FSU Energy articles from January 2004, page 2

FSU Energy archives from January 2004

Record year for crude exports.(Exports & trade)
January 16, 2004... Exports of crude from the FSU rose by a massive 17.6pc in 2003 to 4.66mn b/d (231mn t), according to Argus data. In December exports topped 5mn b/d for the first time, boosted by the rapid expansion of the key Baltic port of Primorsk to...

FSU crude exports, December.(Exports & trade)
January 16, 2004... FSU crude exports, December Dec 03 Dec 03 2003 '000 t '000 b/d '000 t Transneft system 14,662.0 3,452.7...

Worldscale adjusts FSU rates.(Exports & trade)
January 16, 2004... The Worldscale Association adjusted up its 2004 flat shipping rates for several countries and ports last week, following a discovery that several voyage calculations had been made incorrectly thanks to a computer error The FSU terminals of...

Belarus wants more crude.(Exports & trade)
January 16, 2004... Belarus has asked Russia to increase crude oil deliveries to 340,000 b/d (17mn t) in 2004, up from 293,000 b/d last year. Acting prime minister Sergei Sidorsky said in a letter addressed to Russian deputy prime minister Viktor Khristenko--a...

Gazprom plans offshore expansion: Gazprom has identified Russia's Arctic shelf as a key area for output growth. In an interview with Argus, the deputy head of gas, crude and condensate production, Boris Nikitin, who is in overall charge of offshore projects, outlined its plans.(Q&A)
January 16, 2004... Russia's offshore reserves have been put at the equivalent of 90bn t (657bn bl) of crude, of which 60bn t is found in the Barents and the Kara seas. Gas accounts for most of this, with reserves estimated at 76 trillion [m.sup.3]. In November,...

No bail for Khodorkovsky.(Russia & CIS)
January 16, 2004... A Moscow court on 15 January rejected an appeal by Mikhail Khodorkovsky to be freed on bail. Last month, another court had ruled that the former Yukos boss should be held in gaol until 25 March on charges of fraud and tax evasion. Meanwhile,...

Kasyanov backtracks on gas reform.(Russia & CIS)
January 16, 2004... Prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov has changed his views on gas sector reform, questioning the need to create "a domestic gas market, where price will be set by supply and demand" in an interview this week with Russian daily Vedomosti. Only a...

Odessa plans maintenance shutdown.(Russia & CIS)(some units of Lukoil's Odessa refinery in Ukraine will close for 20 days for maintenance )(Brief Article)
January 16, 2004... Some units of Lukoil's 72,000 b/d Odessa refinery in Ukraine will close for 20 days for maintenance next month. Precise dates were not disclosed. Some crude may be delivered to the refinery, but it is not known whether it will be processed or...

Azeri crude exports stable.(Caspian/central Asia)
January 16, 2004... Azerbaijan exported 172,000 b/d (8.6mn t) of crude last year, compared with 174,000 b/d in 2002. Exports are likely to remain at a similar level this year, with Azeri state-owned Socar and the BP-led AIOC group moving the same volumes through...

Looking ahead.
January 16, 2004... * Risks and Opportunities in Caspian and Central Asian Oil and Gas Pipeline Partnerships. 26-27 January. London. CWC. Tel: (44 20) 7089 4200 * Caspian Black Sea & Turkiog Oil & Gas. 26-28 February. Istanbul. ITE. Tel: (44 02) 7596 5166...

Azeri Light heads east.(Caspian/central Asia)(Indonesian state-owned Pertamina bought a 1mn bl cargo from BP)(Brief Article)
January 16, 2004... Azeri Light crude has been sold for the first time to an Asia-Pacific destination. Indonesian state-owned Pertamina bought a 1mn bl cargo from BP in a tender for March delivery. The cargo is scheduled to load at the Georgian Black Sea port of...

BP offers $1mn to Georgia.(Caspian/central Asia)
January 16, 2004... BP will give $1mn to the Georgian government to resolve winter power shortages as a gesture of goodwill. Georgia is expected to buy extra power from Russia, or 5,000-6,000t of fuel oil from Azerbaijan for its own power plants. The Georgian...

New boss at Kaztransoil.(Caspian/central Asia)(Kairat Krymov has been appointed general director of Kazakh pipeline firm Kaztransoil, replacing Askar Smankulov )(Brief Article)
January 16, 2004... Kairat Krymov has been appointed general director of Kazakh pipeline firm Kaztransoil, replacing Askar Smankulov who had held the post since September 2002. Since May 2001, Krymov had been running Kazakh state shipping firm Kazmortransflot....

