Tag Archives: oil

Kazakh Minister says Karachaganak talks are friendly

ALMATY, JUNE 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s energy minister Kanat Bozumbayev denied that the government was using multi-billion dollar fines against the consortium operating the Karachaganak gas and condensate field to negotiate more favourable terms to a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) drawn up in 1997.

Mr Bozumbayev’s comment contradicts statements by shareholders in Karachaganak. Russian oil company Lukoil said in its Q1 report that Kazakhstan’s total claims for the renegotiation of the Karachaganak contract have grown to $1.8b, up from $1.6b it had highlighted in April.

At a press conference in Astana, Mr Bozumbayev tried to shrug off the allegations.

“The reason I do not comment on these issues is that my words are then taken out of context and I read that Kazakhstan wants to sue,” media quoted him as saying. “Kazakhstan is holding friendly negotiations with the shareholders of the Karachaganak project.”

Mr Bozumbayev’s comments are the most clear to date that the Kazakh government is holding direct talks with the Karachaganak partners on a new PSA deal.

Essentially, the Kazakh government wants a greater share of the profits from Karachaganak. Last week, the FT reported that the Kazakh government had rejected a $300m deal to settle the dispute.

The consortium is Eni (29.25%), BG (29.25%), Chevron (18%), Lukoil (13.5%) and Kazmunaigas (10%).

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Russia’s Gazprom to invest in Kyrgyzstan

JUNE 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian PM Dmitri Medvedev said that state-owned gas company Gazprom will invest around $1.5b in Kyrgyzstan’s energy infrastructure and that it will cancel export duty on oil and oil products. Mr Medvedev made the statement while in Bishkek on an official visit. Oil and petroleum products make up 51.9% of Kyrgyz imports from Russia.

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Azerbaijan’s energy company profits in Romania

JUNE 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company SOCAR said its Romanian subsidiary SOCAR Petroleum made a profit in 2015 for the first time since 2011 despite a fall in revenues. SOCAR Petroleum owns several filling stations across Romania. Low oil prices reduced total revenue at SOCAR Petroleum but also gave it a higher profit margin on sales.

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Azerbaijan’s energy company to boost production

JUNE 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company SOCAR said it aims to increase oil and gas production at several offshore fields in the Caspian Sea. The company said it will build nine new platforms to drill 81 wells. CEO Rovnag Abdullayev said a new gas platform in the Guneshli block will be the first to be entirely designed and built by SOCAR.

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)f

Petrol prices fall in Armenia

JUNE 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Armenian Statistics Committee said that average petrol prices fell by 1.8% in April compared to the previous month and by 12% compared to the same period in 2015, a sign that deflation pressures have picked up pace. Prices fell marginally across sectors in Armenia in April.

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Kazakhstan oilfield output to fall

JUNE 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tengizchevroil (TCO), an international consortium operating the Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan, said it will produce 26.4m tonnes of oil in 2016, 2.8% lower than last year. Chevron-led TCO didn’t give a reason for the drop in production. Tengiz is Kazakhstan’s most productive oil field, though, and a drop in its production is likely to have an impact on Kazakh government earnings.

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Azerbaijan’s energy company to build Malta gas power station

JUNE 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company SOCAR said it will start building a gas-fired power station, fed by liquefied natural gas (LNG), in Malta by the end of year, ending years of delays for the project.

ElectroGas will build the 215MW LNG-to-power plant at the Delimara port, on the eastern Maltese coast, and will be its exclusive gas supplier. Switzerland-based SOCAR Trading, Germany’s Siemens and US-based General Electric own ElectroGas.

Media quoted SOCAR representatives as saying that “the facility will be commissioned before the end of the year.” They did not say how much it would cost to build, although Maltese media have speculated between $500m and $1b.

In effect the site is a large LNG terminal with a power plant attached. Malaysia’s Bumi Armada, an offshore services company, is building the $300m LNG storage facility at Delimara in Q3 2016. The floating terminal will have a capacity of around 95 tonnes of LNG.

