Page 15 - FSUOGM Week 43 2019

FSUOGM
FSUOGM
guarantee, according to the company’s statement statement.
The issue was approximately 2.5-times oversubscribed. The company expects to see the funds on 19 July, following the completion of legal formalities. Citi and Deutsche
Bank acted as lead managers on the issue. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, AEQUO, White & Case, Avellum, Linklaters and Clifford Chance provided legal advice.
“The level of interest generated by the issue shows investor confidence in Ukraine and is
a recognition of our efforts to make Naftogaz a transparent and reliable company,” Andriy Kobolyev, CEO of Naftogaz, said in the statement.
“Having raised the funds on attractive terms, Naftogaz is now better placed to prepare for the next winter season by accumulating gas volumes in the underground gas storages,” the statement also read.
bne IntelliNews, October 29 2019
CENTRAL ASIA & SOUTH CAUCASUS
Socar president suggests
opening office in
Turkmenistan
The president of the State Oil Company
of Azerbaijan Republic (Socar), Rovnag Abdullayev, proposed on October 22 opening a representative office in Turkmenistan, AzerNews reported. He remarked on the matter during an oil and gas conference in Ashgabat.
Abdullayev noted that cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan has gained a new impetus over the past two years. Turkmenistan’s intention to join the Southern Gas Corridor along with hopes for the eventual construction of the Transcaspian Gas Pipeline are also helping to strengthen Turkmen-Azerbaijani cooperation.
“Today, Socar operates as a globally integrated energy company. The presence of Socar’s modern industrial complexes, both in the Caspian Sea and beyond, its transnational infrastructure and a global trading network
for the transportation of oil and gas products
led to cooperation with oil and gas entities of Turkmenistan in various fields,” Abdullayev said.
bne IntelliNews, October 24 2019
EBRD president promotes
Kazakhstan as investment
destination
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) president Suma Chakrabarti praised Kazakhstan as a “prime investment destination” in a speech at the Annual Kazakhstan Forum in London on October 23, the EBRD said in a statement.
The EBRD president emphasised
the development bank’s long-term commitment as the country’s largest foreign direct investor outside the oil sector. The bank has invested over €8bn in the Kazakh economy with two-thirds of the total going to the private sector where the EBRD has a leading role in supporting local small businesses.
“We have more than 50 offices away from our HQ here in London. But the single country where we have most
offices of all, seven in fact, is Kazakhstan,” Chakrabarti said. “The amount we have invested in the first three quarters of this year already has almost overtaken what we did over the whole 12 months of 2018.”
“Kazakhstan offers some very significant opportunities. (...) As the country makes more progress in its plans to accelerate privatisation, there will be more and more opportunities”, he added.
He “underlined Kazakhstan’s strong potential in many sectors and aspects. In addition to its geographical location at the crossroads of transcontinental trade routes connecting Europe and Asia and being a key component of the [Chinese] Belt and Road Initiative, the country also offers an attractive investment climate, abundant resources in renewable energy and ‘high quality human capital’,” the statement said.
bne IntelliNews, October 24 2019
Romgaz, Socar sign MoU on cooperation
Romanian natural gas producer Romgaz said on October 25 it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Azerbaijan’s national oil company Socar on cooperation in oil and gas upstream projects.
Strategic cooperation to develop projects of mutual interest primarily
in Azerbaijan and Romania, as well as internationally, was the objective, Romgaz said in a press release.
“Cooperating with a partner like Socar is an excellent opportunity that will bring many common benefits. Sharing know- how and transferring technology and experience between the two countries with a similar history in the field of oil and
gas, will result in a successful partnership. The latest technology and expertise can generate significant discoveries in border basins, especially in less explored border basins,” Romgaz CEO Constantin Adrian Volintiru said.
Romgaz and Socar first announced they were considering a partnership in offshore projects in the Black Sea in January.
bne IntelliNews, October 28 2019
Kazakh daily oil output hits
all-time high above OPEC+
quota
Kazakhstan’s daily oil production hit an all-time high of 269,000 tonnes (2.05mn barrels) on October 24, far in excess of what the Central Asian nation pledged to produce under the OPEC+ quota it agreed to uphold to avoid a global glut until the end of March 2020.
The nation will likely cite its average production over a number of months, instead of focusing on current daily output, to argue that Kazakhstan has stayed true to the OPEC+ agreement. Bloomberg reported on October 25 that all three of Kazakhstan’s big oil projects - Tengiz, Kashagan and Karachaganak - are now running on near full capacity after maintenance work. This also implies that the sudden drop in daily output reported at Kashagan this month has already been fixed. The three big projects account for 60% of Kazakhstan’s total oil output.
Kazakhstan has a history of failing to comply with the OPEC oil output deal for production cuts - it only managed remain below its quota this year due to planned maintenance works at its giant oilfields, which looked more like a convenient excuse rather than genuine compliance.
bne IntelliNews, October 28 2019
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