Rosneft goes for northern route.
January 16, 2004... Rosneft has decided in principle to go ahead with plans to build a 750km pipeline link from the 1bn bl Vankor oil field in eastern Siberia to a proposed terminal at Dikson on the Kara Sea. "We are considering several routes before making...

Gazprom takes Lithuania gas stake.(Baltics)
January 16, 2004... Lithuania has accepted Gazprom's second, improved, bid for a 34pc stake in state-controlled gas company Lietuvos Dujos. The Lithuanian government approved the sale at a cabinet meeting on 7 January, after the Russian gas giant raised its bid...

Shell bids for Unipetrol.(Central/eastern Europe)
January 16, 2004... Shell has made a preliminary offer for a 62.99pc state stake in oil company Unipetrol. The major is one of seven companies vying for a controlling interest in Unipetrol, with Hungary's Mol and Poland's PKN among the other candidates. "We are...

Petrom sale delayed.(Central/eastern Europe)(Brief Article)
January 16, 2004... The sale of a stake in Romania's state-owned oil firm Petrom has been delayed on the advice of privatisation advisers ING Bank, say sources at the company. The delay was caused by legal questions surrounding the ownership of one of Petrom's...

Gentle rally continues.(Stock markets)
January 16, 2004... The Russian stock market continued its low-key rally over the week, with the Russian Trading System (RTS) breaking through the key 600-point level briefly, after Lukoil released solid nine-month results for 2003 (see p11). It fell back...

Lukoil results impress.(Companies)
January 16, 2004... Lukoil's Gaap-standard results for the third quarter and first nine months of 2003 have come in above forecast, drawing praise from analysts (see table). Strong global crude price, Lukoil's rigorous cost-management regime and an output...

JKX clinches gas export deal.(Companies)
January 16, 2004... UK independent JKX Oil and Gas has clinched a deal with Hungarian-registered trader Eural Trans Gas (ETG) that will allow it to export gas from Ukraine. The Poltava Petroleum Company (PPC), a wholly owned subsidiary of JKX, and ETG...

Gasoil prices retreat.(Products market)
January 16, 2004... * European gasoil prices fell as crude futures retreated from recent highs, but the Mediterranean market was still very tight. Demand from the US helped cushion falls in northwest Europe. Strength on fuel oil was compromised by high freight...

Urals gains in northwest Europe.(Crude market)
January 16, 2004... * Crude continued to firm with worries about the threadbare state of US stocks exacerbated by cold weather in the US northeast. Dated BFO is close to $32/bl and Urals gained strongly against the benchmark in northwest Europe but slid in the...

Crude export offtakers, December 2003.(FSU crude offtakers)
January 16, 2004... Crude export offtakers, December 2003 Volume Producers Offtakers ('000t) Novorossiysk Lukoil Lukoil...

Russian rail exports/imports, December 2003.(Russian rail exports)
January 16, 2004... Russian rail exports/imports, December 2003 '000t Crude % chg 2003 '000 b/d Nov '000 b/d Overland Afghanistan Armenia...

Russian refinery output, November 2003.(Russian refinery output)
January 16, 2004... Russian refinery output, November 2003 '000t Crude Crude throughput throughput Nov Company/refinery Nov 000 b/d...

Russian crude netbacks.(Netbacks)
January 16, 2004... Russian crude netbacks 14 Jan Primorsk Butinge Novo- rossiysk Urals (cif-fit) ($/bl) 29.60 29.60 ...

Exports set to stay high: crude exports from Russia are showing no sign of slowing down in the first quarter of this year.
January 9, 2004... Pipeline exports from Russia to non-CIS destinations--including transit shipments from Caspian states--are scheduled to hit 3.5mn b/d this quarter (see pp14-15). This is an increase of 322,000 b/d on actual exports during the same period of...

Era of ambiguity: the oil price outlook may be good, but Russian companies are facing a difficult year ahead.(Editorial)
January 9, 2004... First the good news. World oil prices look set to remain high this year thanks to Opec output restraint, an apparently insatiable appetite for oil imports in the US and rising demand from China. Any sudden demand spikes or unexpected supply...

Iraq offers hope to Russian firms.(News)
January 9, 2004... Iraq's interim governing body has signalled that there is a future for Russian oil companies in the country. On a landmark visit to Moscow last month, the chairman of Iraq's US-installed Governing Council (GC), Abdul Aziz al-Hakim,...

Alfa to buy German refineries.(News)
January 9, 2004... TNK-BP shareholder Alfa Group plans to buy a stake in German refiner Ruhr Oel from Venezuela's state-owned oil company PdV. The Russian industrial financial conglomerate may take all of PdV's 50pc stake in Ruhr Oel, Alfa investment...

