NEFTE Compass articles from October 2006

NEFTE Compass archives from October 2006

Beachfront Property: Attack On Sakhalin-2 Takes Awkward Twist.
October 3, 2006... In a story that appears to be nearing its climax, the Russian environmental inspector at the center of threats to the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project flew off with a crew of retainers, environmentalists and journalists in tow to show firsthand...

Seaside Reality: Kazakhstan Cracks On With Caspian Sea Opening.
October 3, 2006... The opening up of the Caspian Sea off Kazakhstan is gathering steam though a cloud has been cast over the proceedings by prolonged delays at the flagship Kashagan field. Zhakyp Marabaev, managing director of state oil and gas company...

Chilly Reception: Weather Rains On Transneft's Export Plans.
October 3, 2006... With winter on the way, Moscow is backing away from its ambitious plans for the Baltic Pipeline System and has cut volumes to the port of Primorsk, in turn yielding a moderate drop in the country's overall seaborne exports. State pipeline...

Direct Dial: Gazprom Signs Austrian Supply Contract.
October 3, 2006... In line with its drive into Europe's downstream gas business, Gazprom has obtained the right to directly market one-quarter of the gas it delivers to Austria. This came as part of contract extensions by Gazprom's export arm Gazexport that...

Winning Bid: Lukoil To Buy KPC Refinery In Rotterdam.
October 3, 2006... Lukoil is expected to sign an agreement next week to purchase Kuwait Petroleum Corp.'s (KPC's) 80,000 b/d refinery near Rotterdam in the Netherlands. A Lukoil delegation is scheduled to fly to Rotterdam on Oct. 10. The top Russian producer...

Chin Up: TNK-BP Keeps Brave Face On Kovykta.
October 3, 2006... TNK-BP hopes to hammer out a compromise on its giant Kovykta gas field in East Siberia and is optimistic about the company's wider prospects in Russia, Chief Executive Robert Dudley said this week. "I don't think that the Kovykta license...

Out Of Town: Urals Energy Managers Leave In Tax Probe.
October 3, 2006... Urals Energy, the Cyprus-registered oil producer that raised over $130 million in a London IPO last year, is in a spot of bother after its two principle shareholders, Gueorgiu Ramzaitsev and Vyacheslav Rovneiko, resigned from the board for...

Third Eye: Sakhalin Energy Eyes Third LNG Train To Meet Demand.
October 3, 2006... Strong demand for LNG in the Asia-Pacific region could result in a third gas liquefaction train being built at the Sakhalin-2 complex before long, according to Ate Visser, commercial director for Sakhalin Energy, the Royal Dutch Shell-led...

Market Maker: Russia Pushes Forward With Market Gas Sales.
October 3, 2006... The Russian government is pushing ahead with plans to launch free-market sales of natural gas on a Russian commodity exchange by Nov. 1, though questions remain about the long-term prospects of the system. Moscow is considering allowing...

Holding Pattern: Rosneft Sits Tight On Sakhalin Block.
October 3, 2006... Rosneft is not currently planning to add its newly acquired Lebedinsky Block to the Sakhalin-1 contract area, according to Rosneft's vice president for exploration and production, Mikhail Stavsky. The Lebedinsky Block borders Sakhalin-1's...

Eastward Bound: Surgutneftegas Wins Auction For East Siberian Block.(Brief article)
October 3, 2006... Surgutneftegas has tapped its hefty bank accounts to add another license to its strategic presence in largely undeveloped East Siberia, which eventually is expected to supply the energy-hungry Asia-Pacific markets. The Kremlin-friendly...

Taxing Times: Court Approves 2004 Tax Bill For Yukos.
October 3, 2006... Russia's Moscow Arbitration Court reportedly has upheld several billions of dollars in tax claims against bankrupt Russian oil company Yukos. The court ordered Yukos to pay 42 billion rubles ($1.6 billion) in taxes for a Federal Tax...

