministry has announced it would sell off part of Yukos' main crude producing unit, Yuganskneftegas, sending the oil giant's shares plummeting. The announcement came after international investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort...

Pharoah: Lukoil Advances Middle East Projects.(Brief Article)
October 13, 2004... Lukoil is making progress toward its goal of building up a substantial presence in the Middle East and North Africa by pushing ahead with its biggest project in Egypt, the West Esh El Mallaha (WEEM concession). The oil major's overseas...

Divorce Papers: Abramovich Regains Control Of Sibneft.(Roman Abramovich)
October 13, 2004... Former shareholders in Russian oil major Sibneft, led by Roman Abramovich, have formally regained control of the oil company from Yukos. Meanwhile, Yukos has filed a lawsuit to get back the $3 billion it paid for a 20% stake in Sibneft, as the...

Corn Fed: Farmers Cause Dip In Black Sea Gas Oil Exports.(Brief Article)
October 13, 2004... Gas oil exports out of the Black Sea ports dropped significantly in September as the material was consumed domestically to harvest crops. The Baltic Sea ports, however, exported more gas oil to take advantage of soaring prices, which continued...

Double Barrel: Work Starts On Products PipeLine To Primorsk.(Brief Article)
October 13, 2004... Russia's flagship crude loading outlet, the Baltic Sea port of Primorsk, has kicked off construction of an oil products terminal. National oil products pipeline operator Transnefteproduct has announced that it has started building a new...

Growing Pains: Gazprom Taps Consultants For Rosneft Merger.(Brief Article)
October 13, 2004... Gazprom has taken another step toward completing its merger with Rosneft, by hiring international investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein to carry out valuations of both companies involved in the deal. According to Gazprom, Dresdner...

Plant Life: Alliance Refinery Gets Loan For Upgrading.(Brief Article)
October 13, 2004... Moscow-based Alliance Group is pushing ahead with upgrading its Khabarovsk refinery in the Russian Far East to improve the quality of its oil products. The plant has received a $4.3 million loan from Finprombank to help finance...

Gentle Nudge: US Pushes For Progress On Northern Pipeline.
October 13, 2004... Plans for building a northwest pipeline -- from Western Siberia to a deepwater port on the Barents Sea -- that would spur Russian oil exports to the US, will be a key part of discussions between US and Russian officials in December, according...

Canadian Bacon: Gazprom And Petro-Canada Sign LNG Deal.(Brief Article)
October 13, 2004... Gazprom and Petro-Canada are moving forward with aggressive plans that would bring the first shipments of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) to North America by 2009. Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller and his counterpart at...

Kazakhstan: Lukoil Plans North Caspian Well.
October 13, 2004... The next big exploration play to watch in the Caspian Sea will kick off next spring, when Russia's Lukoil is due to spud its first well on the Tyub-Karagan Block offshore Kazakhstan. "We are confident of success," Boris Zilbermints, Kazakh...

Kazakhstan: Caspian Pipeline Set To Advance With Expansion.
October 13, 2004... An expansion of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) oil export route from Kazakhstan to a maximum 1.4 million b/d is running one year behind schedule, but should be completed by the end of 2008, according to CPC General Director Ian...

Lithuania: Labor Party Takes Parliamentary Vote.(Brief Article)
October 13, 2004... Lithuania's Labor Party, led by Russian-born millionaire Victor Uspaskich, was the clear winner in the country's first round of parliamentary elections. Uspaskich has close ties to Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom. He moved to...

Hungry: Mol Trolls For Siberian And Kazakh Fields.(Brief Article)
October 13, 2004... Hungary's Mol has announced it wants to add more upstream assets to its portfolio, in Russia and Kazakhstan. The company's new chief strategy officer, Michel-Marc Delcommune, said Mol would like to enter into "mature" exploration and...

Prince Caspian: Caspian Oil Shares Outpace International Peers.
October 13, 2004... Shares in Caspian oil producers have shot up this year, significantly out-performing both their international and Russian peers by a wide margin. Leading the surge is Nelson Resources, a Canadian-listed oil producer in Kazakhstan. The...

Equities And Currencies.
October 13, 2004... Share Prices Closing On October 12, 2004

Products: Gas Oil Futures In Record Territory.
October 13, 2004... International Petroleum Exchange gas oil futures broke into uncharted territory above the $500/ton mark before the expiry of the October screen on Oct. 12. Fears about a winter shortage helped push futures prices to a record high of $508/ton....

