Page 9 - LatAmOil Week 47 2020

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Over in Romania, Russia’s Lukoil is under- gas. These supplies will be delivered to markets
stood to be seeking an exit at offshore block on tankers via Russia’s Northern Sea Route.
EX-3-Trident, further dimming prospects for Rosneft estimates Vostok Oil’s liquids
the country’s Black Sea gas development. Lukoil resource base at 6bn barrels of oil equivalent
has an 87.8% stake in the block, while Romgaz (boe), although its fields have not been inde-
holds the remaining interest. Initial exploratory pendently appraised, creating doubts about the
work at the site in 2015 had indicated potential company’s lofty targets for future output.
recoverable gas deposits of around 30bn cubic Analysts at BCS Global Markets (GM) com-
metres. mented that the deal was good for Rosneft’s stock
The move comes amid continued frustration “more for signalling that the ambitious project is
over offshore legislation passed in 2018, which ‘a go’ than for the size of the investment, which
developers claim has made their projects unfea- itself has yet to be fully determined.” They added:
sible. The government has promised to address “Attracting a significant amount of foreign
the industry’s concerns after the country’s parlia- investment to the Vostok Oil project has been
mentary elections in early December. But con- a Rosneft goal from day one, and this deal is
sidering the bearish conditions on European gas important more for getting the process started.”
markets at present, this may be seen as too little,
too late. If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping GE signed an
the former Soviet Union’s oil and gas sector then please MoU with
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping click here for NewsBase’s FSU Monitor .
Europe’s oil and gas sector then please click here for Vietnam’s EVN
NewsBase’s EurOil Monitor. GLNG: Steps forward on Asian projects
Over the past week, significant developments Genco3 to
FSU: Rosneft attracts first Arctic partner have come for LNG projects in Asia, on both the
Russian state oil company Rosneft looks finally import and export front. develop
set to succeed in attracting a foreign partner to its According to media reports dated November the Long Son
flagship Vostok Oil project in the Arctic, which it 23, Chevron restarted Train 2 at its Gorgon LNG
says will one day yield over 2mn barrels per day export terminal in Australia. The production LNG-to-power
(bpd) of oil. train was shut down in May for scheduled main-
Rosneft said last week that its board of direc- tenance and subsequently had to be kept offline project
tors had agreed on the sale of a 10% stake in its for repairs after weld quality issues affecting
Vostok Oil LLC subsidiary to Trafigura for an its propane heat exchangers – or kettles – were
undisclosed sum. The pair are “at the advanced discovered.
stage of negotiations” on closing the transaction, Chevron had initially aimed to restart the
Trafigura was quoted as saying by Kommersant. train in September but needed additional time
Vostok Oil is set to combine the fields in Ros- to complete the repairs. The super-major will
neft’s Vankor cluster – Vankorskoye, Lodoch- now take Trains 1 and 3 offline – one after the
noye, Suzunskoye and Tagulskoye – with the other – to inspect their kettles for similar issues
Paiyakha fields held by Neftegazholding, a pri- and carry out any repairs that may be neces-
vate oil firm owned by former Rosneft president sary. Preparations for shutting down Train 1 are
Eduard Khudainatov. Other Rosneft assets, reported to be underway.
including the West-Irkinsky block and poten- Separately, two separate projects that will
tially the Baikalovskoye field it operates with BP, have an LNG import component were reported
will also come into the fold. over the past week to be advancing in Vietnam.
Production is expected to reach 25mn tonnes On November 19, Nikkei Asian Review reported
per year (500,000 bpd) by 2024, rising to 1mn that PetroVietnam Power and a Vietnamese con-
bpd by 2027 and 2.3mn bpd by 2030, and Ros- struction firm had signed an MoU with Japan’s
neft has also suggested that up to 50mn tpy of Tokyo Gas and Marubeni to build an LNG-to-
LNG could also be developed from the fields’ power project.

Week 47 26•November•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P9