Kazakhstan: Russneft Enters Race For Nations Energy Unit.
October 3, 2006... Russneft, the rapidly expanding Russian oil company headed by ex-Slavneft boss Mikhail Gutseriev and financed by Swiss trader Glencore, has joined the pack of bidders for Karazhanbasmunai, the 50,000 b/d producer that belongs to Calgary-based...

Kazakhstan: President Nazarbayev Feted In Washington.
October 3, 2006... Oil and gas figured high on the agenda during a meeting at the White House between President George W. Bush and his Kazakh counterpart, Nursultan Nazarbayev, paying his first visit to the US in nearly five years. That Nazarbayev managed to get...

Belarus: Russian Relations Teeter Because Of Gas Issues.
October 3, 2006... Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko has warned that the failure of Russia and Belarus to come to an agreement on gas cooperation terms is endangering the nine-year-old alliance between the two countries that envisages economic, political...

Kazakhstan: Karachaganak Gets Green Light For Expansion.
October 3, 2006... Accords to expand the giant Karachaganak gas and condensate field in Kazakhstan were signed this week by Russia's Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko and his Kazakh counterpart Baktykozha Ismukhambetov in the presence of the two...

Kazakhstan: KMG E&P Sets High Price For IPO.
October 3, 2006... Kazakhstan's Kazmunaigas Exploration and Production (KMG E&P) has priced its shares at $14.64/Global Depositary Receipt (GDR) for the company's initial public offering (IPO), near the upper end of its previously indicated price range. KMG...

Mazeikiu Lifeline Butinge Resumes Operations.(Brief article)
October 3, 2006... The Lithuanian crude oil terminal of Butinge has resumed operations after completing repairs to its mooring system, reopening the crude lifeline feeding the Mazeikiu Nafta (MN) refinery. Butinge reopened Monday and unloaded a 100,000-ton...

Lukoil Gets Approval For Chaparral Buyout.
October 3, 2006... Top Russian producer Lukoil has received the green light for its $88 million buyout of the remaining 40% of US independent Chaparral Resources, which operates the Karakuduk oil field in Kazakhstan. A 70% majority of Chaparral's shareholders...

Bar Raiser: Gazprom Neft's Profits For Half Beat Expectations.
October 3, 2006... Gazprom oil subsidiary Gazprom Neft saw net profits rise to $1.79 billion for the first half of the year, an increase of 26% from the same period in 2005 and ahead of the company's expectations. The rise, as calculated by US generally...

Underachiever: Rosneft Profits For Second Quarter Fall Short.
October 3, 2006... State-run Rosneft announced Wednesday that its profits under US GAAP rose to $1.08 billion in the second quarter but generally fell short of investors' expectations of profits around $1.2 billion. Altogether, Rosneft's profits for the first...

Equities and Currencies.
October 3, 2006... Share Prices Closing On Oct. 3, 2006

Crude Oil: Downward Pressure.
October 3, 2006... November Brent futures traded a $5.93 range from a Sep. 28 high of $63.63 to a Oct. 4 low of $57.70, the lowest since Dec. 30.a A mainly bearish US inventory report showing a larger-than-expected increase in US crude stocks countered comments...

Products: Little Clear Direction.
October 3, 2006... Russian gas oil finally stopped its extended slide in the middle of the week following dropping crude futures and strong global supplies, which has kept much of the middle distillate from leaving Europe. There was little clear direction for...

Just Reward: Rosneft And CNPC Create Joint Venture.(China National Petroleum Corp.)
October 17, 2006... Russia's shift towards China as an energy partner is moving ahead with the two countries' state-run oil companies Rosneft and China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) setting up Vostok Energy, a joint venture to explore and develop resources in...

Regime Change: Total Open To Normal Tax Regime For Kharyaga.(TOTAL S.A.'s tax negotiations with Russian authorities regarding developing the Kharyaga deposit)(Brief article)
October 17, 2006... French Total is open to negotiations with Russian authorities regarding developing the Kharyaga deposit in the northern Timan-Pechora region under a normal tax regime as opposed to the current production sharing agreement (PSA), according to...

