Page 13 - FSUOGM Week 34 2019

FSUOGM PROJECTS & COMPANIES FSUOGM
Novatek board proposes H1 dividends
RUSSIA
As it rolls on with expansion plans, Novatek’s capex burden remains high.
THE board of directors of Russia’s leading LNG producer Novatek has proposed distributing RUB43.2bn ($654mn) of its rst-half pro ts as dividends to shareholders, the company said on August 23.
While considerably more than Novatek’s interim dividend payout last year of RUB28bn, the proposed sum only amounts to 9.6% of its net income for January to June, compared with 37% a year earlier. It corresponds to RUB14.23 per ordinary share and RUB142.3 per global depository receipt (GDR).
Novatek’s interim dividends will be discussed at an extraordinary general meeting of share- holders on September 30.
e company, under the control of Russian businessmen Leonid Mikhelson and Gennady Timchenko, saw net pro ts climb almost sixfold year on year to RUB451bn in the rst half, as rising LNG production more than o set weaker global gas prices. Its 50.1%-owned Yamal LNG project in the Russian Arctic reached its full 16.5mn tonnes per year (tpy) capacity last December, just two years a er its launch.
Novatek is now investing most of its pro ts
in expansion, with plans to hoist its LNG out- put to 70mn tpy by 2030. It is preparing to take a final investment decision (FID) on its next megaproject, the 19.8mn tpy Arctic LNG-2 ter- minal, later this year. e company is currently building support infrastructure for the scheme, while also continuing its search for new Arctic gas resources to exploit.
Novatek spent RUB73.68bn on capi- tal expenditure in the first half, up from RUB31.76bn in the same period last year. Spend- ing in the second quarter related mostly to the construction of a shipyard in Murmansk that will be used to build LNG equipment, as well as development work at the North-Russkoye eld, CFO Mark Gyetvay said in Novatek’s latest earn- ings call.
Novatek revised up its guidance for full-year capex in July to RUB200bn from RUB185bn. is was to account for work at Obsky LNG, another export terminal Novatek intends to develop using almost exclusively Russian technology and equipment. The company’s capital spending in 2018 came in at RUB95bn. ™
Tatneft expands refining capacity
RUSSIA
Tatneft can now process more than 300,000 bpd of oil.
TATARSTAN-BASED oil company Tatne has brought on stream a new 120,000 barrel per day primary processing train at its Taneko re ning complex.
e unit, which has been operating in trial mode since June, was formally commissioned at a ceremony on August 22, in which Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev took part. Its launch raises Taneko’s overall throughput to 307,000 bpd.
Sources told FSU OGM that the re nery was due to receive around 935,000 tonnes (221,100 bpd) of oil from Transne ’s pipeline system in August, up from 930,000 tonnes in July and 775,000 tonnes in June. e plan for September is 960,000 tonnes, they said.
e ELOU AVT-6 train will produce a range of fractionates, including hydrocarbon gas, straight-run gasoline, kerosene, diesel, vacuum gas oil and tar. Tatne will then re ne some of these fractionates further into higher-end prod- ucts. Its completion was initially scheduled for 2018 but was pushed back a year.
Russian companies INKO-TeK and Orgne - ekhim designed and built the train respectively.
Tatne ’s Taneko re nery processed 173,000 bpd of oil in 2018, up from 158,000 bpd a year earlier, according to the energy ministry’s CDU- TEK data centre. e company is also a major
crude producer, li ing more than 592,000 bpd last year. In addition, it has a petrochemical busi- ness that mostly comprises tyre production, and a chain of lling stations.
e company in July agreed to buy the Rus- sian fuel business of Finland’s Neste, consisting of 75 lling stations in north-west Russia and a loading terminal in St Petersburg. The pair aim to close the deal by year-end, but have not revealed a sales price.
Tatneft posted a net profit of RUB60.2bn ($917mn) for the rst quarter, up 43% year on year, on the back of a 21% upswing in revenues. Ebitda was up 43% as well, at RUB87.4bn.™
Week 34 28•August•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P13