Maltese media has repeatedly attacked the government for the delays in the commissioning of the power plant. Malta needs to boost its power generation capacity.

Earlier in 2015, Malta’s Auditor General launched an investigation into potential abuse of power by energy minister Konrad Mizzi, who had allegedly interfered in the purchase of fuel from SOCAR.

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Russia and Turkmenistan discuss gas deal

MAY 31 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia’s gas giant Gazprom said it may resume gas imports from Turkmenistan, less than a year after bad- tempered rows over prices led to the Kremlin scrapping shipments of gas.

Alexander Medvedev, deputy chairman at Gazprom, said the parties were still in talks and it was too early to say whether a settlement can be reached.

“There is a window of opportunity. We are ready to negotiate, but, unfortunately, there is no clear road- map,” Mr Medvedev told the press.

Even just the decision to negotiate signals a U-turn by Russia and Turkmenistan over both their gas policies and relations in general.

At one point during the various arguments in 2015, Gazprom took the Turkmen government to court to try to force it to reduce gas prices.

China has become Turkmenistan’s favoured destination for its gas exports since a pipeline connection was completed in 2009.

But now, facing delays in the section of the pipeline that crosses Kyrgyzstan, China has pushed back its investment plans for the giant Galkynysh gas field in Turkmenistan.

This is likely to frustrate Turkmenistan, which bet heavily on China as an alternative to Russia, and could provide an opportunity to resume gas trade with Gazprom.

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(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

Azerbaijan’s energy company reorganises its assets in Turkey

JUNE 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — SOCAR Turkey Enerji, a subsidiary of Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company, has said it wants to buy stakes in a pipeline and a lubricants company and sell a stake in a refinery, in a major shake up of its operations in Turkey.

SOCAR Turkey Enerji said it is interested in buying OMV Petrol Ofisi, a subsidiary of the Austrian energy company that produces fuel and lubricants in Turkey. To secure the deal, the Azerbaijani company will have to beat competition from Chinese and Japanese companies.

“SOCAR has an interest in this deal. We are waiting for the company to submit information on these assets,” Zaur Gakhramanov, the company’s head, told local media. He also said his company wants to buy a 7% stake in TANAP, the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline, from SOCAR, which owns a 58% stake in the project.

Perhaps adding to the company’s expansion plans, Mr Gakhramanov also said that SOCAR Turkey Enerji plans an IPO in 2020 for 49% of its shares. He did not say where the company’s shares would list.

But this year SOCAR Turkey Enerji has also looked to sell.

In May, it said it wanted to sell off its shares in Turkey’s petrochemical complex Petkim. In March SOCAR Turkey Enerji cut its share in Petkim from 8.07% to 5.32%. SOCAR Turkey Petrokimiya, another SOCAR subsidiary, still owns 51% of the project.

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(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

Kazakhstan wants better Karachaganak deal

ALMATY, JUNE 2 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kazakh government has rejected a $300m settlement for a $1.6b fine it levied at the consortium of companies developing Karachaganak, the FT reported quoting Kanat Bozumbayev, Kazakhstan’s energy minister, fuelling speculation it may want to leverage a bigger stake in the project.

Mr Bozumbayev said the government had dismissed a settlement offer from the consortium.

“It has already returned the investment shareholders made, and now it will give Kazakhstan profits, so we are negotiating,” Mr Bozumbayev said.

This week, Bloomberg quoted unnamed sources as saying that Kazakhstan is seeking to increase its share in the consortium, led by Eni (29.25% stake), Shell (29.25% through BG), Chevron (18%), Lukoil (13.5%) and state-owned Kazmunaigas (10%).

Kazmunaigas gained its 10% stake in Karachaganak in 2011 after settling a lawsuit against the consortium for tax evasion and environmental damage.

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(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)