Tag Archives: hydrocarbons

Kazakhstan halves Karachaganak cost expansion

JUNE 16 2017 (The Bulletin) — Kazakh officials said that the cost of extending production at the Karachagank gas condensate field had halved. Murat Zhurebekov, chief executive of PSA LLC, a unit of state energy firm Kazmunaigas, said that the cost of boosting production at Karachagank had halved from an earlier estimate of $9b. He didn’t explain why this estimate had been reduced, although he did say that it was linked to low oil prices. Eni and Royal Dutch Shell each own 29.25% of Karachaganak. Kazmunaigas owns 10%, Chevron 18% and Lukoil 13.5%.

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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)

Kazakhstan’s KMG readies for IPO

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JUNE 12 2017 (The Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s state-owned oil and gas company Kazmunaigas is in advanced stages of its preparations for an IPO next year, the FT quoted its CFO Dauren Karabayev as saying. The Kazakh sovereign wealth fund Samruk Kazyna owns 90% of the company and the Central Bank owns the other 10%. Kazmunaigas will list alongside Air Astana and Kazatomprom next year on the new Astana Stock Exchange. There is also likely to be a secondary foreign listing but it is currently unclear where this will be, although analysts have said that London is a favoured option.

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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)

Azerbaijan allies with Costa Rica

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JUNE 6 2017 (The Bulletin) — Azerbaijan appeared to be grooming Costa Rica as an ally by calling for bilateral ties between the two countries, which lie thousands of miles apart and have no natural connections. Costa Rican media reported that the two countries “chancellors” had met and exchanged pleasantries. Reports said that the Azerbaijan Petroleum Fund was interested in boosting investments in Costa Rica and that Costa Rica was going to open an embassy in Baku.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

Azerbaijan plans to close Shah-Deniz

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JUNE 8 2017 (The Bulletin) — Azerbaijan plans to close gas production for a month at the Shah Deniz offshore in August to fix a faulty export pipe, Azerbaijan’s deputy energy minister Mariam Valishvili told Reuters in an interview. Shah Deniz is operated by BP, although it has not commented on Ms Valishili’s comments. It exports its gas via a pipeline that runs through Georgia and Turkey. Shah Deniz 1 has been producing gas since 2006. Shah Deniz II is due to come onstream by the end of 2019 and form the basis of a new flow of gas to Europe from the Caspian Sea.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

Azerbaijan’s SOCAR eyes more deals

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JUNE 5 2017 (The Bulletin) — Azerbaijan is eyeing up investing another $3b into an energy project in Turkey, SOCAR Turkey CEO Zaur Gahramanov said. Azerbaijan is already a major investor in Turkey, with an estimated $11b worth of projects. The main projects are the Star oil refinery near Izmir and the Petkim wind farm. This year SOCAR failed in its bid to buy a network of petrol station in Turkey from Austria’s OMV. Mr Gahramanov said SOCAR was considering building a network of petrol stations from scratch or potentially another wind farm.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

Kazakhstan discouts CPC crude at loss

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JUNE 8 2017 (The Bulletin) — Light CPC crude oil is being sold at an increasingly heavy discount because the Kashagan project needs to increase output despite low oil prices, various traders told Reuters. In the article, the traders said that it was simply cheaper for Kazakhstan to discount CPC crude than cut back on Kashagan output which only came onstream last year after a series of setbacks. Traders said that CPC crude, considered high quality, had been sold at a premium of $0.15/barrel in 2013. In the 2014-16 downturn this dropped to a discount of $0.11-$0.18 but was now being sold at a discount of $1.23 because of the oversupply.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

Turkmen gas supplies to China rise

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MAY 31 2017 (The Bulletin) — Turkmenistan will increase gas sales to China, its main client, by nearly 10% this year, the CEO of Turkmengas, Myrat Archayev, was quoted by media as saying. Turkmenistan currently pumps 35b cubic metres of gas to China. This will rise to 38b cubic metres. Mr Archayev said gas supplies to Iran would remain at 7b cubic metres despite a row over unpaid bills.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

BP to sign Azerbaijan-Chirag-Guneshli extension

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MAY 31 2017 (The Bulletin) — BP expects to sign an extension to its production sharing agreement for the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil fields (ACG) in the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian Sea by the end of June, its regional head, Gary Jones, told media. ACG is Azerbaijan’s biggest oil field system. The current contract expires in 2024 and a new contract is expected to cover until 2050. The contract extension has been expected.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

Kazakhstan’s Tengizchevroil suspends production

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MAY 29 2017 (The Bulletin) — Tengizchevroil, Kazakhstan’s largest oil producer, briefly suspended production after a toxic substance was released at its plant. The company, owned by Chevron, ExxonMobil, Lukoil and Kazmunaigas, restarted operations a few hours later. It said that there had been no injuries or damage to equipment from the spill which is blamed on a powercut.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

Kazakhstan rises oil production

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MAY 30 2017 (The Bulletin) — Analysts accused Kazakhstan of breaking a pledge made to OPEC that it would reduce its oil production in line with an agreed strategy. Data from the International Energy Agency in March showed Kazakh production rising by 40,000 barrels per day to 1.718m barrels per day, despite a pledged decrease. Analysts said that increased production at Kashagan triggered the increase.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)