Page 18 - FSUOGM Week 41

FSUOGM PROJECTS & COMPANIES FSUOGM

Nostrum gives up two Kazakh oilfields

KAZAKHSTAN STRUGGLING Kazakhstan-focused producer 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd)
Nostrum Oil & Gas announced on October 8 it in the space of a few years. Instead, output has
Nostrum is currently had disposed of its rights and obligations at the steadily fallen since then, bottoming out at
seeking a new CEO. Darinskoye and Yuzhno-Gremyachenskoye oil- 23,530 boepd in the first half.
fields in the pre-Caspian Basin. The company suffered a $51.1mn pre-tax
Nostrum’s licences for the deposits were due loss in H1 2020, it is saddled with over $1bn
to expire on December 31, although the company in net debt, while its EBITDA came to under
decided to relinquish them early to cut costs. $39mn in the first six months of the year. It
Furthermore, Darinskoye’s 5mn barrels of prob- began defaulting on debt interest payments in
able reserves have been downgraded to contin- late August.
gent resources, Nostrum said, while no reserves Nostrum’s priority now is restructuring its
are attributed to Yuzhno-Gremyachenskoye. debts, slowing the rate of production decline
“The company will continue to review its with well interventions and workovers, and
options in relation to the exploration period trying to monetise its under-utilised process-
under the subsoil use contract for the Ros- ing capacity with third-party supply. It is also
toshinskoye field, which is not due to expire until seeking a new CEO, after the resignation of Kai-
August 16, 2022,” Nostrum said. Uwe Kessel in December last year. Director Kaat
Nostrum has had a difficult few years, as a Van Hecke served as interim CEO until he also
result of low oil prices, production setbacks and stepped down in September and was succeeded
the delayed completion of a gas treatment unit. by executive chairman Atul Gupta, who will
As recently as 2017 it was targeting a growth in continue in the role under a permanent head is
production at its flagship Chinarevskoye field to appointed. ™

Caspian Sunrise sees output

dip in September

KAZAKHSTAN KAZAKHSTAN-FOCUSED Caspian Sunrise to explore for oil in the shallow waters of the
produced 1,340 barrels per day of oil in Sep- Caspian Sea, and intended to buy the Caspian
Caspian hopes to tember at its onshore MJF structure in western Explorer drilling rig for this campaign. It said
close the purchase of Kazakhstan, it reported on October 12, down this week it anticipated completing the transac-
a Caspian drilling rig from an average of around 1,430 bpd in the first tion soon.
soon. half of the year. “No contracts are in place for the future
Output was affected by scheduled mainte- use of the drilling vessel,” Caspian said. “The
nance work, however, Caspian said, and for the company is, however, aware of potential inter-
majority of the month averaged 1,620 bpd. A est in developing fields in the northern Cas-
workover at well 141 has been completed, it said, pian Sea previously drilled using the Caspian
and the borehole is expected to resume commer- Explorer.”
cial flow in the “next few days.” Well 144 will be Caspian Explorer currently belongs to
the next one to be worked over. UAE-registered Prosperity Petroleum, which is
The shallow MJF structure is part of Caspian’s 60%-owned by Aibek Oraziman, the eldest son
BNG project, which also includes deeper zones of Caspian’s CEO Kuat Oraziman. Caspian will
yet to be brought into production. The deeper pay for the rig by issuing $25mn in shares to the
drilling needed to target these zones is costlier, Oraziman family, raising their interest in the oil
but the rewards are potentially much greater, the company from 42.9 to 44.2%.
company has said. It is currently test-flowing Many junior explorers in Kazakhstan have
these structures. been struggling with losses since the sharp
Caspian said it was currently removing tub- decline in oil prices earlier this year. Caspian
ing from one of its deep wells, A5, so that the per- booked a pre-tax loss of $1.4mn for the six
forated interval could be further cleared using months ending June 30, versus a $1.5mn loss a
the drillbit. Planned acid treatments have also year earlier. Its revenues were up 14% at $5mn,
been completed at deep wells A6 and A8. but this was entirely offset by higher administra-
The company revealed in January it wanted tive, sales and financial expenses. ™

P18 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 41 14•October•2020