Amu Darya Basin: Afghanistan Readies First Upstream Tender.
October 17, 2006... Recognizing the risks of doing business in the strife-torn country, Afghanistan plans to offer a number of incentives to potential investors when it launches a debut tender for oil and gas blocks in the coming months. The government hopes...

Debt Play: Deutsche Bank Wants To Make Offer For Yukos.
October 17, 2006... Deutsche Bank's Russian subsidiary Deutsche UFG has expressed interest in buying a controlling stake in bankrupt Russian oil company Yukos and taking responsibility for its debts according to reports, raising speculation that it could be...

Paper Breakdown: Launch Of Rebco Contract Gets Traders' Cold Shoulder.
October 25, 2006... The widely talked launch of the Russian Export Blend Crude Oil (Rebco) contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) has gotten off to a quiet -- if not silent -- start since Oct. 23, the first day of trading on the electronic Globex...

Gas Breakthrough: Exxon And China Forge Deal For Sakhalin Gas.
October 25, 2006... The Exxon Mobil-led consortium developing the Sakhalin-1 project has reached a breakthrough to the second, gas-intensive phase of the project through the signing of a basic agreement with China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) on sales of...

Pressure Pile: Shell Continues To Get Pounded In Russia.
October 25, 2006... Russia is continuing to press the Royal Dutch Shell-led Sakhalin-2 development on the country's Pacific shelf, announcing this week that it will extend an environmental inspection of the project by another month. According to Natural...

Hindsight Headache: Trafigura Woes From Dumping Scandal Grow.
October 25, 2006... The woes of Switzerland-based oil trader Trafigura heightened this week when a Dutch lawyer began the process of suing for damages on behalf of the victims allegedly poisoned by toxic slops that the trader shipped to Cote d'Ivoire in July. The...

Steady Running: Rosneft Gains In September Crude Production.
October 25, 2006... Russian crude and condensate production averaged 9.71 million b/d (39.76 million metric tons) in September, down 69,300 b/d on the previous month but 1.8% higher than a year previously, according to the latest data from Russia's Ministry of...

Pipe Power: Moscow Seeks Greater Control Over CPC.
October 25, 2006... The pressure is mounting on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) running from the Chevron-operated Tengiz oil field in Kazakhstan to the Black Sea. Moscow has resumed attempts to give CPC the status of "natural monopoly", which would allow the...

Unhelping Hand: Lukoil Does It On Its Own In US.
October 25, 2006... Lukoil's strategic partnership with ConocoPhillips has done little to make the Russian company's operations in the US any easier, according to Sem Logvinsky, vice president for wholesales and new business development of Lukoil's US subsidiary,...

Equal Treatment: Enivronmental Pressure Spreads Across The Field.(Rosprirodnadzor)
October 25, 2006... The Russian Ministry of Natural Resources' environmental oversight board, Rosprirodnadzor, is bringing even more state-run operations under its microscope in a move that observers believe could be a Kremlin message in the lead-up to the 2008...

Proposal Rejected: Energy Charter Gets 'Nyet' From Moscow.
October 25, 2006... After years of stalling, Russia has finally rejected the EU-backed Energy Charter Treaty until it sees further revisions. The treaty seeks to integrate former Soviet countries, as well as Eastern Europe, into global and European energy...

Well Worked: Hydrocarbon Presence Proved At Sakhalin-3.(Venineft)(Brief article)
October 25, 2006... Drilling at the Sakhalin-3 Veninsky block has been successfully completed and the presence of hydrocarbons found, the project operator Venineft said this week. Testing proved the presence of hydrocarbons at the first well, which was...

