Page 17 - EurOil Week 07 2023

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company Alteo recommended shareholders from post-pandemic RRF funds targeting April 2022.
not accept a buyout offer in an opinion the green transition projects once Hungary At the end of April last year, Gazprom
issued on February 8. manages to unlock these funds. halted supplies to Bulgaria, after the then
The board said the offer price, of government of prime minister Kiril Petkov
HUF3,040 (€7.8) per share, is over the refused to start paying in rubles. That was in
statutory minimum, but is lower than the BP Azerbaijan declares force accordance with EU’s decision at the time.
estimated HUF3,920-per-share price in an In June, Petkov’s government lost a
assessment by independent experts. majeure on Azerbaijani crude no-confidence vote and stepped down at
The board added that shareholders could the end of July. Many say that it was the
miss out on a potentially higher share price loadings at Turkey’s Ceyhan government’s active effort policy towards
in the future, as well as possible dividends. independence from Russia that had
The buyout offer, recently cleared by the amid earthquake fallout provoked the no-confidence vote.
Hungarian National Bank (MNB), runs The prosecution said the two were
from February 10 until March 13. BP Azerbaijan has declared force majeure accused following a signal by the national
Hungarian oil and gas company MOL on loadings of Azerbaijani crude from security agency, DANS.
announced late in December that it is the Turkish port of Ceyhan following the One of Nikolov’s former deputies, Danail
partnering with Diofa Asset Management huge earthquakes that struck southeastern Nikolov, is also under investigation.
and Indotek-Investments to acquire a Turkey and Syria on February 6. According to the prosecution, Nikolov
majority stake and joint control in listed The notice was issued to oil shippers and Yotsov have caused damage to the state
Alteo. The former company is owned by following a temporary suspension of worth BGN88mn (€45mn) in the period
Istvan Tiborcz, Prime Minister Viktor loading operations from the Ceyhan after Gazprom has stopped the supplies. The
Orban’s son-in-law, the latter by his business Marine Terminal (CMT), a BP Azerbaijan prosecutors claim the work of Bulgargaz as
partner Daniel Jellinek, a fast-ascending spokesperson told Reuters on February 8. public supplier and the reliability of supplies
business figure, and billionaire real estate BP Azerbaijan operates the Azerbaijan were put at risk. They did not explain how.
manager. and Georgia sections of the Baku-Tblisi- According to Nikolov, he was charged
The parties agreed with majority owner Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline. when he had not succumbed to Gazprom at
Wallis Asset management to acquire a The Turkish port of Ceyhan serves as the time.
61.557% stake in the alternative energy Azerbaijan’s main crude export hub. It “Bulgaria did not comply with Gazprom’s
company, in two steps, at a price of registers a flow of approximately 650,000 and Russia’s blackmailing. As for the
HUF2,872 per share, after which MOL RES barrels per day (b/d). pressed charges and the legal part, there is
announced a mandatory public purchase A shipping agent said the control room no point in talking. The question is what are
offer for all outstanding Alteo shares at the at the terminal had been damaged, Reuters the conclusions from what is being done at
HUF 3,040-per-share price. All three of the reported. the moment,” Nikolov wrote on Twitter.
parties are to acquire equal stakes in the The crude pipeline that brings Iraqi oil After taking office in the beginning of
company. to Ceyhan resumed flows on the evening of August, the caretaker government of Prime
Alteo has renewable energy capacities February 7. However, it was unclear if Iraqi Minister Gulub Donev made significant
of 69 MW as well as conventional oil was being loaded at the port terminal. efforts to start talks with Gazprom on
electricity and heat production. It operates renewal of supplies. These efforts were
and services industrial power plants backed by President Rumen Radev who has
and is active in energy trading, waste Bulgaria’s prosecution charges been taking pro-Russian positions since the
management and e-mobility. With the start of Russian war in Ukraine.
planned acquisition, MOL aims to increase ex-energy minister, former head Moreover, Radev and Donev’s
its footprint in green power generation and government have attacked Petkov’s
trading, in line with its 2030 strategy to of Bulgargaz, over Gazprom’s government, claiming it has threatened
invest in new, low-carbon, circular economy the natural gas supply for the coming
businesses. halted supplies winter season. At the same time, Donev’s
Analysts are puzzled why MOL, with government refused to accept six tankers
a free cash flow of €1bn, partnered with Bulgaria’s prosecution said on February of cheap US liquefied natural gas (LNG),
outside companies linked to Prime Minister 8 it has charged former energy minister claiming it found no slots to unload them.
Viktor Orban’s regime in the first place, as Alexander Nikolov and the former head Greece said at the time it had free slots.
it could have easily absorbed the company of the state-owned gas supplier Bulgargaz, Meanwhile, natural gas prices in Bulgaria
alone. There is speculation that Alteo, the Lyudmil Yotsov, with causing damage worth are falling with the latest decrease, of the
flagship company in Hungary’s renewable BGN88mn due to Gazprom’s decision to price for February, being 30%. ™
energy scene, could also benefit greatly halt supplies of natural gas at the end of

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