Crude: Urals Cash Still Above $42.
October 13, 2004... Brent crude oil futures this week returned to record-setting form trading in a $4.65 range to a new $51.50 record -- $3.65 above last week's record. The new all-time high was set on Oct. 12 and challenged again on Oct. 13. Crude wasn't alone;...

Glutton: Kremlin Takes Control As Gazprom Shoots For The Stars.(Gazprom Russian Joint Stock Co.)
October 20, 2004... Gazprom's appetite is growing by the day to such awesome proportions that it could soon emerge as one of Russia's biggest oil companies with production of around 1.7 million barrels per day, in addition to being the world's largest gas...

Aiming High: Georgia Takes Oil Export Role To New Heights.
October 20, 2004... Georgia's role as a key transit corridor for Caspian oil and gas exports to world markets has been boosted by the restart of construction of an ambitious $150 million oil terminal on the Black Sea. Tbilisi has given strong political backing...

Third Way: Russia To Auction Sakhalin-3 Acreage.(Brief Article)
October 20, 2004... The Sakhalin-3 acreage, which was earlier coveted by Exxon Mobil and ChevronTexaco, will now get another chance to attract investors, after the Russian government included it on a list of mineral deposits to be auctioned in 2004-05. ...

Extra Space: Transneft Boasts Extra Pipeline Capacity.(Brief Article)
October 20, 2004... Russia's crude production growth rate is slowing, but not because of a lack of export infrastructure capacity, said Semyon Vainshtok, national pipeline operator Transneft. He announced at a press conference in Moscow this week that...

In Funds: Stabilization Fund Should Pay For Pipeline.(Brief Article)
October 20, 2004... Russia's Industry and Energy Ministry has called for spending the windfall oil revenues accumulated in the nation's stabilization fund on building an oil pipeline to Russia's Pacific coast and to help Russia's electricity utility RAO UES fund...

Moving On Up: Transneft Still Pumping Yukos Crude.(Brief Article)
October 20, 2004... National pipeline operator Transneft is continuing to pump Yukos' crude volumes through its pipeline system as usual with no disruptions, Transneft president Semyon Vainshtok says. Since Yukos' bank accounts are frozen, the oil producer...

Top Pipe: Transneft Outlines Priorities For Pipeline Projects.(Brief Article)
October 20, 2004... Russia's national pipeline operator Transneft is starting work on a feasibility study for plans to build a pipeline from Western Siberia to the Barents Sea for long-haul deliveries to the US and Europe, according to the company's president...

Chillin': Russia Produces More Fuel Oil Ahead Of Winter.(Brief Article)
October 20, 2004... Russian refineries exported less oil products in September, as demand from the domestic market increased and output from the country's refineries decreased. Russian refineries exported 4.92 million metric tons of fuel oil, gas oil and gasoline...

Quarterback: Refinery Deliveries Hold Steady In Q3.(Brief Article)
October 20, 2004... Russia kept crude deliveries to its refineries flat in the third quarter of 2004, compared with the same period last year. Pumping via the Transneft national pipeline system to domestic refineries totaled 54.210 million metric tons (4.36...

Indecision: Russia Dodges China Pipeline Decision.
October 20, 2004... Beijing failed to receive any concrete proposals about the construction of an oil pipeline from Russia to China during President Vladimir Putin's official visit last week. The documents signed contained nothing about the proposed pipeline,...

Overdrive: Gazprom Puts US At Center Of LNG Strategy.(liquefied natural gas)
October 20, 2004... "Russians prepare slowly, but they drive quickly." This Russian proverb, quoted by Gazprom executive Alexander Medvedev at Hart's Global LNG 2004 conference in New Orleans last week, all but sums up the giant gas producer's strategy to break...

Liquid Sunshine: Shell Buys Sakhalin LNG For Mexico Terminal.(liquefied natural gas, Royal Dutch-Shell Group of Cos.)
October 20, 2004... The Sakhalin-2 consortium, led by Royal Dutch/Shell, has sealed a landmark deal to supply Russian gas to North America. Shell will import 37 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) over 20 years through the Costa Azul terminal in...

Kazakhstan: Oil And Democracy Don't Mix On The Steppe.
October 20, 2004... As it reaps the rewards of high oil prices and rising production, Kazakhstan is showing little inclination to embrace greater democracy and, according to local analysts and politicians, is coming under tighter state control. Any hopes for...

Consolidation: OMV Sells Rompetrol Stake, Buys More Mol.(Rompetrol Holding)
October 20, 2004... Austria's OMV has signed an agreement to sell its 25.1% stake in Romanian oil company Rompetrol to Rompetrol Holding, a Swiss-based entity owned by the Romanian company's senior managers. Meanwhile, OMV increased its stake in Hungarian oil and...

