Page 13 - LatAmOil Week 01 2021

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Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin recently speculated well as the start-up of a new import terminal in
that Vostok Oil might eventually be able to Croatia. Meanwhile in the US, the third of three
deliver as much as 50mn tonnes per year (tpy) of companies proposing to build a new LNG export
LNG to the world market. terminal at the Port of Brownsville in Texas
Meanwhile, Rosneft has also consolidated its signed a long-term lease with the port.
control over Vostok Oil by buying out a private The Australian asset sale involves Royal
partner. The company announced over the hol- Dutch Shell, which said on December 21 that
iday break that it had closed the acquisition of it had agreed to divest a 26.25% stake in the
100% stakes in firms called Taimyrneftegaz and Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) common
Taimyrburservis. The former is a subsidiary of facilities to Global Infrastructure Partners Aus-
Neftegazholding, a private oil firm with rights to tralia. The stake will be sold for $2.5bn, in a deal
the Payakha fields, which will be part of Vostok anticipated to close in the first half of 2021.
Oil, as well as other large onshore licences. Shell currently owns 100% of the QCLNG
The ins and outs of Rosneft’s transaction common facilities, as well as a 73.75% interest
with Neftegazholding are unclear. However, the in the overall QCLNG project. The super-major
available evidence suggests that some form of said the sale would bring its interest in the com-
asset swap is underway. Russia’s company reg- mon facilities into alignment with its stake in the
istry shows that Neftegazholding has become overall project as it works to sell non-core assets The prospects
the owner of a 9% share in RN-Severnaya Neft, and high-grade and simplify its portfolio. for US exporters
a Rosneft subsidiary working in the Timan-Pe- In Croatia, meanwhile, the Krk floating LNG
chora Basin. (FLNG) terminal entered service on January 1. of LNG improved,
In other news, the Austro-Romanian oil On that date, the Tristar Ruby tanker arrived to
firm OMV Petrom has agreed to sell its assets in offload the first commercial cargo, consisting of thanks to higher
Kazakhstan to a local private company, drawing LNG from the US, at the facility.
a close to two decades of work in the country. These developments occurred as the pros- prices
OMV Petrom will transfer 100% interests in its pects for US exporters of the super-chilled fuel
Kazakh subsidiaries Kom-Munai and Tasbulat improved, thanks to higher LNG prices. There
Oil to a private company based in Nur-Sultan are even signs of greater long-term confidence,
called Magnetic Oil. as illustrated by Texas LNG signing a 50-year
Kom-Munai controls the Komsomolskoye lease agreement with the Port of Brownsville
oilfield in Kazakhstan’s Mangistau Province to support its proposed export terminal. Texas
bordering the Caspian Sea, while Tasbulat Oil LNG joins Annova LNG and Rio Grande LNG
manages the nearby Tasbulat concession, which in making the commitment.
contains the Aktas, Tasbulat and Turkmenoi
deposits. If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
the global LNG sector then please click here for
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping NewsBase’s GLNG Monitor.
the former Soviet Union’s oil and gas sector then
please click here for NewsBase’s FSU Monitor. MEOG: Iraqi budget, Iranian exploration
The holiday period was dominated by the news
GLNG: A busy period that Iraq’s government has passed a budget
Various developments took place across the for 2021, despite issues relating to Kurdish oil
global LNG industry over Christmas, which is exports remaining unresolved. Meanwhile, Iran
typically a quiet period. has once again tasked domestic oil firms with
These included a significant LNG asset sale ramping up production, with a new raft of deals
announced in Australia in late December, as handed out to local companies.

Week 01 07•January•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P13