Page 15 - FSUOGM Week 27 2019

FSUOGM POLICY FSUOGM
Gazprom files “clarifying claims”, demands Kyiv drop $11.5bn claim
RUSSIA
The pair remain trapped in a bitter dispute.
RUSSIAN state-owned gas giant Gazprom sub- mitted “clari ed claims” on its disputed gas tran- sit contract with Ukraine’s national gas company Na ogaz to the Stockholm Arbitration Court on June 14, demanding Na ogaz pays $2.1bn and abandons its own claims for $11.58bn, Vedo- mosti reported.
e two companies have been locked in dis- pute for several years over a gas and transit con- tract signed in 2008. e Stockholm Arbitration Court ordered Gazprom to pay compensation of $2.6bn to Na ogaz at the end of last year and also ordered Gazprom to supply Ukraine with a minimal amount of gas.
In the new claims Gazprom requested an annulment of its gas transit obligation through Ukraine, starting from January 19, 2009 (the beginning of the current transit contract with Ukraine) until December 31, 2017, and a revi- sion downward from the beginning of 2018 until the end of 2019, when the contract expires.
As an alternative to the required transit con- tract volumes for 2018-19, Gazprom requested
the cancellation of both contracts for gas transit and supply to Ukraine in 2018-2019, the paper writes.
“We view this news as another development in the long-standing litigation between Gazprom and Na ogaz. We expect the legal procedures to take some time and anticipate more news ow on this issue. As of now, we see the news as not mar- ket-moving for Gazprom,” Dmitry Loukashov of VTB Capital (VTBC) said in a note.
e Stockholm Arbitration Court ruled in December 2017 and March 2018 that Na ogaz had to pay Gazprom $2.02bn of overdue pay- ments for gas supplies to Ukraine since 2009, while Gazprom must compensate Naftogaz $4.6bn for lower-than-contracted gas transit volumes in 2009-17. In July 2018, Na ogaz led a new lawsuit against Gazprom at the Stockholm Arbitration Court asking for a 2.46x gas transit tari increase for Gazprom up to $5.78bn per 110 billion cubic metres per year, starting from March 2018 until the end of 2019, which implies an $11.58bn payment by Gazprom.™
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
Gazprom eyes further offshore Arctic drilling
RUSSIA
Gazprom does not expect to produce from these offshore discoveries until the 2030s, however.
RUSSIA’S leading gas producer Gazprom has revealed plans to drill two more wells in the Kara Sea, home to some of the country’s biggest o - shore oil and gas nds.
In a statement, Gazprom’s exploration unit Gazprom Geologorazvedka said the Nanhai VIII semi-submersible and Arkticheskaya jack-up would be towed “in the near future” from the Kola Bay to drill sites at the Skuratovsky and Leniningradsky licences o the coast of Yamal. Nanhai VIII belongs to China Oil eld Services (COSL), while Arkticheskaya is operated by Gazprom’s shipping arm, Gaz ot.
e pair were deployed last year to sink wells at other Gazprom licences in the area, leading to discovery of the Dinkovo and Nyarmeiskoye elds, estimated by the gas giant to hold 390.7 and 120.8bn cubic metres in respective C1+C2 resources.
e Leningradsky block contains the 1990 Leningradskoye gas deposit, thought to host 1.9tn cubic metres in C1+C2 resources. Gaz- prom shot 1,000km of 2D and 4,000 square km of 3D seismic research at the site, before drilling
an exploration well there two years ago, using Nanhai VIII.
Skuratovsky is situated to the east and closer to Yamal’s shoreline. Both 2D and 3D seismic data have been collected, but no wells have been sunk there.
Gazprom is pushing into the Russian Arctic to search for new elds that can replenish its reserves while its older projects further south reach maturity and eventually depletion. e company successfully brought the onshore Arc- tic Bovanenkovskoye eld on stream in 2012 and following successive expansion stages, the project is now owing 115bcm per year of gas. It embarked on a second Arctic development nearby, Kharasaveyskoye, last year.
But while Gazprom’s exploration work in the Kara Sea is bearing fruit, the complexity and high cost of Arctic drilling makes it unlikely that any of the company’s o shore discoveries will achieve production within the next decade. Gazprom has acknowledged that even the more well-researched Leningradskoye nd is unlikely to yield any gas before 2034 at the earliest.™
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