Lithuania: Mazeikiu Nafta Hikes Refinery Runs.(Brief Article)
October 20, 2004... Despite the escalating crackdown against Yukos, which runs Lithuania's Mazeikiu Nafta (MN), the embattled Russian oil major continues to feed MN's refinery with stable volumes of crude and remains its main supplier. MN says its 260,000 b/d...

Kazakhstan: Ban On Diesel Exports Ends.(Brief Article)
October 20, 2004... Kazakhstan on Oct. 15 lifted a ban on exports of diesel fuel. The ban, which had been in place since Jul. 1, is introduced annually to ensure that the agricultural sector has enough supplies to see it through the summer harvest season. ...

Romania: France And Germany Stake Gas Claims.(Brief Article)
October 20, 2004... Gaz de France (GdF) signed a deal in Bucharest on Oct. 18 to acquire 51% from the state in Distrigaz Sud for a total of C311 million ($389 million). The south Romanian gas distributor sells some 5.6 Bcm per year through a 13,400 km network to...

For Sale: Novatek To Sell Oil Unit Ahead Of Total Farm-In.
October 20, 2004... Novatek, Russia's largest independent natural gas producer, has decided to sell 66% of oil unit Geoilbent to streamline its assets ahead of the purchase by France's Total of a 25% stake in Novatek. Novatek will also pay an interim dividend...

Trade On: Bank Cleared In Gazprom Share Probe.(United Financial Group (Moscow, Russia), Gazprom Russian Joint Stock Co.)(Brief Article)
October 20, 2004... Moscow-based investment bank United Financial Group (UFG), which is 40% owned by Deutsche Bank, said that state investigators have cleared it of any wrongdoing by setting up derivative instruments to sell Gazprom's local shares to foreigners...

Equities And Currencies.
October 20, 2004... Share Prices Closing On October 19, 2004

Crude Oil: Crude Futures Pick Up After Profit-Taking.(Brief Article)
October 20, 2004... Crude oil futures took a beating early this week when both Brent and West Texas Intermediate lost more than $2/bbl as US gasoline futures led a major profit-taking sell-off. However, they recouped more than $1 on Oct. 20 when US inventory...

Products: Gas Oil Prices Boosted By Pipeline Shutdown.
October 20, 2004... Gas oil differentials rose over the week because of strong barge levels and the stoppage of shipments through the gas oil pipeline to Ventspils. Fuel oil strengthened after arbitrage shipments to the US helped cleared supply from the Baltics....

Wake-Up Call: Lukoil And ConocoPhillips Face Up To The Reality.
October 27, 2004... Now that the fanfare has died down, Lukoil and ConocoPhillips are facing the reality of their newly forged alliance: The two have to accept the diversity of their situation and learn how to work with each other. One of the challenges the...

Last-Ditch Stand: Yukos Will Protect Its Interests In.
October 27, 2004... Yukos is days away from settling its $3.4 billion tax bill for 2000, eliminating the government's legal argument that it must sell its core production asset Yuganskneftegas, Yukos chief financial officer Bruce Misamore said in an interview with...

Surgutender: Surgut Awards November Crude Tenders.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2004... Russian trading company Europetroleum, the traditional winner of crude tenders from Russia's Surgutneftegas, has bought two early November Urals stems in Northwest Europe from the Russian producer. The price of this deal has been kept off the...

Quality Street: Rosneft Could Benefit From Quality Bank.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2004... Rosneft produces the best-quality crude in Russia, according to a survey by national pipeline operator Transneft, underscoring the point that the state-owned oil company would stand to benefit the most if a quality bank was introduced in...

Indecision: Russia Decides Not To Decide On Pipelines.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2004... Russia has delivered a huge setback to its oil exporters -- and world energy consumers -- by officially delaying discussions on approving any pipeline expansion projects for at least six months. The verdict, which comes as Brent crude tops...

Net Worth: Banks Bid To Value Gazpromneft.
October 27, 2004... Five foreign banks are competing to carry out a valuation of assets for the planned merger of Russian gas giant Gazprom and state-owned oil company Rosneft, according to Russia's Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister Andrei Sharonov....

Europipe: Gazprom Sees Year-End Decison On Europe Pipeline.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2004... Gazprom expects to make an investment decision on the North Europe Gas Pipeline (NEGP) by the end of this year, a company official told a conference in Paris last week. An investment decision this year could see NEGP starting up by the end of...