AIOC to cut Azeri Light exports.(News: Caspian)
January 9, 2004... The BP-led AIOC group plans to export about 123,000 b/d (6.1mn t) of Azeri Light this year, compared with 129,000 b/d in 2003, says a source at the major. "The 2004 export programme will be cut by about two tankers in total," says the...

Kazakh firm hopes for BTC access.(News: Caspian)
January 9, 2004... Kazakh crude producer Karazhanbasmunai, owned by Canada-registered Nations Energy, is negotiating to use the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline. If successful it will be the first Kazakh shipper to sign up to use the 1mn b/d route, which is...

Lukoil to sign Kazakh PSA.(News: Caspian)
January 9, 2004... Lukoil and Kazakhstan's state-owned Kazmunaigaz plan to sign a production-sharing agreement (PSA) covering the Tyub-Karagan structure in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea. The document will be signed during Russian president Vladimir...

Gazprom in Azeri deal.(News: Caspian)
January 9, 2004... Gazprom trading arm Gazexport has signed a five-year gas-supply agreement with Azerbaijan. It will deliver 2.75bn [m.sup.3] of Russian and Kazakh gas this year, later rising to 4bn [m.sup.3]/yr. Azerbaijan's state-owned Socar says the price...

LG plans Tatarstan venture.(Exports and trade)
January 9, 2004... South Korean industrial group LG is joining forces with a number of firms based in Russia's autonomous republic of Tatarstan to build a new 140,000 b/d (7mn t/yr) refinery at Nizhnekamsk. The Tat-LG joint venture will carry out the $...

FSU product exports continue to rise.(Export and trade)
January 9, 2004... FSU product exports hit a record 84.5mn t last year, up by 3pc on 2002. The increase was largely driven by gasoil, thanks to US demand for replenishment of heating oil stocks. But reduced arbitrage opportunities and lower output caused fuel...

Primorsk tightens tanker regulations.(Exports and trade)
January 9, 2004... Only ice-class tankers will be allowed to call at Russia's Primorsk crude terminal from 12 January, according to a note from the Primorsk harbour master distributed to shippers active in the region. The note does not specify a class, implying...

Export schedules.
January 9, 2004... CPC loadings hit a new high The Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC/terminal at Novorossiysk loaded a record 396.000 b/d (1.54mnt) of crude in December. This was up by more than 40,000 b/d on the previous record set in November and just...

Pipeline exports hit new record in December.(Exports)
January 9, 2004... Exports of crude from Russia by pipeline hit a new high in December, despite seasonal problems at sea ports and tanker delays in the Turkish straits. December shipments to non-CIS destinations reached 3.72mn b/d (see pp16-17), exceeding...

Seaborne volumes set to rise in January.(Exports)
January 9, 2004... Russia has scheduled a hike in seaborne exports for January, but traders point out that the Black Sea terminal of Novorossiysk is unlikely to be able to handle the large volumes pencilled in (see p6). Overall exports have been set at...

Khodorkovsky remains in custody.(Russia & CIS)
January 9, 2004... A Moscow court has ruled to keep former Yukos chairman and leading shareholder Mikhail Khodorkovsky in custody until 25 March. Khodorkovsky's initial custody term expired on 30 December, but the court extended this after the general...

Russia hikes export duty.(Russia & CIS)
January 9, 2004... Russia's crude export duty will rise to $33.90/t in February-March, from $31.20/t in December-January. The rise is based on monitoring of the average price of seaborne Urals as reported by Argus and Platts. Product export duty will remain at...

Transneft boosts tariffs.(Russia & CIS)
January 9, 2004... Russian pipeline operator Transneft raised crude transportation tariffs from 1 January by an average of 8.62pc. Transportation costs along most export routes rose by $0.30-1.50/t (cents 4-20/bl). The federal energy commission, which sets...

Russia alters Druzhba export system.(Russia & CIS)
January 9, 2004... Russia will not issue export schedules for the Druzhba pipeline for January because the energy ministry's central dispatch unit, which previously drafted the programmes, has been stripped of the function to prepare export schedules (FSUE, 5...

Crude output up 11pc in 2003.(Russia & CIS)
January 9, 2004... Russia produced 8.43mn b/d (421mn t) of crude oil and gas condensate last year, or 11pc more than in 2002, according to preliminary figures from the energy ministry. December production hit 8.78mn b/d, up by 30,000 b/d compared with November....

Looking ahead.
January 9, 2004... * Risks and Opportunities in Caspian and Central Asian Oil and Gas Pipeline Partnerships. 26-27 January. London. CWC. Tel: (44 20) 7089 4200 * Caspian Black Sea & Turkiog Oil & Gas. 26-28 February. Istanbul. ITE. Tel: (44 02) 7596 5166...

