Page 12 - FSUOGM Week 13 2022

FSUOGM PROJECTS & COMPANIES FSUOGM

Putin’s ruble gas payment

gambit exempts Novatek

RUSSIA THE recent order of Russia’s President Vladimir main owner, therefore such a directive was given
Putin to switch Russian gas supplies contracts to to Gazprom. The President did not say anything
Peskov noted that rubles applies to Gazprom, but not to the inde- about Novatek," he added.
Novatek was a private pendent gas producer Novatek, Kremlin spokes- As reported by bne IntelliNews, Rus-
company. man Dmitry Peskov told the press as cited by so-Finnish oligarch Gennady Timchenko,
Tass on March 25. recently blacklisted by the EU, has left the
As followed by bne IntelliNews, confusion is board of directors of Novatek. Timchenko,
reigning amongst analysts and energy traders who holds a 23.5% stake in Novatek, was
over why Putin has ordered all gas export deals placed under EU sanctions on February 28
to be settled in rubles. because of his close ties to President Putin.
Novatek is not state-controlled and is Russia's The pair have known each other since the
largest investor and exporter of liquefied natural early 1990s.
gas (LNG). Other shareholders in Novatek included
Peskov commented that Novatek is a private billionaire Leonid Mikhelson, French oil major
company and that “there can hardly be a direct TotalEnergies and state-owned gas supplier
order” for its payment options. "The President Gazprom. Novatek has relied on TotalEnergies
did not differentiate in any way [what kind of gas to support the growth in its LNG exports over
is meant] – pipeline or [LNG]. But the instruc- the years. The company owns direct stakes in
tion was to Gazprom," he said. Novatek’s Yamal LNG project, launched in
"This is a directive to Gazprom. This is an December 2017, and Arctic LNG-2, due online
international company where the state is the in 2023. v™

IDC signs deal with SOCAR, at the Amarah oilfield in the Maysan Kazakhstan to cut oil output
Governorate, noting that the facilities are
completes Amarah work now ready to resume production, which will by 320,000 bpd until CPC
be fed by pipeline to the al-Fao peninsula.
The state-owned Iraqi Drilling Co. (IDC) IDC kicked off drilling operations at restores capacity fully at
this week signed an oilfield services deal the Amarah oilfield’s well #19 for MOC in
with Azerbaijan’s SOCAR and completed January. The well was drilled to a total depth Black Sea terminal
work at the south-eastern Amarah oilfield. of 3,290 metres with IDC using its IDC 23
Bassim Abdul Karim, IDC’s director- rig to target the Mishrif formation. Mishrif Kazakhstan’s energy ministry said on March
general, was quoted by the Ministry of Oil is among three reservoirs covered by a 29 that the country will have to cut its oil
(MoO) website as saying that his company contract signed in Q4 2021 between IDC output by 320,000 barrels per day (bpd)
had signed a three-year partnership with and Italy’s Eni for the development of the until the Caspian Pipeline Consortium
SOCAR, noting that they would collaborate 6.4bn barrel Zubair oilfield. IDC will use its (CPC) fully restores the capacity of its Black
on drilling and oil well reclamation. He IDC 37 and 38 rigs to drill 37 wells across Sea terminal in Russia.
added that the contract included an option the asset. The reduction as well as planned
for extension. Amarah is one of several fields that maintenance at Kazakhstan’s giant Kashagan
The agreement follows a lengthy comprise the Missan Oil Fields concession field later this year is expected to help the
courtship between Iraqi and Azeri which is overseen by MOC. Other assets Central Asian nation meet its commitments
authorities and a visit to Baku in January by are Abu Ghraib, Faqqa and Noor, with IDC under the global OPEC and non-OPEC
an IDC delegation. During the trip, SOCAR signing a contract last year with China producers' pact to limit oil production, the
AQS, a joint venture between SOCAR, National Offshore Oil Co. (CNOOC) to ministry added.
Nobel Oil Services and AQS, and IDC drill 150 at the governorate’s Buzurgan field. Kazakh Energy Minister Bolat
“exchanged views on the development of The MoO and MOC’s parent, the Iraqi Akchulakov said on March 25 that oil
relationships between the two countries and National Oil Co. (INOC), are working to exports from the CPC terminal on Russia's
potential opportunities for cooperation in carry out similar projects throughout the Black Sea coast were expected to resume
the field of drilling”, according to the Azeri country as Baghdad aims to increase oil with operations relaunching at one of the
firm, which provided a tour of its Baku production capacity from 5mn barrels per two reportedly storm-damaged mooring
Drilling School. day at present to 8mn bpd by 2027. points.
Also this week, the MoO reported that Analysts have expressed scepticism about
Missan Oil Co. (MOC) had completed work Russia's report of storm damage at the
to rehabilitate and upgrade oil facilities terminal amid Moscow's tensions with the

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