Page 15 - FSUOGM Week 28 2022

FSUOGM NEWS IN BRIEF FSUOGM

the government will have the power of provider Schlumberger has found a natural products in the world, the companies said.
suspending gas trading altogether. gas deposit estimated at 16 billion cubic
The government also proposes to meters in an area operated by London Stock
extend the period over which mandatorily Exchange-listed Block Energy. Russia’s FinMin stands
stored gas is fed to the grid, from 40 to 50 Georgia currently uses some 2 billion
days. The change will allow for a “more cubic meters of gas per year. behind 50% dividends for
flexible management of storage capacity in According to Tatishvili, Block Energy
the event of a crisis,” the government said. will "return to this project with a confirmed state companies
plan" at the end of 2022 or beginning of
2023. Horizontal drilling is planned there, “No one has cancelled” the rule of paying
Estonia‘s Eesti Gaas which will produce more commercial gas. 50% of the net IFRS income for Russian
state-owned enterprises, Russian Minister of
Block Energy has not confirmed the
buys €300mn worth of discovery yet , although it released on July Finance Anton Siluanov said in an interview
11 its quarterly operations update.
to Vedomosti daily.
Norwegian LNG for coming a well that was drilled by Schlumberger near pressing long and hard under Siluanov, the
As followed by bne IntelliNews, after
The natural gas deposit was confirmed by
winter Tbilisi, Tatishvili said. ministry succeeded in forcing the giant
SOEs to pay at least 50% of their profit in
Block Energy holds extraction licenses
Estonia‘s Eesti Gaas, the state-run gas for two blocks in Georgia. dividends, which along with contributing
company, signed an agreement to buy According to its financial report, in 2021 to the state budget has improved their
2 terawatt-hours (TWh) of liquefied Block Energy had an income of $6mn and investment cases.
natural gas to secure Estonia's supply reported a loss of $4.8mn. However, as the fallout from Russia’s
for the upcoming winter. The deal cost The market capitalisation of the company military invasion spread, a cascade of
approximately €300mn, ERR.ee, the website is GBP9.4mn. dividend cancellations from Russia’s largest
of Estonian public broadcaster ERR, blue chips followed, with that of gas giant
reported on July 12. Gazprom hurting local investors the most.
The company made the agreement with Russian petrochemical Siluanov reiterated that the dividends
Norway's energy group Equinor and gas will remain a major source of revenue for the
arrive at Lithuania's Klaipeda LNG terminal major Sibur to follow budget, as well as an incentive for the
in October and November. companies to manage the rest of the profit
The contact means "greater peace of bonds-for-rubles scheme more effectively.
mind" for the market and security for “This is the first public comment on
customers, Margus Kaasik, chairman of the Russian petrochemical major Sibur has Gazprom’s dividend cancellation,” BCS
Board of Eesti Gaas said. informed the paying agent and the trustee Global Markets commented on July 12,
Eesti Gaas will continue to buy more of its $500mn bonds maturing in 2025 that while adding that the statement is “only a
LNG, he added. it would split the July 8 coupon payments small positive”, being a reiteration of pre-
"Natural gas was, is, and will remain in two parts in compliance with the newly invasion policy fully expected from a top
one of the most convenient and clean introduced legislation in Russia, according government official.
fuels. The price of gas will likely be high in to a note from BCS Global Markets. BCS GM believes that the equity market
the upcoming winter, but looking a little As reported by bne IntelliNews, to deal is unlikely to believe that the entire episode
further ahead, the transition to LNG and with the Western sanctions for Russia’s of Gazprom dividends being withheld is
the establishment of new supply chains will military invasion of Ukraine, both sovereign indeed a ‘one-off’ never to be repeated,
eventually bring calm to the market with and corporate bonds in Russia have to and as such will adjust downwards, likely
lower and more stable prices," said Kaasik. pass their payments through the National permanently, its expectations of Gazprom’s
Eesti Gaas has acquired three large LNG- Settlement Depository (NSD). dividends.
based gas supplies from the Polish state Thus Sibur has split the coupon payment To remind, the Finance Ministry is
company PGNiG in recent months. in two, and has transferred the amount believed to have taken an active role in
At the beginning of May and early June, except for the NSD part, which may be Gazprom’s dividend cancellation decision,
gas tankers arrived in Klaipeda with LNG considered as a Potential Event of Default, as it opted to raise extra taxes from
from the United States and at the end BCS GM warns, while noting that the the company instead. The FinMin also
of June from Norway, which will ensure payment was delayed due to additional reportedly feared what effect the conversion
customers' gas supply until autumn. compliance checks. of export Forex revenues of Gazprom into
The new contract with Equinor will cover Despite the default risks, in BCS GM’s rubles would have on the already over-
gas consumption throughout the heating view, “this is good news for the investors appreciated national currency.
season. holding the bonds through NSD, as they
will receive interest, which would not be
possible if the payments were made through Azerbaijan increased gas
LSE-listed Block Energy international infrastructure”. exports by 15%
In March Sibur said that Dmitry Konov
reportedly makes natural will step down as the chairman of the board, Azerbaijan's gas production in January-June
after Konov was sanctioned as part of the
gas discovery in Georgia European Union fourth sanction package was 23.4 bcm, which is 15.1% higher than the
for Russia's military invasion of Ukraine. In
same period last year, according to Energy
The head of the State Oil and Gas Agency 2021 the company closed a deal to take over Minister Parviz Shahbazov, who tweeted on
of Georgia, Giorgi Tatishvili, during the 100% of its Tatarstan based rival TAIF. The July 9. According to him, the gas exports from
programme Saqmis Kursi on the BMG combined business will be one of the five Azerbaijan in the first half of this year amounted
TV channel, announced that oil service biggest producers of polyolefin and rubber to 11.2 bcm (an increase of 25.7%).

Week 28 13•July•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P15