CNPC to buy Stimul stake.(Russia & CIS)
January 9, 2004... China's state-owned CNPC has won a tender to buy a stake in Russian producer Stimul, which is developing an oil field in the Orenburg region, a source close to the deal tells Argus. If the deal goes through CNPC will become co-owner of a...

ExxonMobil shuts well.(Caspian/central Asia)
January 9, 2004... ExxonMobil has started to shut down the first exploration well at the ZafarMashal offshore block in Azerbaijan's sector of the Caspian Sea because of technical problems, according to a source at Azeri state-owned oil company Socar, which...

Batumi exports set for January slump.(Caspian/central Asia)
January 9, 2004... Exports of Kazakh light sweet Kumkol crude from the Georgian Black Sea port of Batumi, the grade's main outlet, are set to slide dramatically in January from the 100,000-125,000 b/d shipped for most of last year. Of the three main exporters...

Turkmenistan crude exports drop.(Caspian/central Asia)
January 9, 2004... Turkmenistan produced 196,700 b/d (9mn t) of crude in January-November, an increase of about 9pc compared with the same period in 2002. But exports of 19,670 b/d were about 50pc lower compared with 2002. In fact, exports fell steadily through...

Kazakhstan to double exports to Iran.(Caspian/central Asia)
January 9, 2004... Kazakhstan plans to export 40,000 b/d (2mn t) of crude to Iran this year--almost double last year's 21,000 b/d, says a source at state-owned oil and gas holding company Kazmunaigaz. Kazakhstan ships crude to Iran under a swap agreement and...

Klaipeda bans product deliveries.(Baltics)
January 9, 2004... Lithuanian Railways has banned product deliveries to the Klaipeda oil terminal at the request of the terminal's management. The ban applies until 10 January for Belarus' Novopolotsk refinery, and until 20 January for Russia's Nizhny Novgorod,...

Oil price keeps investors confident.(Stock markets)
January 9, 2004... The Russian Trading System (RTS) ticked decisively upwards on 5-6 January--the only two days of trade this week. The RTS ended the week up by 10pc from 17 December at 592 points, and analysts expect it to break through the psychologically...

State-owned giant reviews Sakhalin strategy.(Rosneft)
January 9, 2004... Rosneft has finalised its 2004 project priorities, amending its Sakhalin strategy and planning to expand its activities in east Siberia. Late last month, the state-controlled company formed a consortium with Gazprom and Surgutneftegaz that...

East Siberia expansion.(Rosneft)
January 9, 2004... Rosneft is planning aggressive expansion of its operations in east Siberia soon, both independently and jointly with state-owned gas firm Gazprom and oil company Surgutneftegaz. The three firms signed an agreement in late December to set...

Crude output on the rise.(Rosneft)
January 9, 2004... Preliminary figures show that Rosneft boosted Crude Output by 21 pc last year to 19.5mn t (390,000 b/d), the result of an aggressive expansion strategy. Acquisitions included crude producers Northern Oil, Anglo-Siberian oil, Taimyrneft and...

Products market.
January 9, 2004... Prices jump as winter bites * FSU product prices rose in line with surging US futures markets. The gains were in response to colder weather in the US and solid demand in the Mediterranean and northwest Europe. * Buyers were also...

Crude market.
January 9, 2004... Urals discussions begin in earnest * Crude prices continued to rise on the back of cold weather in the northeastern US and a fifth consecutive weekly fall in US crude inventories. Active discussions on late-January Urals kicked off as...

Russia's crude export schedule outside the FSU, 1Q 2004.(Russian IQ on exports)
January 9, 2004... Russia's crude export schedule outside the FSU, 1Q 2004 '000t Exporter Novorossiysk Tuapse Odessa Total exports through Russia 11,183.9 1,100.0 2,825.0 Total exports by Russia ...

Russian pipeline exports, December 2003.(Pipeline exports)
January 9, 2004... Russian pipeline exports, December 2003 '000t Exporter Novorossiysk Tuapse Odessa Total exports through Russia 3,960.84 473.11 800.23 Total exports by Russia ...

Russian rail exports/imports, November 2003.(Russian rail exports)
January 9, 2004... Russian rail exports/imports, November 2003 '000t % chg YTD Crude '000 b/d Oct '000 b/d Overland Afghanistan Armenia...

Russian crude netbacks.(Netbacks)
January 9, 2004... [GRAPHICS OMITTED] Russian crude netbacks 7 Jan Pri- Butinge Novo- Tuapse morsk rossiysk ([dag- ...