Page 12 - FSUOGM Week 15 2021

FSUOGM POLICY FSUOGM

US threatens Belarusian petchem

firms with sanctions

BELARUS THE US will sanction nine petrochemical com- with the opposition under auspices of the
panies from Belarus next month unless Presi- Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Washington is calling dent Alexander Lukashenko releases political Europe (OSCE).
for the release of prisoners and starts talks with his opponents, Opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya
political prisoners jailed the State Department said last week. has also called for mediated talks between the
since mass protests “Regrettably, we find the human rights situa- opposition, under the auspices of the Coordinat-
began last summer. tion has deteriorated to arguably the worst point ing Council, and the Belarusian elite. However,
in Belarus’s independent history,” spokesman she recently said that the opposition was giving
Ned Price said during a press briefing as cited up on trying to talk to Lukashenko directly, as he
by Bloomberg. “only wants to stay in power.”
State-owned petrochemical giant Belneft- Lukashenko has been in power since 1994
ekhim, the Naftan refinery and seven other and secured his sixth term after winning by a
companies may lose protection under a general landslide, according to the official results. Unof-
licence from the Treasury Department that was ficial results suggest that Tikhanovskaya won
issued in 2015 after Lukashenko released a pre- by a landslide, however. The US and European
vious batch of political prisoners. Union haven’t recognised the results of the
Since the crackdown started following the election.
disputed August 9, over 10,000 people have been Sanctions against Belarus’ petrochemical
arrested and of these over 300 have been jailed, industry will be especially painful, as Belarus
and are deemed to be political prisoners. earns much of its foreign exchange revenue from
The US State Department held out an olive processing Russian crude oil at its two modern
branch saying that the sanctions are “revers- refineries, completed in the dying days of the
ible” if Lukashenko releases his jailed oppo- Soviet Union, and through exporting the fin-
nents, stops violence and starts negotiations ished products to Europe and beyond. ™
PROJECTS & COMPANIES

Lukoil makes Caspian oil discovery

RUSSIA RUSSIA’S Lukoil has made a new discovery offshore oil production at the Korchagin field in
in the Russian section of the Caspian Sea, the 2010, followed by the Filanovsky field six years
The compan spudded company’s CEO, Vagit Alekperov, said on local later. The two deposits flowed a combined 7mn
the wildcat that made television after meeting with Russian President tonnes (140,000 barrels per day) of oil last year.
the discovery in June Vladimir Putin. Lukoil plans to commission its third field,
last year. “We hope that in the coming years this field Grayfer, in 2020 and it is expected to produce at
will enable an increase in the volume of oil pro- a plateau rate of 1.2mn tonnes per year (tpy), or
duction in the Caspian Sea,” Alekperov said on 24,000 bpd.
the Russia 24 TV channel. Caspian fields are set to play a vital role in
Lukoil made the find after drilling a well Lukoil’s mid-term growth plans. But operating
targeting the Titonskaya structure and plans to in the region can be challenging, due to logistical
drill a second later this year. It estimates the field issues, difficult climate conditions and reservoir
to contain 130.4mn tonnes (956mn barrels) in complexity.
inferred oil reserves. In the past, Lukoil has been afforded lucra-
The company spudded the wildcat that tive tax breaks from the Russian government at
made the discovery in June last year, north of its projects, including zero export duty on the
its Grayfer field at the Shirotno-Rakushechnaya oil it produces and a reduced rate of mineral
prospect. It used the Astra jack-up rig owned by extraction tax (MET). However, it was stripped
Russia’s Eurasia Drilling Co. (EDC). The well’s of some of these benefits at the start of this year
target depth was reported at the time to be 1,650 as part of controversial tax reforms instigated by
metres. the finance ministry.
Lukoil began working in the Caspian Sea in the Alekperov warned in a letter to the govern-
1990s and has found ten fields to date containing ment in February that Lukoil might have to
an estimated 7bn barrels of oil equivalent (boe) mothball the Korchagin field, because of the shift
in hydrocarbons. The company launched its first in tax policy. ™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 15 14•April•2021