Page 14 - FSUOGM Week 32 2019

FSUOGM
FSUOGM
5% half-on-half even though spot gas prices dropped 40-45% h/h.
“ e results were mainly supported by a 64% h/h surge in LNG shipments to 9.1mn tonnes, the start of some long-term oil-linked o ake contracts and export duty-exempt condensate sales (liquids output rose 20% h/h),” Sberbank CIB said. “All of the above more than o set
the weak spot gas market environment (prices dropped 40% h/h) and the remaining high share of spot sales.”
bne IntelliNews, August 13 2019
EASTERN EUROPE
Romania’s largest refinery
invests $3mn into digital
transformation
Rompetrol Ra nare, Romania’s largest re nery and a member company of KMG International owned by Kazakhstan’s KazMunayGas, announced that it has successfully completed a new phase of
the digital transformation programme
for the Petromidia Navodari re nery, the modernisation of the “n-line blending” units.
e total investment amounts to about €3mn, and the modernisation of the units mainly focused on optimising the production of fuels by improving the integrated system of management and automation of the technological ows.
e investment will allow the re nery to increase production volumes and achieve greater exibility in adapting to market requirements.
“Quality is the key word that de nes the fuels made at Petromidia, and the e orts
and investments made allow us a continuous improvement of them, of the operational ows and of the production units. In addition, recently implemented projects will help us
to increase the volumes obtained, but also
to achieve greater exibility in adapting to market requirements. I think this is another very important step that we are taking to align, both with international standards and with the innovative tendency to reach the industrial revolution — Industry 4.0,” said Yedil Utekov, general director of Rompetrol Ra nare.
Rompetrol Ra nare operates Petromidia Navodari on the Black Sea coast — the largest re nery in Romania and one of the most modern and complex in the Black Sea region,
a smaller re nery in central Romania (Vega Ploiesti) and the only domestic bitumen and hexane producer, plus a petrochemicals division operating beside the Petromidia Navodari re nery.
bne IntelliNews, August 13 2019
CENTRAL ASIA & SOUTH CAUCASUS
Output at Turkmen gas eld nears 30bcm
Gas production at the Galkynysh gas eld in eastern Turkmenistan has reached 29.2bn cubic metres per year, the Turkmen government has reported.
A total of 40 wells owing around 2mn cubic metres per year each are operational at the site, and the construction of new exploration and production wells is continuing.
Galkynysh is one of the largest gas elds in the world, with an estimated 27tn cubic metres of gas in reserves. e eld is due
to undergo a second stage of development between 2018 and 2022, raising its output by an extra 30bcm per year. A er a third stage is completed, production is expected to reach 95bcm.
August 7 2019
Iran opposes Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline “over ecology”
Iran has said it is opposed to the construction of the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline due to ecology concerns, Ria Novosti reported from the Caspian Economic Forum in the Turkmen resort of Avaza on August 12.
An o cial from National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) said the plan to connect Turkmenistan’s gas elds with Azerbaijan with a subsea pipeline would cause serious ecological damage in the Caspian Sea.
“ e construction of a gas pipeline from the east to the west of the Caspian Sea could cause severe damage to the region’s ecology... Iran is opposed to its construction,” said Behrouz Namdari, speaking at the Caspian Economic Forum.
He added that Iran was o ering its neighbours opportunities to use its infrastructure, including gas pipelines and
terminals, to supply gas to world markets. e Turkmen would like to see their
gas transited through the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline ow on to European markets via Azerbaijan. Iran has an eye on tying neighbouring Turkmenistan into Iran’s gas network, a move that would allow Tehran to accrue transit income from gas sent further a eld to export markets.
If via Azerbaijani and Georgian links Turkmenistan was connected to the Trans Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP) that reaches the Greek border through Turkey, the Turkmen would open up a route to exporting gas to European markets. TANAP connects to the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) that is to make landfall in southern Italy via Albania and a subsea route under the Adriatic Sea.
bne IntelliNews, August 12 2019
Russian oil and gas
giants interested in eld
development in Turkmenistan
First Deputy Chief of the Russian Government Sta Sergei Prikhodko told reporters that Russian energy giants, including Rosne , Lukoil and Gazprom are interested in developing oil and gas elds in Turkmenistan, Russia’s Sputnik news agency reported.
e statement came as Turkmenistan hosted the rst Caspian Economic Forum
on August 11-12, which brought together senior government o cials, private sector representatives and academic communities from Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan along with international organisations. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev led the Russian delegation.
Turkmenistan’s foreign investment system is reliant on working with Turkmen government o cials both formally and via informal legal and illegal channels, a report issued by British think tank Foreign Policy Centre has observed.
Turkmenistan is known for lacking contractual sanctity. Several reports from recent years have indicated companies waiting in vain for payment on completed projects. In December 2017, international law rm CIS Debt Recovery Solutions told an independent Turkmenistan news outlet that Turkmenistan’s state-run oil and gas sector was defaulting on debt, consisting of $8.5mn owed to one client for equipment supplied three years earlier.
bne IntelliNews, August 12 2019
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Week 32 14•August•2019