Red Alert: Yukos Receives Warning On Yugansk Licenses.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2004... As the Yukos saga continues, Russia's Ministry of Natural Resources said that the company's largest production unit, Yuganskneftegas, had violated five oil field license agreements. The ministry gave Yuganskneftegas six months to amend the...

Talking Heads: BP Chats To Gazprom About LNG, Kovykta.(Liquefied Natural Gas)
October 27, 2004... In line with its goal of breaking into global liquefied natural gas (LNG) markets, Russia's Gazprom is pushing ahead with talks with potential Western partners. Gazprom and BP last week agreed to work together on swap shipments of LNG to...

Baltic Debut: Lukoil Kicks Off Baltic Exports.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2004... Lukoil says its has shipped the first 32,000 metric tons of crude oil for export from its Kravtsovskoye (D-6) Block on the Baltic Sea shelf. The Russian company launched commercial crude production at the acreage on Jul. 20 and plans to...

Winners: TNK-BP Awards 2005 Seaborne Crude Tender.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2004... Russian-UK oil venture TNK-BP has announced the results of a tender for its 2005 seaborne crude exports -- awarding contracts to eight companies but leaving out BP. The tender winners included French major Total, and trading houses...

Long March: Transneft To Sell Yukos Crude To China.
October 27, 2004... Russian state pipeline operator Transneft is planning to export to China crude volumes that it is receiving from besieged oil major Yukos in lieu of payment for transportation fees, Transneft president Semyon Vainshtok told the Russian Oil and...

Treaty Time: Russia Ratifies Kyoto.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2004... The upper and lower houses of Russia's parliament have ratified the Kyoto climate change treaty, which sets binding targets and timetables for developed nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (NC Oct.7,p5). The move is considered a...

Trunk Call: Pipeline Law Set For 2005 Passage.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2004... The long-awaited law on trunk pipelines could be passed by legislators in the first half of 2005, according to Valeri Yazev, chairman of the Committee on Energy, Transportation and Communications of the State Duma, or lower house of the Russian...

Southern Comfort: Novo Terminal Cranks Up Gas Oil Loadings.
October 27, 2004... The Black Sea port of Novorossiysk is cranking up gas oil exports, with the recent start of operations at the Importpesh oil products terminal. The new terminal is now loading some 300,000 metric tons/month of gas oil, turning Novo into a...

Russian Crude Loading Programs For November 2004.
October 27, 2004... Novorossiysk Crude Loading Program For November 2004

Caspian Spud: Baku Gives Blessing To Turkmen Well.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2004... Azerbaijan has temporarily set aside a territorial dispute with Turkmenistan over Caspian oil exploration and given its blessing for one of its drilling rigs to work on the Turkmen side of the Caspian Sea. Press reports from the Baku say...

Azerbaijan: Swiss Trader Wins Socar Tender.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2004... Swiss trader Sunoil has won a tender from Azeri state oil company Socar to lift 135,000 metric tons (1 million bbl) of Urals crude out of Novorossiysk on Nov. 24-25. The price of the deal has been kept off the market. This is the second...

Kazakhstan: Karachaganak Hit By Production Downturn.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2004... Gas production in Kazakhstan fell sharply in September because of a steep decline at the Karachaganak field operated jointly by BG and Eni. Total output in September was down 12% to 1.36 Bcm compared with the previous month, while...

Back On Track: Tatneft Confirmed In Tupras Takeover.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2004... Turkey's State Council has approved the sale of a 66% stake in Turkish state-run refining group Tupras for $1.3 billion to a private Russian-Turkish joint venture of Tatneft and the local Zorlu Group, Russia's Itar-Tass news agency said. ...

Supernova: Gazprom And Novatek Swap Assets.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2004... Novatek, Russia's largest independent gas producer, will swap a field license for Gazprom's shareholding in its main production unit. The production license to the West-Tarkosalinksoye field will be exchanged for Gazprom's 8.34% stake in...

Equities And Currencies.
October 27, 2004... Share Prices Closing On October 26, 2004

Crude Oil: Futures Take A Roller-Coaster Ride.
October 27, 2004... Crude oil futures continue their wild roller coaster rides, vulnerable to headlines and fundamentals alike. Earlier this week, December Brent futures prices tumbled on news that a Norwegian oil workers' strike had been averted. On Oct. 27 they...

Products: Russian Gas Oil Crashes in NWE.(NorthWest Europe)
October 27, 2004... Russian gas oil differentials crashed in Northwest Europe, after deliveries resumed to Ventspils after last week's pipeline supply disruptions had been resolved. Premiums for Russian gas oil in the Mediterranean firmed a bit on the back of...