Page 14 - FSUOGM Week 36 2019

FSUOGM POLICY FSUOGM
Russian refineries could gain from higher excise duty rebates
RUSSIA
THE reverse excise duty for Russian refineries could be increased to 30%, according to Vedo- mosti daily citing the meeting between Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak and Finance Min- ister Anton Siluanov.
As reported by bne IntelliNews, in 2018 the Finance Ministry launched a so-called tax manoeuvre in oil industry, shifting the tax bur- den on the upstream sector.
Reportedly, the higher netback on the excise duty for oil products could become available to companies that have made modernization
contracts with the Energy Ministry of over RUB30bn ($456mn) and that have already invested at least 10% of the contract.
BCS Global Markets welcomed the initia- tive on September 9 as positive, arguing that the increase could offset the effect of higher mineral extraction tax (MET) and stimulate moderniza- tion in the downstream sector.
“However, the change would only apply to those refineries that plan to make major invest- ments into modernization, such as Tatneft’s TANECO,” BCS GM believes. ™
Kazakhstan eyes higher oil target in 2019
KAZAKHSTAN
KAZAKHSTAN may exceed its 89mn-tonne oil output target for 2019, the Central Asian nation’s energy ministry said, citing comments from minister Kanat Bozumbayev made on Sep- tember 5.
The nation produced 59.8mn tonnes of oil in the first eight months of 2019, despite its major fields being shut down for maintenance. As such, average daily output is possibly set to be higher for the remainder of this year.
Hydrocarbon-export-reliant Kazakhstan has seen much of its oil output boosted by the giant Kashagan oilfield in the Caspian Sea; however,
this year Kazakhstan decided to commit to the non-OPEC oil output agreement. Kazakhstan temporarily shut down output at Kashagan to comply with production cuts and perform maintenance works, which were completed two months ago.
Kashagan, Karachaganak and the Tengiz oilfield account for the lion's share of Kazakh oil production and their output is only set to grow further. In contrast, the bulk of the coun- try's other oil projects are in decline, and efforts to spur exploration and find new resources to develop have so far had limited impact.™
KMG eyes Romanian refining expansion
KAZAKHSTAN
KAZMUNAYGAS International (KMGI) is considering investing up to $2bn to nearly dou- ble the processing capacity of Romania’s larg- est refinery Rompetrol Rafinare (Petromidia), which last year processed 5.92mn tonnes of crude oil, Ziarul Financiar daily reported.
Alexei Golovin, chief legal and corporate affairs at KMGI, said during a press conference marking the 40th anniversary of the estab- lishment of Petromidia that the possibility of increasing the processing capacity up to about 10mn tonnes was being considered and the costs would amount to about $2bn. Golovin did not give an exact schedule for the actual beginning of the works or their duration.
KMGI is a Dutch-registered vehicle 100% owned by Kazakh state oil company
KazMunayGas that is the majority owner of Rompetrol Rafinare.
Petromidia refinery was opened in 1979, and in 2007 it was taken over by the Kazakh group. Between 1979 and 2018, Petromidia processed a total volume of 122.8mn tonnes of raw materials.
Rompetrol Rafinare announced at the begin- ning of August that it had completed an invest- ment of about $3mn in the modernisation of some installations at the Petromidia refinery, in order to optimise fuel production.
For 2019, an investment budget of $63mn had been approved at Rompetrol Rafinare (which besides Petromidia owns another smaller refin- ery, Vega), out of which over $50mn was to be usedforimprovement,maintenanceandcompli- ance work at the main facilities of Petromidia. ™
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 36 11•September•2019