Northern Front: Surgut And TNK-BP Buy Licenses In Far North.
October 25, 2006... TNK-BP and Surgutneftegas have beaten out bids by Russia's state-run Rosneft for several exploration and production licenses in the remote northern Dolgano-Nenets Autonomous Region on the Taimyr Peninsula. TNK-BP acquired the exploration...

Spilling Over: West Siberian Line Ruptures, Contaminates Water.(Brief article)
October 25, 2006... A rupture in the crude oil pipeline system of Russian state monopoly Transneft on Monday resulted in a moderate oil spill and contamination of nearby waterways, according to the country's Emergency Situations Ministry. Roughly 300 tons of...

Lithuania: PKN Orlen Reworking Deal For Mazeikiu Refinery.
October 25, 2006... Polish refiner PKN Orlen reportedly is trying to renegotiate parts of its deal to purchase a majority stake in Lithuanian refinery Mazeikiu Nafta (MN), which has been slammed in recent months by a shutoff in pipeline supplies from Russia and...

Ukraine: Kiev Strikes Deal On Russian Gas Supplies.
October 25, 2006... Moscow and Kiev have moved another step toward putting last winter's row over natural gas supplies firmly behind them by signing this week an accord covering the terms for Russian gas sales to Ukraine from 2006 to 2010. Trader RosUkrEnergo...

Slovakia: Moscow Angles For Control Over Transpetrol.
October 25, 2006... Moscow is pushing strongly to take hold of bankrupt oil firm Yukos' 49% stake in Slovakia's pipeline operator, Transpetrol, but the Slovakian government continues to delay a decision on which suitor will take the asset. Eduard Rebgun,...

Ukraine: Vanco Energy's Black Sea PSA Plans Put On Hold.(production sharing agreement)(Brief article)
October 25, 2006... Ukraine's new government has put the brakes on negotiations with US Vanco Energy over a production sharing agreement (PSA) for the development of a deepwater Black Sea block until at least December, when it plans to present its own proposal...

Georgia: Tbilisi Teams With Iran To Diversify Gas Supply.
October 25, 2006... Georgia reportedly has reached an agreement with Iran to buy some 2 MMcm/d of Iranian gas at $120/Mcm in a move to diversify away from Gazprom, which it pays only $110/Mcm. Georgia and Iran agreed this week to fund an intergovernmental...

Azerbaijan: BP-led AIOC Begins Production From East Azeri.
October 25, 2006... The BP-led Azerbaijan International Oil Company (AIOC) has begun production from the East Azeri platform at the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli Caspian Sea project well ahead of its year-end 2006 target. The East Azeri platform, slated to produce up...

Kazakhstan: Worker Brawl Disrupts Operations At Tengiz.(Brief article)
October 25, 2006... Operations at Tengizchevroil's monster Tengiz field are returning to normal after a massive brawl between Kazakh and Turkish workers on Friday forced a temporary shutdown of operations at the Second Generation Project and led to heightened...

Pay Day: TNK-BP Board Recommends Major Interim Dividend.
October 25, 2006... The board of directors of Russian-British joint venture TNK-BP has recommended paying a nine-month interim dividend totaling roughly $3.6 billion, or about 88% of the company's income during the period according to Russian accounting standards....

Fund Raiser: Gazprom Places Big Eurobond Offer.
October 25, 2006... Gazprom has launched a C780 million ($982 million) placement of seven-year eurobonds, which will mature in February 2014. The funds reportedly will be used for general corporate needs, including repayment of short-term debts. The placement...

Crude: Steady North, Firm South.
October 25, 2006... Front-month Brent futures traded a relatively modest $3.23/bbl with the low hit on Oct. 23 at $58.52, the high on Oct. 25 at $61.99. Bearish sentiment and general skepticism countered arguments in support of Opec's 1.2 million b/d production...

Products: Gas Oil Firm Despite Strong Supplies.
October 25, 2006... European middle distillate prices were mixed though the past week with gas oil getting firmer Wednesday and fuel oil continuing its weakness as crude prices failed to immediately react to news last week from Opec that it would cut production by...